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Well, a new thread should have been opened up at the beginning of 2013, but since it wasn't and we have filled up this thread to 500 pages, it is time to close the previous one and open a new one. So, as the title says, this thread is for the remainder of 2013 and as far as we can go into 2014.
I will leave the previous thread unlocked for a few days, in case anyone wants to quote from that thread and discuss it here. Just hit the quote button like usual, and cut and paste the quote and bring it to this new thread. Make sure to do it this way so that the discussion may be brought forward to the new thread and not posted in the old one.
Same rules apply.
News and current events discussions.
Be neighborly to one another!!
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Hi Linda --
Thanks for the new thread, and I just want to say that I am also sorry to hear of JJ Cale passing. I liked is records, he had a good sound.
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Sounds great about the meteor shower! Unfortunately over here it's one of the haziest times of the year, so the skies will not be very clear.
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Thanks Linda
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Best times for the meteor shower will be midnight, and I'll be in bed both nights. Work the following days.
Oh well.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FHastings-01_zpseb63ce21.jpg&hash=a3fe4cb9025e8f2aaa4dfbe8d13ddcaf8d30360a)
Was journalist Michael Hastings murdered?
Let's recap.
A journalist, with a history of taking down major figures and royally pissing off the powers that be, sends an email to his editors warning them that federal agents have been interviewing his associates and that he has to go off-radar to finish a big story.
What was the big story? For some reason the subject line of the email, which read "FBI investigation, re: NSA" has been persistently ignored. It certainly seems to suggest that his "big story" was related to the National Security Agency.
Shortly thereafter he dies in a fiery car crash. This crash is swiftly ruled an accident, however there are no skid marks to indicate braking, an eyewitness says he saw flames and sparks before the car left the road and video appears to show his car exploding into a fireball before it goes out of control and hits a tree.
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2013/07/was-journalist-michael-hastings-murdered#.UfWjNZgqoAQ.facebook
The answer: Yes, he was murdered.
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.....The answer: Yes, he was murdered.
It looks like that is true, and also, that it was an act of state terrorism.
*******
Meanwhile, de Pope has made some historic remarks about gays. "If a man is gay and seeks God, who am I to judge him?". He also said gays should not be marginalized or suffer discrimination. But then said the problem was "lobbies". Gays, Freemasons, corporate interests. What's up with the Freemason bit, dunno. Do know, the pope is a Jesuit, and should have known that he would be misunderstood about lobbies. He well knows people have a right to organize for personal rights and has encouraged that. But the "lobbies' was probably a reference to a single-minded agenda that is sold for personal convenience or, as he said, for profit. He'll figure out he got that one wrong.
As for homosexual acts being a sin, he'll never be understood by non-Catholics, there. Everything non-spiritual is, by church tradition, sinful, as being materialistic. And, yes, that could include Bingo :). He did NOT say sexual acts barred one from the Church or from God. He was upholding the spiritual versus the carnal, while accepting, that we are always unable to meet that goal. Straights get the same tap on the wrist.
The story should be on HuffPo soon, and, taken in context, is signalling an historic shift, with reservations, towards support of gay rights. It is BIG news. But misunderstood all too easily. He will condemn even more forcefully, gay bashing. He has before, and, he will very likely, soon, blast the African and Russian atrocities.
IMO, where it is possible, people should take "yes" for an answer. In Catholic lingo, he has said "yes".
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Yeah, HuffPo has picked up the story: "Pope OK with gays". Over-simplification.
He's NOT happy with Freemasons and Haliburton ::). Oy-vay, what an interview.
Also, the joke about not seeing anyone yet, in the Vatican, with a name-tag "I'm gay", was probably an Argentinian yuk-yuk.
Bradley Manning gets his verdict tomorrow. I hope the pope gets into condemning those who are trying to enforce the Orwellian-state lobby/agenda. Now THAT would be a great help, in another direction.
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I hope it's a 3 post limit, or else, am over the line.
Anyway, there's much more going on with the Pope's shifting tone and substance. There are political implications in the U.S., as this may be the end of Pat Robertson's grand political alliance of Catholics and fundamentalist Protestants. The pope had already said (and I didn't know this), that abortion and gay marriage, as Big No's, were not on his agenda. The theological issues there, he said, were understood. Instead, he said the church must move to service and inclusion, and brotherhood. I also didn't know he'd ruffled feathers by saying atheists could go to heaven (sorry, Gil, :D ). The impertinence !
Very interesting, his saying the door was closed to women in the priesthood, but that it was urgent to include women in the leadership, and not as tokens. There had to be change. Where is he going with that?
And, in other news, I just heard who the Israeli negotiator is for a peace treaty: Tzipi Livni ! My sweetheart :). I had her page on Facebook but had to cancel it (unending Hebrew news releases). She has a conservative background but is now a peace activist, and Bibi's worst nightmare in their last election. This could mean, there are stronger chances of a peace treaty!
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The supposed reason for not ordaining women is that the faithful cannot see Jesus if they look to the altar and see a non-male there.
It will still take decades or centuries, but at some point even the most misogynistic priest won't be able to look at a woman and not see the image of Jesus in her.
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I hope it is sooner, rather than later. Otherwise, we'll all end up Episcopalians :D.
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:D :D :D
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The supposed reason for not ordaining women is that the faithful cannot see Jesus if they look to the altar and see a non-male there.ee the image of Jesus in her.
Really? That's the reason?
I never heard that before.
(Sounds like an excuse, too.)
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The answer: Yes, he was murdered.
It looks like that is true, and also, that it was an act of state terrorism.
I occasionally wonder why people feel they have to have definitive answers and so choose one.
The truth is, neither of you really know what happened.
Even the person who wrote the article says:
"I have no idea what happened to Michael Hastings, and it's certainly both possible and reasonable that
his accident was solely due to his own error or a mechanical fault. In fact, that's probably the most likely
explanation."
The article keeps talking about the improbability of cars catching on fire so quickly and/or exploding and yet
they do all the time. Here's one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLoF99LYdts
A guy saw a car on fire outside his apartment and took cellphone video of it. The car exploded.
Then, of course, you see commenters on the video writing that it's fake. The firemen were in on it.
Etc. (That wasn't you two, was it?) Google Los Angeles car fires and pages of photos pop up.
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Really? That's the reason?
I never heard that before.
(Sounds like an excuse, too.)
I've always heard that it was "because" Jesus picked 12 male apostles, so that's why all priests are male.
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Lyle, I had supposed cars exploding in fireballs were not absolutely unique. I can't believe, though, that this is a routine occurrence in L.A., as otherwise the residents, there, have acclimated themselves to the odd ka-boom, semi-routine, and very annoying during tv or skateboarding, or whatever.
So, given the millions of autos there, it must be a matter of %'s. And so, maybe the likelihood somewhere at .0000000001?
But then, what % for reporters that break unusual stories?
And what % for reporters saying something was up and they gave warning of the same, 24 hours before?
.0000000000000000000000000000000000000.......1?
This strains credulity.
But. The Flat Earth Society could still be right :). Statistical possibilities, however remote?
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I hope it is sooner, rather than later. Otherwise, we'll all end up Episcopalians :D.
And what's wrong with being an Episcopalian? >:(
:D :D :D
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I occasionally wonder why people feel they have to have definitive answers and so choose one.
The truth is, neither of you really know what happened.
Even the person who wrote the article says:
"I have no idea what happened to Michael Hastings, and it's certainly both possible and reasonable that
his accident was solely due to his own error or a mechanical fault. In fact, that's probably the most likely
explanation."
The article keeps talking about the improbability of cars catching on fire so quickly and/or exploding and yet
they do all the time. Here's one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLoF99LYdts
A guy saw a car on fire outside his apartment and took cellphone video of it. The car exploded.
Then, of course, you see commenters on the video writing that it's fake. The firemen were in on it.
Etc. (That wasn't you two, was it?) Google Los Angeles car fires and pages of photos pop up.
cars don't explode .
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Oops. Nothing, Jeff. Episcopalians are just fine.
But for me, in Virginia, it would mean different clothes, and scrumbling up more money somewhere. Also, back to golfing and yachts. It's a Southern Virginia thingie :P....
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Oops. Nothing, Jeff. Episcopalians are just fine.
But for me, in Virginia, it would mean different clothes, and scrumbling up more money somewhere. Also, back to golfing and yachts. It's a Southern Virginia thingie :P....
Oh, I'm sure! That reputation isn't limited to Southern Virginia. It's why I try very hard to ignore that the church I go to on Sundays is Episcopal. >:D I was just pulling your chain. I apologize for that. :">
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The supposed reason for not ordaining women is that the faithful cannot see Jesus if they look to the altar and see a non-male there
“The faithful” pretty much see whatever they're told to see.
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cars don't explode .
A woman who was awakened by this and came outside told a reporter it
sounded like an explosion which turns into it WAS an explosion. Even if it
was an explosion doesn't mean it was foul play. There's a median there after
Melrose that he careened into scraping the undercarriage over the cement, a
fire hydrant, watering pipes and perhaps traffic signs, not to mention hitting a
tree. If any of that caused gas to leak and sparks to ignite, why is an explosion
impossible to believe? Truth is, I don't know and you don't know. At least I don't
know enough for a definitive answer which leads me not to make one.
In the cars don't explode department:
LA Car Chase: Car Explodes Into Flames In Boyle Heights On 10 Freeway (VIDEO)
by John Stephens Posted: 02/07/2013
A DUI suspect who fled Los Angeles police late Wednesday night crashed on the 10 freeway east of Crenshaw Blvd. after losing control of his vehicle. As shown on a live broadcast of the chase on KTLA 5, the car spun out, hit a sidewall and exploded into flames.
The station reported that the car -- identified as a red Ford Mustang -- was occupied by a single driver and had been pursued through downtown Los Angeles before the accident. KTLA reporters, who followed the chase until its fiery end, were heard saying it was "unbelievable how fast he was going" and that "I can't ever recall seeing anything like this."
Link HERE (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/la-car-chase-car-explodes-boyle-heights-10-freeway_n_2636211.html)
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......The article keeps talking about the improbability of cars catching on fire so quickly and/or exploding and yet
they do all the time. Here's one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLoF99LYdts
..... Google Los Angeles car fires and pages of photos pop up.
Lyle, as I said before, this does seem to possibly be an L.A. thing, and I rather think it is way too strange. There don't seem to be fireballs "all the time" (see above quote) anywhere else.
I mean, doesn't this interfere with normal, everyday life?
Is it maybe related to the La Breya tar pits? All I know is, Mr. Hastings was driving, possibly, in the wrong town. It's like Portland has the Grimm monsters, and L.A. gets all the routine explosions of reporters and others cars :P.
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In Plain Sight
Well, it kind of just hit me. The supposed revelations of Edward Snowden were that the NSA, through various programs, was storing all internet and phone communications of everyone. Considered ok, supposedly, because accessing that info required a warrant.
Bull crap. What Snowden said (and I didn't get it) was that any of the millions of IT computer smurfs could get into anything stored by those super-computers. With or without using the Navy-developed Tor portal. He did. And said anybody could. Forget warrants and secret courts. The NSA data leaks like a sieve to anyone who wants it. THAT'S the social and political armeggadon.
Businesses spying on businesses? Tap into the NSA. Taking out a political opponent? Call in an IT specialist. The NSA is, apparently, a whore to anyone.
Consider, also, police and federal agencies, that don't wanna get a warrant ? Plug into the NSA. Consider also, the physical safety of our leaders. Want to target them? Wheee..... track them through the always easy...NSA.
If anything, Snowden was NOT just a hacker, he was, in plain view, showing that the extreme danger, past constitutional abuse, was that the system is flawed to such an extreme, that it is a clear and present danger to the United States, its political process, and the safety of our leaders. And filing a warning to his superiors? Seriously? Snowden would have been guilty of criminal non-feasance, if he DIDN'T jump past the dum-dums and report them.
And anyone who doubts our tech-crazy intel people are collapsed and dangerous morons, should review the Boston Bombing, where normal tracking of terrorist web sites AND warnings from a foreign government, were met with a huge Duhhh.
It's in plain view. Snowden exposed a physical safety threat to our people, not just a constitutional issue. They need to shut the damn programs down, NOW, before hostile IT specialists use the NSA whore.....to attack our safety, or domestic political extremists destroy our electoral process by tapping in and then leaking everything to Fox news or MSNBC.
And basically, we just ignored this threat, because Snowden is so soft-spoken, he just said this plainly, and it went over our heads. We were too interested in his poor choice of shirts, and his sexy girlfriend :P.
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A woman who was awakened by this and came outside told a reporter it
sounded like an explosion which turns into it WAS an explosion. Even if it
was an explosion doesn't mean it was foul play. There's a median there after
Melrose that he careened into scraping the undercarriage over the cement, a
fire hydrant, watering pipes and perhaps traffic signs, not to mention hitting a
tree. If any of that caused gas to leak and sparks to ignite, why is an explosion
impossible to believe? Truth is, I don't know and you don't know. At least I don't
know enough for a definitive answer which leads me not to make one.
In the cars don't explode department:
LA Car Chase: Car Explodes Into Flames In Boyle Heights On 10 Freeway (VIDEO)
by John Stephens Posted: 02/07/2013
A DUI suspect who fled Los Angeles police late Wednesday night crashed on the 10 freeway east of Crenshaw Blvd. after losing control of his vehicle. As shown on a live broadcast of the chase on KTLA 5, the car spun out, hit a sidewall and exploded into flames.
The station reported that the car -- identified as a red Ford Mustang -- was occupied by a single driver and had been pursued through downtown Los Angeles before the accident. KTLA reporters, who followed the chase until its fiery end, were heard saying it was "unbelievable how fast he was going" and that "I can't ever recall seeing anything like this."
Link HERE (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/la-car-chase-car-explodes-boyle-heights-10-freeway_n_2636211.html)
Sigh, I meant cars exploding are relatively rare. Of course this was a pretty serious crash so it could have exploded even though it was a high end Merc. Hastings, as far as I know did not have a history of unsafe driving so that, along with the statistically rare car explosions, some witness accounts saying they saw an explosion before the crash and the car expert claiming that hacking a car's system is pretty easy, are compelling evidence that this was not an accident. Not to mention that he was working on a hot story and was being investigated by the FBI. All these factors taken together should at least warranr further investigation in the tragedy.
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National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has been granted asylum in Russia.
He left the Moscow airport where he had been stranded for more than a month, according to his Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, who said that Snowden was issued papers that allowed him to leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where he had been stuck since his arrival from Hong Kong on 23 June.
“I have just seen him off. He has left for a secure location,” Kucherena told state broadcaster Russia 24.
“Security is a very serious matter for him. I cannot tell you where he is going. I put him in a taxi 15 to 20 minutes ago and gave him his certificate on getting refugee status in the Russian Federation. He can live wherever he wants in Russia. It's his personal choice.”
He said Snowden was not going to stay at any embassy in Moscow, although three Latin American countries have offered to shelter him.
Reports in Russia said Snowden had been granted temporary asylum for one year.
According to the Associated Press, Kucherena said Snowden had accepted a condition laid down by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to stop leaking US secrets in return for asylum.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/edward-snowden-asylum-russia-nsa
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/edward-snowden-leaves-moscow-airport-live
It’s good to see that things are moving at last :)
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Today, August 1st, two states held their first legally-recognized same-sex weddings.
In Rhode Island:
" Officials around Rhode Island began issuing licenses when clerks' offices opened at 8:30 a.m., making marriage an option for gay couples everywhere in New England. A couple that have been together for 41 years, Federico Santi and John Gacher, arrived first thing at the Newport City Clerk's office. They previously were joined in a civil union and immediately married after getting their license.
"Newport City Clerk Kathleen Silvia calls Thursday, in her words, "a day of smooching" in Rhode Island."
full story at http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sex-marriages-begin-rhode-island-19836120
In Minnesota, accounts differed as to whose wedding was first. A Facebook post showed a wedding on the (nicely decorated marble) steps in Minneapolis' City Hall's rotunda; the Pioneer Press covered the wedding of Bradley Weber and Ryan Pfeifle at their home in Eden Prairie:
"At 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, Bradley Weber and Ryan Pfeifle's backyard in Eden Prairie was crowded with people and aflame with candlelight, lanterns and camera flashes: They were there to witness history, they were there to get married.
'
" 'It is worthwhile to contemplate that there are moments in history when together we take a step forward into freedom and into life," said officiant Annamarie Ronning. 'And this is one such moment."
http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_23770751/eden-prairie-grooms-will-be-among-states-first
http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/217858401.html (includes photo gallery)
One couple decided to tie the knot at the Mall of America's wedding chapel: they had met there at one of the giant mall's food courts.
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Hastings, as far as I know did not have a history of unsafe driving
He did have a history of drunk driving, which is unsafe.
some witness accounts saying they saw an explosion before the crash
Which could have occurred because the undercarriage of the car ripped over the median, traffic signs, fire hydrant and such...
and the car expert claiming that hacking a car's system is pretty easy,
So -- anyone could have done it? Just curious, everyone says "it's easy to do" - so why haven't I even seen
this in a movie - they're usually first with things that seem a bit improbable to do...
Not to mention that he was working on a hot story and was being investigated by the FBI.
All these factors taken together should at least warrant further investigation in the tragedy.
Someone he worked with said he was "always" working on a hot story. I don't disagree it should be
investigated further, is anyone doing it? Has anyone ever said what he was doing out driving around
at 4:30 in the morning? That's what I want to know. Why don't we even know those things? L.A. is not
a particularly "late night" town, or even an "all night" town. Bars close at 2am here, they aren't 4am or
all night rules. Where was he, was he with anyone, what was he doing, coming from...no one knows or
has reported these things? Any other time of day, as I said, I wouldn't be as interested, but 4:30 am in
L.A. is pretty much the zero hour for "anything" going on.
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Today, August 1st, two states held their first legally-recognized same-sex weddings.
Now it's 13 states and D.C.!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftraveltomarry.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F03%2FMapOfEquality_sm1.jpg&hash=9483c251dc21a31417448a9bfdf374736a75ba4c)
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More! More!
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Now it's 13 states and D.C.!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftraveltomarry.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F03%2FMapOfEquality_sm1.jpg&hash=9483c251dc21a31417448a9bfdf374736a75ba4c)
Including two states in the Midwest. Maybe it will "spread" directly south, like a weather front? :)
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I'm surprised we've had no comment on the Bradley Manning verdict. ... ::)
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I'm surprised we've had no comment on the Bradley Manning verdict. ... ::)
I'm waiting for the sentencing. ::)
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National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has been granted asylum in Russia.
He left the Moscow airport where he had been stranded for more than a month, according to his Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, who said that Snowden was issued papers that allowed him to leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where he had been stuck since his arrival from Hong Kong on 23 June.
“I have just seen him off. He has left for a secure location,” Kucherena told state broadcaster Russia 24.
“Security is a very serious matter for him. I cannot tell you where he is going. I put him in a taxi 15 to 20 minutes ago and gave him his certificate on getting refugee status in the Russian Federation. He can live wherever he wants in Russia. It's his personal choice.”
He said Snowden was not going to stay at any embassy in Moscow, although three Latin American countries have offered to shelter him.
Reports in Russia said Snowden had been granted temporary asylum for one year.
According to the Associated Press, Kucherena said Snowden had accepted a condition laid down by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to stop leaking US secrets in return for asylum.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/edward-snowden-asylum-russia-nsa
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/edward-snowden-leaves-moscow-airport-live
It’s good to see that things are moving at last :)
Dead man walking. We'll see how long he lasts before his car explodes. ;)
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...... Has anyone ever said what he was doing out driving around
at 4:30 in the morning? That's what I want to know. Why don't we even know those things? L.A. is not
a particularly "late night" town, or even an "all night" town. Bars close at 2am here, they aren't 4am or
all night rules. Where was he, was he with anyone, what was he doing, coming from...no one knows or
has reported these things? Any other time of day, as I said, I wouldn't be as interested, but 4:30 am in
L.A. is pretty much the zero hour for "anything" going on.
I do have a different belief as to what happened in this tragedy (and it was one), than you, Lyle. But you have seemed to keep an open mind, and I really appreciate the map you posted, and also, the info above, about what's normal in L.A. after midnight.
Thanks much !
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Including two states in the Midwest. Maybe it will "spread" directly south, like a weather front? :)
Not a chance. Not only is the South unwilling to accept gay marriage, the Boy Scouts will soon be a thing of the past.
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About Bradley Manning's sentence. Let's see. Ariel Castro gets life in prison for torturing 3 teen-aged girls. Manning gets a life sentence, minus 127 days (for having been tortured). Sounds fair....to some?
Meanwhile, for Mr. Snowden, the following music for encouragement, but also a warning.....watch out for those skinheads in Russia, and always check your car !
http://youtu.be/o0xeETLadI4
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I'm surprised we've had no comment on the Bradley Manning verdict. ... ::)
Why? we all knew what the out-come would be.
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About Bradley Manning's sentence. Let's see. Ariel Castro gets life in prison for torturing 3 teen-aged girls. Manning gets a life sentence, minus 127 days (for having been tortured). Sounds fair....to some?
Meanwhile, for Mr. Snowden, the following music for encouragement, but also a warning.....watch out for those skinheads in Russia, and always check your car !
http://youtu.be/o0xeETLadI4
Manning hasn't been sentenced yet, has he? I haven't seen anything about it.
Also, Snowden, don't eat or drink anything you don't prepare yourself, you know how those ruskies like to poison people.
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And speaking of Russia:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPutin-dildo-01_zps44a3906f.jpg&hash=72954d1f2963f109c40aad80d3c6d7f8a8c49af9)
Send A Dildo To Vladimir Putin: 23, Ilyinka Street, Moscow, 103132, Russia.
Join the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1386432698247307/
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Uruguay votes to create world's first national legal marijuana market
Proposals likely to become law, leading to innovative policies at odds with the 'war on drugs' philosophy
Uruguay's unprecedented plan to create a legal marijuana market has taken its critical first step in the lower house of Congress.
All 50 members of the ruling Broad Front coalition approved the proposal just before midnight on Wednesday in a party line vote, keeping a narrow majority of the 96 MPs present after more than 13 hours of passionate debate.
The measure now goes to the Senate, where passage is expected to make Uruguay the first country in the world to license and enforce rules for the production, distribution and sale of marijuana for adult consumers.
Legislators in the ruling coalition said putting the government at the centre of a legal marijuana industry is worth trying because the global war on drugs had been a costly and bloody failure, and displacing illegal dealers through licensed marijuana sales could save money and lives.
They also hope to eliminate a legal contradiction in Uruguay, where it has been legal to use marijuana but against the law to sell it, buy it, produce it or possess even one plant.
"Uruguay appears poised, in the weeks ahead, to become the first nation in modern times to create a legal, regulated framework for marijuana," said John Walsh, a drug policy expert at the Washington Office on Latin America. "In doing so, Uruguay will be bravely taking a leading role in establishing and testing a compelling alternative to the prohibitionist paradigm."
[...]
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/aug/01/uruguay-first-legal-marijuana-market
Homer Simpson discovers Uruguay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLVJm7QW3dA
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I do have a different belief as to what happened in this tragedy (and it was one), than you, Lyle. But you have seemed to keep an open mind, and I really appreciate the map you posted, and also, the info above, about what's normal in L.A. after midnight.
Thanks much !
@ Lyle, it's not that I disagree with your skepticism on the murder -- I think that is wise and healthy.
But even a mild-mannered person like me has been known to drive around in L.A. at 4:30 in the morning. I did it in the seventies, a few times, and the same in the 80s, and even in the 90s. -- Until I moved out of the state.
There usually are people on the road.
ETA: -- not that it was a good idea or anything. I was always really glad to make it home safely.
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I hope it's a 3 post limit, or else, am over the line.
I'm unable to find any reference to a "3 post limit" in the Forum’s rules, Tony.
Or any other form of “limit,” either, apart from “excessive redundancy,” which doesn’t seem applicable to your (merely three) posts.
Although each time your posts related to the Pope (the Bishop of Rome, not the washing machine) you weren’t labouring the point through repetition, but raising three different Pope-related issues.
So, and unless I'm mistaken, your posts couldn’t be described as “redundant.”
Could you elaborate, please?
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I'm surprised we've had no comment on the Bradley Manning verdict. ... ::)
I was going to make a comment but decided to refrain.
I'm tempted to do it anyway, though, despite the reach of the NSA. :D
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Why? we all knew what the out-come would be.
Did we? Manning wasn't convicted on all the charges. If I understand correctly, he was acquitted on what the mainstream media I've seen have called the most serious, aiding the enemy.
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Not a chance. The South [is] unwilling to accept gay marriage.
Eventually it will be rammed down the South's throat by the Damnyankees, just like Emancipation and the Voting Rights Act.
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I'm waiting for the sentencing. ::)
Well, we all know that nothing would satisfy you short of complete exoneration, probably with a cash bonus and his own reality TV show thrown in for good measure.
I can see the show now, Being Bradley Manning. I'm sure he'd give the Kardashians a run for the money.
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Dead man walking. We'll see how long he lasts before his car explodes. ;)
Will you be disappointed if it doesn't, providing us all with a gory spectacle?
I'm guessing that time will not be on Snowden's side; if he's 30 now he'll spend the next 30 to 50 years dodging.
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Why? we all knew what the out-come would be.
As I recall, a few people here knew what the inevitable outcome last November would be. Remember that?
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Well, here I go, Jeff:
Manning verdict keeps US power in check
Judge Denise Lind's verdict in the Bradley Manning case has struck a blow against the seemingly limitless powers of the US government, writes Ruby Hamad.*
There were two losers in the Fort Meade military court today when military judge Denise Lind found Bradley Manning guilty of 19 of the 22 charges against him, including five counts of espionage.
But in acquitting Manning of aiding the enemy, by far the most serious charge against him, Lind also struck a blow against the seemingly limitless powers of the US government.
Manning has repeatedly insisted that his intent was not to harm America but to "spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and [US] foreign policy in general as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.
...
If you accept his claims of good intentions, Manning is symbolic of how America imagines itself to be - idealistic, freedom loving, democracy driven - but in reality, the new normal is a culture of self-censorship where you are free to express your opinion as long as it's the right one.
For all its exaltation of the first amendment, speaking freely and contentiously can have severe repercussions.
And yet, so certain is the US of its moral standing that it will seemingly accept no rebuke to its power or its tactics in maintaining that power.
Whilst today's verdict is devastating for Manning and is likely to deter at least some potential leakers, the refusal of Lind to find Manning guilty of aiding the enemy serves to keep something of a lid on this power.
For now.
There’s nothing in Hamad’s analysis with which I disagree. I thought it'd be interesting to know what people think of it.
(My emphases have been added to her opening and closing remarks.)
A link to what I’d describe as her incisive ABC News report of July 31 is included here (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-31/hamad-manning-verdict/4855530) for those who'd like to see what else she said.
As stated earlier, in the previous thread, she's a Sydney-based writer and film maker. :)
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P.S. I was particularly taken by Ruby Hamad’s comments that,
“Far from scaling back Bush's perpetual war, Obama has increased America's unchecked power in expanding the drone program, appointing himself the final word on the "kill list" and, most controversially, including US citizens as amongst those who can be targeted for extra-judicial killing.
It is the willingness of the US government to target its own citizens that most clearly spells the new direction of the world's sole superpower."
"In this, the government is aided by the public's ... increasing intolerance of dissent, one of the legacies of 9/11."
(I’d be interested to know how many American posters on this thread agree with any of the above.)
"Much of the NSA debate centred around the "traitorous" actions of Snowden, an accusation extended to the journalist who broke the story, with calls for Glenn Greenwald's arrest and NSA agents reportedly joking about "disappearing" him.”
Which rather tends to foreshadow "a recent comment" here (i.e. August 2)—no names, no pack drill —(and presumably based solely on a viewing of The International and/or similar conspiracy-based films :D), considering it was written by Hamad on July 31 (well, published online, anyway) about what Edward Snowden could expect once he'd left Sheremetyevo airport for asylum within territorial Russia.
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I'm waiting for the sentencing. ::)
Well, we all know that nothing would satisfy you short of complete exoneration, probably with a cash bonus and his own reality TV show thrown in for good measure.
I can see the show now, Being Bradley Manning. I'm sure he'd give the Kardashians a run for the money.
Do I detect something rather less than 100% respectful appreciation of a non-American opinion here? ???
Heaven forfend! ;D
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Do I detect something rather less than 100% respectful appreciation of a non-American opinion here? ???
Heaven forfend! ;D
Heavens, no! That's a "rather less than 100% respectful appreciation of a" "Free Bradley Manning" opinion. ;)
Incidentally, I think it's interesting that this Ruby Hamad apparently thinks it's terrible that the President "appoint[ed] himself the final word on the 'kill list.'" I could say that looks to me like he's accepting ultimate responsibility, which seems only proper to me. Remember "The Buck Stops Here"?
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But even a mild-mannered person like me has been known to drive around in L.A. at 4:30 in the morning.
I did it in the seventies, a few times, and the same in the 80s, and even in the 90s. -- Until I moved out of the state.
There usually are people on the road.
Yes, there are always people on the road, even at 4:30am, but even in Hollywood there isn't any reason to be.
There aren't any restaurants or clubs or anything like that letting out or the like. Supposedly he drove from
Hollywood all the way past Melrose with no incident, so you'd have to admit there was no traffic problem.
If you recall when people were out here for the BBM event in 2008 we could hardly find a restaurant to go
to after the screening that stayed open past 11pm. So, because it was that time, it makes me wonder what
he was doing at that time. And what were you doing driving round at 4:30am?
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Lyle, I don't know about the reporter -- maybe the question of where he was, what was he doing, is a clue to the explosion, and I agree with everyone these are questions that probably should be answered in a situation like this, to make sure it either WAS foul play or WASN't -- but --
You know, my dad used to work nights and sometimes was stopped by the Burbank police in the wee hours of the morning because of that thinking -- what reason could there be to be on the road? -- well, he was coming home from work, and not speeding or anything -- just driving while 4:30 a.m. (We suspected the Burbank cops were more bored than the cops in the Valley, where he worked -- my dad's theory was the Valley cops were busier with a higher crime rate)
Also -- I'm kind of surprised anyone would say "there is no reason to be on the road at 4:30" -- in LA? Anywhere in the entire state of California? Anywhere in the USA or the world? Unless a curfew is imposed, people can (and they do) use the roads. There is probably even less reason to be on the road in Stockton than in LA, but some people are out there driving.
What are they doing? -- Going home, maybe, going to work. Going home from what? Private things maybe, or maybe just a late night hanging out with Brokies. -- I thought about this later, and even though I don't live in LA AND I lead a mostly boring conventional life, even in the aughties there was ONE night when I was on the road at 4:30 a.m. in Los Angeles because of hanging out late with Brokies! :D
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Yes, there are always people on the road, even at 4:30am, but even in Hollywood there isn't any reason to be.
There aren't any restaurants or clubs or anything like that letting out or the like. Supposedly he drove from
Hollywood all the way past Melrose with no incident, so you'd have to admit there was no traffic problem.
If you recall when people were out here for the BBM event in 2008 we could hardly find a restaurant to go
to after the screening that stayed open past 11pm. So, because it was that time, it makes me wonder what
he was doing at that time. And what were you doing driving round at 4:30am?
I distinctly recall, Lyle, when gazing down from my plane's window seat, as my Qantas flight from Sydney was about to land at LAX, that the streets below were full of cars driving around, headlights blazing.
Or perhaps it was the other way around, and my window seat was on a Delta flight from SF to LAX, from where I was to fly back home on Qantas. ???
Either way I did think to myself, "What a busy little place it is, all those little cars buzzing along, and so very late at night."
And far be it for me to question their reasons for doing so.
But whether I was coming (after a very long trans-oceanlc flight) or going (after a very long "Lost Weekend"-style visit to SF, as far as I'm able to recall, anyway), the sight was imprinted in my memory.
Once seen, never forgotten. :)
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......So, and unless I'm mistaken, your posts couldn’t be described as “redundant.”
Could you elaborate, please?
Am sort of pope-d out, Paul. Meanwhile, am enjoying your posts !
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Did we? Manning wasn't convicted on all the charges. If I understand correctly, he was acquitted on what the mainstream media I've seen have called the most serious, aiding the enemy.
There main concern was to put fear in future leeks, so NOT to happen again. So, not to question your GOVERNMENT AGAIN.
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Am sort of pope-d out, Paul. Meanwhile, am enjoying your posts !
Too pooped to pope.
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Eventually it will be rammed down the South's throat by the Damnyankees, just like Emancipation and the Voting Rights Act.
Again, mot a chance.
I know the Civil War is taught ... to some extent... in Northern schools.
Down here, it's a current event.
And perhaps you have forgotten the recent semi-termination of the VRA.
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I didn't say there wasn't a reason to be out driving at 4:30am, just that it should
be a clue into what he was doing, but I guess my point is being lost.
Okay, there are millions of people driving around L.A. at 4:30 in the morning.
And we should celebrate Christmas in July because then the stores aren't so crowded.
And it's warmer in the country than it is in the summer.
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Again, mot a chance.
I know the Civil War is taught ... to some extent... in Northern schools.
Down here, it's a current event.
And perhaps you have forgotten the recent semi-termination of the VRA.
No I have not. The point was that the VRA was rammed down Southern throats back in the Sixties, and so will gay marriage be eventually, when all the states, whether they like it or not, will have to accept it as falling under the "equal protection" and "full faith and credit" clauses of the United States Constitution.
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Jeff, you seem to be saying making it a lfederal law will make it acceptable.
not a chance.
Just take a look at abortion.
And, in another advanced part of the world, there is a couple in GB planning to sue the Church of England because of its stated policy of not performing gay marriages.
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Jeff, you seem to be saying making it a lfederal law will make it acceptable.
not a chance.
Just take a look at abortion.
And, in another advanced part of the world, there is a couple in GB planning to sue the Church of England because of its stated policy of not performing gay marriages.
Well, there's acceptable and then there's acceptable. Some people will go to their graves never accepting it. But the day will come when they're going to have to accept it--perhaps live with it would be a better way to say it?--whether they like it or not.
I'm sure there are some folks not just in the South but all over the nation who don't accept interracial marriage, for example, but since Loving v. Virginia they have to accept it--live with the fact of it--whether they like it or not.
And the day will come when accepting it/living with it will be crammed down the throats of all the states--North, South, East, West--that have amended their constitutions, or whatever, to state that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
And good for those folks who are going to sue the C. of E. I wish them luck. :)
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I was sorry to hear that JJ Cale died this weekend.
Not really well know, but Rick and I always liked his sound.
"After Midnight"
http://youtu.be/TxuL8BsuWuA
I really love this song, though I mostly know it because of Eric Clapton.
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Well, there's acceptable and then there's acceptable. Some people will go to their graves never accepting it. But the day will come when they're going to have to accept it--perhaps live with it would be a better way to say it?--whether they like it or not.
I'm sure there are some folks not just in the South but all over the nation who don't accept interracial marriage, for example, but since Loving v. Virginia they have to accept it--live with the fact of it--whether they like it or not.
And the day will come when accepting it/living with it will be crammed down the throats of all the states--North, South, East, West--that have amended their constitutions, or whatever, to state that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
And good for those folks who are going to sue the C. of E. I wish them luck. :)
I hope you remember that the next time you are on the other side.
American Blacks are constantly complaining that what has been crammed down the throats of American citizens for 1-1/2 centuries is not working for them. If you think discrimination and hatred can be outlawed, you are mistaken.
And how can the government of GB interfere in the practices of a religion? Of course, perhaps it is different in England than here. But here churches have long set their own practices when it comes to their ceremonies... baptism, internment, etc. Why should marriage be any different? Marriage as a civil union is one thing. Marriage as a religious union is another. What's next... MAKE the Vatican ordain female priests?
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Also -- I'm kind of surprised anyone would say "there is no reason to be on the road at 4:30" -- in LA? Anywhere in the entire state of California? Anywhere in the USA or the world? Unless a curfew is imposed, people can (and they do) use the roads. There is probably even less reason to be on the road in Stockton than in LA, but some people are out there driving.
I understand the uneasiness over any demand that people account for their whereabouts, if they aren't doing anything suspicious*. People who work night shifts certainly have a reason to be out at 4:30 a.m.
However, the context here is a conspiracy theory over a cause of death so the circumstance is a legitimate question; despite Los Angeles being a "busy little place."
* "Suspicious" as in breaking into a house, setting fire to a convenience store, etc. Unfortunate that the venue dictates qualifying that.
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There main concern was to put fear in future leeks, so NOT to happen again. So, not to question your GOVERNMENT AGAIN.
I prefer fear-free leeks. They taste better.
another view of Saint Bradley's conviction:
"Whatever we might think about the motives and repercussions of Bradley Manning's actions, one thing we know for sure is that he broke the law. He was apprehended, arrested and, as a soldier, he was given a fair court-martial without a jury of his peers per his own request. He was able to hire a defense team and was backed up by public advocacy around the world. From there, he plead guilty to breaking ten laws in the face of having pledged an Oath of Enlistment. And on Tuesday, a military judge found him guilty on an additional ten charges.
"Knowing this, I'm not exactly sure why there was such violent garment rending yesterday over the fact that Manning will go to prison per the mandates of the law. He was given due process, he was presumed innocent and he was tried in the plain view of journalists. So, why the angst?
"I'm not clear as to how Manning has been able to attain such a small but vocal following of supporters given his recklessness and naivete in leaking so many documents, many of which revealed information damaging to American diplomatic endeavors. As with Snowden, there's a vindictiveness in Manning's actions -- a destructive blurting of information in order to seemingly exact punishment upon his government and the people from which it's derived. Had he released fewer documents with a more precise goal in mind and done so through more respectable channels, it's likely he wouldn't be facing 136 years in prison. Better yet, he probably wouldn't have as many critics. "
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/07/bradley-manning-lives-in-a-nation-of-laws-and-hero-or-not-he-broke-16-of-those-laws.html
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Eventually it will be rammed down the South's throat by the Damnyankees, just like Emancipation and the Voting Rights Act.
And the day will come when accepting it/living with it will be crammed down the throats of all the states--North, South, East, West--that have amended their constitutions, or whatever, to state that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
American Blacks are constantly complaining that what has been crammed down the throats of American citizens for 1-1/2 centuries is not working for them. If you think discrimination and hatred can be outlawed, you are mistaken.
Y'all, please. Get a room.
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Well, we all know that nothing would satisfy you short of complete exoneration, probably with a cash bonus and his own reality TV show thrown in for good measure.
I can see the show now, Being Bradley Manning. I'm sure he'd give the Kardashians a run for the money.
The guy pleaded guilty to 20 charges so I don't expect complete exoneration. I would be satisfied with a fair sentence, like maybe 5 years at most.
It's funny how people consider Manning and Snowden to be traitors but have no problem with Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, (Saint) Obama and all the rest getting away with war crimes. Who endangers the US more, Manning or that criminal bunch of sociopaths?
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He did have a history of drunk driving, which is unsafe.
I'll wait for the report re: his blood alcohol level.
Which could have occurred because the undercarriage of the car ripped over the median, traffic signs, fire hydrant and such...
Possible but rather convenient.
So -- anyone could have done it? Just curious, everyone says "it's easy to do" - so why haven't I even seen
this in a movie - they're usually first with things that seem a bit improbable to do...
From a two year old NYT article:
Researchers Show How a Car’s Electronics Can Be Taken Over Remotely
With a modest amount of expertise, computer hackers could gain remote access to someone’s car — just as they do to people’s personal computers — and take over the vehicle’s basic functions, including control of its engine, according to a report by computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Washington.
Although no such takeovers have been reported in the real world, the scientists were able to do exactly this in an experiment conducted on a car they bought for the purpose of trying to hack it. Their report, delivered last Friday to the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board, described how such unauthorized intrusions could theoretically take place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/business/10hack.html?_r=0[/quote]
Someone he worked with said he was "always" working on a hot story. I don't disagree it should be
investigated further, is anyone doing it? Has anyone ever said what he was doing out driving around
at 4:30 in the morning? That's what I want to know. Why don't we even know those things? L.A. is not
a particularly "late night" town, or even an "all night" town. Bars close at 2am here, they aren't 4am or
all night rules. Where was he, was he with anyone, what was he doing, coming from...no one knows or
has reported these things? Any other time of day, as I said, I wouldn't be as interested, but 4:30 am in
L.A. is pretty much the zero hour for "anything" going on.
I think it's telling that the LAPD within hours decided that it was simple accident. Usually investigations take a little longer than that.
The Obama administration is waging a war against whistleblowers and journalists, Hastings was likely assassinated.
In the movie, I think Casey Affleck would be perfect as Hastings:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Fcasey-affleck-01_zps17b4aae3.jpg&hash=819e10a88af5082dfaa2f9dc497a47ca303862d4)
[/quote]
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12 people who should be in prison instead of Bradley Manning
Who are the real criminals? Here's a preliminary list
On July 30, a judge in a military court found Bradley Manning guilty of 19 of the 21 charges brought against him. Although he was acquitted of “aiding the enemy,” the most serious he faced, Manning could still face a sentence of well over 100 years' imprisonment.
It is absurd that the U.S. government would prosecute Manning, a whistleblower who exposed crimes and secrets that were being covered up by the Pentagon and State Department. It is equally absurd that the so-called justice system allows the real criminals in society—Wall Street drug launderers, CEOs responsible for willful and deadly negligence, racist murderers, killer cops and war criminals—to walk free. Below is a list of a dozen people, in no particular order, who should rightfully be sitting in prison cells instead of Bradley Manning.
[...]
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/12-people-prison-instead-bradley-manning.html
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My attention was drawn recently to two detailed and informative news articles (in The Guardian and The Age) about Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing into the NSA program and the declassification of documents relating to its bulk surveillance operations.
In brief, issues raised included:
a) criticism of
• the truthfulness of statements made to Congress in March by James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence;
• the conflating to Congress by intelligence officials of the value of phone and internet communications surveillance;
• the NSA argument that “terrorist plots” were successfully “disrupted” by its bulk phone record collection;
• the fact that “technical personnel responsible for NSA’s corporate infrastructure and transmission of metadata” may handle phone records data without the “special training” in court-ordered restrictions undergone by NSA intelligence analysts; and
• the NSA claim that providing information about the number of American citizens whose data was included in its database would violate their privacy.
b) concerns that:
• the bulk surveillance collection program was insufficiently transparent;
• its usefulness for stopping terrorist attacks was overstated by the NSA, despite no evidence that this has occurred;
• Congress had been “deceived and actively misled” about the extent of (so-called “accidental”) abuses of NSA’s databases;
• the program involved massive privacy implications; and
• judges’ definition of the “relevance” of criteria (when asked to authorise warrants for the collection of records by the FBI) was vague.
Hmmm. 8)
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US senators rail against intelligence disclosures over NSA practices
The bipartisan leaders of a powerful Senate committee questioned the truthfulness of the US intelligence community in a heated Wednesday morning hearing as officials conceded that their controversial bulk phone records collection of millions of Americans was not "the most important tool" – contradicting statements they previously gave to Congress.
Just before the hearing began, the US director of national intelligence declassified and released documents shedding more light on how the bulk surveillance occurs.
Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, denounced the move as "ad hoc transparency."
Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: "We need straightforward answers, and I'm concerned we're not getting them."
Leahy, joined by ranking Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, criticised director of national intelligence James Clapper for making untruthful statements to Congress in March about the bulk phone records collection on Americans, and NSA director Keith Alexander for overstating the usefulness of that collection for stopping terrorist attacks.
Full report here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/us-senate-intelligence-officials-nsa
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The following is from the article (http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/us-declassifies-nsa-program-for-debate-as-a-further-disclosure-emerges-20130801-2r0ff.html), published by The Age on August 1, to which I referred previously.
US declassifies NSA program for debate, as a further disclosure emerges
Washington: The Obama administration on Wednesday released formerly classified documents outlining a once-secret program of the National Security Agency that is collecting records of all domestic phone calls, as a newly leaked NSA document surfaced showing how the agency spies on Web browsing and other Internet activity abroad.
Together, the new round of disclosures shed even more light on the scope of the US government's secret surveillance programs, which have been dragged into public view and debate by leaks from the former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520August%25202013%2Fsenate-w-620x349_zpsc7d888b0.jpg&hash=d11b335d058edd810eb1fe7f937ce66e9170cdcf)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy
and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Senator Dianne Feinstein
confer on Capitol Hill in Washington. Photo: AP
Being mindful that extensive quotes from an online news source might be deemed to be excessive I'll refer merely to a few concluding paragraphs in the article:
A key question has been how the judges justified stretching [the term "relevance"] [to encompass collecting records of all calls. Government officials have explained that a subset of those calls will later turn out to be relevant when analysing who has links to a suspected terrorist. By putting them all into a single database, the NSA can preserve the records for later analysis for up to five years; look at circles of callers up to three "hops" removed from the target, even if they are subscribers to different phone companies; and search for patterns that may indicate that a suspect is trying to hide his communications, like cycling through throwaway "burner" phones from different providers.”
Senator Leahy asked whether the government could not obtain "virtually all available commercial data" like a comprehensive database of all Americans' credit card records, website visits, medical records, or firearms ...” the Deputy Attorney General, James Cole. replied that "We're not collecting all their phone records so that we can wander through them. The phone records are being done to look at the connections. If somebody's buying things that could be used to make bombs, of course we would like to know that, but we may not need to do it in this fashion."
When asked by Senator Grassley how the calling records of innocent Americans could be considered relevant, and whether there was any legal precedent to support such a broad conception of "relevance," Cole replied,
"that judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had now signed off on the program 34 times because the orders have to be renewed every three months, and each was such a precedent. The legal precedent comes from the history of all the orders that have been issued."
In other words—it’s legal because we’ve done it before. ::)
An argument which is, IMO, certainly one for the books.
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Am sort of pope-d out, Paul.
Perhaps you don't have the latest model, Tony. ;D
Might I recommend this one?
The fine print is well worth reading...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520August%25202013%2FNorthernStarPope_zpse12ebdf9.jpg&hash=f45c262d525fd4df0f056ab24eca084a35cd0c12) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%20Thread%202013/News%20Thread%20August%202013/NorthernStarPope_zpse12ebdf9.jpg.html)
Meanwhile, am enjoying your posts !
Thanks, Tony. :)
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I'll wait for the report re: his blood alcohol level.
Me, too, but you said you hadn't heard any history of unsafe driving. He actually crashed his family's car
at one point. Now you've heard.
Possible but rather convenient.
It might be convenient but the same type of accident is seen in that freeway crash video
I posted and that one crashed into a retaining wall and did not go over anything that would have
ripped the undercarriage.
From a two year old NYT article:
Researchers Show How a Car’s Electronics Can Be Taken Over Remotely
With a modest amount of expertise, computer hackers could gain remote access to someone’s car — just as they do to people’s personal computers — and take over the vehicle’s basic functions, including control of its engine, according to a report by computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Washington.
Although no such takeovers have been reported in the real world, the scientists were able to do exactly this in an experiment conducted on a car they bought for the purpose of trying to hack it. Their report, delivered last Friday to the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board, described how such unauthorized intrusions could theoretically take place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/business/10hack.html?_r=0
I didn't write that it was impossible, only that I've never heard this come up
in any other car crash invesitgation.
If one wants to they could highlight these things from that article:
Although no such takeovers have been reported in the real world
could theoretically
You'd also have to assume that people would know what car MH was going to rent
and where and have video feed of where he was driving so it would look like an accident.
I think it's telling that the LAPD within hours decided that it was simple accident.
Usually investigations take a little longer than that.
I think it's telling that nothing short of murder is what you believe.
If the police investigated for days every car crash that occurs in L.A. that's all they'd be doing.
Did they even know who was in the car when they decided that?
You want to blame authorities, why don't you blame supposed reporters, as MH was, and have
them invesitgate this if all these people believe it was murder. Why aren't they doing that?
Maybe the reporters did it themselves for their own agenda? (Is that not as plausible, or just
an eye roll?)
The Obama administration is waging a war against whistleblowers and journalists,
Hastings was likely assassinated.
Maybe Helen Thomas, too?
In the movie, I think Casey Affleck would be perfect as Hastings:
Agree.
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It's funny how people consider Manning and Snowden to be traitors but have no problem with Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, (Saint) Obama and all the rest getting away with war crimes. Who endangers the US more, Manning or that criminal bunch of sociopaths?
So I guess you disagree with that article Marge posted.
It's too bad that you don't run for office as you seem to have everything figured out.
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So I guess you disagree with that article Marge posted.
It's too bad that you don't run for office as you seem to have everything figured out.
You're getting testy. ;)
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Only because you're getting redundant. :-X
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson 'Can't Believe There's a Ring on My Finger!'
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20722200,00.html
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Only because you're getting redundant. :-X
I wasn't redundant, i was responding to your posts. I guess i could say the same about you.
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...aaaaaand scene.
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I hope you remember that the next time you are on the other side.
Hunh? I have no idea what this comment means or refers to.
American Blacks are constantly complaining that what has been crammed down the throats of American citizens for 1-1/2 centuries is not working for them. If you think discrimination and hatred can be outlawed, you are mistaken.
Have you been living under a rock for the last 50 years? Discrimination, at least in some areas, can and has been outlawed, but outlawing something and stopping it from happening are two different things, and I never said otherwise--though I have the sense that you are trying to say that I have.
And how can the government of GB interfere in the practices of a religion? Of course, perhaps it is different in England than here.
It is different. The Church of England is an "established" church--it's part of the government and government-supported, not separate from it, and the queen is the "supreme governor" of the Church of England, just as she is the head of state of the government.
But here churches have long set their own practices when it comes to their ceremonies... baptism, internment, etc. Why should marriage be any different? Marriage as a civil union is one thing. Marriage as a religious union is another.
I agree
What's next... MAKE the Vatican ordain female priests?
I'm sure there are plenty of Roman Catholic women who would love that.
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I prefer fear-free leeks. They taste better.
Got any recipes, Marge? ;)
another view of Saint Bradley's conviction:
"Whatever we might think about the motives and repercussions of Bradley Manning's actions, one thing we know for sure is that he broke the law. He was apprehended, arrested and, as a soldier, he was given a fair court-martial without a jury of his peers per his own request. He was able to hire a defense team and was backed up by public advocacy around the world. From there, he plead guilty to breaking ten laws in the face of having pledged an Oath of Enlistment. And on Tuesday, a military judge found him guilty on an additional ten charges.
"Knowing this, I'm not exactly sure why there was such violent garment rending yesterday over the fact that Manning will go to prison per the mandates of the law. He was given due process, he was presumed innocent and he was tried in the plain view of journalists. So, why the angst?
"I'm not clear as to how Manning has been able to attain such a small but vocal following of supporters given his recklessness and naivete in leaking so many documents, many of which revealed information damaging to American diplomatic endeavors. As with Snowden, there's a vindictiveness in Manning's actions -- a destructive blurting of information in order to seemingly exact punishment upon his government and the people from which it's derived. Had he released fewer documents with a more precise goal in mind and done so through more respectable channels, it's likely he wouldn't be facing 136 years in prison. Better yet, he probably wouldn't have as many critics. "
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/07/bradley-manning-lives-in-a-nation-of-laws-and-hero-or-not-he-broke-16-of-those-laws.html
Amen.
Whistleblowers are people who expose outrageous government expenditures for toilet seats. Bradley Manning is not a whistleblower.
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Lyle and Oilgun--play nice, Boys! >:(
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Lyle and Oilgun--play nice, Boys! >:(
I'm french, I don't mind a little bit of drama. It's good for the soul.
Why Masha Gessen is leaving Russia
For years, Russian-American journalist and gay-rights activist Masha Gessen has vowed to stay in Russia and continue to fight against the Putin regime.
It's no small deal, therefore, that even she is joining the exodus of those fleeing Russia's "homosexual propaganda" laws.
Gessen tells Q guest host Stephen Quinn that the newly-passed bill, and the hostile climate it creates, are too much for her highly visible family.
"We are the only out same sex family in the country, as absurd as that may sound," said Gessen, who has spent 20 years reporting from Russia.
"LGBT people have become the targets of choice in this xenophobic campaign."
Gessen, a lesbian mother of three and a well-known critic of the Putin regime, also worries about a reportedly planned law that seeks to remove children -- adopted or not -- from same-sex families.
As a result, Gessen has already sent her eldest child to the U.S., where she'll soon be joining him along with the rest of her family.
http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2013/08/06/why-masha-gessens-leaving-russia/
Russia is imploding. I really fear for gays in Russia, it's like Germany in the 30s.
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......Russia is imploding. I really fear for gays in Russia, it's like Germany in the 30s.
There are fearful similarities.
Unreported much, also, the sexual abuse of country boys gone into the Russian army, by city boys. Straight-on-straight, same gender rapes. I have read reports it is a nightmare, one they can't admit or reform.
Seems to me, they need to start with sexual abuse. And then leave personal choices alone. But, like many corrupt countries, denial of crimes is paralleled by tormenting the innocent, and posing as moral.
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The US has no business preaching about sexual abuse, especially in the military, to ANY other country.
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And, speaking of denial..... President Obama on the Jay Leno Show, last night : "We don't have a domestic spying program".
Mr. President, at that moment, you took ownership. Of all the Bush/Cheney extremes. It's now your cover-up.
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The US has no business preaching about sexual abuse, especially in the military, to ANY other country.
Sorry, Sherry. There is no presumption of abuse in the U.S. military. Just much that needs justice and jail terms. In Russia, there is almost automatic rape of any male in boot camps. If you can't see the difference, oh, well.... :P.
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I think you are sadly mistaken. When John McCain says he can no longer encourage women to join the military because of the prevalence of sexual abuse, there is a drastic problem. And those who are investigating the matter say it is as bad if not worse with male members as female. One report about abuse in the Russian military compared to hundreds in the US that have made it to major news outlets and on going Congressional inquiries should tell you that.
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And, speaking of denial..... President Obama on the Jay Leno Show, last night : "We don't have a domestic spying program".
Mr. President, at that moment, you took ownership. Of all the Bush/Cheney extremes. It's now your cover-up.
I watched that interview from start to finish and he said no such thing.
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There are fearful similarities.
Unreported much, also, the sexual abuse of country boys gone into the Russian army, by city boys. Straight-on-straight, same gender rapes. I have read reports it is a nightmare, one they can't admit or reform.
Seems to me, they need to start with sexual abuse. And then leave personal choices alone. But, like many corrupt countries, denial of crimes is paralleled by tormenting the innocent, and posing as moral.
That's been a problem with the Russian military since Soviet times. Probably Tsarist too, a way to really put fear of superiors into naive young recruits. Not justifying it by any means, just noting that it's a problem of long standing.
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I watched that interview from start to finish and he said no such thing.
Mmmmm.....you probably didn't hear it, because it was buried in a lot of other qualifications. But the simple declarative sentence WAS said, and CNN, Fox News, and others are continually returning to that sentence today, carrying it on scrawl lines and asking analysts to comment on how he ever could have spoken it. Even buried in a long this and that, it was an outrage.
Meanwhile, you should know, Sherry, your dogs have been on the internet for some time. I get PM's :). They generally like me, and so, please reconsider always being in disagreement.....thee should know, they could bite thee :D.
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That's been a problem with the Russian military since Soviet times. Probably Tsarist too, a way to really put fear of superiors into naive young recruits. Not justifying it by any means, just noting that it's a problem of long standing.
And apparently the policy works so well for Russia the US military has decided to emulate it. Where is the outrage about that?
And if you think it doesn't affect you, the American taxpayer is paying for it in the form of disability payments to the people getting medical discharges because of it.
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Mmmmm.....you probably didn't hear it, because it was buried in a lot of other qualifications. But the simple declarative sentence WAS said, and CNN, Fox News, and others are continually returning to that sentence today, carrying it on scrawl lines and asking analysts to comment on how he ever could have spoken it. Even buried in a long this and that, it was an outrage.
Nothing like taking one sentence out of context.
The man said these were policies in effect when he took office and he was sceptical about them until after he reviewed them and put additional safeguards in place.
Where is the cover-up?
And as a matter of personal opinion, collection of phone numbers, email addresses and website urls is hardly spying on people since anybody can get them any time.
Meanwhile, you should know, Sherry, your dogs have been on the internet for some time. I get PM's :). They generally like me, and so, please reconsider always being in disagreement.....thee should know, they could bite thee :D.
My policy is ALWAYS to trust my dog.
My second policy is even a single bite results in permanent termination.
Thee should listen up.
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That's been a problem with the Russian military since Soviet times. Probably Tsarist too, a way to really put fear of superiors into naive young recruits. Not justifying it by any means, just noting that it's a problem of long standing.
Am sure it has been a long-standing problem, Fritz. But the evidence of parents badly shaken, and reports of up to a million in the last decade, suggests a quantum jump.
In tsarist times, the soldiers were mostly rural, the officer corps of the nobility. But in the Soviet era, there began an admixture of innocent farm boys thrown in with the more jaded city recruits.
In the new reports, there was a direct mention of the sexual abuse and the linking of this with contempt for their rural backgrounds and culture. In other words, if you're country, you are beaten and raped, automatically. If urban, I believe the % drops significantly.
IMO, this is further evidence of the collapse of the Orthodox Church hierarchy. They are so busy pushing so-called weaknesses in the last 2 commissions on the possibility of survivors of the slaughter of the imperial family (which plays into Putin's hands, as he therefore can say he's for the restoration of the monarchy, but can't take the collateral branch), that they've got their heads up their asses. There are more serious issues, and the epidemic of rapes in the army of country lads, and the parallel bashing of legitimate gays (yes, I just used that phrase :P), and the church's silence, is past unacceptable.
A lot of trouble has come from Putin's manipulation of the Church's historical obssessions. It is the duty of the Patriarch to denounce physical abuse of any kind. Sheesh. Even the other churches, while anti-gay, denounced physical bashing.
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President Obama on the Jay Leno Show, last night : "We don't have a domestic spying program".
My local Von's market has a spying program. They know every single thing I buy and recommend things I might
like or not need because of that. They have a record of everything I've ever purchased. Yes, I acqiuesce to using
their card that gives them all of this information because my food bill would be 10-15-20% higher if I did not do it.
It's coercion.
Are traffic cameras to catch speeders a domestic spying program?
Secirity cameras on Government buildings only? Or all buildings?
Didn't Snowden spy on the Government by looking into aeas he had no authority to do, but that he could?
Just because Snowden or Manning had access to information doesn't mean they were allowed to get it.
I had access to my parents purse or wallet when I was at home, was I allowed to snoop thorugh it.
The basic problem here is that there are two conflicting elements at work that aren't really reconcilable.
Security and privacy. How much security do you give up for privacy? How much privacy do you give up
for security? Everyone's going to have a different sliding scale. But I laugh at the outrage of all this angst
about "the Government spying on everyone" when the whole country is spying on each other. Before
computers if I had gone to someone's house and asked their neighbors a zillion personal questions and
wanted to see all the photographs they'd taken of their family, that would've been pretty outrageous.
Now you can find out nearly everything about people on Facebook or other internet sites or Google earth
and your empoyer can look at any personal thing you've done on the computer etc. and we are filmed
every single place we go and yet somehow the Government is after us all? It just seems really silly at times.
Yes, the question of security vs. privacy or vice-versa is one we should have, but let's be realistic.
Somebody who wanted to know a lot about me could just come to this forum and read all my posts and find out
a heck of alot of things.
Are individual citizens really worried about this? "The Government" was keeping tabs on the Tsarneyev's
for various reasons and yet they did what they did. Heck, landlords spy on their tenants for any number
of reasons.
Of course news networks are going to rant and rave over this. The news is in the business of "fear."
If you fear you'll tune in to their news. They want you to be afraid of diseases, and terrorists and spy
programs and germs in your deli food and the weather and any number of things. A recent report John
Stossell did (on ABC I believe) showed that people who watch less news are happier and less stressed
out than those who watch it continually. They're less afraid of things like flying and driving and being
attacked and of catching diseases and visiting doctors and of being spied on I imagine.
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Lyle, if they couldn't stop the Boston Bombing by reponsible monitoring of terrorist sites AND two warnings from a foreign government, then, something's wrong, when basic law enforcement techniques are ignored.
Over 10 years, a trillion $ on satellites, super-computers and an army of tech people, and with what result?
It seems to me that this is a collapse of common sense, turning our protection and our liberties over to a money pit, filled with contractors, tech nerds and underwear sniffers.
Am glad if you feel safe and free. I don't :P.
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...My policy is ALWAYS to trust my dog.
My second policy is even a single bite results in permanent termination.
Thee should listen up.
Arf :P.
Canines of the world unite !!!!
You have nothing to lose except Anthropo-tyranny and patronizing. Unconditional demands : Regular pizza ! Freedom to chase squirrels at will ! Tony gets to be unchallenged ! And : No. More. LEASHES !!!!!!
The relationship is a partnership, not a dictatorship !
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Warnings? Nope. Wrong again.
There were two inquiries about the older brother. The US responded by looking at his activities here and there was nothing alarming.
After that, he went to Terrorist-ville Russia or Slobania while on a visit to his family wherever the hell they were living and the Russians did not report that back to us.
Some people have a problem understanding degrees. Not everyone or everything is all in all the time. Nothing, absolutely nothing is black OR white.
There are two sides to every coin... and in between them is something else.
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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/08/obama-fry-russia-olympics-gay-laws?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
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WASHINGTON | Thu Aug 8, 2013 7:39pm EDT
(Reuters) - From Bill Clinton to Ernie Banks to Loretta Lynn, some of the most famous figures in American sports, politics and music were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday by President Barack Obama.
The award is the highest U.S. civilian honour and to mark the 50th anniversary of the medal, Obama chose to honour a group of people who are household names to Americans.
These are among the notable names on the president's Medal of Freedom list:
Clinton, president from 1993-2001, was cited for his work at the Clinton Foundation and its global effort to promote health and strengthen economies.
Banks, famously dubbed "Mr. Cub" for his 19 years on the Chicago Cubs, played in 11 All-Star games, hit more than 500 home runs and has been in the Baseball Hall of Fame since 1977.
Lynn, a country music singer who was raised in the coalfields of Kentucky, was the subject of the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter" and was one of the genre's first major female stars in the early 1960s.
Ben Bradlee was editor of The Washington Post during the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon in the 1970s. The Post was in the news this week when Amazon's Jeff Bezos purchased the struggling newspaper.
Oprah Winfrey, best known for creating the "Oprah Winfrey Show," the highly rated talk show, is also an actress who starred in the "Color Purple."
Others on the list included former Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar, the late Hawaii Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye, former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, feminist Gloria Steinem, civil rights leader Cordy Tindell "C.T." Vivian, jazz artist Arturo Sandoval, chemist Mario Molina and the late astronaut Sally K. Ride.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/08/us-usa-obama-medals-idUSBRE97718820130808
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OMG! Starting in 2014 the US government is going to require "black boxes" in every new vehicle so they can track not only where we go but the roads we take to get there, how fast we drive and who we pick up on the way. Will this invasion of privacy never stop?!
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The Year of Living Stupidly
“It’s true that there are crank doctrines — goldbuggery, the Laffer curve,etc. — that play a substantial role in popular opinion but have no traction with the elite. But the elite itself has spent much of the past five years committed to economic doctrines — the prevalence of structural unemployment, the urgency of deficit reduction and entitlement reform, the destructive effects of “uncertainty” — that may not be quite as contrary to the evidence as fears of hyperinflation just around the corner, but are pretty bad.
“Eric Cantor says that the deficit is growing when it’s actually falling fast; PolitiFact rules this “'half true' because projections suggest that the deficit will rise (modestly) after 2015. It’s as if I said it was raining when it was actually sunny, and you declared my statement half true because (unreliable) weather forecasts call for rain later in the week. The reality, surely, is that the so-called fact checkers thought they were playing it safe, avoiding calling a top GOP official either uninformed or a liar; as it turns out, they’re getting a different kind of grief, and that’s a good thing.”
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/the-year-of-living-stupidly/
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And, speaking of denial..... President Obama on the Jay Leno Show, last night : "We don't have a domestic spying program".
I watched that interview from start to finish and he said no such thing.
You might very well have "watched it from start to finish," Sherry, but what Tony said was correct.
Here’s the opening section (less than a minute) of President Obama’s response to Jay Leno's introduction on The Tonight Show:
http://youtu.be/A2oieEyaNKk
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I'm on dial up. And I repeat, taken out of context. But that's what spin is all about.
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I'm on dial up.
...which was why I mentioned the time of the video clip, being mindful of those in situations such as yours, Sherry... :)
And I repeat, taken out of context.
How on earth can it be "out of context?" ???
He said it.
Might I remind you that you said that “he said no such thing?”
But that's what spin is all about.
Do I detect a subtle reference to our famous 1950s Australian washing machine? :D
You know—the one that's advertised as being only £83/10/- (delivered to your home)—and available on “Very Easy Terms."
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Those with dial-up, can go to HuffPo's story, today, "Did the president really lie on national television?".
As for his news conference today, now that's spin. The so-called reform (maybe within 1 year ::) ?) that FiSA courts will have an adversarial advocate against government requests.... that means, there never was any.
Every President, even the best, makes an enduring, catastrophic mistake. Obama has now made his. He is no better than a lawyer/salesman for cigarettes (think Ken Starr) or the industry lawyers for pollution and no climate change consequences. He's selling: "What loss of safety and freedom?"
But, either way, the NSA scandal is the wrong focus. The real problem is the other agencies that can avoid courts, and tap into NSA. The real scam. And given the extreme access (Ed Snowden did it casually), we have the nightmare of police, federal agencies, and NCIS, and military intelligence, skirting the system. Millions of punks and goons checking up on ex-wives, neighbors, covering up political scandals, and their own mistakes,and even just helping people get or lose jobs, or get or lose their homes. Stroking the spooks sexually, or being related to them, can even bring their over-arching lawlessness in to play.
Reform the NSA? NSA is just the spigot from which the others tap for complete lawlessness.
But then, of course, the worst child porn case was not at the Pentagon ::), and maybe there aren't thousands of personal favors done on the local level, everywhere. There are, as we know, no dirty cops.
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This is an embarrassing post for me to do, but am up for it. We've seen the high-falutin words tossed around, police state, 4th amendment, loss of rights. But the reality is much more grubby, glossed over by the intellectual debate.
I live in a soft police state, and yes, am talking about Norfolk. And even my miserable neighborhood, surrounded by the naval base. I didn't leave, until I had a back injury, and had to sell the family home for the cash, to survive.
Details? The Norfolk Police took pay-offs for the drug trade through the ports. I saw that, at the neighborhood tavern.
And my neighborhood, all the disputes settled by sexual favors for the cops. One detective, whose name rhymes with John R. Masterson, had a long-running affair with a friend of mine, and when she had an enemy, he took care of it. Which accidentally sometimes led to deaths. And racism? Get real. My 2 oldest brothers, born before WWII, were/are right wing, and always pals with the cops. So, if I got stopped for a traffic offense, I got off. The good old boy network.
Why no scandals? In Naval towns, NCIS and local police are in bed. They cover for each other. Leading to strange abuses.
As an off-example, an ethnic group I have always liked, Filipinos, decided our neighborhood was to be their most favorable location. They work primarily on the base. It didn't occur to me until one of them, a friend named Pete, working for Naval Intelligence, was using his power to help the take-over....of people's homes. (They now own 60% of the neighborhood).
These obviously little injustices and abuses are local, and grubby. But that's where the rest of you are headed, as the cancer spreads. Your neighborhood disputes, your jobs, your homes, your families, on the line, depending on your politics and who is giving head to the police or the feds. I'm serious. One of my worst pains in life is having seen what I saw. Authority out of control. And it can be local, or federal level. So, we are not just discussing esoteric principles. A real soft police state is a fountain of personal misuse and abuse by the many freaks and goons who go into it for power.
Oh, yeah. NCIS is a great tv show. But the mark of an Orwellian beginning is the gap between that show and the reality of an agency whose principal past was hunting gay sailors, anti-war activists or sympathizers, and prancing around as secret agents.
Especially the Bellinger Street office in Norfolk. Want a political cover-up? Call 'em. Real estate? Settling a score? Call 'em. The price isn't always a blow job. Sometimes it's just stroking their egos. And THAT is inexorably headed your way. Discussions of law enforcement abuse are clean. The reality of a soft police state, backed up by high-tech snooping, is a stinking pit of personal abuses cloaked in a larger historical reality. Ask the victims of the Nazi's, the Stazi, the commies. A police state is localized personal abuse, spread to a national scale.
President Obama doesn't get it.
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Tony, it took me almost 45 minutes to get to the story below. I could NOT get on Huffington Post beyond the huge headline at the very top of the page and after 15+ minutes of my computer spinning its wheels resorted to bing. There I clicked on several links with the same result as most of them led back to the Huffington page. Finally, I did manage to get this to load
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/08/09/huffington-post-front-page-headline-torches-obama-did-he-lie-national
Huffington Post Front Page Headline Torches Obama: 'Did He Lie On National TV?'
By Noel Sheppard | August 09, 2013 | 11:02
Here's a headline you probably never imagined you'd see about Barack Obama at the perilously liberal Huffington Post:
DID HE LIE ON NATIONAL TV?
Yet there it was:
At issue is what Obama told NBC Tonight Show host Jay Leno Tuesday:
"There is no spying on Americans. We don't have a domestic spying program. What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an email address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat."
This was flatly contradicted by a New York Times report Thursday:
"The National Security Agency is searching the contents of vast amounts of Americans’ e-mail and text communications into and out of the country, hunting for people who mention information about foreigners under surveillance, according to intelligence officials.
The N.S.A. is not just intercepting the communications of Americans who are in direct contact with foreigners targeted overseas, a practice that government officials have openly acknowledged. It is also casting a far wider net for people who cite information linked to those foreigners, like a little used e-mail address, according to a senior intelligence official.
While it has long been known that the agency conducts extensive computer searches of data it vacuums up overseas, that it is systematically searching — without warrants — through the contents of Americans’ communications that cross the border reveals more about the scale of its secret operations."
As such, the astonishingly liberal Post on Friday asked boldly at the top of its front page if Obama lied on national TV.
Makes you wonder if other Obama-loving media outlets will ask the same question or predictably give the object of their affection another pass.
Stay tuned.
Here's the deal... I still see no lie. I do not see this policy as spying. Not on me or my family and friends or you or anybody else.
Furthermore, it is no more invasive than any other tracking program in place for just about everything we (Americans) do on a daily basis. From traffic cameras to google, we are being watched 24/7. It has not affected my life at all.
As for your personal experience (the one you related some time back,) I feel your pain and absolutely understand the fear and frustration you went through. It is regretable and cannot be wished away. But I believe it colors your perspective... if it can happen to you, it can happen to everybody and the rest of us are wandering around in la-la-land.
The truth is shit happens. Every time you get in a car you can be in an accident. Every time you get something on line or answer your phone you can be conned. Everytime you buy a product at your local grocery store you can get the one can that has been tampered with. I cannot, I choose not to worry about all the awful things that might happen if I make a phone call or send an email or go to the store or wander around my house stark naked.
The evils of Norfolk as you express them exist everywhere to some degree. In my opinion, it is a small, a minute degree, compared to the way things work in general all over this country. People have been warning us about the bad guys since Columbus landed here. The US was established to get away from the bad guys. But guess what... the bad comes with the good no matter what we're talking about. It boils down to a matter of perception.
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....As for your personal experience (the one you related some time back,) I feel your pain and absolutely understand the fear and frustration you went through. It is regretable and cannot be wished away. But I believe it colors your perspective... if it can happen to you, it can happen to everybody and the rest of us are wandering around in la-la-land.
....The evils of Norfolk as you express them exist everywhere to some degree. In my opinion, it is a small, a minute degree, compared to the way things work in general all over this country. People have been warning us about the bad guys since Columbus landed here. The US was established to get away from the bad guys. But guess what... the bad comes with the good no matter what we're talking about. It boils down to a matter of perception.
Sherry, IMO, that was one of your best posts, and very well-expressed. I get it, that shit happens, and also that my perceptions have been colored.
I guess what I can't ever explain, is that I have factored in how my perceptions would have been altered, and still see what I had always seemed to me to be impossible. Yeah, I know, there are regular stories on tv of abuse, but those are the random ones that we just know happen somewhere or other. As you pointed out in what you wrote, above.
But what I have posted, especially about the Weinmann case, was limited, to preserve at least a shred of credibility. What actually happened is what I can't file away under "shit happens". Massive, expensive, skillfully done, and very, very sick. And then, from what I saw, and experienced, and knew for sure was a total collapse of the federal agencies and also the news media (during those years), there were also solid glimpses into multiple sicknesses that call into question whether we are safe from attack with that much energy put into a political cover-up. And the American people in a coma.
Yes, I am sensitive about government abuse of widespread domestic electronic spying. I knew about it 6 years ago. And technologies much worse. I also have never thought we should toss out these computer-derived scientific advances. I just saw, they were so powerful, they could alter the political system, as well as metastasize into everywhere, frequent, local abuses. Without accountability. And there IS none.
I get it, Sherry, that shit happens. I just have never been able to convey the extreme dangers of what is already here. And, BTW, doesn't anybody get it, in plain sight, that if a tech guy could key in to ANY stored call or e-mail, we are then in a Watergate every day, with even the President having to be subject to the inherent weaknesses of their programs. And his security. And ours. Sherry, THAT was Snowden's warning: too much stored, and too easily downloaded.
As to what I caught solid glimpses of, repeatedly, and cannot speak about, well, the ground caved in under me. Am sure those who first saw first-hand, the wars and genocides of the 20th century had a similar reaction. But those extremes pass. The ones I saw, IMO, entirely shut down the future. Not a different perception, maybe, but more having seen the still unexplainable extremes.
Even so, yours was a good post. I do understand I should not let my life be governed by what happened, and what I saw, as much as possible. And I do understand, it isn't my fight. Am older, and not willing or able. Am not sure I would even give testimony in court if any of that stuff were Woodward and Bernsteined by someone.
I do get it. And am glad your own life was not hit that hard. But sometimes, I do speak up, and this was one of those times.
Meanwhile, what was that about going around the house naked :D ? Seriously ?
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Tony, it took me almost 45 minutes to get to the story below. I could NOT get on Huffington Post beyond the huge headline at the very top of the page and after 15+ minutes of my computer spinning its wheels resorted to bing. There I clicked on several links with the same result as most of them led back to the Huffington page. Finally, I did manage to get this to load
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/08/09/huffington-post-front-page-headline-torches-obama-did-he-lie-national
So did the story ever explain the difference between HuffPo being "perilously liberal" and "astonishingly liberal"?
Some of the people in this neck of the woods would never survive living in our county with its Air Force base. They'd expire of sheer snitification.
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There's so many issues one can bring up concerning posts about this topic, so here's
a chip off this block from me, and I don't pretend it makes sense, but in a stream of
consciousness way, perhaps, I am asking questions that arise and sometimes stick and
sometimes evaporate.
At issue is what Obama told NBC Tonight Show host Jay Leno Tuesday:
"There is no spying on Americans. We don't have a domestic spying program. What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an email address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat."
This was flatly contradicted by a New York Times report Thursday:
"The National Security Agency is searching the contents of vast amounts of Americans’ e-mail and text communications into and out of the country, hunting for people who mention information about foreigners under surveillance, according to intelligence officials.
The N.S.A. is not just intercepting the communications of Americans who are in direct contact with foreigners targeted overseas, a practice that government officials have openly acknowledged. It is also casting a far wider net for people who cite information linked to those foreigners, like a little used e-mail address, according to a senior intelligence official.
While it has long been known that the agency conducts extensive computer searches of data it vacuums up overseas, that it is systematically searching — without warrants — through the contents of Americans’ communications that cross the border reveals more about the scale of its secret operations."
The way the word "spy" is being tossed around, and especially on late night shows by comedians, is always
in a nefarious way, in a no good way, a big brother is watching you way...
Here's a question: Is spying a bad thing?
If we have the technology to do this, other countries have it, too. The question of, if other countries can do
the same thing the U.S. is doing do we not want the U.S. doing it? Are people saying they don't mind if China
peruses our emails in a perfunctory way, but the U.S. should not?
Here's the thing that I've brought up before. You have two competing and seemingly irreconcilable
issues here. Privacy and security. Everyone wants our Government to keep us "safe." Everyone says
they want their privacy. But everyone has diferent ideas about what that means. No Government wants
to be the one that is in power if something awful happens and the people crying about spying would be
the first to blame them for not doing enoiugh.
How many times on the news do you hear people interviewed at airports say, "well if it keeps us safe then
I don't mind waiting...or being searched...or whatever." Why not the same attitude about sureveillance?
What about all the satellites mapping the earth. You can see into every backyard in the U.S.
Is it spying?
Of course, because this issue of security/privacy is nebulous the news media loves it. If promotes
fear of what's out there and so people will watch and yet no real answer can ever be gotten, so there's
no accountability. And there's really no answer. Because everyone has their own idea of security and privacy
and it can be argued about relentlessly.
Makes you wonder if other Obama-loving media outlets will ask the same question or predictably give the object of their affection another pass.
So I guess this particular article comes from an Obama-hating media outlet. This is also why I wouldn't trust this particular
website. This one line infers that the President should always be attacked or vilified and that nothing short of that means
you're in cahoots with him.
If one just reads the single posts above by Doodler and Tony--Doodler is not concerned about this and Tony is sounding
the warning alarm. But--I ask Tony, if you are sounding an alarm, what should we do about it? Anytime crowds gather
there are Government agencis out taking the temperature of thse crowds, looking for possible troublemakers or the like.
Is that spying? Is it the same thing as the "extensive computer searches of data" cited?
I certainly am not saying that the security/privacy topic shouldn't be discussed, modified, changed, or whatever
else one believes. But I lean toward Doodler's attitude about it rather than the opposite extreme, especially when
the question of "what could one do about it" is not answered very well.
-
.
If one just reads the single posts above by Doodler and Tony--Doodler is not concerned about this and Tony is sounding
the warning alarm. But--I ask Tony, if you are sounding an alarm, what should we do about it? Anytime crowds gather
there are Government agencis out taking the temperature of thse crowds, looking for possible troublemakers or the like.
Is that spying? Is it the same thing as the "extensive computer searches of data" cited?
Your post is very thoughtful and is a bulls-eye, IMO, on most of the issues. But you've asked me what we should do about things and so, here goes.
In my previous posts, I have often said, we do need high-tech. And we also need tracking of some people. But even in the intel community, there is a wild debate over too much information, and no common sense. Again. The Boston Bombings. Those guilty were going to terrorist web sites, which should be monitored, and we had TWO warnings from Russia. Wimping out on this....will cause more deaths. Simple, inexpensive, common sense law enforcement, would have stopped that tragedy.
But, we are pouring hundreds of billions into super-computer, byzantine, rat-mazes, with that All-American fatal flaw : spend and kill our way out of danger. It. Doesn't. WORK.
But it does establish a soft police state (as Der Spiegel termed us). Which is subject to promiscuous abuse.
What to do about it? Well, finally, there is a push back. Whether that will succeed or not, I do not know. My own point is that there is too much secrecy, and zero accountability, which is a galactic-sized Petri dish for LESS security and MORE abuse. Some demotions, some jail terms, would be a good start.
Finally, Lyle, you know I like you and Sherry. And respect both of you. But, where you guys, and many others, are willing to give up and even ignore, invasions of privacy and abuse, please, please, please, avoid the appearance or reality, that you can do that for others. I don't think you have gone that far. Am just respectfully asking that you and others never do.
Again, I am for this high-tech stuff. Am warning that the simplest precautions of oversight and accountability....are not there.
-
There is no more secrecy now than there was before. In fact, I'd be willing to bet just about everyone in the country knows more about what the government is doing than ever before, whether they want to or not. And I don't think people want to know. I don't think they care. I have been making it a point to ask what people think about Obama's spy program and so far, except for a few "What?"s, everyone has just shrugged it off as a non issue. Even my VERY conservative friends, including a couple who are almost as anti-government as oilgun, aren't perturbed... and some of them send out some pretty blunt emails. A report on tonight's national news (on NBC, I think) said they have national poll results saying 56% of Americans think the spy programs MAY go too far... and this was contrasted to the 55% of Americans who were afraid the government wouldn't go far enough right after 9-11. But most of the people they showed in the interviews seemed unworried or supportive.
I have always felt, as Tony does, that there is too little security for all the information on the internet. To me, THAT is the place terrorists should be looking for their next major attack. Blowing up a few buildings, crashing a few planes or trains, poisoning a few water supplies is small potatoes in comparison to shutting down EVERYTHING.
(I know Tony's main concern is power hungry bad guys in our own government, but that's not going to happen overnight.)
-
Well, once more, into the breach.
Switzerland apologizes to Oprah Winfrey for a racist cashier? Others may not believe it, or if they did, say it, but...
Oprah Winfrey is a bully and a phony !
As someone who enjoys social history, I do see her as a pivotal figure in our times. She broke ground on lowering racial tensions, and proving women have a right to a perspective and to bonding, as men have done. And her contributions there have been historic. On television.
But in real life? No way. She's a phony. Same-old, same-old, ghetto mentality of making it big, sashaying around with the middle-class whites, and trashing working people.
The Swiss cashier who suggested a purse was too expensive, and asked to show her other handbags, made a minor, non-racial mistake. Oprah is known for flouncing around in foreign countries, frumpy-dressed, and expecting that she be recognized and fanned with ostrich feathers. She's done this before. Some years back, she demanded that a Department Store in Paris stay open, past closing hours, for....her. When the manager, very sensibly, said no, she cried: RACISM !!!! International story.
She's ghetto, and she's studied how to get past that by being a phony. Well-bred people never trash wait-staff, cashiers, or clerks. Poor people who better themselves, commercially, never get it......you do not jump to accusations and trashing, when you don't get your way. And if of poor black origins, you don't play sweet to get ahead, and then play the race card if somebody makes the slightest mistake.
She doesn't get it. When you trash other people.....you are trash. She pissed me off the first time she did this. About that time, I broke off with a friend for abusing a fast-food worker, over nothing. Oprah now has a pattern.
Anyway, she was in Switzerland for Tina Turner's marriage. THAT one is, IMO, the major breakthrough in female sensuality. Please, Tina, don't ever show up as low-bred as your friend :">.
At any rate, I am glad to see an emerging political force for respecting low-paid workers. It's been long overdue.
-
....I have always felt, as Tony does, that there is too little security for all the information on the internet. To me, THAT is the place terrorists should be looking for their next major attack. Blowing up a few buildings, crashing a few planes or trains, poisoning a few water supplies is small potatoes in comparison to shutting down EVERYTHING.
(I know Tony's main concern is power hungry bad guys in our own government, but that's not going to happen overnight.)
Agreed, there, Sherry. Nothing is going to happen overnight. In fact, Watergate, where the Attorney General, another cabinet member, and various White House staff, went to jail, :), and the President was impeached, and resigned before convicted.....that took over 2 years.
I am more worried about human nature that ignores obvious warnings. World War I. The Holocaust. And the emergence of Al-Qaida (there with the cost of a trillion dollars and untold deaths and cripplings).
Then, it takes decades or even much longer, for the pain to fade. And we still ignore obvious warnings. I guess, here we go again.
-
The difference between us, Tony, is I have faith that will never happen in the US. From the very beginning there have been powerful men trying to take over our government and all have failed. Our checks and balances work. And if it should happen that they do not, we are a well armed populace.
-
[...]
You want to blame authorities, why don't you blame supposed reporters, as MH was, and have
them invesitgate this if all these people believe it was murder. Why aren't they doing that?
Maybe the reporters did it themselves for their own agenda? (Is that not as plausible, or just
an eye roll?)
[...]
FBI sued for keeping secret their file on journalist Michael Hastings
Two investigative journalists are suing the FBI after the government failed to respond on time to a pair of Freedom of Information Act requests filed for details on the death of reporter Michael Hastings.
Jason Leopold and Ryan Shapiro filed a joint suit on Friday after the Federal Bureau of Investigation neglected to respond to their FOIA requests within the 20-working day period required by law.
Leopold and Shapiro both sent FOIA requests to the FBI following Hastings’ untimely death last month, and are now taking legal action in an attempt to expedite pleas that have so far been ignored by the bureau.
[...]
http://www.educateinspirechange.org/2013/07/fbi-sued-for-keeping-secret-their-file.html
-
Good, if they're not follwing the rules, go after them.
Sort of like NOM keeps getting ruled against for not dislcosing their campaign donors,
but they still have not done anything about it. Courts rule, but don't enforce. We
shall see what happens.
***
Tony, thanks for your recent posts, and Doodler, too, both of your back and forth
replies were interesting.
And I don't know what to make of your Oprah post, Tony, people are so touchy when
it comes to her. And the few things I googled baout the incident which I'd heard very
little about all have subtle but pronounced differences so it's hard to know what exactly
occured.
-
FBI sued for keeping secret their file on journalist Michael Hastings
Two investigative journalists are suing the FBI after the government failed to respond on time to a pair of Freedom of Information Act requests filed for details on the death of reporter Michael Hastings.
Jason Leopold and Ryan Shapiro filed a joint suit on Friday after the Federal Bureau of Investigation neglected to respond to their FOIA requests within the 20-working day period required by law.
Leopold and Shapiro both sent FOIA requests to the FBI following Hastings’ untimely death last month, and are now taking legal action in an attempt to expedite pleas that have so far been ignored by the bureau.
[...]
http://www.educateinspirechange.org/2013/07/fbi-sued-for-keeping-secret-their-file.html
I'll believe there is something to your assumption of murder if Leopold and Shapiro die or disappear.
-
...And I don't know what to make of your Oprah post, Tony, people are so touchy when
it comes to her. And the few things I googled baout the incident which I'd heard very
little about all have subtle but pronounced differences so it's hard to know what exactly
occured.
I wasn't aware that people were touchy about Oprah, Lyle. Thought I was the only one :P.
Anyway, it turns out the handbag was a lobanza $38,000 item. Clearly, the clerk would have wanted to have her look it over, for the prospects of a very good sale, and, maybe, commission.
But, since people often like to handle things of considerable value, which wears them out, and also, as a courtesy, the clerk made her mistake.
A minor one. The real problem is that Oprah has deluded herself that she is widely known outside of the United States. And that NOBODY on this planet, tells her no. And that's ignorant. As is the immediate playing of the race card. Which she has done, before, in Europe.
She gets an award, soon, from the U.S. government. FWIW, am giving her another award today : Phony of the Year.
Billionaires who have zero empathy or respect for working people, are, IMO, garbage.
-
....I'll believe there is something to your assumption of murder if Leopold and Shapiro die or disappear.
Nah....they're safe. If murder, the creepies wouldn't risk another 1 or 2. The usual MO is for the government to buy off the reporters with exclusives, in other areas. That's what they did with Mike Gooding, of WVEC tv, in Norfolk, who was going to run a story on the Weinmann case, based on my own info.
Meanwhile, CNN, not referencing the Hastings death, had a segment on how easily new cars can be hacked. The steering wheel, the brake lines, and the accelerator. They showed it being done. Sheesh, makes you want to stick to classic cars, if only you can afford them.
******
Where is Paul? Me like reading his posts :). Also Jeff and Brokeback Tom. And others. Please post, even if it's doodlebugging.
-
BO may be The President
but Oprah's the queen.
-
Well, once more, into the breach.
Switzerland apologizes to Oprah Winfrey for a racist cashier? Others may not believe it, or if they did, say it, but...
Oprah Winfrey is a bully and a phony !
As someone who enjoys social history, I do see her as a pivotal figure in our times. She broke ground on lowering racial tensions, and proving women have a right to a perspective and to bonding, as men have done. And her contributions there have been historic. On television.
But in real life? No way. She's a phony. Same-old, same-old, ghetto mentality of making it big, sashaying around with the middle-class whites, and trashing working people.
The Swiss cashier who suggested a purse was too expensive, and asked to show her other handbags, made a minor, non-racial mistake. Oprah is known for flouncing around in foreign countries, frumpy-dressed, and expecting that she be recognized and fanned with ostrich feathers. She's done this before. Some years back, she demanded that a Department Store in Paris stay open, past closing hours, for....her. When the manager, very sensibly, said no, she cried: RACISM !!!! International story.
She's ghetto, and she's studied how to get past that by being a phony. Well-bred people never trash wait-staff, cashiers, or clerks. Poor people who better themselves, commercially, never get it......you do not jump to accusations and trashing, when you don't get your way. And if of poor black origins, you don't play sweet to get ahead, and then play the race card if somebody makes the slightest mistake.
She doesn't get it. When you trash other people.....you are trash. She pissed me off the first time she did this. About that time, I broke off with a friend for abusing a fast-food worker, over nothing. Oprah now has a pattern.
Anyway, she was in Switzerland for Tina Turner's marriage. THAT one is, IMO, the major breakthrough in female sensuality. Please, Tina, don't ever show up as low-bred as your friend :">.
At any rate, I am glad to see an emerging political force for respecting low-paid workers. It's been long overdue.
Good post, Tony.
I especially like this comment:
Well-bred people never trash wait-staff, cashiers, or clerks.
I'd just add bartenders to your list--and also that they say "please" and "thank you" to them.
-
Where is Paul? Me like reading his posts :). Also Jeff and Brokeback Tom. And others. Please post, even if it's doodlebugging.
OK, since you extended the invitation to "others", I'll contribute a little. I lurk on here sometimes but haven't posted in a long time because it feels kind of like barging in, especially when I don't have time to hang here on a regular basis.
In my opinion, the majority of people are not truly worried about the NSA thing because they can't imagine that their emails and phone calls, representing a few molecules of H2O in that Mississippi-sized river of data, would be of any interest to the government. I think most people are worried about individuals -- an employer, credit-rating service, identify thief, ex-spouse -- checking them out on Facebook, Googling them, Google-Earthing them (where I live, the authorities use GE to see who has a swimming pool, which must have certain expensive safety features, or is building something on their property without a permit) in order to steal from them or wreak havoc on their personal lives.
As for the Oprah incident, for the luxury shop in question it's a similar question of balance -- not exactly between security and privacy but rather between security and bad PR. Does this person look both rich enough and crazy enough to buy a $40K handbag to risk letting her handle the thing? vs What is the risk of offending this person? For me, the bigger question is, why would Oprah even admit she was contemplating wasting that much money?
-
Where is Paul? Me like reading his posts :).
Golly. Have I been missed since Page 8?
Also Jeff and Brokeback Tom. And others. Please post, even if it's doodlebugging.
Even if it's doodlebugging, Tony?
Isn’t that “a seismic method for exploring for oil which sets off explosions at measured intervals, and recording the passage of shock waves through different strata?” ;)
I’m taking a short break (but have enjoyed the colloquy, especially the issue of morality in “The Intriguing Case of a Handbag”) so will leave that to les autres... until I get back my breath.
(No solecisms for me.)
-
Where is Paul? Me like reading his posts :). Also Jeff and Brokeback Tom. And others. Please post, even if it's doodlebugging.
Um, if you meant me, I have been staying away deliberately because sometimes this thread just makes me too angry, and I tell myself I really don't need that sort of emotion in my life. I don't enjoy being made angry by posts on a news group.
But I did post a reply to your's about Oprah Winfrey and how well-bred (or well-brought-up?) people behave. See above. :)
-
....OK, since you extended the invitation to "others", I'll contribute a little. I lurk on here sometimes but haven't posted in a long time because it feels kind of like barging in, especially when I don't have time to hang here on a regular basis.
I know what you mean, there, Kim, as I go to some of the other threads, but don't hang out, and so don't post, for fear of intruding. But I do like to go around and see what others are doing. It's fun, enjoying the company, but staying a little detached.
As far as extending an invitation to others, I was just wondering about everybody. I feel uneasy, now, over how that was written by me, because it is not my place to extend invitations to this thread (or any other). I probably should be more careful. Even when I have strong opinions here, I really, seriously, don't want to seem brash. Or over-post. Or, whatever.
Even so, what you wrote was very level-headed, and gave me a calmer perspective, for which am grateful. Thanks ! Sometimes people show up here, briefly, and that usually tends to re-balance those here often. Thanks, again !
*****
Paul, I did see your post. Was just wondering what else you had to say :)......
*****
Jeff, as far as some of what's here being angrifying, that probably is true for all of us. But it is "Hot Topics". Maybe some of us do go too far and need to rein ourselves in, as a courtesy to others. But, it is kind of seductive to let it all hang out.
Did see your post, and appreciated someone else weighing in about The Oprah. But was upstairs on my cranky computer, when I read it, and couldn't thank you, last night.
For whatever reason, am feeling a little too conspicuous. Will be back, toning down whatever posts I make. This can be a fun thread, but, myself, I admit I need to think before typing :P.
-
Jeff, as far as some of what's here being angrifying, that probably is true for all of us. But it is "Hot Topics". Maybe some of us do go too far and need to rein ourselves in, as a courtesy to others. But, it is kind of seductive to let it all hang out.
That's the Internet for you! :D
Did see your post, and appreciated someone else weighing in about The Oprah. But was upstairs on my cranky computer, when I read it, and couldn't thank you, last night.
NP. You've got a cranky computer and I've got an antique computer! :D
I guess Oprah thinks she's entitled, or something. I don't mean to demean the woman's accomplishments, which are impressive, but I remember her when she was a not-much-of-anybody in Baltimore. :D
-
.....That's the Internet for you! :D
Amen, there :P......
-
Odds and ends.
1.) PBS Newshour had some interesting things on it last night. It's first segment was about
Eric Holder's speech about new policies concerning how we operate prisons and prison sentences,
etc.
One thing that was mentioned that I found quite astounding is that the United States has about 5%
of the world's population, but has 25% of the prison population of the world. With a statistic like that
something is wrong somewhere. (Although one panelist thought that was a good thing.)
***
2.) They also did a segment on the backlash from around the world that Russia is receiving for their
stance and new laws concerning GLBT issues and how the upcoming Sochi Olympics has become a
focal point for the issue. Apparently, everywhere Putin has visited in Europe has become a staging
area for protests against this. Boycotts have been called for all over the world, but that idea is not
gaining traction. In NYC there were protests at Russia's ambassadors' residence and the ambassador
tried to alleviate any fear of GLBT persons participating in the Olympics or GLBT tourists attending them,
although he added, "...but we expect one to respect our laws."
This issue doesn't seem like it'll go away any time soon (good) and with Obama's support in this
area, I'm hoping more GLBT athletes will come out for the upcoming games. I, personally, am not
for boycotts of the olympics as I've stated previously, but I have no problem with people speaking
out in this area at the Olympics, which would make more impact if you ask me. THere's also a TDS
news item about this in today's edition.
***
3.) The news hour also had a segment about police departments in the U.S. who are using
electronics to read people's car license plates and track them, store the information and
possibly use it against you. (Example: The police in one city were reading all the license
plates of cars that were attending a certain Mosque and to subsequently track the places
where these cars were visiting or travelling to.) Sound familiar?
***
4.) The Governor of North Carolina signed a stringent photo ID law into effect which will also
cut a week off current early voting periods in what the bill sponsors say will prevent rampant
voter fraud, even though NO rampant voter fraud is happening in North Carolina. I suspect
it's rampant VOTING that they're really afraid of.
***
5.) And Bayard Rustin will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest possible civilian honor,
from President Obama.
-
JOHANNESBURG - A South African police spokesman says Oscar Pistorius will be served with an indictment now that police have completed an investigation into the shooting death of his girlfriend.
Spokesman Lt. Gen. Solomon Makgale said Tuesday the investigation team is convinced Pistorius has a charge to answer.
Pistorius will appear in a Pretoria court Monday. Makgale said it is expected Pistorius will be served with the indictment and a trial date will be set.
Pistorius says he accidentally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Feb. 14. The state alleges the couple may have argued and he intentionally killed her.
The double-amputee Olympian may face a life sentence in prison, with a minimum of 25 years, if convicted of a charge of premeditated murder. He was freed on bail Feb. 22.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/police-finalize-investigation-shooting-oscar-pistorius-serve-indictment-145637537.html
Finally, thank goodness!!
-
Oh, well, here I was, complaining about my having been wildly tormented during the Weinmann court martial, here in Norfolk, as a suppressed witness to false testimony.
Meh. I was too young to hear much about the original programs. Check out COINTELPRO, on Wikipedia. The FBI's long-running program to impose social order by discrediting dissidents, making false arrests, psy-ops to disorient the target, destroying people's jobs, and, yes, murder. More fully exposed after Watergate, in the Senate Hearings in the 1970's.
Early targets included MLK, liberals, and social activists. They tossed in some KKK disruption as a sop to suggest some balance.
I did notice NCIS took down off their recent web page, the bragging about their constant vigilance against Quakers and the Catholic Workers groups, in Navy towns ::). That got on their grid after the Berrigan Brothers (2 Catholic monks), got onto the Navy Base here, and poured blood on a submarine. I guess NCIS figured out, their persecution of two religious groups, wasn't good PR. Or got a grant for better PR, and that was the first stupid to be cleaned up.
I wonder, with the new hi-tech, just how many distinct lists they DO have. On anybody who has expressed a political view. And how many sealed-off cubbyholes, ready to do the grotesque, with complete deniability.
BTW, a footnote to my earlier posts. How did I know it was the Norfolk Bellinger Street office conducting the cover-up of the Weinmann domestic spying case? Kind of easy, really. 7 years ago, to get their intimidation to stop....I just called their office. Typical, goofy, Tony. They hit me with an ear-piercing screeching noise. Later, calling them again, one guy threatened to come over and beat me to a pulp. Yeah, Bellinger street was running the criminal cover-up. When I moved out of their jurisdiction, near to the Amphibious Base office of NCIS, those guys didn't want any part of the felonies, and left me alone.
Meanwhile, appealing to the FBI, I did get some help :). I know they can have criminal cubbyholes, too, but, in this case, they were as helpful as they could be, without re-igniting the NCIS-FBI feuds and wars.
Anyway, it's been 7 years. Edward Snowden's early revelations, I fully believe, are only the tip of the iceberg.
It'll all be ok for those who were never hit,(you guys), unless there's economic or social disorder. Or the emergence of extremist politicians at the top. Think: the Weimar Republic. And what followed.
I hope some of you do look up COINTELPRO. That's the old stuff. And so, perhaps, be less indifferent to what has almost certainly, exploded, since. And.....wait and hope for another collapse of this creepy stuff.
Myself, I'll accept, each generation has its challenge. I met mine. I have a right to tv, books, and goofing off :).
And also supporting the younger generation, who have so much more at stake.
-
For accuracy's sake, the Berrigan brothers weren't monks, they were Jesuits.
Like Pope Francis!
-
...they also did a segment on the backlash from around the world that Russia is receiving for their
stance and new laws concerning GLBT issues and how the upcoming Sochi Olympics has become a
focal point for the issue. Apparently, everywhere Putin has visited in Europe has become a staging
area for protests against this. Boycotts have been called for all over the world, but that idea is not
gaining traction. In NYC there were protests at Russia's ambassadors' residence and the ambassador
tried to alleviate any fear of GLBT persons participating in the Olympics or GLBT tourists attending them,
although he added, "...but we expect one to respect our laws."
This issue doesn't seem like it'll go away any time soon (good) and with Obama's support in this
area, I'm hoping more GLBT athletes will come out for the upcoming games. I, personally, am not
for boycotts of the olympics as I've stated previously, but I have no problem with people speaking
out in this area at the Olympics, which would make more impact if you ask me. THere's also a TDS
news item about this in today's edition.
I don't think this is going to go away. The Russian goverment were already morons for having the Winter Olympics so near to Chechneya. Now, they go and ignite a direct confrontation with the European Union, American networks (from whence the money derives), and a world-wide movement in the opposite directon.
Dumb asses.
-
For accuracy's sake, the Berrigan brothers weren't monks, they were Jesuits.
Like Pope Francis!
Didn't know that, Fritz ! Yay, for the Jesuits :) !!!
-
Back in the mid 70s, I read a book about subliminal suggestion and was pissed for years. I mean a good deep down gut churning anger. It took a while but I'm over it now.
The guy who invented/owns ORACLE was interviewed on national tv this evening. The only question was how he feels about NSA spying and his answer was it has been going on for far longer than NSA, so no big deal. His "red line" would be the political parties using spying/data collection against members of each other. (As if they don't do that already.)
-
I don't think this is going to go away. The Russian goverment were already morons for having the Winter Olympics so near to Chechneya. Now, they go and ignite a direct confrontation with the European Union, American networks (from whence the money derives), and a world-wide movement in the opposite directon.
Dumb asses.
It should be one of the most interesting Winter Olympics ever.
Now the IOC is on board with Putin:
Olympic Committee threatens to punish athletes who fight for gay Russians
Forget the Russian police, athletes who back gay rights during Sochi’s Winter Games may be punishedby the Olympic Committee
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/olympic-committee-threatens-punish-athletes-who-fight-gay-russians120813#sthash.F38Z5MFL.dpuf
The thing is, just being yourself shouldn't be considered political propaganda by the IOC. I mean if Johnny Weir happens to refer to his husband, who is Russian-American btw, during an interview he could be arrested, fined, imprisoned and deported. Openly gay Weir is apparently famous in Russia so just showing up might get him arrested.
-
Does "backing gay rights"or "fighting for gay Russians" include a shout out to your husband?
-
Does "backing gay rights"or "fighting for gay Russians" include a shout out to your husband?
Apparently, yes.
-
[...]
2.) They also did a segment on the backlash from around the world that Russia is receiving for their
stance and new laws concerning GLBT issues and how the upcoming Sochi Olympics has become a
focal point for the issue. Apparently, everywhere Putin has visited in Europe has become a staging
area for protests against this. Boycotts have been called for all over the world, but that idea is not
gaining traction. In NYC there were protests at Russia's ambassadors' residence and the ambassador
tried to alleviate any fear of GLBT persons participating in the Olympics or GLBT tourists attending them,
although he added, "...but we expect one to respect our laws."
This issue doesn't seem like it'll go away any time soon (good) and with Obama's support in this
area, I'm hoping more GLBT athletes will come out for the upcoming games. I, personally, am not
for boycotts of the olympics as I've stated previously, but I have no problem with people speaking
out in this area at the Olympics, which would make more impact if you ask me. THere's also a TDS
news item about this in today's edition.
[...]
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2FSochi-02_zpsc059b125.jpg&hash=22bbc43a65fac50e3553dda71cc3ed400f1faba8)
It's Pride week here in Montreal and tonight there was a candlelight vigil in front of the Russian Consulate which I attended. It was raining slightly but the event still attracted about 2,000 people. It was a bit too kumbaya-ish for my tastes but i did enjoy it nonetheless. For some bizarre reason there was a gospel singer at the end of the (one hour) event. I think a Pussy Riot like lesbian punk band would have been more appropriate. Gospel?! Sheesh!
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Apparently, yes.
Apparent to whom?
And when the Olympics... or anything else... is in the US (or Canada) aren't the competitors expected to obey the laws of the land? Don't female reporters cover their heads and arms and have drivers in some Musim countries? Isn't there some saying like "when in Rome...?"
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It's the winter Olympics, right? Then start a campaign to get foreign spectators to wear rainbow caps to events. They'll show up well on TV, everyone knows what they mean, and are the police really going to wade into the crowds and beat up anyone wearing one?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi212.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fcc178%2Fsoulan09%2Frainbow-cap_zps7609ff6e.jpg&hash=0165d2b231b73529bb6af24426efa1e95aead8f2) (http://s212.photobucket.com/user/soulan09/media/rainbow-cap_zps7609ff6e.jpg.html)
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And when the Olympics... or anything else... is in the US (or Canada) aren't the competitors expected to obey the laws of the land? Don't female reporters cover their heads and arms and have drivers in some Musim countries? Isn't there some saying like "when in Rome...?"
Watching female skaters and gymnasts doing their thing while wearing burquas or chadors would definitely make for some high-class entertainment. Even in a country where they could get by dressed basically like Amish women, it would be beyond hilarious.
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It's the winter Olympics, right? Then start a campaign to get foreign spectators to wear rainbow caps to events. They'll show up well on TV, everyone knows what they mean, and are the police really going to wade into the crowds and beat up anyone wearing one?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi212.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fcc178%2Fsoulan09%2Frainbow-cap_zps7609ff6e.jpg&hash=0165d2b231b73529bb6af24426efa1e95aead8f2) (http://s212.photobucket.com/user/soulan09/media/rainbow-cap_zps7609ff6e.jpg.html)
Great idea! Mittens and scarves too.
I supposed it's too late for the US team uniforms to be redone.
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Watching female skaters and gymnasts doing their thing while wearing burquas or chadors would definitely make for some high-class entertainment. Even in a country where they could get by dressed basically like Amish women, it would be beyond hilarious.
Un fortunately, those countries don't seem to participate in winter sports.
But haven't there been some women who compete in track or something wearing long outfits and head coverings?
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American Runner Dedicates Moscow Silver Medal
To His Gay Friends Amid Russia's Anti-Gay Crackdown
by Tony Manfred Aug. 14, 2013
American track and field star Nick Symmonds has become the first athlete to criticize Russia's new anti-gay
laws while competing on Russian soil.
"I disagree with their laws and I disagree with their views," he told reporters.
http://www.insider.com/nick-symmonds (http://www.businessinsider.com/nick-symmonds-criticizes-russias-gay-laws-before-olympics-2013-8)
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So we know what we're talking about, perhaps this article would be in order:
Questions and Answers on Anti-Gay Legislation in Russia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/questions-and-answers-on-anti-gay-legislation-in-russia/2013/08/12/3371e952-035f-11e3-bfc5-406b928603b2_story.html)
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And a sampling of headline stories from the past two days:
Russia Anti-Gay Bill: Russia Passes Radical Family Values Bill
FIFA asks Russia to explain anti-gay law
For Sochi's Sake, NBC Can't Ignore Russia's Anti-Gay Laws
Protests, boycott calls as anger grows over Russia anti-gay laws
Pat Buchanan defends Putin on Russia's new anti-gay laws
The Battle Over Russia's Anti-Gay Law
Russia's Anti-Gay Law Sparks Backlash
Russian Sports Official Defends Anti-Gay Law, Compares Gays To Nazis
Russia's anti-gay law inspires new play at King's Head Theatre
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So fascinating to have Buchanan and others praising the leader of the Evil Empire. St Ronald must be shaking his head on his heavenly throne.
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Watching female skaters and gymnasts doing their thing while wearing burquas or chadors would definitely make for some high-class entertainment. Even in a country where they could get by dressed basically like Amish women, it would be beyond hilarious.
UAE's first female figure skater - Zahra Lari
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.sport360.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Fmain_image%2FJJC06_26SahraLary%25205%2520%28Read-Only%29.jpg&hash=7c782f2e5a11e24bebef94409f94bbcf066206e7)
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American Runner Dedicates Moscow Silver Medal
To His Gay Friends Amid Russia's Anti-Gay Crackdown
by Tony Manfred Aug. 14, 2013
American track and field star Nick Symmonds has become the first athlete to criticize Russia's new anti-gay
laws while competing on Russian soil.
"I disagree with their laws and I disagree with their views," he told reporters.
http://www.insider.com/nick-symmonds (http://www.businessinsider.com/nick-symmonds-criticizes-russias-gay-laws-before-olympics-2013-8)
Way to go, Nick!
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Good to know he didn't get fined, it should encourage Olympic athletes to make statements as well.
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UAE's first female figure skater - Zahra Lari
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.sport360.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Fmain_image%2FJJC06_26SahraLary%25205%2520%28Read-Only%29.jpg&hash=7c782f2e5a11e24bebef94409f94bbcf066206e7)
Nice outfit! I stand corrected.
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This article points out that archeological finds have often been discovered in odd ways. This 12th century discovery in Germany involved a badger:
"A badger living in the countryside near the town of Stolpe recently uncovered a remarkable site: the 12th-century burial ground of eight people, two of whom were apparently Slavic warlords.
"Two sculptors who live in the area had been watching a badger digging a large sett (den). Upon closer examination, they noticed a pelvic bone inside the sett. 'We pushed a camera into the badger's sett and took photos by remote control,' Hendrikje Ring, one of the sculptors, told Der Spiegel. 'We found pieces of jewelry, retrieved them and contacted the authorities.' "
http://news.yahoo.com/dig-badger-unearths-medieval-treasure-113529491.html
The story stated that the historical period was a transitional one; "It highlights the time of upheaval when the rule of the Slavic tribes was coming to an end."
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Historic ruling: Judge orders anti-gay Scott Lively to stand trial for crimes against humanity
Extremist anti-gay US pastor is accused of engineering the Uganda 'Kill The Gays' bill, saying LGBT people are the 'new Nazis' and recommending Russia's 'gay propaganda' laws
15 AUGUST 2013 | BY JOE MORGAN
For the first time, a federal US judge has ruled a persecution of LGBT people is a crime against humanity.
This sets a precedent ensuring the fundamental human rights of LGBTI people are protected under international law.
It comes as a Ugandan LGBTI advocacy organization filed a lawsuit against prominent US anti-gay extremist Scott Lively.
Accused of helping to play a part in the persecution, arrest and murder of gay people in Uganda, Lively’s lawyers requested to dismiss the lawsuit.
Michael Ponsor, the US District Judge in Springfield, Maryland, said: ‘Widespread, systematic persecution of LGBTI people constitutes a crime against humanity that unquestionably violates international norms.’
‘The history and current existence of discrimination against LGBTI people is precisely what qualifies them as a distinct targeted group eligible for protection under international law.
‘The fact that a group continues to be vulnerable to widespread, systematic persecution in some parts of the world simply cannot shield one who commits a crime against humanity from liability.’
The lawsuit states Lively collaborated with key Ugandan government officials and religious leaders that allegedly resulted in the introduction of the ‘Kill The Gays’ bill.
The founder of Abiding Truth Ministries, Lively has made a career of stirring up anti-gay feelings in the USA and across the world.
He co-authored The Pink Swastika, which suggests ‘homosexuals were the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities’ and the rainbow flag is a symbol of the ‘end times’.
In 2007, Lively also toured 50 cities in Russia where he is accused of recommending a ban on anti-gay propaganda.
Frank Mugisha, director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, said: ‘Today’s ruling is a significant victory for human rights everywhere but most especially for LGBTI Ugandans who are seeking accountability from those orchestrating our persecution.’
While the court battle is certainly not over, it will allow the Ugandan group to seek justice for what they believe Lively has done.
[snip]
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/historic-ruling-judge-orders-anti-gay-scott-lively-stand-trial-crimes-against-humanity150813#sthash.AGkSCB1V.dpuf (http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/historic-ruling-judge-orders-anti-gay-scott-lively-stand-trial-crimes-against-humanity150813#sthash.AGkSCB1V.dpuf)
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Chinese zoo's 'African lion' exposed when dog substitute barks
A Chinese zoo's supposed "African lion" was exposed as a fraud when the dog used as a substitute started barking.
The zoo in the People's Park of Luohe, in the central province of Henan, replaced exotic exhibits with common species, according to the state-run Beijing Youth Daily.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520August%25202013%2FTibetanMastiff_zps76a770f4.jpg&hash=bd94ea9b0317137e79afe45bf16eb98fb58d1875) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/News%20Thread%202013/News%20Thread%20August%202013/TibetanMastiff_zps76a770f4.jpg.html)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-15/hairy-dog-disguised-as-lion/4890386
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I do wonder why that reminds me of all the hoo-haa about Edward Snowden being on board President Morales’ private jet. (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2Femoticons%2F01d752b7.gif&hash=21e0d63d5b3a98e5fe716f501fc4f361203a0d26)
A “plot device” worthy of the venerable WSG himself, it would appear...
“Things are seldom what they seem,
Skim milk masquerades as cream;
Highlows pass as patent leathers;
Jackdaws strut in peacock's feathers.”
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Despite desperate efforts at CPR, California's Prop 8 is officially dead.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to revive Proposition 8, ending the last remaining legal challenge to same-sex marriage in the state.
Meeting in closed session, the state high court rejected arguments by ProtectMarriage, Proposition 8’s sponsors, that only an appellate court could overturn a statewide law. . . .
In its challenge before the state’s highest court, ProtectMarriage argued that a single judge lacked the authority to overturn a state constitutional amendment. The group also contended that Walker’s injunction applied to two counties at most and that state officials had overstepped their authority by ordering county clerks throughout California to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
State officials countered that the challenge was a veiled attempt to persuade a state court to interfere with a federal judge’s order in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-supreme-court-prop-8-20130814,0,1311803.story
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The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to revive Proposition 8, ending the last remaining legal challenge to same-sex marriage in the state.
Like a soft landing...a gentle breeze...you know how soothing that sounds...ending...ending the last remaining
legal challenge...let it silently blow away into the dustbin of history...
After 4 years, 9 months, 10 days...
...that thorn in my side has finally been removed!
(I always have a happy thought that when we had our Brokie gathering
in Los Angeles in 2008, marriage equality was in effect!)
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I do wonder why that reminds me of all the hoo-haa about Edward Snowden being on board
President Morales’ jet.
I wonder, too.
***
By the way, in the spirit of TIC--tongue in cheek: :P
...don't make me work so hard, Paul! While I was familiar, albeit vaguely,
with the lines you posted, the WSG initials didn't ring a bell, nor did typing them into
google help as what came up was W. S. G. Bateman (Author of Australia's Maritime
Bridge Into Asia) or the Wage Slave's Glossary. But eventually I figured out it was
W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan.
It's enough that I keep having to figure out Internet Acronyms because people can't
type whole words anymore much less trying to figure out the initials of authors, especially
ones usually paired with another person! INCYDK, The Internet Dictionary has nearly 10,000
acronyms listed! You know, like LOL. Anyway, No SNH, though I hope my post isn't TLTR.
And in the DID YOU KNOW THIS department:
The TOP TEN slang look ups currently in the Internet Dictionary today are:
(and how many did anyone know? Me? I actually knew "one" of them!)
1. DIKY
2. WBU
3. HRU
4. HBU
5. WBY
6. HBY
7. KMSL
8. TTYS
9. CIA
10. PREE
Also, FYI, Re: Internet "Slang Look Ups"
Internet slang is also known as computer slang, slang terms,
acronyms, abbreviations and computer lingo.
http://www.internetslang.com/
Now, FWIW, in deference to WSG, should we "talk about the weather"...?
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Nick Symmonds needs a gold medal instead of a silver, to match his hair!
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Russian Jews outraged after Stephen Fry compared gay propaganda ban to Nazi Germany
Link: http://rt.com/news/russia-jews-fry-comment-396/
Russia’s Jewish community has lashed out at British actor Stephen Fry after he compared the country’s “gay propaganda” ban to Hitler’s persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. Fry, an openly gay Jewish-British writer, actor, and television host, urged UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to boycott the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. The move was in response to a recently adopted Russian law which prohibits the propaganda of homosexuality among minors.
In an open letter to Cameron and the IOC, he accused Russia of “making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews.” The actor also stated that President Putin “is eerily repeating the insane crime” of Hitler, “only this time against LGBT Russians.”
Russia’s Jewish community said it is outraged by Fry’s rhetoric, calling it a provocation. “Unfortunately, yet again we see people attempting to use sacred memory about the genocide against the Jews and the Holocaust for their own purposes,” Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Berl Lazar, told ITAR-TASS on Monday. He believes that such cynicism insults the memory of millions of people who were murdered during World War II “because of their nationality and faith.” The Chief Rabbi emphasized that the gay propaganda ban is in no way aimed at violating the rights of LGBT individuals, but rather serves to protect children “who are open to any kind of influence” from issues surrounding homosexuality. (See Link for more.)
***********************************
We've seen this reaction from African American groups who don't want their struggle compared
to any GLBT struggle.
The question is, are these groups being homophobic or do they really see no difference or
are they being territorial, as in "my struggle is worse than your struggle?" Do people really
not see correllating similarities?
Would these same Jeiwish groups in Russia have objected if Stephen Fry had framed it this way
instead?
"...at British actor Stephen Fry after he compared the country’s 'gay propaganda' ban to Hitler’s persecution of Gays in Nazi Germany."
When Jewish groups or African American groups want to separate their struggles with those of the
GLBT community or to distance themselves because they think it tarnishes their own history or they
can't conceive of any comparisons, I always try to point out that they are denying the gay Jeiwsh
people or the gay black people within their own struggles, because it's the dignity of humanity you
are denying if you cannot see any comparisons, gay people can be found within all of the other groups
who have been struggling for thier dignity throughout the world. To deny an individual within the
group is to deny the whole, the way I see it. Are we not all Spartacus?
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Link: http://rt.com/news/russia-jews-fry-comment-396/
Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Berl Lazar, told ITAR-TASS on Monday he believes that such cynicism insults the memory of millions of people who were murdered during World War II “because of their nationality and faith.” The Chief Rabbi emphasized that the gay propaganda ban is in no way aimed at violating the rights of LGBT individuals, but rather serves to protect children “who are open to any kind of influence” from issues surrounding homosexuality.
I have to add: I am insulted, Merl, by your territorial ignorance. Don't compare US to your people? Are you
saying, Merl, it was okay for Hitler to have murdered gay people? What about Jewish gay people? And, oh, it's
always the children who get dragged into the conversation when it comes to the dignity of gay people, as though
none of the children they speak of are gay.
Insult indeed.
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Russian gay ban: Athletes in Moscow wear rainbow fingernails
by Chris Lehourites, The Associated Press
-- 08/15/2013
MOSCOW — At least two Swedish athletes at the world championships in Moscow competed with rainbow-colored fingernails Thursday, showing support for gays and lesbians in contrast to Russia's new anti-gay law.
High jumper Emma Green posted a picture of her fingers on the social media site Instagram, saying "Nails painted in the colors of the rainbow. This is to show what I stand for. I think sports are about respecting and tolerating each other," Green told the Swedish news agency TT.
Swedish sprinter Moa Hjelmer also sported rainbow-colored nails when she ran Thursday in the 200-meter heats at Luzhniki Stadium. "Some teammates have done the same," Sweden team spokesman Fredrik Trahn said. "The federation has not discussed it. It is all up to the athletes."
http://www.alamogordonews.com (http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_23868074/russian-gay-ban-athletes-moscow-wear-rainbow-fingernails)
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Personally, I think Nick Symmonds and Emma Green should get together!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.all-athletics.com%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Fphotos_big%2Fphotos%2FNick%2520Symmonds%2520-%2520Berlin%2520WCH%2520Day%25209.jpg&hash=433cb116be3a5618482470e971ce9b054f11d738)(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.womenfitness.net%2Fimg2013%2Fartimg%2Fjan%2FEmma-Green.jpg&hash=ddc1144cda219d970e7c642750d1548dd497f387)
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I do wonder why that reminds me of all the hoo-haa about Edward Snowden being on board
President Morales’ private jet.
I wonder, too.
Hmm. A few Gilbertian thoughts have been providing me with late night feverish dreams since early July
about the topsy-turvy nature of the “rumour” that ES was on FAB-01, not to mention
the logistics related to getting him surreptitiously from one international airport to another,
(i.e. Шереме́тьево and Внуково) let alone those involving Домоде́дово, and
the deliciously conflicting reports about what occurred once it’d landed at Schwechat.
By the way, in the spirit of TIC--tongue in cheek: :P
...don't make me work so hard, Paul!
I apologise, and do so most sincerely. ;D
While I was familiar, albeit vaguely,
with the lines you posted, the WSG initials didn't ring a bell, nor did typing them into
google help as what came up was W. S. G. Bateman (Author of Australia's Maritime
Bridge Into Asia) or the Wage Slave's Glossary. But eventually I figured out it was
W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan.
And there I was, thinking it was as clear as day, especially to Americans...
It's enough that I keep having to figure out Internet Acronyms because people can't
type whole words anymore much less trying to figure out the initials of authors, especially
ones usually paired with another person! INCYDK, The Internet Dictionary has nearly 10,000
acronyms listed! You know, like LOL. Anyway, No SNH, though I hope my post isn't TLTR.
And in the DID YOU KNOW THIS department:
The TOP TEN slang look ups currently in the Internet Dictionary today are:
(and how many did anyone know? Me? I actually knew "one" of them!)
1. DIKY (Do I know you?)
2. WBU (What's Bothering You?)
3. HRU (How are you?)
4. HBU (He's Bothering You?... Other words could be substituted for "Bothering.")
5. WBY (Who or What's Bothering you?)
6. HBY (Hi, Baby?)
7. KMSL (Kiss My Sweet Lips?)
8. TTYS (I want to say “Titty-Titty-Yang-Sang,” for some obscure reason.)
9. CIA (I’ve no idea what that means.)
10. PREE (Preposterously Ridiculous Extinction Event?)
But wouldn’t it defeat their purported purpose if they have to be “looked up?”
Now, FWIW, in deference to WSG, should we "talk about the weather"...?
That’s from TPOP, another operetta altogether, Lyle! STTT. LOL.
I think I'll stick to proper words. I have enough problems expressing myself as it is, Lyle.
ROTFLMHO. KMSL.
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... I stand corrected.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2Femoticons%2FAddEmoticons04251_zps77342a67.gif&hash=d23ea3daa32993b3340aefce9210a80a74cf2adf)
:)
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But wouldn’t it defeat their purported purpose if they have to be “looked up?”
Exactly, that's what I keep thinking!
Or E,TWIKT for short!
(i.e. Шереме́тьево and Внуково)
I suppose it could be worse! We have to learn Russian!
That’s from TPOP, another operetta altogether, Lyle! STTT. LOL.
Now that I knew, I was in a production of that show!
And in West Hollywood at the Celebration Theatre I saw a decidely gay themed version of a
G&S show slightly retitled: PMS Pinafore!
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Personally I don't want any other group comparing its struggle to that of women worldwide.
And none does since persecuting and dominating females is acceptable everywhere.
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Was that meant to start or end a conversation?
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And in West Hollywood at the Celebration Theatre I saw a decidely gay themed version of a
G&S show slightly retitled: PMS Pinafore!
He polished those knockers so carefulee that now he is the ruler of the Queen's navee? >:D
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According the the Washington Post, the audit of the NSA for 2012 showed over 2,500 abuses or irregularities invading our privacy. Some of which were clearly identfied as breaking the law. So, my question is, can Diane Feinstein and NSA leaders flee to the Moscow airport ? After all, they ARE guilty of doing the crimes, not just reporting them.
Will Putin let them in ? Can they avoid rainbow-colored clothing?
Also, with the Prez saying Snowden had other recourses, like going to his superiors.....right. Would that be like the military sex abuses? Go to your commanding officer?
Sheesh, what a bunch of bull crap.
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I've heard today that the U.S. Government has finally admitted that Area 51 actually exists. ;D
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I heard about that, I was always under the impression that the general consensus of the public was that Area 51 existed.
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Now that I knew, I was in a production of that show!
Your use of tenses is a delight. :)
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Oops. Just realised I hadn't logged out. ::)
Ah well.
Anyway, I think this is just brilliant.
Well done, Amy!
http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2013/08/arizona-woman-scams-her-telephone-scammer.html
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Your use of tenses is a delight. :)
I suppose I left out a comma, but it was meant to be read as
Now, that I knew.,,
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But wouldn’t it defeat their purported purpose if they have to be “looked up?”
If you have to look it up, you're too old to use it...
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Russian gold medalists kiss on medal stand at world championships to protest anti-gay laws
By Maggie Hendricks
Kseniya Ryzhova and Tatyana Firov won a world championship as a part of the 4x400-meter relay team at the IAAF track championships in Moscow. The edged out the American and British teams for the gold. While on the medal stand, they kissed to protest their own country's anti-gay propaganda laws.
This isn't the first protest of Russia's laws that penalize anyone for talking about homosexuality in front of children, but it's the most visible one done by Russian athletes. U.S. runner Nick Symmonds dedicated his silver medal in the 800 meters to his gay friends back home, and Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro painted her nails in a rainbow in honor of LGBT pride.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/russian-gold-medalists-kiss-medal-stand-world-championships-132337366.html
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Australian gay couple marry in NZ as same-sex marriage comes into force
Two Australian men were among the first gay couples to marry in New Zealand this morning [August 19] as same-sex marriage came into force.
Officials say 31 same-sex couples plan to tie the knot today, following the passing of gay marriage laws by the country's parliament in April.
New Zealand is the first Asia-Pacific country and only the 14th in the world to legalise gay marriage.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520August%25202013%2F4896228_zpse2c2467e.jpg&hash=64cdef5cca80d0ed2e9d37d776293882a1190fc3)
Paul McCarthy (left) and Trent Kandler were married in Wellington. Photo: Getty Images.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-19/australian-gay-couple-marry-in-nz/4895330
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^^^^^
Good news :)
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;D I had heard that there were Austrailian couples heading to NZ to get married.
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Yay, New Zealand!
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The war against journalists and whistle blowers escalates.
Glenn Greenwald: detaining my partner was a failed attempt at intimidation
The detention of my partner, David Miranda, by UK authorities will have the opposite effect of the one intended
At 6:30 am this morning my time - 5:30 am on the East Coast of the US - I received a telephone call from someone who identified himself as a "security official at Heathrow airport." He told me that my partner, David Miranda, had been "detained" at the London airport "under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act of 2000."
David had spent the last week in Berlin, where he stayed with Laura Poitras, the US filmmaker who has worked with me extensively on the NSA stories. A Brazilian citizen, he was returning to our home in Rio de Janeiro this morning on British Airways, flying first to London and then on to Rio. When he arrived in London this morning, he was detained.
At the time the "security official" called me, David had been detained for 3 hours. The security official told me that they had the right to detain him for up to 9 hours in order to question him, at which point they could either arrest and charge him or ask a court to extend the question time. The official - who refused to give his name but would only identify himself by his number: 203654 - said David was not allowed to have a lawyer present, nor would they allow me to talk to him.
I immediately contacted the Guardian, which sent lawyers to the airport, as well various Brazilian officials I know. Within the hour, several senior Brazilian officials were engaged and expressing indignation over what was being done. The Guardian has the full story here.
[...]
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/18/david-miranda-detained-uk-nsa
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Geaux Aotearoa!
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The war against journalists and whistle blowers escalates.
War on journalists, or just doing their job? A different viewpoint:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100231711/why-does-being-a-relative-of-glenn-greenwald-place-you-above-the-law/ (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100231711/why-does-being-a-relative-of-glenn-greenwald-place-you-above-the-law/)
When I first heard Miranda had been detained at Heathrow for nine hours under anti-terror legislation I thought it was a disgrace. I assumed, as did others, that it was an act of petty vengeance and intimidation aimed at the man who had become a very large thorn in the side of the UK and US governments through his publication of information supplied by former NSA employee Edward Snowden.
But as the Miranda story has unfolded, it’s also started to unravel. First we were told that Miranda was not merely a disinterested observer to the Snowden saga but a journalist himself, who was working with Greenwald on the story. But then it became clear Miranda was not actually a journalist at all. What’s more, he wasn’t even that clear what it was he was carrying for his partner. So Miranda arrives at Heathrow. The UK intelligence services are aware of his movements, because that’s what intelligence services do. What’s more, they know he’s potentially carrying highly classified information that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could seriously compromise UK national security.
We know that the release of this information would be damaging, for two reasons. The first is because Glenn Greenwald boasted that it would. On hearing of his partner’s detention, Greenwald said: “I am going to publish many more documents. I am going to publish things on England too. I have many documents on England's spy system. I think they will be sorry for what they did.” Whatever Miranda was carrying, it had the potential to make an entire nation sorry.
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Why is it always the people teasing the big dog who cry the loudest when they get nipped?
-
War on journalists, or just doing their job? A different viewpoint:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100231711/why-does-being-a-relative-of-glenn-greenwald-place-you-above-the-law/ (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100231711/why-does-being-a-relative-of-glenn-greenwald-place-you-above-the-law/)
When I first heard Miranda had been detained at Heathrow for nine hours under anti-terror legislation I thought it was a disgrace. I assumed, as did others, that it was an act of petty vengeance and intimidation aimed at the man who had become a very large thorn in the side of the UK and US governments through his publication of information supplied by former NSA employee Edward Snowden.
But as the Miranda story has unfolded, it’s also started to unravel. First we were told that Miranda was not merely a disinterested observer to the Snowden saga but a journalist himself, who was working with Greenwald on the story. But then it became clear Miranda was not actually a journalist at all. What’s more, he wasn’t even that clear what it was he was carrying for his partner. So Miranda arrives at Heathrow. The UK intelligence services are aware of his movements, because that’s what intelligence services do. What’s more, they know he’s potentially carrying highly classified information that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could seriously compromise UK national security.
We know that the release of this information would be damaging, for two reasons. The first is because Glenn Greenwald boasted that it would. On hearing of his partner’s detention, Greenwald said: “I am going to publish many more documents. I am going to publish things on England too. I have many documents on England's spy system. I think they will be sorry for what they did.” Whatever Miranda was carrying, it had the potential to make an entire nation sorry.
The info may be damaging but it isn't terrorism. Miranda was detained illegally.
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Guardian Editor: U.K. 'Security Experts' Entered Offices And Destroyed Hard Drives
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, wrote on Monday about an unsettling encounter with "security experts" from the U.K.'s GCHQ intelligence agency.
According to Rusbridger, "a very senior government official" contacted him about two months ago demanding the surrender or destruction of all materials in the publication's possession relating to the surveillance operations uncovered by Edward Snowden.
About a month later, Rusbridger recalls receiving a phone call "from the centre of government" in which he was told, "You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back." He goes on to explain:
There followed further meetings with shadowy Whitehall figures. The demand was the same: hand the Snowden material back or destroy it. I explained that we could not research and report on this subject if we complied with this request. The man from Whitehall looked mystified. "You've had your debate. There's no need to write any more."
During one meeting, Rusbridger explained to an official that if the British government were to take legal steps in order to roadblock the paper's reporting, the work could simply be done outside of the country. That's when things took a disturbing turn:
The man was unmoved. And so one of the more bizarre moments in the Guardian's long history occurred – with two GCHQ security experts overseeing the destruction of hard drives in the Guardian's basement just to make sure there was nothing in the mangled bits of metal which could possibly be of any interest to passing Chinese agents. "We can call off the black helicopters," joked one as we swept up the remains of a MacBook Pro.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/guardian-hard-drives_n_3782382.html
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Why is it always the people teasing the big dog who cry the loudest when they get nipped?
Fair enough, as far as that goes, Sherry.
But, extending the dog metaphor (analogy?), in other directions, sometimes a big dog is supposed to be a Golden Lab, but turns out to be a Doberman on meth.
And some big dogs are just bullies.
Which leads me to venture, all dogs do NOT go to heaven. Some may have a different destination :P.....
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FWIW
There is no such thing as a golden Lab. All Labs are Labs. People often describe them by their colors, the three main ones being black, yellow and chocolate. Then there is a Golden Retriever which is a completely different breed (although it is being bred for the same body type and boning as the Lab, a big, unwelcome mistake, in my opinion.) The Doberman Pincher is breed entirely different in every aspect... structure, color and trainability.
NONE of them is inherently a bully, but none should be teased with the expectation that it is safe.
Same goes for smaller dogs, like the Chihuahua and Maltese.
And children and roommates and co-workers as well as strangers on the street.
And same goes for governments and big businesses and any "power" organization.
If you must tease, it is best to do so from a distance and with some form of protection between you.
And if you get bit, take your lumps and admit you started it, without whining.
Proceed at your own risk, but if it is important to you, by all means, proceed.
Just don't tease any dogs while you're doing so.
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Is the new First Puppy a sign of troubles to come?
What’s the connection between Sunny, the new First Puppy at the White House, and storm clouds on the horizon in Washington? Recent tongue-in-cheek political science research shows there might actually be one.
On Monday, the Obama administration announced the addition of Sunny, a second Portuguese Water Dog, to their family.
The whole issue of dogs and politics got a boost in the 2012 presidential election, when researchers and pundits debated the significance of stories about Mitt Romney’s adventure with his dog.
Romney drove 12 hours in 1983 with his dog, Seamus, on top of the family’s car in a dog carrier. When his opponent, President Barack Obama, joked about the incident, the political fur flew.
But the flap also brought to the public’s attention a July 2012 article in the journal Political Science and Politics, where researchers said the White House has used pets since the 1960s as public relations props during times of political scandal and international tension.
The researchers said more study has to be done on the topic, but called it a groundbreaking “contribution to a research program that will bring the dog into political analysis.”
The Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff broke down the research report about the timing of public appearances made by White House pets.
“They tend to get trotted out during times of international conflict and presidential scandal (no similar effect, it’s worth noting, was found for cats). Conversely, they tend to stay out of sight during tough economic times,” she said.
In an effort to maintain full disclosure, the journal did acknowledge that one of the study’s four authors owned a Portuguese Water Dog. The study is also notable for probably the most use of puns about pets ever in a research paper.
“We present a theoretical framework and statistical evidence to explore the conditions under which presidents are most likely to trot out their four-legged friends. We show that presidents carefully gauge the best and worst times to conduct a dog and pony show. In times of war or scandal, dogs are welcome public companions, but not so in periods of economic hardship,” said the authors.
“In short, we find significant support for Harry Truman’s famous adage that ‘if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog,’” even if it is occasionally necessary to confine it to the doghouse,” they said.
To test their hypotheses, the researchers built a new data set of mentions of presidential pets between January 1961 and January 2011 in the Washington Post and the New York Times, and correlated them to major news events.
“When inserting public approval in the model, scandal, war, and the economic indicators remain significant variables and signed in the predicted direction,” they said.
The translation: the White House lets the dogs out in times of scandal and war, and sends them back to the doghouse when the economic going is tough.
They also pegged the public appearance of pets to about 50 events from the initial Watergate revelations in the Nixon administration to the Scooter Libby indictment in the George W. Bush administration.
For now, it’s unclear what role Sunny will play as a sidekick to Bo, the Obama’s other dog.
But the Obama administration faces plenty of public issues that might lead some dog-conspiracy theorists to claim the Sunny is just another diversion.
"In its official press statement about Sunny, the White House said it expected Bo to be a good big brother to Sunny and that the puppy was expected to spend time in the Oval Office with the President.
http://news.yahoo.com/first-puppy-sign-troubles-come-124010936.html
One point... the new "puppy" is 14 months old.
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I was always a cat person.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.telegraph.co.uk%2Fmultimedia%2Farchive%2F00659%2Fnews-graphics-2008-_659207a.jpg&hash=2338e5608ba33763ebffb16a97fe729e7d5bd5b5)
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Is the new First Puppy a sign of troubles to come?
What’s the connection between Sunny, the new First Puppy at the White House, and storm clouds on the horizon in Washington? Recent tongue-in-cheek political science research shows there might actually be one.
On Monday, the Obama administration announced the addition of Sunny, a second Portuguese Water Dog, to their family.
The whole issue of dogs and politics got a boost in the 2012 presidential election, when researchers and pundits debated the significance of stories about Mitt Romney’s adventure with his dog.
Romney drove 12 hours in 1983 with his dog, Seamus, on top of the family’s car in a dog carrier. When his opponent, President Barack Obama, joked about the incident, the political fur flew.
But the flap also brought to the public’s attention a July 2012 article in the journal Political Science and Politics, where researchers said the White House has used pets since the 1960s as public relations props during times of political scandal and international tension.
The researchers said more study has to be done on the topic, but called it a groundbreaking “contribution to a research program that will bring the dog into political analysis.”
The Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff broke down the research report about the timing of public appearances made by White House pets.
“They tend to get trotted out during times of international conflict and presidential scandal (no similar effect, it’s worth noting, was found for cats). Conversely, they tend to stay out of sight during tough economic times,” she said.
In an effort to maintain full disclosure, the journal did acknowledge that one of the study’s four authors owned a Portuguese Water Dog. The study is also notable for probably the most use of puns about pets ever in a research paper.
“We present a theoretical framework and statistical evidence to explore the conditions under which presidents are most likely to trot out their four-legged friends. We show that presidents carefully gauge the best and worst times to conduct a dog and pony show. In times of war or scandal, dogs are welcome public companions, but not so in periods of economic hardship,” said the authors.
“In short, we find significant support for Harry Truman’s famous adage that ‘if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog,’” even if it is occasionally necessary to confine it to the doghouse,” they said.
To test their hypotheses, the researchers built a new data set of mentions of presidential pets between January 1961 and January 2011 in the Washington Post and the New York Times, and correlated them to major news events.
“When inserting public approval in the model, scandal, war, and the economic indicators remain significant variables and signed in the predicted direction,” they said.
The translation: the White House lets the dogs out in times of scandal and war, and sends them back to the doghouse when the economic going is tough.
They also pegged the public appearance of pets to about 50 events from the initial Watergate revelations in the Nixon administration to the Scooter Libby indictment in the George W. Bush administration.
For now, it’s unclear what role Sunny will play as a sidekick to Bo, the Obama’s other dog.
But the Obama administration faces plenty of public issues that might lead some dog-conspiracy theorists to claim the Sunny is just another diversion.
"In its official press statement about Sunny, the White House said it expected Bo to be a good big brother to Sunny and that the puppy was expected to spend time in the Oval Office with the President.
http://news.yahoo.com/first-puppy-sign-troubles-come-124010936.html
One point... the new "puppy" is 14 months old.
Yeah, quite the hot topic, lol! ::)
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Isn't this "News and Current Events?" Is my browser so old it's not even getting the "subject" line correct?
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I was always a cat person.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.telegraph.co.uk%2Fmultimedia%2Farchive%2F00659%2Fnews-graphics-2008-_659207a.jpg&hash=2338e5608ba33763ebffb16a97fe729e7d5bd5b5)
Me too, Chuck.
I didn't realise my boy was a jet-setter. :D
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Why is it always the people teasing the big dog who cry the loudest when they get nipped?
Pardon me for saying so, but I do think that that trivialises the issue under discussion.
Not to mention that "teasing" is an inappropriate description of what whistler blowers set out to do. ::)
I will now put on my armour. :)
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Your use of tenses is a delight. :)
I suppose I left out a comma, but it was meant to be read as
Now, that I knew.,,
Or even better, "Now, I knew that, because I was once in a production of TPOP!"
But somehow I preferred your original comment, Lyle.
With revision, it could have read as: "I now know that I knew that I was once in a production of TPOP, but then I forgot that I knew." :D
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;D I had heard that there were Austrailian couples heading to NZ to get married.
According to the report, Chuck, “There has also been overseas interest from Russia, the United States, Hong Kong, Britain, Singapore, Malaysia, Guyana and Belgium.” :)
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I'm thinking of posting something about the Morales/Snowden/Moscow issue which has puzzled me for some time.
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I’m still thinking about it.... :D
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I guess this as good a time as any...
Something about the rumour that Edward Snowden was on board the Bolivian Presidential jet doesn’t ring true.
A number of online news sites# repeated information provided by Russia’s news agencies ITAR-Tass and Interfax that Edward Snowden (according to “an unnamed Aeroflot official”)
was on board Aeroflot Flight SU213, due into Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) at 17:05 Moscow time (13:05 GMT) on Sunday June 23, and which landed on time at Terminal F.
Although the airport could not verify reports that Snowden was on board both ITAR-Tass and Interfax had confirmed that he was booked on a flight to Havana, Cuba the next day (again citing “unnamed airline officials”). Flight SU213 was the only direct flight from Hong Kong to Moscow on that day, and “upon his arrival Snowden did not leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.”
# Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57590647/u.s-to-russia-give-us-snowden/
http://planefinder.net/about/news/whistleblower-edward-snowden-heading-to-moscow/
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/790954.shtml#.UeP__-AuAUU
http://articles.philly.com/2013-06-25/news/40168088_1_ecuador-asylum-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-asylum-request
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However, other sources regarding Snowden’s whereabouts in Moscow differed:
• On July 15, Sterling Beard’s report in the National Review Online stated that “Snowden, currently believed to be living in the transit terminal of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport...”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/353445/greenwald-snowden-has-nsa-blueprints-sterling-beard
• And, in its July 16 report on the leader of Germany’s Opposition Party’s comments of June 29 (that Europe should grant asylum to former CiA operative Edward Snowden), Press TV included this statement:
"Snowden is currently in a transit zone at Domodedovo International Airport in the Russian capital, Moscow, after the United States revoked his passport to prevent him from travelling further."
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/07/01/311692/europe-should-give-asylum-to-snowden/
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However, on June 25 PRI’s The World (Global Perspectives for An American Audience) created further confusion.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520August%25202013%2FPRI_zps55540c63.jpg&hash=82636f7247ec336a8d984db7ed1305deafcac4d9)
The site broadcast a three minute and a half minutes' long radio interview (https://soundcloud.com/theworld/snowden-still-at-moscow-airport) between Carol Hills and The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Miriam Elder, who was “covering the Snowden drama from Moscow” and included a transcript of that interview.
In the transcript (http://www.theworld.org/2013/06/snowden-moscow-airport/) Carol Hills states that “Edward Snowden is in Russia, although technically, he’s not. That’s the message from Russian President Vladimir Putin today. Putin confirmed that Snowden, whose leaks revealed the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program is [in] the transit area of Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, which means he hasn’t officially set foot on Russian territory yet...”
What Ms Hills says at the start (http://youtu.be/dGFSSk89PZw)# of her interview is identical to the transcript—apart from a one word change, where she says that Snowden is “in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.”
To be continued...
# The link is to the first 24 seconds of the broadcast.
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Maybe he's with Matt Laurer and Carmen Sandiego.
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Anybody see anything about those three knuckleheads from Oklahoma who shot and killed that student from Australia allegedly just because they were bored and had nothing to do? :(
Does Oklahoma still have and impose capital punishment? I can think of three good candidates for it. >:(
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I was always a cat person.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.telegraph.co.uk%2Fmultimedia%2Farchive%2F00659%2Fnews-graphics-2008-_659207a.jpg&hash=2338e5608ba33763ebffb16a97fe729e7d5bd5b5)
Moi, aussi!
My favorite episode of Murphy Brown was when she was at the White House covering a press event after
having been banned from there awhile for bad behavior (ha!) and while there, Socks the cat crawls into
her purse which she discovers upon returning to the newsroom. Hilarity ensues. I thought that was such
a clever idea and very funny besides! Anyone else remember that?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F7%2F73%2FSocks_cat_1.JPG%2F300px-Socks_cat_1.JPG&hash=291bc749adbfb4e8ad84ea00b0e185adbe3391a5)
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Just for amusement, what baseball team is this:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2Fe%2Feb%2FBo_official_portrait.jpg%2F250px-Bo_official_portrait.jpg&hash=afe5bf76c9509700a826d195ba7875864485e08e)(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flatimesblogs.latimes.com%2Fphotos%2Funcategorized%2F2009%2F02%2F20%2Fsocks.jpg&hash=3432efae61f19b2d94093b538c13e1d7ccc41441)
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Bosox ;D
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Too easy.
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Anybody see anything about those three knuckleheads from Oklahoma who shot and killed that student from Australia allegedly just because they were bored and had nothing to do? :(
Does Oklahoma still have and impose capital punishment? I can think of three good candidates for it. >:(
I saw that the black kid's father says he's innocent because he was just along for the ride.
Man, peer pressure is something else in Oklahoma.
(I was going to say "birds of a feather..." but figured Paul would think it trivialized socio-economic influences of growing up in the southwest.)
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Anybody see anything about those three knuckleheads from Oklahoma who shot and killed that student from Australia allegedly just because they were bored and had nothing to do? :(
Yes, I did and it is so disturbing that it's incomprehensible. Weren't they law abiding citizens with guns, though,
until they weren't? Reminds me of this: (Angie is a guy, for those who don't know.)
MARTY (1955)
Angie: What do you feel like doing tonight?
Marty: I don't know, Ange. What do you feel like doing?
Angie: We ought to do somethin'. It's Saturday night. I don't want to go bowling like last Saturday.
How about calling up that big girl we picked up in the movies about a month ago up in the RKO Chester?
Marty: I don't know, I didn't really like her.
Angie: Well, what do you feel like doing tonight?
Marty: I don't know, Ange. What do you feel like doing?
Angie: We're back to that, huh? I say to you, 'What do you feel like doing tonight?' And you say back to me, 'I dunno. What do you feel like doing tonight?' Then we wind up bored sitting around your house with a couple of cans of beer watching the Hit Parade on television.
MARTY (2013)
Angie: What do you feel like doing tonight?
Marty: I don't know, Ange. What do you feel like doing?
Angie: We ought to do somethin'. It's Saturday night. I don't want to go bowling like last Saturday.
How about calling up that big girl we picked up in the movies about a month ago up in the RKO Chester?
Marty: I don't know, I didn't really like her.
Angie: Well, what do you feel like doing tonight?
Marty: I don't know, Ange. What do you feel like doing?
Angie: We're back to that, huh? I say to you, 'What do you feel like doing tonight?' And you say back to me, 'I dunno. What do you feel like doing tonight?' Then we wind up bored tracking a random guy down the road and
shooting him in the back.
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The info may be damaging but it isn't terrorism. Miranda was detained illegally.
I guess England doesn't have Miranda rights, ;) .
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P.S.: In West Hollywood we're required to be read our Carmen Miranda rights.
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I'm sure people are aware of this now:
Bradley Manning's court-martial reached an end today, with Army Colonel Denise Lind sentencing him to 35 years in prison. She also ordered a reduction in rank to private, a forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. He will receive credit for 1,294 days for time served. According to an Army spokesman, Manning would be eligible for parole after serving 1/3 of his sentence; with additional credit for time served, he could face 8-9 years. Manning also has the possibility of a clemency finding that would reduce his sentence.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/21/4642816/bradley-manning-sentenced-wikileaks-case
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Anybody see anything about those three knuckleheads from Oklahoma who shot and killed that student from Australia allegedly just because they were bored and had nothing to do? :(
Does Oklahoma still have and impose capital punishment? I can think of three good candidates for it. >:(
I heard about them on the way to work, what assholes. The guy they killed was a 25 year-old Austrailian student/basketball player.
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I saw that the black kid's father says he's innocent because he was just along for the ride.
Man, peer pressure is something else in Oklahoma.
I haven't as yet seen any photos of the accused, just of the victim. Poor guy. :(
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I wonder which country's laws are tougher in this kind of case, ours, or Austrailia's? Perhaps since they were so bored some time to a foreign country might do them well.
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I haven't as yet seen any photos of the accused, just of the victim. Poor guy. :(
You have heard, haven't you, that they're all teenagers? The black kid is 15, the two whites a few years older.
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That shouldn't matter a whit. They should be tried as adults.
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Anybody see anything about those three knuckleheads from Oklahoma who shot and killed that student from Australia allegedly just because they were bored and had nothing to do? :(
Does Oklahoma still have and impose capital punishment? I can think of three good candidates for it. >:(
Amen. Put these three bored pieces of scum criminals out of their misery.
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Oh, and they were caught because of traffic cameras. Damned infringement on our right to privacy.
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You have heard, haven't you, that they're all teenagers? The black kid is 15, the two whites a few years older.
Yes, I have heard that they are teenagers. I had not heard any specific ages.
That shouldn't matter a whit. They should be tried as adults.
I think I remember hearing this morning that they are going to be charged as adults.
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Wentworth Miller, "Prison Break" Star, Comes Out As Gay, Declining Russian Film Festival Invite
Chris Geidner - BuzzFeed Staff
Actor Wentworth Miller, of Prison Break, came out as “a gay man” in a letter sent Wednesday to the St. Petersburg International Film Festival, declining his participation because, he writes, “I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/wentworth-miller-prison-break-star-comes-out-as-gay-declinin
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Wentworth Miller, "Prison Break" Star, Comes Out As Gay, Declining Russian Film Festival Invite
Chris Geidner - BuzzFeed Staff
Actor Wentworth Miller, of Prison Break, came out as “a gay man” in a letter sent Wednesday to the St. Petersburg International Film Festival, declining his participation because, he writes, “I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/wentworth-miller-prison-break-star-comes-out-as-gay-declinin
He comes out every five years, but good on him for boycotting Russia.
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Sadly, not from The Onion:
More Louisiana Republicans Blame President Obama for Hurricane Katrina Response than Bush.
According to a Public Policy Polling survey, 29 percent of Louisiana Republicans say President Obama is more to blame for the botched executive branch response to Hurricane Katrina while just 28 percent blamed George W. Bush. A plurality of 44 percent said they were unsure who was more responsible, even though Hurricane Katrina occurred over three years before Obama entered the presidency when he was still a freshman Senator.
[...]
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/08/21/2503281/louisiana-republicans-blame-president-obama-katrina-response/
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Is there no news in Canada? Ever?
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Is there no news in Canada? Ever?
We have plenty but why would you care about Canadian news, you're "American", lol!
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I often watch CNN, especially AC350 and Piers Morgan Tonight but man, tonight they are pretty much exactly the same.
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I'm sure people are aware of this now:
Bradley Manning's court-martial reached an end today, with Army Colonel Denise Lind sentencing him to 35 years in prison. She also ordered a reduction in rank to private, a forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. He will receive credit for 1,294 days for time served. According to an Army spokesman, Manning would be eligible for parole after serving 1/3 of his sentence; with additional credit for time served, he could face 8-9 years. Manning also has the possibility of a clemency finding that would reduce his sentence.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/21/4642816/bradley-manning-sentenced-wikileaks-case
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2FWar-crimes-01_zps52497770.jpg&hash=92be562d617d8ab24f861d937eaf27c4cc8ac5a3)
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Funny:
He comes out every five years, but good on him for boycotting Russia.
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Funnier:
Is there no news in Canada? Ever?
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Funniest:
Tea Party Darling and Republican Presidential Hopeful Texas
Senator Ted Cruz Was Born in Calgary and Is a Canadian Citizen
http://www.slate.com/ted_cruz_calgary_born_texas_republican_has_dual_us_canadian_citizenship.html (http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/08/19/ted_cruz_canada_calgary_born_texas_republican_has_dual_us_canadian_citizenship.html)
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And we all remain silent.
I laughed when I read that part.
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Re: Bradley Manning; If Manning was, as it was stated on our news last night, a somewhat disturbed individual who was in conflict with himself regarding his sexuality and gender, amongst other problems, don't the US Army bear some responsibility for his misdeeds by giving him such a high security clearance?
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Not if he hid his problems and lied to get where he wanted to be, to get access to military secrets.
And what the HELL does his sexuality have to do with it?
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That shouldn't matter a whit. They should be tried as adults.
I agree with that; this isn't one of those sad incidents you occasionally hear about where a 2-year-old kills a sibling or playmate.
Just my POV: I can remember how, as a teenager, some really hairbrained things absolutely look like good ideas at the time. So I'd be for some creative sentencing in the case of kids filching a car and taking it for a joy ride, or holding an underaged keg party in a county park. But deliberately killing someone goes way beyond that. If by age 15 you don't know better than to kill someone, you'll never be anything but a curse and a menace to anyone around you.
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I laughed when I read that part.
I did a lot earlier than that!
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I saw that the black kid's father says he's innocent because he was just along for the ride.
Man, peer pressure is something else in Oklahoma.
(I was going to say "birds of a feather..." but figured Paul would think it trivialized socio-economic influences of growing up in the southwest.)
I stand by my comment that you trivialised what Greenwald had done in publishing Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA surveillance by describing it as “teasing the big dog.”
You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, but I doubt that Greenwald would agree that his work amounted merely to “teasing.”
Regarding your reference to the Oklahoma killers, perhaps you didn’t realise that there’s a world of difference between describing three arrested felons (Chancey Luna, James Edwards and Michael Jones) as “birds of a feather” and Glenn Greenwald as one of the people who “tease the big dog” and then “cry the loudest when they get nipped.”
You seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact that Greenwald’s partner, a citizen of Brazil, was in transit to Rio de Janiero (so wasn’t even in England) when he was detained without a lawyer for nine hours at Heathrow Airport, had his laptop, cellphone, video game consoles, DVDs and USB sticks confiscated “under Schedule 7 of the UK Terrorism Act of 2000” and was eventually released without charge.
If you believe that there isn’t such a difference between Greenwald and the three men charged with the murder of Chris Lane, I’d be interested in hearing it.
Preferably in the form of a direct post to myself, rather than in another snide parenthetical comment in a post to someone else.
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Not if he hid his problems and lied to get where he wanted to be, to get access to military secrets.
And what the HELL does his sexuality have to do with it? Tv
Nothing, apart from the fact that he was apparently psychologically troubled about it, which might have made him vulnerable to exploitation.
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Re: Bradley Manning; If Manning was, as it was stated on our news last night, a somewhat disturbed individual who was in conflict with himself regarding his sexuality and gender, amongst other problems, don't the US Army bear some responsibility for his misdeeds by giving him such a high security clearance?
Not if he hid his problems and lied to get where he wanted to be, to get access to military secrets.
And what the HELL does his sexuality have to do with it?
Nothing, apart from the fact that he was apparently psychologically troubled about it, which might have made him vulnerable to exploitation.
As far as I've heard, "Chelsea" wasn't exlpoited by anybody. And now I hear from this morning's TV news that this convicted felon--and her lawyer--are expecting the U.S. taxpayers to pay for her gender reassignment surgery while she's incarcerated at Leavenworth.
N-o-o-o-o.
She may want to lose her balls, but she's sure got'em now. ::)
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I agree with that; this isn't one of those sad incidents you occasionally hear about where a 2-year-old kills a sibling or playmate.
Just my POV: I can remember how, as a teenager, some really hairbrained things absolutely look like good ideas at the time. So I'd be for some creative sentencing in the case of kids filching a car and taking it for a joy ride, or holding an underaged keg party in a county park. But deliberately killing someone goes way beyond that. If by age 15 you don't know better than to kill someone, you'll never be anything but a curse and a menace to anyone around you.
Exactly--taking a life because they were bored. I have no patience with that crap. Get rid of their worthless asses now.
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Exactly--taking a life because they were bored. ...
I heard today that the killing was somehow connected to initiation into a gang of some kind...
Duncan, Oklahoma: Chris Lane was murdered as a part of a gang initiation, according to James Johnson, the father of a boy who was also allegedly targeted by the three youths accused of killing Mr Lane.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/chris-lane-shooting-a-gang-initiation-says-father-who-called-police-20130822-2sdud.html#ixzz2choAJ1hw
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I thought this extract (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/19/glenn-greenwald-journalism-david-miranda-detention)from The Guardian's article of 19 August ("Is Glenn Greenwald's journalism now viewed as a 'terrorist' occupation?") was worth posting, as it encapsulates my thoughts about the issue of the nine-hour detention at Heathrow Airport of Glenn Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda:
“Greenwald himself is not known to have committed any offence, unless journalism is now a "terrorist" occupation in the eyes of British and American politicians.
As for Miranda, his only offence seems to have been to be part of his family. Harassing the family of those who have upset authority is the most obscene form of state terrorism.
Last month, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, airily excused the apparently illegal hoovering of internet traffic by British and American spies on the grounds that "the innocent have nothing to fear," the motto of police states down the ages.
Hague's apologists explained that he was a nice chap really, but that relations with America trumped every libertarian card.
The hysteria of the "war on terror" is now corrupting every area of democratic government.”#
I understand that some people might think, “Well, covert surveillance of citizens in western democracies has been going on for years.”
Although I do wonder whether they’re aware that, in America, for one, it occurred as early as the 1950s, well before computers and the internet were created.
So I suppose that, all in all, they couldn’t care less about what goes on at Heathrow Airport (or Sheremetyevo Airport, for that matter), just as long as they’re not personally affected.
Which brings me to an interesting exchange in Forster’s Maurice:
“Mr Borenius says they want love,” said Anne after a pause.
“I've no doubt they do, but they won't get it.”
“Mr Hall! You're horrible.”
"One gets used to anything...”
“Well, good gracious me, I scold Clive for being cynical, but you outdo him.”
“I get used to being horrible, as you call it, as the poor do to their slums. It's only a question of time.
After you've banged about a bit you get used to your particular hole.”
# (My emphases added.)
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I understand that some people might think, “Well, covert surveillance of citizens in western democracies has been going on for years.”
Although I do wonder whether they’re aware that, in America, for one, it occurred as early as the 1950s, well before computers and the internet were created.
I clearly remember this being a very hot topic during the 1960s, especially on college campuses.
So now you can wonder no more, although I doubt that was the answer you wanted. But I was just born here; what do I know? ::)
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If you thought the Obamas just got another dog, you're not paying attention.
"Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller spilled the beans. First, they inject a meaningless statistic into a mention of Sunny's birthplace:
It’s a dog named “Sunny.” Apparently it’s a girl and it was born in 2012 in Michigan, where the unemployment rate was 8.8 percent last month. It is the Obamas’ second dog, after “Bo.”
"Did the birth of a puppy in Michigan somehow contribute to the unemployment rate, the reader wonders? Or was it just a way for Tuckie's cohorts to stick it to the President while reporting a cute puppy story. Either way, it's not really the gist of the article. No, dear readers. HERE is the gist:"
With the addition of Sunny, the Obamas now have two black Portuguese water dogs.
The Obamas do not have any white dogs.
BEEEEEEEEEEENGHAZI !
rest of the breaking scandal at http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/terrible-obama-black-dog-conspiracy
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“Greenwald himself is not known to have committed any offence, unless journalism is now a "terrorist" occupation in the eyes of British and American politicians.
Journalism cannot be a buzzword to do anything one wants.
If Person A steals something and Person B receives the stolen item.
Person B cannot go about claiming that he has a right to sell it because he's a journalist.
If Snowden stole KFC's secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices and gave it to
Greenwald, does Greenwald have a right to publish it?
If I wanted to know the exact vote totals for the year BBM was up for Best Picture
and I somehow had access to that information, even though I signed agreements
not to disclose the information, but I did to a journalist, I would not expect to be
without consequences even though there are many people who'd like to know that
information.
As for Miranda, his only offence seems to have been to be part of his family. Harassing the family of those who have upset authority is the most obscene form of state terrorism.
Of course, then you must disagree with this article I posted earlier:
Why Does Being a Relative of Glenn Greenwald Place You Above the Law?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100231711/why-does-being-a-relative-of-glenn-greenwald-place-you-above-the-law/)
When I first heard Miranda had been detained at Heathrow for nine hours under anti-terror legislation I thought it was a disgrace. I assumed, as did others, that it was an act of petty vengeance and intimidation aimed at the man who had become a very large thorn in the side of the UK and US governments through his publication of information supplied by former NSA employee Edward Snowden.
But as the Miranda story has unfolded, it’s also started to unravel. First we were told that Miranda was not merely a disinterested observer to the Snowden saga but a journalist himself, who was working with Greenwald on the story. But then it became clear Miranda was not actually a journalist at all. What’s more, he wasn’t even that clear what it was he was carrying for his partner. So Miranda arrives at Heathrow. The UK intelligence services are aware of his movements, because that’s what intelligence services do. What’s more, they know he’s potentially carrying highly classified information that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could seriously compromise UK national security.
We know that the release of this information would be damaging, for two reasons. The first is because Glenn Greenwald boasted that it would. On hearing of his partner’s detention, Greenwald said: “I am going to publish many more documents. I am going to publish things on England too. I have many documents on England's spy system. I think they will be sorry for what they did.” Whatever Miranda was carrying, it had the potential to make an entire nation sorry.
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I agree with that; this isn't one of those sad incidents you occasionally hear about where a 2-year-old kills a sibling or playmate.
Just my POV: I can remember how, as a teenager, some really hairbrained things absolutely look like good ideas at the time. So I'd be for some creative sentencing in the case of kids filching a car and taking it for a joy ride, or holding an underaged keg party in a county park. But deliberately killing someone goes way beyond that. If by age 15 you don't know better than to kill someone, you'll never be anything but a curse and a menace to anyone around you.
Some creative mental health expert will blame it on video games.
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I understand that some people might think, “Well, covert surveillance of citizens in western democracies has been going on for years.”
It goes on every week on the TV show CHEATERS.
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If you believe that there isn’t such a difference between Greenwald and the three men charged with the murder of Chris Lane, I’d be interested in hearing it.
Preferably in the form of a direct post to myself, rather than in another snide parenthetical comment in a post to someone else.
PAUL (please, no one else read this)
I believe there isn't a differenc between Greenwald and the three teens. In fact, Greenwald's actions could cause many more deaths than the kids in OK did.
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Nothing, apart from the fact that he was apparently psychologically troubled about it, which might have made him vulnerable to exploitation.
The military isn't responsible for the psychological problems they CAUSE, why would they be responsible for problems individuals bring in with them?
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“Greenwald himself is not known to have committed any offence, unless journalism is now a "terrorist" occupation in the eyes of British and American politicians.
As for Miranda, his only offence seems to have been to be part of his family. Harassing the family of those who have upset authority is the most obscene form of state terrorism.”
Journalism cannot be a buzzword to do anything one wants.
—etcetera, etcetera—
If you’re going to quote me please use my actual words—and not those of Simon Jenkins.
You know how to do that, don’t you?
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So I suppose that, all in all, they couldn’t care less about what goes on at Heathrow Airport
(or Sheremetyevo Airport, for that matter), just as long as they’re not personally affected.
Despite the fact that my degree of caring or not won't change one thing about what is happening
to Snowden or Greenwald or Miranda, why is it that you do and what is it that you and oilgun want
us to do about it?
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If you’re going to quote me please use my actual words—and not those of Simon Jenkins.
You know how to do that, don’t you?
Bossy, aren't we?
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The military isn't responsible for the psychological problems they CAUSE, why would they be responsible for problems individuals bring in with them?
They have sentenced Bradley manning to 35 years in jail when they have some culpability themselves for putting him in that position. I would contend that he was somewhat unstable and was exploited further by Julian Aussange, who in my opinion is a waste of space.
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We're ALL exploited by someone. No one goes through life without being bullied or abused or used or tricked at some time.
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what culpability do they have? why not put the responsibility on him? he said he did it, and that he was sorry for hurting the country. why must everything be excused due to his poor upbringing, or his confused sexuality, or because he didn't get a bike for Christmas when he was 8....everybody has bad things happen to them in life, he is not an exception...why doesn't anyone have to take responsibility for their actions?
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what culpability do they have? why not put the responsibility on him? he said he did it, and that he was sorry for hurting the country. why must everything be excused due to his poor upbringing, or his confused sexuality, or because he didn't get a bike for Christmas when he was 8....everybody has bad things happen to them in life, he is not an exception...why doesn't anyone have to take responsibility for their actions?
That is a very good question.
Because somewhere along the line, it became in the interest of somebody--lawyers? shrinks? both?--to foster the notion that nobody is responsible for anything because we're all victims of someone or something, and it all went downhill from there? :(
They have sentenced Bradley manning to 35 years in jail when they have some culpability themselves for putting him in that position. I would contend that he was somewhat unstable and was exploited further by Julian Aussange, who in my opinion is a waste of space.
He certainly seems like a supreme narcissist, anyway.
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FWIW, those supposing non-Americans should not remark upon U.S. news.........could they at least consider waiting until the U.S. gets its troops out of everywhere else, and its nose out of everyone else's business? Xenophobic/parochial tendencies might then be more supportable :)......
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And, hey, how about that Antoinette Tuff? Here comes a guy with an AK-47 into a school, and she talks him down !
It bordered on hilarious, the Southern motif:
"Now you just put that gun over there, and lay down on the floor, before dem helicopters start comin' in."
Which, he did, after asking could he keep his cell phone.
She's on CNN tonight, at 8 P.M. EST.
Is she available for Syria :-\ ?
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what culpability do they have? why not put the responsibility on him? he said he did it, and that he was sorry for hurting the country. why must everything be excused due to his poor upbringing, or his confused sexuality, or because he didn't get a bike for Christmas when he was 8....everybody has bad things happen to them in life, he is not an exception...why doesn't anyone have to take responsibility for their actions?
Of course, Bradley Manning is ultimately responsible, but what I was trying to suggest was that there was mismanagement by the US Army. If there wasn't, this breach of security wouldn't have happened.
Gender confusion is not easy to live with, and causes much suffering. I should know, I have a nephew who is a female to male transsexual. He had depression, anorexia, and much mental torment before he had his treatment, since when he is much happier.
A person with such serious issues should not have had access to high security material, unless the USA really doesn't care about its secret information.
This is not to suggest that someones sexuality should be an issue, only when it causes mental ill health.
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And once again, the Army is supposed to be a mind reader? The guy hid his problems. If he was capable of that, he is capable of accepting responsibility for what he did. Which, sincere or not, is what he has done.
I think mental health experts should be forced to accept responsibility for all the misery, pain and death caused by the creatures created by their "treatments" who go forth and act out. People with contagious physical illnesses are confined, often against their will, and no one bitches about that. It is done to protect society at large, but all anyone has to do is cry mental illness and all is forgiven.
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Of course, Bradley Manning is ultimately responsible, but what I was trying to suggest was that there was mismanagement by the US Army. If there wasn't, this breach of security wouldn't have happened.
Gender confusion is not easy to live with, and causes much suffering. I should know, I have a nephew who is a female to male transsexual. He had depression, anorexia, and much mental torment before he had his treatment, since when he is much happier.
A person with such serious issues should not have had access to high security material, unless the USA really doesn't care about its secret information.
This is not to suggest that someones sexuality should be an issue, only when it causes mental ill health.
What horrible thing has your nephew done, due to his "gender confusion"?
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As I was reading the above postings a national newspaper editor on TV which I am watching desribed the Bradley Manning affair as "crass mismanagement by the US Army."
I think that is the point I was trying to make.
Blame has to go to the right places.
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Well of course that settles it. Some British "journalist" has decided. Amen.
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but you do know it sounds like you're saying don't blame the poor one who did wrong.....poor boy, hard life, it is not his fault...
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And, hey, how about that Antoinette Tuff? Here comes a guy with an AK-47 into a school, and she talks him down !
It bordered on hilarious, the Southern motif:
"Now you just put that gun over there, and lay down on the floor, before dem helicopters start comin' in."
Which, he did, after asking could he keep his cell phone.
She's on CNN tonight, at 8 P.M. EST.
Is she available for Syria :-\ ?
Yeah, she is something, ain't she? Talk about grace under fire.
Of course, since the gunman had mental problems, he was easy to talk down and control.
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I'm sure it wasn't his fault......
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Fine! I am sure you are right, but don't blame me if it happens again.
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and speaking of guns...APD is being sued by a man who was pulled over at 7am on a Tuesday on a fairly busy street. He got out of the car holding his wallet, with his hands over his head, to provide ID...maybe should have stayed in the car....but the cop started screaming to get back in the car, then fired at the guy and, thankfully, missed and hit the truck.
The guy had to be taken to the hospital, thought he was having a heart attack, was a panic attack, then they ARRESTED him for god knows what, maybe running the light...but he was let go later that day.
Now the guy is suing...imagine that...for false imprisonment and using deadly force when unwarranted, or something like that...why isn't it attempted murder?
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Of course, Bradley Manning is ultimately responsible, but what I was trying to suggest was that there was mismanagement by the US Army. If there wasn't, this breach of security wouldn't have happened.
While I'd be the last person to exculpate Bradley/Chelsea Manning, I think you might have a point here. Doesn't the US Army do any checking of the people it gives access to the sort of information Manning had access to? One would hope so, but clearly the checking process needs to be reviewed, or perhaps the people who do the checking.
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One of my favorite West Wing episodes has a fighter pilot suddenly breaking formation with his group and ultimately crashing his plane into a mountain, his last radio transmission: "It wasn't the plane". Pilots of his caliber go through intense psychological testing before being trusted with an $18m aircraft...so was it the Air Force's fault? How did he pass the intense scrutiny? He hid his reality, until he couldn't.
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FWIW, those supposing non-Americans should not remark upon U.S. news.........could they at least consider waiting until the U.S. gets its troops out of everywhere else, and its nose out of everyone else's business? Xenophobic/parochial tendencies might then be more supportable :)......
Do we have a lot of troops in Canada, GB and Oz? ;D
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Fine! I am sure you are right, but don't blame me if it happens again.
Thanks for this afternoon's laugh... uh, that wasn't a threat, was it?
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Re: Bradley Manning; If Manning was, as it was stated on our news last night, a somewhat disturbed individual who was in conflict with himself regarding his sexuality and gender, amongst other problems, don't the US Army bear some responsibility for his misdeeds by giving him such a high security clearance?
Thats what I was thinking.
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Is there no news in Canada? Ever?
Well to be fair , last year I posted about Rocco Magnota who killed and decapitated a Chinese university student in Montreal and posted a video of the crime online. He was eventually arrested in Germany.
Someone also posted about the horrific runaway freight train disaster that killed 48 people and destroyed the downtown of a Quebec town.
Here are a few more recent Canadian News Items:
Funeral today for two New Brunswick brothers killed by African rock python
Four-year-old Noah Barthe and his six-year-old brother Connor were found dead Monday morning after a 45-kilogram African rock python escaped its enclosure in the apartment.
Police say the snake slithered through a ventilation system located above the tank and fell through the ceiling into the living room where the boys slept.
[...]
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/08/10/funeral-today-for-two-new-brunswick-brothers-killed-by-african-rock-python/
Sinkhole swallows backhoe in downtown Montreal
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/08/05/montreal-sink-hole-ste-catherine.html
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2FMontreal-Sinkhole-01_zps809b44b8.jpg&hash=d56cfb466b950b0f15c08438d726285aa3ba3fe5)
Justin Trudeau admits smoking marijuana as MP
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau tells the Huffington Post he last smoked marijuana three years ago after becoming an MP.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Fjustin-trudeau-02_zps7919864c.jpg&hash=42b38c0a54c03108073aa78a4acf1606e44618c3)
www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/22/justin_trudeau_admits_smoking_marijuana_as_mp.html
Proposed 'Quebec Values' could ban all religious symbols in public buildings
The QMI article states burqas, turbans, hijabs, yarmulkes, and crosses would not be permitted in any public office, including courts, police stations, hospitals, or government offices. Staff members in public schools, including large daycares, CEGEPs and universities would fall under the same rules, while those in private schools and family-run daycares would be exempt.
Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/proposed-quebec-values-could-ban-all-religious-symbols-in-public-buildings-1.1418860#ixzz2clQ1MlSq
Police chiefs suggest tickets for pot possession instead of criminal charges
Canada’s police chiefs say they want to end the practice of criminally charging every person found with small amounts of marijuana, voting to give officers the option of issuing tickets akin to the ones people receive for driving infractions or jaywalking.
[...]
;D
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Sinkhole swallows backhoe in downtown Montreal
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/08/05/montreal-sink-hole-ste-catherine.html
Dang! I miss the good stuff through bad timing. I was in Montreal a week before this happened and enjoyed a couple of coffees at the Second Cup on that corner. A sink hole outside would have been an added perk (since we're talking coffee...).
--Bob/BillyBobcat
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Do we have a lot of troops in Canada, GB and Oz? ;D
Have you been to East Anglia?
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FWIW, those supposing non-Americans should not remark upon U.S. news.........could they at least consider waiting until the U.S. gets its troops out of everywhere else, and its nose out of everyone else's business?
No; then there would be bitching and moaning about isolationism and the fact that the Great Satan doesn't caaaaaaaaaaaare.
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Do we have a lot of troops in Canada, GB and Oz? ;D
Never in Canada. We've tried that twice in our history and it didn't end well. >:D
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Never in Canada. We've tried that twice in our history and it didn't end well. >:D
The Pig War isn't usually counted among our reciprocal conflicts, perhaps because pigs can't make their case, but you might say it didn't end all that badly for either side. The only casualty was a pig, and it led to fixing a boundary dispute:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War)
--Bob/BillyBobcat
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The Pig War isn't usually counted among our reciprocal conflicts, perhaps because pigs can't make their case, but you might say it didn't end all that badly for either side. The only casualty was a pig, and it led to fixing a boundary dispute:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War)
Cute.
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Never in Canada. We've tried that twice in our history and it didn't end well. >:D
Actually because of WW2 we had two major bases and a few smaller ones in Newfoundland, where troops remained for quite a while (until 1994) after the colony became a province, because of lend-lease.
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/us_pres.html
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Came across this article, from September 2011. Whenever it seems that violence is increasing everywhere, it's frequently useful to take a longer view.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904106704576583203589408180.html
Steve Pinker, "Violence Vanquished"
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I believe there isn't a differenc between Greenwald and the three teens.
That you believe there’s no difference “between Greenwald and the three teens” ignores the fact that there’s a difference between a journalist doing his job and three bored men randomly killing someone.
And not only as regards actions (publication of revelations about covert NSA surveillance versus the murder of Chris Lane) but also as regards intentions/motives (journalistic integrity versus boredom/just something to do to fill in time).
In fact, Greenwald's actions could cause many more deaths than the kids in OK did.
That Chris Lane is dead is an empirical fact, and his death was a direct result of their actions.
That Glenn Greenwald’s actions could directly “cause many more deaths” is speculative fiction.
PS The neat way in which you’ve avoided making a direct response to my Reply #199 (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2425757#msg2425757) is duly noted. :)
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I clearly remember this being a very hot topic during the 1960s, especially on college campuses.
So now you can wonder no more, although I doubt that was the answer you wanted. But I was just born here; what do I know? ::)
My comment was rhetorical, but nevertheless thank you for demonstrating that your ability in the provision of constructive commentary hasn’t declined one iota. ;D
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Despite the fact that my degree of caring or not won't change one thing about what is happening
to Snowden or Greenwald or Miranda, why is it that you do and what is it that you ... want
us to do about it?
These are two interesting questions.
Some topics on this thread warrant serious discussion because they involve issues beyond those of mere personal interest, and they deserve to be treated as such.
I’m as concerned about the way that Snowden, Greenwald and Miranda have been and are currently being treated as I was about the way that President Morales was treated in July, and presenting my thoughts on this is a matter of principle.
It’s ethically repugnant to me that contemporary western democracies can treat individuals as if the world had returned to the age of the Spanish Inquisition.
What is it that I “want us to do about it?”
Do you mean apart from serious discussion about the way that your government treats it citizens, about the way it tramples on the Fourth Amendment under the guise of “national security” and about the way an American citizen risked life and limb to expose government lies and corruption and had to seek asylum in Russia for fear of retribution?
This is, after all, a discussion thread. I was unaware that taking direct personal action to counteract such contraventions of civil liberties was a pre-requisite of participation.
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If you’re going to quote me please use my actual words—and not those of Simon Jenkins.
You know how to do that, don’t you?
Bossy, aren't we?
It’s important that posted quotes are the words of those to whom they’re accredited, and not those of someone else.
Doing otherwise creates a false impression.
I’m surprised, though, that you didn’t recognise my allusion to To Have and Have Not....
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Journalism cannot be a buzzword to do anything one wants.
If Person A steals something and Person B receives the stolen item.
Person B cannot go about claiming that he has a right to sell it because he's a journalist.
If Snowden stole KFC's secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices and gave it to
Greenwald, does Greenwald have a right to publish it?
If I wanted to know the exact vote totals for the year BBM was up for Best Picture
and I somehow had access to that information, even though I signed agreements
not to disclose the information, but I did to a journalist, I would not expect to be
without consequences even though there are many people who'd like to know that
information.
I doubt that the examples you mention would satisfy the criterion of “overriding public need” in order to warrant publication.
Unless of course, Snowden offered his culinary secrets’ scoop to some supermarket tabloid.
The same would apply, I suspect, to your divulsion of secret votes by members of AMPAS.
Both examples are hardly newsworthy, and even questionable regarding “entertainment value.”
Of course, if on the other hand you really believe that a secret herbs&spices recipe and secret votes for the Best Picture Oscar are equivalent to information about the covert surveillance of US and overseas citizens by the NSA in the interests of national security, then your argument is absolutely flawless, and I’ll bow to your impeccable logic.
-
In reference to my quote of Simon Jenkins’ statement (that Greenwald himself is not known to have committed any offence, unless journalism is now a "terrorist" occupation in the eyes of British and American politicians) you suggested that,
Of course, then you must disagree with this article I posted earlier:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100231711/why-does-being-a-relative-of-glenn-greenwald-place-you-above-the-law/
Dan Hodges not only plays fast and loose with facts but draws invalid conclusions from premises he himself presented—that David Miranda’s detention was justified because “at the time of his arrest he had been in the process of carrying potentially sensitive information to Greenwald from one of Greenwald’s contacts, the film maker Laura Poitras.”
Leaving aside the issue that Miranda was not a “relative” of Greenwald, but his partner, Hodges states that:
“The UK intelligence services are aware of [Miranda’s] movements, because that’s what intelligence services do.
What’s more, they know he’s potentially carrying highly classified information that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could seriously compromise UK national security.”
[i.e. Intelligence services already know that Miranda is “potentially carrying highly classified information” which could “seriously compromise UK national security.”]
This is followed by Hodges saying that “We know that the release of this information would be damaging, for two reasons.”
(Never mind that at this stage there’s no evidence to support Hodges’ claim that Miranda was carrying “highly classified information,” let alone that “we”—however they are—"know" it.)
But let’s look at his “two reasons” for this so-called “knowledge:”
a) that Glenn Greenwald had boasted that the information carried by Miranda “would be damaging;” and
b) that “two ‘GCHQ security experts’ had been invited into the Guardian basement to watch as hard drives containing the Snowden files were voluntarily smashed to pieces.”
To support his first reason Hodges writes:
On hearing of his partner’s detention, Greenwald said: “I am going to publish many more documents. I am going to publish things on England too. I have many documents on England's spy system. I think they will be sorry for what they did.”
Whatever Miranda was carrying (writes Hodges), it had the potential to make an entire nation ... sorry.”
Greenwald’s actual “boast” is directly quoted in a separate Telegraph article by others (reached via a link conveniently provided by Hodges himself).
So there’s no excuse for Hodges' false conclusion that the documents referred to by Greenwald were those (if any) carried by Miranda.
Even a cursory reading of Greenwald’s words would indicate that Greenwald was referring to documents already in his possession.
Let’s look now at Hodges’ second (and similarly flawed) reason for his claim that Miranda was in possession of information which was dangerous to UK national security if it “fell into the wrong hands.”
Hodges thoughtfully provides a link to a report (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/19/david-miranda-schedule7-danger-reporters) in The Guardian, written by its editor, Alan Rusbridger, who describes how, during meetings with “shadowy Whitehall figures” over a period of some months he was instructed to either “hand over the Snowden material or destroy it” or that governmental-approved court action would be taken for its surrender.
Agents from GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters, “a crucial part of the UK’s National Intelligence and Security machinery”) subsequently oversaw the destruction of The Guardian’s hard drives to ensure that “there was nothing in the mangled bits of metal which could possibly be of any interest to passing Chinese agents.”
Here we have demonstrable proof of Hodges’ bias inability to draw valid conclusions from information he himself has presented.
The information about which GCHQ was so concerned already existed within The Guardian’s hard drives, not carried by David Miranda during his flight from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro via Heathrow.
And Hodges’ conclusion?
“It’s clear David Miranda wasn’t stopped because he was Glenn Greenwald’s partner. He was stopped because he was suspected of carrying classified information highly detrimental to the UK national interest."
So, yes, Lyle—I “disagree” with the article you posted; and there seemed little point in reading further simply to discover further errors.
Rusbridger’s report, for those who wish to understand the lengths to which governments will go in order to stifle the freedom of the press, is worth reading in its entirety.
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As I was reading the above postings a national newspaper editor on TV which I am watching desribed the Bradley Manning affair as "crass mismanagement by the US Army."
I think that is the point I was trying to make.
Blame has to go to the right places.
Well of course that settles it. Some British "journalist" has decided. Amen.
Would you have used quotation marks, Sherry, had the journalist been American?
Better yet, why did you feel the need to mention the journalist's nationality at all?
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My comment was rhetorical, but nevertheless thank you for demonstrating that your ability in the provision of constructive commentary hasn’t declined one iota. ;D
Yes, I am amazing (which can cover a lot of territory).
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Yes, I am amazing (which can cover a lot of territory).
I couldn't agree with you more, Marge, and that's saying something. ;D
What's your secret? :D
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I couldn't agree with you more, Marge, and that's saying something. ;D
What's your secret? :D
But if she tells us, then it won't be a secret anymore. ;D
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It’s important that posted quotes are the words of those to whom they’re accredited,
and not those of someone else. Doing otherwise creates a false impression.
We've had this discussion before. Unless a poster prefaces it with something different, I assume
people who are quoting the opinions of others in their posts agree with what those people are saying,
otherwise why are you posting them in the first place? And since I assume you are agreeing with the
sentiments, I see no reason not to quote them as your own if I so desire. Seriously, the very fact you're
quoting people means nothing in particular to you?
I doubt that the examples you mention would satisfy the criterion
of “overriding public need” in order to warrant publication.
Oh, so there's certain criteria for journalists and whistleblower's to consider?
My examples were unworthy of this criteria and deserve dismissal, even though
the ethical principles are the same. I see. It has to be "worth it" in some way.
But then there's the rub. Who decides if it's worth it or not? You? A company?
A Government? A journalist? Who decides overriding public need? Snowden?
Greenwald? Mayor Bloomberg?
Both examples are hardly newsworthy, and even questionable regarding “entertainment value.”
While I agree that the Manning and Snowden sagas are very entertaining, very little of the press
coverage the average person is seeing or hearing about is related to what YOU consider newsworthy
about it. It's about the fact they stole Government secrets they were entrusted with and swore oaths
not to reveal.
Of course, if on the other hand you really believe that a secret herbs&spices recipe and secret votes
for the Best Picture Oscar are equivalent to information about the covert surveillance of US and overseas
citizens by the NSA in the interests of national security, then your argument is absolutely flawless, and I’ll
bow to your impeccable logic.
I did not realize there were equivalency tests related to ethical behavior.
Rusbridger’s report, for those who wish to understand the lengths to which governments
will go in order to stifle the freedom of the press, is worth reading in its entirety.
Does freedom of the press to you mean freedom to do anything the press wants to do, including
publishing stolen Government secrets? Then cry foul when the Government steps in their way?
It’s ethically repugnant to me that contemporary western democracies can treat individuals as if the world had returned to the age of the Spanish Inquisition.
But you have an equivalency test depending on what it's about. One person's "ethically repugnant" seems
to depend on certain criteria. It seems you have no problem with ethically repugnant whistleblowers if the
criteria suits your needs.
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Actually because of WW2 we had two major bases and a few smaller ones in Newfoundland, where troops remained for quite a while (until 1994) after the colony became a province, because of lend-lease.
American troops also built The Alaska Highway (also known as the Alaskan Highway, Alaska-Canadian Highway, or ALCAN Highway) that was constructed during World War II. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. Completed in 1942 at a length of approximately 1,700 miles. The highway was opened to the public in 1948.
On February 6, 1942 the construction of the Alaska Highway was approved by the United States Army and the project received the authorization from the U.S. Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proceed five days later. Canada agreed to allow construction as long as the United States bore the full cost, and that the road and other facilities in Canada be turned over to Canadian authority after the war ended.
There's a PBS Program about it, too:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/alaska/
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Do you mean apart from serious discussion about the way that your government treats it citizens, about the way it tramples on the Fourth Amendment under the guise of “national security” and about the way an American citizen risked life and limb to expose government lies and corruption and had to seek asylum in Russia for fear of retribution?
This is, after all, a discussion thread. I was unaware that taking direct personal action to counteract such contraventions of civil liberties was a pre-requisite of participation.
::)
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What's that old saying about being part of the solution or the problem?
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Would you have used quotation marks, Sherry, had the journalist been American?
Better yet, why did you feel the need to mention the journalist's nationality at all?
I don't think that Doodler realises that what happens in the US security services affects us here. Our troops, our security operatives all work hand in glove with those in the USA. GCHQ here works with the US authorities all of the time. These failures to check who is given security clearance can, and sometimes do, lead to loss of British lives.
We also have huge US airbases here in the UK.
Lakenheath in Suffolk is probably the most well known, and we have had forum members over the years who have been stationed there.
I, and other British people are involved in this, and we have every right to express an opinion, and for our news and media organisations to keep us informed.
I didn't realise that only the American members of this multinational forum were allowed an opinion.
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I don't think that Doodler realises that what happens in the US security services affects us here. Our troops, our security operatives all work hand in glove with those in the USA. GCHQ here works with the US authorities all of the time. These failures to check who is given security clearance can, and sometimes do, lead to loss of British lives.
We also have huge US airbases here in the UK.
Lakenheath in Suffolk is probably the most well known, and we have had forum members over the years who have been stationed there.
I, and other British people are involved in this, and we have every right to express an opinion, and for our news and media organisations to keep us informed.
I didn't realise that only the American members of this multinational forum were allowed an opinion.
Seems to me what you are describing is an internal problem. Perhaps instead of trying to talk Americans into your way of thinking and doing your bidding, you should try addressing the issue where your opinion might have some influence. MY suggestion, for what it's worth... start by throwing the Colonials out of your baliwick. Of course, that might affect your economic situation....
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The illogicallity of this reply leaves me speechless. Is this one world or not? What country can completely go it's own way without interconnections?
If what you are suggesting is that we have no more to do with the USA and throw all your nationals out, then I am afraid I can't see how that would be at all useful. I doubt however that it would do much harm to our economy, most of our trade is with the EU.
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Did anyone see this in their local news? It was REALLY local for me: Lake Butler is in the next county, only 25 miles away from the town where I live.
3 dead, 2 wounded in Fla. truck company shootings
Aug 24, 9:45 PM (ET)
LAKE BUTLER, Fla. (AP) - A longtime employee of a Florida trucking company drove around Saturday shooting former co-workers and his onetime boss, killing two and wounding two, authorities said. The gunman then killed himself.
Hubert Allen Jr., 72, shot the men at several locations around Union County, including the headquarters for Pritchett Trucking Inc., according to a Union County Sheriff's Office news release.
Authorities said Allen shot and killed former co-worker Rolando Gonzalez-Delgado, 28, around 9 a.m. then went a short distance and fatally shot his former employer, 80-year-old Marvin Pritchett.
A few minutes later, he pulled over where another former co-worker was driving a farm tractor, exchanged words with him and then fired one shot from a shotgun, authorities said. That victim, 66-year-old Lewis Mabrey Jr., was in good condition and receiving surgery for a broken arm and other injuries.
Not long after that, Allen went to the company's headquarters in Lake Butler and shot 44-year-old David Griffis in the stomach, the release said. Griffis was in critical condition.
Authorities say Allen then returned to his home nearby and killed himself. Authorities said he was a longtime employee of the company.
With a population of about 2,000, Lake Butler is located about an hour's drive southwest of Jacksonville.
Investigators were working at the five shooting scenes late Saturday and interviewing witnesses and company employees. The news release said they were working to determine a motive.
Messages seeking further comment from the sheriff's office weren't immediately returned.
The trucking company's website says it employs 400 people and owns hundreds of vehicles that operate around the country. It said Pritchett started the trucking company in 1980, ten years after purchasing a Florida timber business.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with all of their families, and at this time our sole focus is on those impacted by today's events. Words cannot express the pain and sorrow felt by so many yet we are comforted by the memories of those lost," the company said in a statement.
The company's chief financial officer, Steve Perez, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking further comment.
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Seems to me what you are describing is an internal problem. Perhaps instead of trying to talk Americans into your way of thinking and doing your bidding, you should try addressing the issue where your opinion might have some influence. MY suggestion, for what it's worth... start by throwing the Colonials out of your baliwick. Of course, that might affect your economic situation....
What an unpleasant tone. Whatever happened to open-minded discussion?
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Did anyone see this in their local news? It was REALLY local for me: Lake Butler is in the next county, only 25 miles away from the town where I live.
3 dead, 2 wounded in Fla. truck company shootings
Aug 24, 9:45 PM (ET)
LAKE BUTLER, Fla. (AP) - A longtime employee of a Florida trucking company drove around Saturday shooting former co-workers and his onetime boss, killing two and wounding two, authorities said. The gunman then killed himself.
Hubert Allen Jr., 72, shot the men at several locations around Union County, including the headquarters for Pritchett Trucking Inc., according to a Union County Sheriff's Office news release.
Authorities said Allen shot and killed former co-worker Rolando Gonzalez-Delgado, 28, around 9 a.m. then went a short distance and fatally shot his former employer, 80-year-old Marvin Pritchett.
A few minutes later, he pulled over where another former co-worker was driving a farm tractor, exchanged words with him and then fired one shot from a shotgun, authorities said. That victim, 66-year-old Lewis Mabrey Jr., was in good condition and receiving surgery for a broken arm and other injuries.
Not long after that, Allen went to the company's headquarters in Lake Butler and shot 44-year-old David Griffis in the stomach, the release said. Griffis was in critical condition.
Authorities say Allen then returned to his home nearby and killed himself. Authorities said he was a longtime employee of the company.
With a population of about 2,000, Lake Butler is located about an hour's drive southwest of Jacksonville.
Investigators were working at the five shooting scenes late Saturday and interviewing witnesses and company employees. The news release said they were working to determine a motive.
Messages seeking further comment from the sheriff's office weren't immediately returned.
The trucking company's website says it employs 400 people and owns hundreds of vehicles that operate around the country. It said Pritchett started the trucking company in 1980, ten years after purchasing a Florida timber business.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with all of their families, and at this time our sole focus is on those impacted by today's events. Words cannot express the pain and sorrow felt by so many yet we are comforted by the memories of those lost," the company said in a statement.
The company's chief financial officer, Steve Perez, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking further comment.
Yikes, Mark!
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Seems it's all open minded as long as we're talking about what is wrong with the US. Change the subject and it becomes unpleasant.
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Oh! I don't think so. I love the USA and in the UK we are always only too glad to complain abuot our governments. It is part of the British character.
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THINK about what you just said.
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But if she tells us, then it won't be a secret anymore. ;D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2FdogandBushbeans_zpsa06ca0f5.jpg&hash=bf41b48ad451bd09daa64f02d4d758f204f97771)
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Do you mean apart from serious discussion about the way that your government treats it citizens, about the way it tramples on the Fourth Amendment under the guise of “national security” and about the way an American citizen risked life and limb to expose government lies and corruption and had to seek asylum in Russia for fear of retribution?
Oh, by all means, let's have a serious discussion about the way a government treats its citizens. There's been a lot of discussion about that lately that will intensify next year. ::)
Not that it's going to happen in this venue, uv cawss.
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THINK about what you just said.
Why?
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2FdogandBushbeans_zpsa06ca0f5.jpg&hash=bf41b48ad451bd09daa64f02d4d758f204f97771)
Batteries not included. ...
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Well it looks like it's that time again.
Discussions had been fine, but the thoughts are veering off into the "personal attacks" tone again, so it looks like a time out is needed again. (I am not referring to the Bush's beans comments, but numerous previous ones.)
You all know that the topics are interesting, and everyone has their own thoughts about them. Some garner more emotions than others, but that does not give license to belittle fellow posters. They are just as passionate about their beliefs as you are. I have told everyone in the past, to respect one another, answer someone back as you would like to be answered.
All these accusations that someone is attacking you, your beliefs, your country, your government, your citizens, or any other topic has got to stop. Each and everyone of us is going to have a different opinion about everything. This is not just limited to people being from a different country, but divisions happen in the same country about the exact same things we discuss here daily. EVERYONE is entitled to their OWN opinion, and NO ONE has the right to put them down for those beliefs.
Quit picking fights.
Quit thinking someone is wrong if they don't believe in what you are stating.
Quit thinking the longer you argue about something the more right you are.
Quit thinking that the longer your posts are, or the most links you post, will convince people who disagree, to suddenly agree.
Do respect everyone here.
Do realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether you are in agreement or not.
Do realize no one is all right or all wrong.
Do respect everyone here.
Each and every person on this forum is an individual. Each one has a different background, different life's experiences, different genders, different everything. Think about this when you are posting. If you do not agree with someone, make it simple and say you don't agree and here is why. Leave it at that. More words, more arguments are not going to convince anyone of anything.
Think about all of this in the next couple of days. Try to come back and when you post about some current issue, remember all of this.
It does no one any good when good honest and interesting discussions of topics degenerates into name calling and accusations. Be adults in your thinking and once again, RESPECT.
To each and every one, if all of this is not possible, then don't post here.
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Just remember when you are posting here that you are just writing words. No one can hear the inflections of your words, see your facial expressions, or the tone of your voice. What you post here are your thoughts in words, and it isn't like you are sitting across from someone at a coffee shop.
I say this because none of us can interpret, just by the words written here, how someone is presenting their thoughts and opinions because we are not hearing or seeing them, we are just reading words on a screen. We cannot assume or interpret that they are being judgmental, angry, sarcastic, or any of the emotions we see and hear when we are sitting across from someone.
Remember this when you are posting here.
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So, about the Syria thing...
I'm not convinced that there is irrefutable proof that Assad was responsible for the chemical attack. Bush Obama's explanation was not very convincing. I'm glad to see that a majority of Americans are not convinced either. I guess when you are lied to time after time by the government & media, after a while you stop believing them. A lot of Syrians also have doubts about Assad being responsible considering that the attack happened in an area that the government controlled with, I understand, people who are mostly pro-Assad. He would have nothing to gain by gassing supporters. I think there is more evidence that the NATO & US backed rebels were responsible. The false flag attack provides the perfect reason for the West to invade/attack the country which would force Iran to get involved which would then give the US a reason to attack/invade THAT country as well. Oh and the chemical weapons were probably supplied by the U.S. via Qatar. I mean the U.S supplied Iraq with chemical weapons during the Iraq/Iran war. I also saw a video where a four star general claims that months afters 9/11 the U.S had a plan to invade not only Iraq, but other middle eastern countries, including Syria & Iran, (I'll try to find the link). It's a sad state of affairs. My two cents.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2FSyria-02_zps54a81bb5.jpg&hash=e0f2adec83e096139afefc97b4964e4fbc6db0c5)
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So, about the Syria thing...
Oh and the chemical weapons were probably supplied by the U.S.
Another one of your sleazy slanders.
But, oh, how clever you are! You can't prove it, and by throwing in that "probably" you don't have to.
::)
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So, about the Syria thing...
No coffee shop need, no equivocation...
the US should stay out of Syria. Period.
It doesn't matter to me which side gassed those people. It is an internal problem and ABSOLUTELY none of our business.
Barring a direct attack by Syria on US soil, we should not get involved.
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Another one of your sleazy slanders.
But, oh, how clever you are! You can't prove it, and by throwing in that "probably" you don't have to.
::)
The west can't prove Assad was responsible, so shouldn't accusing him be considered slander as well?
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The west can't prove Assad was responsible, so shouldn't accusing him be considered slander as well?
I don't give a rat's ass what anyone says about Assad.
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I have yet to speak with anyone who does care about Assad. Or Syria. Or any possible lies our government is telling us.
If those 12 Arab nations are so concerned about what's going on in their neighborhood, they should handle it.
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The MP's here have all been recalled from their summer holidays for a debate in the House of Commons this afternoon, 2.30 to decide what to do about Syria. There doesn't seem to be much support for a military strike, and Mr Cameron looked worried!
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Lyle, I’ve been trying to sort out the threads of our recent discussion, and I’d now like to look at some of the issues you mentioned and along the way, clarify a few points of mine which might have been less than clear.
The issue I initially raised related to Jenkins’ comments about David Miranda’s detention at Heathrow, which he described as “the sort of treatment western politicians love to deplore in Putin’s Russia or Ahmadinejad's Iran.”
The thrust of his article was that even though Greenwald is not known to have commited any offence in reporting Snowden’s NSA material for The Guardian, Miranda’s offence, under the UK 2000 Terrorism Act, was that he was Greenwald’s partner and so Jenkins asked whether journalism was now to be seen “as a terrorist occupation.”
We moved from this to the issue of “newsworthiness” and I’d like to now revisit some of your posts and make some further comments.
Journalism cannot be a buzzword to do anything one wants.
If Person A steals something and Person B receives the stolen item.
Person B cannot go about claiming that he has a right to sell it because he's a journalist.
If Snowden stole KFC's secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices and gave it to
Greenwald, does Greenwald have a right to publish it?
If I wanted to know the exact vote totals for the year BBM was up for Best Picture
and I somehow had access to that information, even though I signed agreements
not to disclose the information, but I did to a journalist, I would not expect to be
without consequences even though there are many people who'd like to know that
information.
I think there are some issues here which I could have addressed before I responded to your points about KFC’s culinary recipes and AMPAS votes.
• First, the idea that being a journalist entitles someone to “do anything they want” surely depends upon whether or not what they did conformed to what’s described as “news” otherwise, I feel, there’d be little point in being a journalist.
In the 1960s the Norwegian media researchers Johan Galtung and Mari Ruge analysed international news stories to find out what factors they had in common, and what factors placed them at the top of the news agenda worldwide.
They came up with a seminal list of twelve criteria or factors which defined “newsworthiness,” all of which had to be present to “heighten the probability that a given event would become news.
Three of these were the criteria of “Threshhold” (which an event had to reach before it became news), “Intensity/Absolute Intensity” (e.g. the more violent the murder, the bigger the headlines) and “Uniqueness” (e.g. any story which covers a unique or unusual event).
More recent scholarship (McGregor, J., Restating News Values, UNZ, 2002) suggests that three new criteria be incorporated:
- Visualness (e.g. A bias towards a good picture on TV as opposed to a worthy story, the hypothesis being that an earthquake killing 1000 people in remote Siberia will be not covered as well as an earthquake killing ten people in London, unless by some chance the Siberian disaster was captured in film or a survivor had access to a television studio);
- Emotion (e.g. Some forms of news, particularly television magazine news, have mutated into a passing parade of “tear jerker” stories that are variations on the theme of grief); and,
- Conflict, for without a conflict format the event cannot be news (e.g. Political and controversial events are driven by a conflict format in which there is little ambiguity in the opposing positions being represented; if ambiguity arises the otherwise potential story will become too complex to be news).
• Next, you said that “Person B cannot go about claiming that he has a right to sell [stolen information] because he's a journalist.
Well, I disagree with you there, Lyle. It’s precisely because Person B is a journalist that he can publicise that information—if it satisfies the definition of “news.”
(Although I admit I’m a little confused by your reference to Person B “selling” the information; is that what you think Glenn Greenwald did?)
• I’d now like to take a fresh look at your two scenarios.
The first one is unusual because although it supposes a situation in which someone stole something and then gave it to someone else to publish, the two people you named
not only exist but actually did these things in real life (except that the information involved wasn't that of your scenario), so the question’s answer is obvious:
“Yes, as a journalist he (Greenwald) did have the right to publish it (but only if he thought it was newsworthy, which he did).”
The second one, though, is more effective because it involves (presumably) an actual hypothetical situation, one in which the consequences of certain actions for the persons involved (the breaking of a confidentiality agreement, the theft of AMPAS voting secrets and the publication of those secrets) are to be considered. The answer in this case would also be “Yes, they could expect consequences.”
All of that said, I’m unsure how your points related to the treatment David Miranda received because he was Glenn Greenwald’s partner.
Sorry, mate. :)
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I bet nobody's even considered that this is the perfect scenario to lure the US and its allies into yet another unwinnable conflict on Arab soil. What better way to further weaken your enemies and draw more support from radicalized supporters than this. Splitting the U.N's a bonus. I should think Al Qaeda must be delighted they all fell for it.
Nobody with any sense would get dragged into this in a million years. It absolutely stinks.
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When I said that "I doubt that the examples you mention would satisfy the criterion of “overriding public need” in order to warrant publication," you replied:
Oh, so there's certain criteria for journalists and whistleblower's to consider?
My examples were unworthy of this criteria and deserve dismissal, even though
the ethical principles are the same. I see. It has to be "worth it" in some way.
Firstly, Lyle, you didn’t actually ask me about whistleblowers—only journalists—and I answered accordingly.
My comment was in reference to the intrinsic value of your revealed “secrets” and not to the way in which they had been obtained.
In my mind there’s no comparison between your scenarios’ secrets and those to do with covert NSA/governmental surveillance of US and overseas citizens.
The ethical principles involved in the acquistion and publication of culinary recipes and AMPAS votes might indeed be the same as those underlying the acquisition and publication of NSA material, but all information is not equally ”newsworthy.”
But yes, in the end it has to be “worth it.”
Incidentally I didn’t “dismiss” your examples as being “unworthy” ... as I said, some supermarket tabloid would probably snap them up.
But then there's the rub. Who decides if it's worth it or not? You? A company?
A Government? A journalist? Who decides overriding public need? Snowden?
Greenwald? Mayor Bloomberg?
It’s a chain, Lyle, one in which someone presents something he/she considers to be worthy of being news, then the person who’s approached makes the decision that it’s important enough to be made public.
Decisions about the “worth” of any information which was presented would be up to the the editorial staff of the publications which were approached.
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Both examples are hardly newsworthy, and even questionable regarding “entertainment value.”
While I agree that the Manning and Snowden sagas are very entertaining, very little of the press
coverage the average person is seeing or hearing about is related to what YOU consider newsworthy
about it. It's about the fact they stole Government secrets they were entrusted with and swore oaths
not to reveal.
I’m unable to comment on what “the average person is seeing or hearing,” Lyle.
What he/she decides to be of importance in “press coverage” is up to them, certainly not myself—what I believe to be “newsworthy” is a personal matter.
“Newsworthiness” is a fascinatingly complex issue, far more so than ethical journalistic behaviour.
(The Society of Professional Journalists’ website, for instance, outlines a detailed Code of Ethics—simply as a set of voluntary guidelines—for what it considers to be the principles of journalistic ethics).
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We've had this discussion before. Unless a poster prefaces it with something different, I assume
people who are quoting the opinions of others in their posts agree with what those people are saying,
otherwise why are you posting them in the first place?
And since I assume you are agreeing with the
sentiments, I see no reason not to quote them as your own if I so desire.
Seriously, the very fact you're
quoting people means nothing in particular to you?
That’s not so, Lyle. I quoted from Simon Jenkins’ article because (as I said) it “encapsulated my thoughts
about the issue of the nine-hour detention at Heathrow Airport of Glenn Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda.”
While you’re free to quote Jenkins’ words as my own I wanted to make it clear to others that they weren’t.
It’s called correct accreditation ... a moot point, perhaps. :)
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No coffee shop need, no equivocation...
the US should stay out of Syria. Period.
It doesn't matter to me which side gassed those people. It is an internal problem and ABSOLUTELY none of our business.
Barring a direct attack by Syria on US soil, we should not get involved.
I agree, Sherry. (Yes, really ;))
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I have yet to speak with anyone who does care about Assad. Or Syria. Or any possible lies our government is telling us.
If those 12 Arab nations are so concerned about what's going on in their neighborhood, they should handle it.
I do care very much about people being gassed in Syria. But I don't think outside intervention often achieves what it ostensibly sets out to do.
But then.... "What about Hitler and the Nazis?" I just don't know.
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Hitler's biggest offense was not the extermination of Jews... the world would have just tsk tsked over that. But Hitler wanted to rule the world and made his intentions clear.
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I suspect that the world always feels that someone should intervene whenever genocide happens, but what can effectively be done?
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Hitler's biggest offense was not the extermination of Jews... the world would have just tsk tsked over that. But Hitler wanted to rule the world and made his intentions clear.
You (indefinite "you") could make a case for the nation-state of Israel never having gotten off the ground if it weren't for the Shoah. That's certainly a dilemma for the favorite dodge of neo-Nazis.
Otherwise, it's back to business as usual at Hot Topics.
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I suspect that the world always feels that someone should intervene whenever genocide happens, but what can effectively be done?
Where is that interest when it comes to Africa?
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I have a dream.
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Where is that interest when it comes to Africa?
I think quite possibly it's because no one intervened in Rwanda that everyone now is a little hypersensitive about intervening in alleged cases of genocide.
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IRS ruling on same sex marriage tax returns.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/08/29/irs-to-treat-same-sex-marriages-equally-for-tax-purposes/?wpisrc=al_comboPN_p (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/08/29/irs-to-treat-same-sex-marriages-equally-for-tax-purposes/?wpisrc=al_comboPN_p)
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Thanks, Gary.
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Here is an article on the NSA/Snowden topic. It is long but worth the read.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-details-us-spy-networks-successes-failures-and-objectives/2013/08/29/7e57bb78-10ab-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-details-us-spy-networks-successes-failures-and-objectives/2013/08/29/7e57bb78-10ab-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html)
And her is a related article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/to-hunt-osama-bin-laden-satellites-watched-over-abbottabad-pakistan-and-navy-seals/2013/08/29/8d32c1d6-10d5-11e3-b4cb-fd7ce041d814_story.html?wpisrc=al_excl (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/to-hunt-osama-bin-laden-satellites-watched-over-abbottabad-pakistan-and-navy-seals/2013/08/29/8d32c1d6-10d5-11e3-b4cb-fd7ce041d814_story.html?wpisrc=al_excl)
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IRS ruling on same sex marriage tax returns.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/08/29/irs-to-treat-same-sex-marriages-equally-for-tax-purposes/?wpisrc=al_comboPN_p (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/08/29/irs-to-treat-same-sex-marriages-equally-for-tax-purposes/?wpisrc=al_comboPN_p)
Earl just told me about that. Yay!!!!
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I think quite possibly it's because no one intervened in Rwanda that everyone now is a little hypersensitive about intervening in alleged cases of genocide.
I don't understand what you are saying... no one stepped in so now no one wants to step in?
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Another big Snowy reveal... the CIA and other so called intelligence agencies have big budgets.
Wow, imagine that. Whoda thunk?
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Yea, good on ya, Brits!
(Yeah, I said it.)
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I don't understand what you are saying... no one stepped in so now no one wants to step in?
No, I'm saying that because no one stepped in there, now everyone--everyone being heads of governments, of course, not people in coffee shops--dithers about whether they should step in other places.
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Thanks, Jeff.
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Thanks, Jeff.
You're welcome.
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I'm certainly no fan of Assad but the other side doesn't seem much better. They shot a 12 or 14 year old boy in the head in front of his family because he “blasphemed””. They are violent islamists and I find rather ironic that the west supports them. We’ve been lied to about the reasons for invading Iraq so it’s understandable that some of us question the reasons for attacking Syria.
Sorry if I upset you yet again, i keep forgeting how nationalistic United-Statesians can be.
Violent islamics, violent mennonites, violent buddists, violent agnostis. Six of one half a dozen of another. Mankind is by nature violent. You pick your pony and saddle up.
The point should be no one but Syrians have a pony in this race and they should deal with it by themselves.
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Syrian rebels used Sarin nerve gas, not Assad’s regime: U.N. official
Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday.
Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels seeking to oust Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve agent.
[...]
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/#ixzz2dPwEPOOj
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
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Syrian rebels used Sarin nerve gas, not Assad’s regime: U.N. official
Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday.
Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels seeking to oust Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve agent.
[...]
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/#ixzz2dPwEPOOj
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
nice try.
The alleged attack in current discussion occurred on August 21. This article is dated May, 2013 and concerns a different alleged attack.
Obfuscation, no matter what the source, does not assist in arriving at the truth...whatever that truth may be.
Oh, and "The Washington Times"...Sun Myung Moon... self proclaimed messiah.
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nice try.
The alleged attack in current discussion occurred on August 21. This article is dated May, 2013 and concerns a different alleged attack.
Obfuscation, no matter what the source, does not assist in arriving at the truth...whatever that truth may be.
Oh, and "The Washington Times"...Sun Myung Moon... self proclaimed messiah.
You got me, I didn't read past the headline, lol!
But then again, it just shows what the 'rebels' are capable of. Especially when they get support from countries like the USA.
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Yea, good on ya, Brits!
(Yeah, I said it.)
And I read it.
Thank God common sense prevailed for once. (Parliament's, not yours of course)
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If my posts piss you off so much then just put me on ignore.
Just for the record, DCF does not have an ignore feature like BetterMost does.
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Just for the record, DCF does not have an ignore feature like BetterMost does.
Or like IMDb has, either—and considering the vitriol its Message Boards contains I'm not surprised.
Although both IMDb and DCF are moderated I suspect the former uses the term "rather loosely," to put it mildly.
(Members here generally seem to be more civilised in their exchanges.)
But DCF does have Ignore for PMs, Chuck.
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Oh, and "The Washington Times"...Sun Myung Moon... self proclaimed messiah.
ROFL, I missed the Moonie Paper thing. Thanks.
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A little while ago, Lyle, you asked me why I cared (about “what is happening to Snowden or Greenwald or Miranda) and what it was that I wanted “us” to do about it.
Although you actually addressed your post to me you asked both myself and oilgun these questions, and I was a little unsure why you considered us to be a couple, and
whether you wanted me to consult with him in order to ensure that our joint answer was mutually acceptable.
In the end, though, I decided against it as I suspected he could answer for himself if he so desired...
And while I admit I was a little non-plussed about the use of “us” (perhaps it was intended in the sense of a Royal plural, or that it referred to all of humanity, or to American citizens, whose government was, after all, responsible—either directly or indirectly—for what happened to Snowden, Greenwald and Miranda) I deduced that you were really only referring to participants in the News and Current Events thread.
Anyway, I answered as follows:
Some topics on this thread warrant serious discussion because they involve issues beyond those of mere personal interest, and they deserve to be treated as such.
I’m as concerned about the way that Snowden, Greenwald and Miranda have been and are currently being treated as I was about the way that President Morales was treated in July, and presenting my thoughts on this is a matter of principle.
It’s ethically repugnant to me that contemporary western democracies can treat individuals as if the world had returned to the age of the Spanish Inquisition.
What is it that I “want us to do about it?”
Do you mean apart from serious discussion about the way that your government treats it citizens, about the way it tramples on the Fourth Amendment under the guise of “national security” and about the way an American citizen risked life and limb to expose government lies and corruption and had to seek asylum in Russia for fear of retribution?
This is, after all, a discussion thread. I was unaware that taking direct personal action to counteract such contraventions of civil liberties was a pre-requisite of participation.
As I believed your questions were asked in all sincerity I responded in the same way.
So I’m at a loss to understand why your response was to simply roll your eyes:
::)
I'd now like to ask you a fair question: Would you elaborate on that response, please?
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I don't understand what you are saying... no one stepped in so now no one wants to step in?
I'm sorry. When I elaborated, I should have apologized for not being clearer in the first place, and, re-reading my reply, my tone strikes me as sharper than it should have been.
Mea culpa.
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I thought your reply was fine. You answered the question. No need to elaborate or candy coat.
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And I read it.
Thank God common sense prevailed for once. (Parliament's, not yours of course)
I just hope you guys are able to stand your ground.
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A little while ago, Lyle, you asked me why I cared (about “what is happening to Snowden or Greenwald or Miranda) and what it was that I wanted “us” to do about it.
Although you actually addressed your post to me you asked both myself and oilgun these questions, and I was a little unsure why you considered us to be a couple, and
whether you wanted me to consult with him in order to ensure that our joint answer was mutually acceptable.
In the end, though, I decided against it as I suspected he could answer for himself if he so desired...
And while I admit I was a little non-plussed about the use of “us” (perhaps it was intended in the sense of a Royal plural, or that it referred to all of humanity, or to American citizens, whose government was, after all, responsible—either directly or indirectly—for what happened to Snowden, Greenwald and Miranda) I deduced that you were really only referring to participants in the News and Current Events thread.
While your post is addressed to Lyle, I have to admit I think of you and Oily as a duo.
And I totally understood Lyle's "us."
Perhaps it is a dialect difference since we all supposedly speak the same language.
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Thread locked until further notice.
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If all of you notice, I went back and deleted the, ONCE AGAIN, personal attack posts. I deleted people across the board, so don't pm me and tell me you have been picked, because I did not play favorites.
I just don't get it. You are all adults and you just can't seem to understand what the rules are here on the this forum, or don't want to.
So as Meli posted, we're done here for the time being. Don't pm me and ask when it will be opened back up, because I have to talk to Dave and Meli about it.
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OK. I am going to open the thread back up now. Just realize that if I have to close it again due to personal attacks on one another, it will probably be permanent. So remember this:
when you post a news item and then denigrate the person, country, situation, etc. you are purposely lighting a fuse that you know will cause issues - DON'T DO IT! The discussion does not need to be a blow torch to be interesting.
to those who post to cause arguments - DON'T DO IT!
quit picking on one another. If you don't agree, say you don't, but quit baiting.
In the past when discussions were on the verge of getting out of hand, I let it go, for the sake of discussion. You've proven that I can't do that any more.
So it is up to each and every one of you as to the fate of this thread.
Keep it civil and it stays opened, go back to the type of posts that have gotten the thread closed several times recently, and it will be permanent.
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Danny the blind rescue puppy sees again
Last month, the Austin Humane Society rescued a 5-month-old hound mix named Danny — along with 29 other dogs — from a hoarding situation at a farm near Waco, Texas.
Shortly after his arrival at the shelter, Danny started losing his vision. Veterinarians diagnosed with him with juvenile cataracts. Without eye surgery, the pup would be blind for the rest of his life.
While Dr. Lynsey Wagner at Eye Care for Animals offered to donate the $4,000 surgery, funds were still needed to ensure Danny would have the testing, medication and after care required for the surgery's long-term success.
"We don't just take away their lens, we give them a new one. So he should have normal focused vision for life,” Dr. Wagner told KVUE a few days before the scheduled two-hour procedure.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/danny-blind-rescue-puppy-sees-again-175346541.html
Hot topics get people riled up, what's wrong with that? I agree that personal insults should not be tolerated but banning the critizing of countries, that's a bit much. Seriously.
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"MOSCOW — A Russian lawmaker has proposed a bill that would deny gay parents custody over their children.
"The draft bill, published on parliament’s website on Thursday, would make the 'fact of nontraditional sexual orientation' a basis for denying custody. Other grounds include alcoholism, drug use, and abuse.
"The proposal comes in the wake of a bill banning homosexual 'propaganda' among minors. Authors of the bill have justified it as a measure aimed at protecting children, and not suppressing the LGBT community."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-lawmaker-proposes-bill-that-would-deny-gay-parents-custody-over-children/2013/09/05/a3a8b318-1606-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html
If Syria is considered an international issue, this certainly should be as well. The usual dilemmas over the boundary between respecting someone's culture and supporting human rights are present.
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OK. I am going to open the thread back up now....
Thank you, Linda.
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Hot topics get people riled up, what's wrong with that?
People being “riled up” means that they become angry, annoyed, resentful and very irritated, not to mention vexed...
(None of which, by the way, applied to me when you referred to me as “someone” who had posted about “the horrific runaway freight train disaster that killed 48 people and destroyed the downtown of a Quebec town.” I just took it on the chin.)
But how does your “what’s wrong with that?” accord with Linda’s request for future posts to “keep it civil,” I wonder?
How can one be “politely angry” or “respectfully irritated” ?
I guess the “devil is in the details.”
I agree that personal insults should not be tolerated ...
There’s a difference between posts containing outright “personal insults” and those having subtle intonations, Gil.
That’s what’s given me pause in the past, and is sometimes why I asked questions about “what was meant.”
...but banning the critizing of countries, that's a bit much. Seriously.
It seems, I think, to depend on the context—the difference between being critical of a country’s behaviour and the posts of someone who’s from that country.
Not to mention the posts of someone from the country whose behaviour is being criticised—but who also feels that such criticism is unjust and/or unwarranted.
It's a veritable minefield...
I suppose we should be grateful that DCF contains no members (as far as is known, anyway) of a “global militant Islamist organisation.”
That would certainly get things "hopping," wouldn't it?
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Hope this doesn't sound too naïve or saintly, but if I was in anyone's home I would think it rude to criticise their country: discussing aspects of that country, yes - but not making adverse comments. And I feel here we are visiting each other's countries.
I swear I have made a point of not doing this, and to anyone who has read criticism in any of my posts - it has never been intended as such. :)
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Hope this doesn't sound too naïve or saintly, but if I was in anyone's home I would think it rude to criticise their country: discussing aspects of that country, yes - but not making adverse comments. And I feel here we are visiting each other's countries.
I don't think that's "naive or saintly." Once upon a time that would just have been considered good manners. :)
when you post a news item and then denigrate the person, country, situation, etc. you are purposely lighting a fuse that you know will cause issues - DON'T DO IT! The discussion does not need to be a blow torch to be interesting.
to those who post to cause arguments - DON'T DO IT!
quit picking on one another. If you don't agree, say you don't, but quit baiting.
Thank you, Linda.
FWIW, I feel there is a difference between "criticising a country" and criticising its foreign policy, or the actions of its incumbent government, or of individuals in the government. There is also a difference between criticism and unsupported inuendo.
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One of the first rules of manners my parents taught me was about tact. To wit, It's very bad manners to criticize someone or something a person likes.
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People being “riled up” means that they become angry, annoyed, resentful and very irritated, not to mention vexed...
(None of which, by the way, applied to me when you referred to me as “someone” who had posted about “the horrific runaway freight train disaster that killed 48 people and destroyed the downtown of a Quebec town.” I just took it on the chin.)
I'm mystified that you took my, what to me was a completely innocuous, comment "on the chin". Did you feel slighted because I couldn't remember who had posted about the train disaster? You are right, what a minefield!
But how does your “what’s wrong with that?” accord with Linda’s request for future posts to “keep it civil,” I wonder?
How can one be “politely angry” or “respectfully irritated” ?
A thread about Hot Topics/News & Current events is bound to provoke heated discussion. It's possible to be angry and irritated and still be civil. I know I've been guilty of incivility, maybe it's my Latin blood but I do get carried away at times but always try to avoid personal insults.
I guess the “devil is in the details.”
There’s a difference between posts containing outright “personal insults” and those having subtle intonations, Gil.
That’s what’s given me pause in the past, and is sometimes why I asked questions about “what was meant.”
The thing about perceived subtle intonations is that they are often projections by the reader. Like Linda mentioned a while back, we read the words without visual and aural cues so it’s easy to do, i do it all the time. Like you say, when we sense a subtle insult we should ask for clarification.
It seems, I think, to depend on the context—the difference between being critical of a country’s behaviour and the posts of someone who’s from that country.
Not to mention the posts of someone from the country whose behaviour is being criticised—but who also feels that such criticism is unjust and/or unwarranted.
It's a veritable minefield...
I know I’ve been very critical of the U.S ‘s foreign policy, and I also know that I occasionally ;) go overboard. I will make an extra effort to tone down my vehemence and I sincerely apologize to anyone I may have offended. However, there's no way I can stop criticizing the US, or Russia, or Canada and any other country that pisses me off. Hopefully I can manage to be more tactful.
I suppose we should be grateful that DCF contains no members (as far as is known, anyway) of a “global militant Islamist organisation.”
That would certainly get things "hopping," wouldn't it?
I'd settle for any run of the mill muslims especially if they were from the middle east. ;)
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Well, I take note of the disagreement of one portion of my post and I appreciate the support from folks, which makes me believe I have gotten my point across to most of you. My post is definitely not news or current events, so I thank everyone for their input, but let's get back to news and current events.
I hope everyone gets along.
Thanks.
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Thank god. I saw Linda's name on a post and figured we were already relegated to the archives.
Isn't this like "hate the sin, love the sinner?" When you're the sinner, the whole thing feels like hate.
But back to current events and Snowy's latest big reveal...
the NSA has the power to overcome any and all internet encryption.
Once again, a big so what?
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the NSA has the power to overcome any and all internet encryption.
Once again, a big so what?
IMO, there's a huge "so what?" in terms of how they're using the ability. However, much of the reporting has a "OMG! WHO KNEW?" tone to it, a kind of faux naivete that has a passive-aggressive odor about it. Anyone who hasn't spent the last three decades or so in the proverbial old mine or missile silo knows that this ability is out there, and that any powerful government is going to be using it.
The gorilla/elephant/whale shark in the room is the use of this technology by employers and insurance providers to control employees' and clients' private lives, and that's what's getting too little attention.
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The thing about perceived subtle intonations is that they are often projections by the reader.
I think this is a wise observation. I quote it here because I believe it's something we all, myself included, need to keep in mind and be reminded of from time to time.
-
"MOSCOW — A Russian lawmaker has proposed a bill that would deny gay parents custody over their children.
"The draft bill, published on parliament’s website on Thursday, would make the 'fact of nontraditional sexual orientation' a basis for denying custody. Other grounds include alcoholism, drug use, and abuse.
"The proposal comes in the wake of a bill banning homosexual 'propaganda' among minors. Authors of the bill have justified it as a measure aimed at protecting children, and not suppressing the LGBT community."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-lawmaker-proposes-bill-that-would-deny-gay-parents-custody-over-children/2013/09/05/a3a8b318-1606-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html
Masha Gessen is a Moscow-based writer, journalist and activist who's been speaking out in recent months on Russia's anti-gay propaganda law. Though she's an American citizen, she's from Russia and has lived in Russia for many years, raising three children with her lesbian partner, a Russian citizen. Gessen hoped Western pressure in recent months would help change the course of Russia's crackdown on its LGBT citizens, but now she believes that that's not going to happen, and that it's time to for Russian LGBT people to flee the country to escape what she says has now become "all-out war" against LGBT people in Russia. And she's calling on the United States to allow political asylum for LGBT Russians, and for LGBT activists here to focus on making that happen.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/russian-gay-activists-plea-get-us-the-hell-out-of-here_b_3881059.html
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I think this is a wise observation. I quote it here because I believe it's something we all, myself included, need to keep in mind and be reminded of from time to time.
I'd be interested in knowing how a poster can protect himself from someone else's thought process (or lack thereof.)
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I'd be interested in knowing how a poster can protect himself from someone else's thought process (or lack thereof.)
You can't really, I guess, but you can think carefully about what you've written, and how it might be interpreted by others, and try to put yourself in a reader's place, before you hit "Post."
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The gorilla/elephant/whale shark in the room is the use of this technology by employers and insurance providers to control employees' and clients' private lives, and that's what's getting too little attention.
Last week, a 60 Minutes report was on facial recognition technology and how far it has come in the hands of non-government organizations (read that commercial enterprise) and how far it is lagging IN government use because of privacy laws. It was NOT used to identify the Boston bombers, for instance. I don't get it. Banks and stores and google can use all this stuff willy-nilly but the FBI, CIA and other law enforcement initials can't. People have their backs up about DNA collection, voter id laws, traffic cameras, etc. Seems overly paranoid to me.
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You can't really, I guess, but you can think carefully about what you've written, and how it might be interpreted by others, and try to put yourself in a reader's place, before you hit "Post."
And conversely think carefully about what the writer has said and the ways in which it could be interpreted....
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I'm mystified that you took my, what to me was a completely innocuous, comment "on the chin".
I was tempted, once upon a time, to change my online name to either "Someone" or “Another Poster.” :)
Then I decided that I might be held accountable for any number of horrors, so refrained.
Did you feel slighted because I couldn't remember who had posted about the train disaster?
No, Gil, I didn’t feel slighted, nor was I “angry, annoyed, resentful, irritated or even vexed.”
I accepted that you had no idea who’d posted something about what’d happened in Lac Mégantic, so it was water off a duck’s back—no worries, mate.
The thing about perceived subtle intonations is that they are often projections by the reader. Like Linda mentioned a while back, we read the words without visual and aural cues so it’s easy to do...
The choice of words, and the way they’re put together to form a sentence (if they are, that is), is usually a good clue, irrespective of visual issues.
Emoticons, although ostensibly used to help convey and/or clarify meaning, can also be employed sarcastically.
I’ve wondered what purpose the Devil icon, for instance, is meant to fulfil; are we meant to interpret it as something whimsical and facetious, or as evil incarnate?
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And conversely think carefully about what the writer has said and the ways in which it could be interpreted....
Exactly, Sara.
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Iowa grants permits for blind residents to carry guns in public
Sheriffs and advocates are divided on whether that's a good idea.
Here’s some news that has law enforcement officials and lawmakers scratching their heads:
Iowa is granting permits to acquire or carry guns in public to people who are legally or completely blind.
No one questions the legality of the permits. State law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability.
The quandary centers squarely on public safety. Advocates for the disabled and Iowa law enforcement officers disagree over whether it’s a good idea for visually disabled Iowans to have weapons.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130908/NEWS/309080061/Iowa-grants-permits-for-blind-residents-to-carry-guns-in-public?Frontpage&nclick_check=1
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"Wastewater from the controversial practice of fracking appears to be linked to all the earthquakes in a town in Ohio that had no known past quakes, research now reveals. . . . A furious debate has erupted over the safety of the practice. Advocates claim fracking is a safe, economical source of clean energy, while critics argue that it can taint drinking water supplies, among other problems.
"One of the most profitable areas for fracking lies over the geological formation known as the Marcellus Shale, which reaches deep underground from Ohio and West Virginia northeast into Pennsylvania and southern New York. The Marcellus Shale is rich in natural gas; geologists estimate it may contain up to 489 trillion cubic feet (13.8 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas, more than 440 times the amount New York State uses annually. Many of the rural communities living over the formation face economic challenges and want to attract money from the energy industry.
"Before January 2011, Youngstown, Ohio, which is located on the Marcellus Shale, had never experienced an earthquake, at least not since researchers began observations in 1776. "
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/fracking-practices-blame-ohio-earthquakes-8C11073601
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The latest national poll shows
85% -- For
9% -- Against
6% -- Undecided
Should Congress be sent to Syria
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Iowa is granting permits to acquire or carry guns in public to people who are legally or completely blind....
Interesting article, Linda.
No one questions the legality of the permits. State law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability.
The quandary centers squarely on public safety. Advocates for the disabled and Iowa law enforcement officers disagree over whether it’s a good idea for visually disabled Iowans to have weapons.
The National Federation of the Blind does not track states that require vision tests as part of weapon permit processes and has not taken an official stand on the issue.
But its members are generally opposed to such laws, said Chris Danielsen, director of public relations for the group.
“There’s no reason solely on the (basis) of blindness that a blind person shouldn’t be allowed to carry a weapon,” Danielsen said. “Presumably they’re going to have enough sense not to use a weapon in a situation where they would endanger other people, just like we would expect other people to have that common sense.”
The presumption that blind people would have “enough sense” to use a weapon where it wouldn’t endanger people seems to miss the point, mainly,
• why would blind people need to carry weapons in public at all; but also,
• how would they even know whether there were people around when they were shooting at things in public? Would it be because they were moving? What if they're not moving?
Does Danielson mean that a "sensible" blind person would be entitled to shoot at something in public which wasn't a person?
And what if they missed such a "non-person thing" and hit a person?
Jane Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, who says blocking visually impaired people from the right to obtain weapon permits would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act...believes [that] changing the state law to deny blind people or others with physical disabilities the right to carry arms would violate federal disability law.
I agree with Jane. It would be a terrible violation of their rights if Iowans with other physical disabilities (such as being without arms) were denied the right to carry arms.
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Once again some do-gooder organization is crying foul before anybody has claimed to be discriminated against.
Has any blind Iowan applied for and been denied a permit?
As for how reasonable it is to let visually impaired people carry guns, in this state you must take and pass gun handling classes to get a permit. Accuracy at shooting targets is part of the test.
I wonder what kind of tests drone operators, blind or otherwise, have to pass.
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The latest national poll shows
85% -- For
9% -- Against
6% -- Undecided
Should Congress be sent to Syria
Not that I am disagreeing with the authors of this poll, but I guess I have been discussing the Syrian situation with the 9%.
I had not realized the numbers had fluctuated so much from a couple of weeks ago.
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Anyone have any thoughts about the latest George Zimmerman debacle?
Did he do all the things his soon to be ex wife claimed he did in the 911 call, that she is now recanting?
Can't they arrest her for filing a false police report?
I am not defending him. It seems he is either acting weirdly to attract the attention or he is being watched more closely since the acquittal.
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Not that I am disagreeing with the authors of this poll, but I guess I have been discussing the Syrian situation with the 9%. I had not realized the numbers had fluctuated so much from a couple of weeks ago.
Linda, I believe that's a "joke poll"...the last line says 'should Congress be sent to Syria'.
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Oh I just thought that was part of the poll.
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Sunday, September 8, 2013
President Obama’s Brilliant Strategy No One Seems To Recognize
By Wayne Bomgaars
As the media interprets recent events as Obama’s march to war, America and the world falls for it hook, line and sinker. Say what you want about Obama but he is a very smart man. He would never ask permission he did not need from Congress to launch a strike on Syria unless he knew beyond a doubt he could get it. That is if his real intentions were to actually carry out military operations. But why on earth does it appear he wants this war?
- See more at: http://freakoutnation.blogspot.com/2013/09/president-obamas-brilliant-strategy-no.html#sthash.HZqf3vWy.RvFjNFdS.dpuf
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Anyone have any thoughts about the latest George Zimmerman debacle?
Did he do all the things his soon to be ex wife claimed he did in the 911 call, that she is now recanting?
Can't they arrest her for filing a false police report?
I am not defending him. It seems he is either acting weirdly to attract the attention or he is being watched more closely since the acquittal.
One of the things most of us Zimmerman "supporters" said from day one... "His life is over regardless of what happens from here on out."
I am not excusing his bizarre behavior... or that of his wife... but who didn't see it coming after everything they went through?
The US justice system at work.
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Sunday, September 8, 2013
President Obama’s Brilliant Strategy No One Seems To Recognize
By Wayne Bomgaars
As the media interprets recent events as Obama’s march to war, America and the world falls for it hook, line and sinker. Say what you want about Obama but he is a very smart man. He would never ask permission he did not need from Congress to launch a strike on Syria unless he knew beyond a doubt he could get it. That is if his real intentions were to actually carry out military operations. But why on earth does it appear he wants this war?
- See more at: http://freakoutnation.blogspot.com/2013/09/president-obamas-brilliant-strategy-no.html#sthash.HZqf3vWy.RvFjNFdS.dpuf
Actually, this has been discussed on several tv programs, some of them news, some of them entertainment masking as news.
And Kerry's supposed candid comment... candid, right.
Sometimes you have to spell the way out for people.
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So is Obama being played? He has to back down from military action (which few here want) because of a deal brokered by Putin, Assad’s BFF? I can't wait to hear how he tries to talk to this...
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You got it backwards. BO is doing the playing.
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I think Putin is doing the playing. You can't trust that guy.
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You got it backwards. BO is doing the playing.
how? this isn't his idea...his hand is being forced. Unless he draws another "red line" timeline for Syria to turn over chemical weapons, we're just sitting back watching....and his main goal - to show Syria and other "rogue" (sorry) nations that they're very bad, and they mustn't kill their own citizens w/chemicals - is forgotten.
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It's called bait and switch.
And the red line wasn't his. Chemical weapons use has been universally banned for years.
BO is one of the few politicians who actually IS smarter than Joe Public.
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of course they've been banned, but he drew the line in the sand for Syria and had to put up or shut up......so he used reverse psychology?
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Did you miss the memo?
The US is the leader of the World and BO is the Chief Enforcer, which is his second job after Chief Persuader. The rule is no chemical weapons. Assad used them to kill 1000 people. Never mind the 100,000 killed before that, the rule is no chemical weapons. BO put the word in Putin's ear and eventually it made it through all the vodka and he suggested to Assad that the way to avoid any US interference in his little civil war was to turn over a few dirty bombs and bath salts to UN inspectors, then get back to business as usual. Game over.
Everyone happy and uninvolved.
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I believe that's a "joke poll"...the last line says 'should Congress be sent to Syria'.
Either that, or it's a 'national poll' taken in some alternate universe:
Nearly sixty percent of Americans want Congress to vote no on Syria
President Barack Obama faces a “tall order” in convincing Americans on Syria with nearly 60 percent who say they want their member of Congress to oppose the use of military force there, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/09/20409207-nearly-sixty-percent-of-americans-want-congress-to-vote-no-on-syria?lite
CNN poll: Public against Syria strike resolution
Washington (CNN) -- As President Barack Obama presses his case for a strike on Syria, a new national survey shows him swimming against a strong tide of public opinion that doesn't want the United States to get involved.
The CNN/ORC International poll released on Monday shows that even though eight in 10 Americans believe that Bashar al-Assad's regime gassed its own people, a strong majority doesn't want Congress to pass a resolution authorizing a military strike against it.
More than seven in 10 say such a strike would not achieve significant goals for the United States and a similar amount say it's not in the national interest for the country to get involved in Syria's civil war.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/09/politics/syria-poll-main/
poll at http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2013/images/09/09/6a.poll.syria.pdf
Analysis: Obama seeks trust of American people even if he lacks their support for strike
(excerpt) More than 60 percent of Americans want Congress to vote against authorizing a military strike against Syria, according to a new Associated Press poll. And the opposition cuts across party lines, with 53 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of independents and 73 percent of Republicans saying Congress should vote against the plan to strike Syria.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/analysis-in-syria-address-obama-seeks-americans-even-if-he-lacks-their-support-for-strike/2013/09/10/c737ba8a-1a85-11e3-80ac-96205cacb45a_story.html
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... The US is the leader of the World ...
Are you joking or being serious, Sherry?
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It's interesting how everyone seems to have forgotten that the US has used White phosphorous and depleted uranium in Afghanistan and Iraq resulting in a 20% rise in birth defects in the case of depleted uranium. Damn, here I am bashing the US again, I'm evidently incorrigible. ::)
Your pointing out something which people have forgotten suggests, unless I'm mistaken, that there's a discussion underway about the use of chemical weapons. If there is it’s intermittent, but anyway...
Am I correct in thinking that the issue is that President Obama feels that direct US military action is warranted regarding the [alleged] use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria because it “undermined US national security?”
I ask this simply to confirm what we’re talking about to avoid going off in another direction.
Anyone?
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It's called bait and switch.
IMO more like a geopolitical game of chicken. Sort of like in 1962, a replay of which we could certainly do without.
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Right.
I am amazed at the seeming total lack of understanding at how this could escalate into something major. BO may be right about the US military not doing pinpricks but all it takes is a pinprick for all the little sperm to escape from the rubber.
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He did not convince me that a strike was necessary for natiional security.
And what is the expected outcome? That they just go back to ordinary rape and torture and murder? Yeah, that's better.......
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He did not convince me that a strike was necessary for natiional security.
And what is the expected outcome? That they just go back to ordinary rape and torture and murder? Yeah, that's better.......
Didn't convince me either, especially since the Govt is constantly poor-mouthing: whining about the cost of Social Security and Medicare, can't address our crumbling infrastructure, energy costs, can't afford to maintain or expand the National Park system BUT they always have plenty of money for the latest stupid war.
As for rape, torture and murder continuing, that will continue regardless of what we do so we might as well stay out of it.
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I hate it when the whole country agrees on something.
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2 Colo. lawmakers ousted in gun control recalls
2 Colorado Democratic lawmakers ousted in gun control recalls promoted by activists, NRA
DENVER (AP) -- Two Democratic state lawmakers who backed tighter gun laws in the aftermath of mass shootings have been kicked out of office in a recall election promoted by both grassroots activists and the National Rifle Association.
Senate President John Morse lost by just 343 votes Tuesday in a swing district in the Republican stronghold of Colorado Springs but Sen. Angela Giron lost by a bigger margin in a largely blue-collar district that favors Democrats.
The NRA said the election sent a clear message to lawmakers that they should protect gun rights and be accountable to their constituents, not to "anti-gun billionaires" — a swipe against New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who supported Giron and Morse.
Democrats will still maintain control of the state Legislature and the laws are expected to remain in place.
"The loss of this senate seat is purely symbolic," Morse said.
However, Republicans hope to build on the wins in next year's elections, when they'll try to unseat Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who signed the gun legislation.
"It's a shot across the bow to prove that Colorado isn't a colony of Michael Bloomberg or John Hickenlooper. We are a people who believe in personal freedom, including the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms," potential Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo said Wednesday.
- - - - - -
Reported contributions to Morse and Giron totaled about $3 million, dwarfing the amount raised by gun activists who petitioned for the recall, though some independent groups didn't have to report spending. Both the NRA and Bloomberg contributed more than $300,000 to the pro- and anti-recall campaigns.
more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-colo-lawmakers-ousted-gun-154628488.html
bolding mine
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This is really tragic, the story of the feral young man discovered in Russia, the so-called Siberian Mowgli, and a real heart-breaker. His parents were hermits and he was raised with no contact with, or understanding of the outside world. They abandoned him this summer, and moved far away. He was discovered by a village woman nearby, and she has been fearful how he can survive the coming winter.
He speaks slowly and has few social skills. But the real problem is that there is no help for him since he was not registered at birth, and so has no right to medical care or social services. The village widow is too poor to support him.
I am getting the impression that the Russian media are covering this for entertainment value only, and that no one is doing anything to see that he survives.
I wish there was something we here could do, a facebook page, anything, to get some attention drawn, and some help. Maybe he would be homesick leaving Russia, but maybe if they have no decent care for his safety, he should be given asylum in a civilized nation. As soon as possible.
He has no family, now, and no understanding that there are other people, who might care. Anybody?
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A sex scandal concerning the deputy speaker of the House of Commons.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24042797
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This is really tragic, the story of the feral young man discovered in Russia, the so-called Siberian Mowgli, and a real heart-breaker. His parents were hermits and he was raised with no contact with, or understanding of the outside world. They abandoned him this summer, and moved far away. He was discovered by a village woman nearby, and she has been fearful how he can survive the coming winter.
He speaks slowly and has few social skills. But the real problem is that there is no help for him since he was not registered at birth, and so has no right to medical care or social services. The village widow is too poor to support him.
I am getting the impression that the Russian media are covering this for entertainment value only, and that no one is doing anything to see that he survives.
I wish there was something we here could do, a facebook page, anything, to get some attention drawn, and some help. Maybe he would be homesick leaving Russia, but maybe if they have no decent care for his safety, he should be given asylum in a civilized nation. As soon as possible.
He has no family, now, and no understanding that there are other people, who might care. Anybody?
From what I can gather, he's not very feral, He self taught himself to speak English from a dictionary and would like to spend a month with a native English speaker to improve. In his free time he paints and reads books. Of course he should be given citizenship papers but at 20, he's an adult and can make his own choices as to where he wants to live. He even says he's happy there. To be honest, I find the story a bit fishy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2417818/Siberian-Mowgli-Odzhan-raised-wilderness-refuses-polluted-city-life.html
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Following up on my post, above, the feral boy found in Siberia, is getting more media attention. Doing a search on Siberian Mowgli gives basic reports from Al Jazeera, to UK newspapers, and Yahoo news.
There are already some photos, and he appears to be more like 15 y.o., rather than 20. Also in good health. The problem there is that wildnerness children have little immunity to illness, and the few that are found often die of pnuemonia and similar ailments.
FWIW, this story brings up haunting memories from my own past. I was living in a small efficiency in Charlottesville, and behind it were woods where a feral hillbilly teen lived, completely alone, and possibly deaf/mute. He was terrified of males, but had taken to me, and would follow me around at a distance. And I began to set out food for him.
Just as I had to leave suddenly, for Norfolk, as both of my parents were ill unexpectedly (and terminal), he fell out of the tree where he strapped himself in at night, to avoid animals. And neighbors said he had a terrible gash in his leg, with the bone showing. And they said I was the only one who could get close enough to help him. I HAD to leave, but luckily, he had also come to notice (and trust) a girlfriend who often visited me, and she was able to get him to the U.VA medical center. But I never knew what became of him. He was nowhere to be found, when I returned 1/2 year later.
There is an unusual cruelty, when orphans live in the wild, and while there are many grotesque or sad events every day, there is at least some grieving or outrage. These rare cases, of wild children, who have no understanding of the rest of the world, are a special case. No foundations or social pressure militating for them.
I do grieve the children gassed in Syria. But, somehow, this rare case has gotten me haunted, yet again. I hope it is true he will have help before the winter sets in. I'll try to post a picture of him tomorrow.
As for the relevance, in a world full of tragedy, it is that if we abandon interest in one, because of disinterest, we are just that much more prone to dismiss the many.
***Gil, I just caught your post. Any chance you could post a link for that info? The fact, BTW, that he doesn't have citizenship papers, kind of jumps out. I hope your source is reliable. **** Ok, I do see your link. Thanks !!!!
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Tony, I have no idea how trustworthy The Mail is. :-\
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Your pointing out something which people have forgotten suggests, unless I'm mistaken, that there's a discussion underway about the use of chemical weapons. If there is it’s intermittent, but anyway...
Am I correct in thinking that the issue is that President Obama feels that direct US military action is warranted regarding the [alleged] use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria because it “undermined US national security?”
I ask this simply to confirm what we’re talking about to avoid going off in another direction.
Anyone?
Yes, Paul, the discussion is about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and you’re correct in thinking that President Obama feels that direct military action is warranted because the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria undermines US national security. I know this because I listened to the President’s Address to the Nation...
Great—when did he make it?
Just a few days ago.
I guess I’d better track it down, then—and thanks for the response.
My pleasure. :)
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Well, I’ve just listened to President Obama’s fifteen minute Address to the Nation (http://www.npr.org/2013/09/10/221186456/transcript-president-obamas-address-to-the-nation-on-syria) of September 10, in which he said that “it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond to the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike,” which he explained would be a “limited strike” with the “objective: [of] deterring the use of chemical weapons [in Syria] and degrading Assad’s capabilities.”
I thought he put forward some convincing arguments to support his claim that the national security of the US was involved, such as that, if nothing is done the dictator Assad is likely to continue to deploy chemical weapons, that “other tyrants” will follow his lead and US troops “would again face the prospect of chemical warfare on the battlefield” and, if “fighting spills beyond Syria’s borders” allies of the US, such as Turkey, Jordan and Israel, could be threatened; but also that failing to “stand against the use of chemical weapons would weaken prohibitions against other weapons of mass destruction and embolden Assad’s ally, Iran, which must decide whether to ignore international law by building a nuclear weapon or to take a more peaceful path.”
These are some of the reasons he decided (even though he’s Commander in Chief, with the authority to order military strikes) to take the debate to Congress, because a united America will act more effectively than one in which the President sidelined the people’s representatives from the critical decisions of when to use force, as occurred during the previous decade, when progressively greater war-making powers were put in the hands of a President.
He also said that should such a targeted, direct strike be agreed to, it wouldn’t involve American soldiers being sent to Syria.
An impressive Address to the Nation, I thought, and one in which Obama also said that he didn’t believe in removing another dictator with force (a reference to Saddam Hussein’s removal) and that peaceful, political/diplomatic solutions are preferable, to which end he’s asked Congress “to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force” while discussions occur with Russia (“one of Syria’s strongest allies”), France, the United Kingdom and China regarding resolutions in the United Nations which would require Assad to relinquish and destroy the chemical weapons his regime has admitted to possessing.
He also mentioned that the regime had consented to joining “the chemical weapons convention, which prohibits their use.”
I found this comment to be particularly interesting, and one which will bring me back to the issue (previously mentioned here) of white phosphorus.
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Tony, I have no idea how trustworthy The Mail is. :-\
Reasonably reliable, but from a very right wing perspective.
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Yes, Paul, the discussion is about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and you’re correct in thinking that President Obama feels that direct military action is warranted because the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria undermines US national security. I know this because I listened to the President’s Address to the Nation...
From the Oh Right, Like No One Else Was Thinking This dept.:
Sorry, But Fuck Syria
"Across this America, city after city and state after state, the basics of daily life (and death) are being wrecked, in part, by our failure to spend on things that matter to Americans, things that actually would make this a great country. A nation that has a city [Detroit] that, even briefly, couldn't provide death or birth certificates because it didn't have paper is a nation that has absolutely no business spending millions, perhaps billions of dollars to bomb Syria just because the mad president there did something insane.
"No, sorry, but fuck Syria. When we don't have to tell schoolteachers to take a pay cut and we can assure the children of Chicago they won't get shot, we can talk about being the moral authority in the world."
http://www.rudepundit.blogspot.com/2013/09/sorry-but-fuck-syria-last-week-detroit.html
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Is everyone writing/emailing their reps to get their voices out there? Please do. Everything is online, it's too easy to make your opinion heard, not to do it.
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Tony, I have no idea how trustworthy The Mail is. :-\
It was a good lead, Gil, and, again, many thanks for finding it (and thank-you Jess, for the appraisal of The Mail). But their source was The Siberian Times. Huh? Who knew they even had a rag? You can read it, in English, at siberiantimes.com.
Yes, the story is fishy, but, IMO, from various directions. I was, myself, obviously bat-crazy because the story reminded me of the personal story I posted. Yet in fact, a starting problem was the use of the word "feral" in news stories. They have had actual feral children, in Siberia, raised by dogs, eaten by wolves. Clearly, The Times wanted that corrected and Siberia's image untarnished. Odzhan, is clearly not feral, but, IMO, is a product of parental abuse. And in danger, as he thinks too simplistically, has had no vaccinations, and no state papers. Also, his parents had abandoned him, briefly, leaving him confused enough to wander to the nearest town.
My own take comes from the words he used, which, in the original Russian, would convey just a little more. Supposedly he said "cultured". But an accurate translation is more complex. There is an incredible social division by many, in Russia, of "Kulturnii" vs. "Nyekulturnii". It's a bug word. Not snooty, so much as clinging to a sense of being above the herd by reason of education in literature or the arts, or music. And his parents seem to have taken Kulturnii to a cult level, rejecting civilization, and going to live in a mud hut, there to survive off of selling mushrooms and an occasional painting.
He doesn't know when he was born, as his parents are too elitist to bother with anything other than a year (1993). Of course a baby born into that isolated mind-set, would seek to identify with his parents in any way possible, and try very hard to puzzle out the English alphabet, and dream of learning to paint. And also simplistically adopting their attitudes towards polluted cities he had never seen.
This really has been abusive. They live off of selling mushrooms? To occasional hunters? Well, there must be some income, as he had managed to have an Edward Snowden shabby shirt.
As for his speech patterns, in the Russian, they are too innocent, too formulaic. And I have a sneaking suspicion his parents dumped him, as he wasn't fulfilling the Kulturnii mode. And outsiders (the Nyekulturnii) would have little sympathy for what would seem to be elitism, if he gets abandoned again.
May God help this kid. As for his claiming to be happy, that smacked too much of the attitude of the woods-boy behind my apartment. Proud, surviving, and hopeful. Until he fell out of the tree.
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Nothing says "remember this most terrible day, and the horrible loss of life" like mini muffins. I hope the marketing genius behind this one got canned...
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BT5LCvSIYAECqIK.jpg)
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WTF?? ???
That is crazy!
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That's not the only one.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.huffpost.com%2Fgen%2F1347334%2Fthumbs%2Fo-ATT-911-TWEET-570.jpg%3F6&hash=011bac4a3bbc89e04ef052607ac7b374c404cfeb)
AT&T claimed they were doing a tribute to 9/11, but not long after this pic was put up, Facebook & Twitter was flooded with angry replies about how AT&T was using 9/11 to push their product. The photo was quickly pulled by AT&T and they issued an apology, claiming it was a tribute and not 'product placement'.
By that time it was too late, the image had been copied and reposted all over the 'net.
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I think it was a nice gesture. They wanted to mark the day. What should they have done... comp'd all the rooms?
And I see nothing wrong with the ATT ad either.
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It was a hideous gesture. Saying nothing and "giving away" nothing would have been better....
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Fire Ravages Jersey Shore Boardwalk Rebuilt After Hurricane Sandy
By KATE ZERNIKE Published: September 12, 2013
A Jersey Shore boardwalk barely rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy was ravaged by fire on Thursday, as flames that began in an ice cream shop quickly engulfed businesses along a stretch of beach in two towns. Video footage showed flames and black plumes of smoke shooting high above the Boardwalk in Seaside Park. Within hours, strong gusts of wind had swept the fire north along the adjoining Boardwalk of Seaside Heights, where a roller coaster that had sat mangled in the ocean for months became a symbol of the storm’s damage. Reports from the scene said that the fire had swept through Funtown Arcade and Carousel Pier, apparently damaging a carousel that had been painstakingly restored after the storm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/nyregion/fire-ravages-jersey-shore-boardwalk-rebuilt-after-hurricane-sandy.html?_r=0
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I heard about the fire, but didn't put 2+2 together to realize that it was in the same area affected by Sandy. Bad news.
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It was a hideous gesture. Saying nothing and "giving away" nothing would have been better....
Saying nothing will happen in another 10-15 years. All over the US.
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Saying nothing will happen in another 10-15 years. All over the US.
In 10 to 15 years we''ll all be China's bitch.
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Meanwhile, in Quebec, Canada:
Charter of Quebec values would ban religious symbols for public workers
Public employees would not be allowed to wear overt religious symbols at work under the proposed charter of Quebec values, released by the Parti Québécois today.
A diagram from the charter of Quebec values website illustrating banned overt religious symbols for public employees. (http://www.nosvaleurs.gouv.qc.ca)A diagram from the charter of Quebec values website illustrating permitted religious symbols for public employees. (http://www.nosvaleurs.gouv.qc.ca)
The minister in charge of the charter, Bernard Drainville, announced at the national assembly that if the charter were adopted by the legislature, the wearing of kippas, turbans, burkas, hijabs and "large" crosses would be banned for civil servants while they are on the job.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2FCarte-des-valeurs-pctogram-01_zpsc27bad56.jpg&hash=f96d90fad360105382958980ee973f13fd379cc2)
The top three pictograms show what would be acceptable and the five bottom ones show what would be banned if the charter is accepted. I doubt that it will be because the PQ government doesn't have a majority.
A big demo is planned for Saturday by the people opposed to the charter, should be interesting.
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What is the difference between the cross in the first row and the cross in the second?
Yamakas would be forbidden?
What about the hats worn by male and female Amish?
And what about beards? Dredlocks?
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What is the difference between the cross in the first row and the cross in the second?
The size and style. They're saying (I assume) that the smaller cross is less "in-your-face" and therefore acceptable in the workplace.
It was my understanding (and I could be wrong) that the Muslim headwear and Jewish Yamakas are required by their religion, so how can they be forbidden? Sherry also raises a good point with the beards and dreadlocks. That would also include the Pe'ot, the two curls that come down in front of the ears.
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Wales votes for women bishops:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24064398
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Yay! Come on C of E! :D
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Fire Ravages Jersey Shore Boardwalk Rebuilt After Hurricane Sandy
By KATE ZERNIKE Published: September 12, 2013
A Jersey Shore boardwalk barely rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy was ravaged by fire on Thursday, as flames that began in an ice cream shop quickly engulfed businesses along a stretch of beach in two towns. Video footage showed flames and black plumes of smoke shooting high above the Boardwalk in Seaside Park. Within hours, strong gusts of wind had swept the fire north along the adjoining Boardwalk of Seaside Heights, where a roller coaster that had sat mangled in the ocean for months became a symbol of the storm’s damage. Reports from the scene said that the fire had swept through Funtown Arcade and Carousel Pier, apparently damaging a carousel that had been painstakingly restored after the storm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/nyregion/fire-ravages-jersey-shore-boardwalk-rebuilt-after-hurricane-sandy.html?_r=0
We have "the longest pier in the world" here in our town, and although it is sound and working well at the moment, it has caught fire on numerous occasions.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi88.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk189%2Fskinnjes%2F03-Southend_1_zps7c9b2377.jpg&hash=32d89b566b878da8bc7d46463eefe4842557d4cd) (http://s88.photobucket.com/user/skinnjes/media/03-Southend_1_zps7c9b2377.jpg.html)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi88.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk189%2Fskinnjes%2Farticle-1317794-0B7B4543000005DC-707_634x360_zpsb19eb9be.jpg&hash=4457c232397592be883d19fd4d05efd5a6093597) (http://s88.photobucket.com/user/skinnjes/media/article-1317794-0B7B4543000005DC-707_634x360_zpsb19eb9be.jpg.html)
I think these seaside structures get so dry in the winds that always blow in coastal ares, so they are very prone to catch fire.
Unfortunately, they also seem to take a long time to re build, because they are also hard to insure.
I do hope you get your sea front re built quickly and efficiently.
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I think it was a nice gesture. They wanted to mark the day. What should they have done... comp'd all the rooms?
And I see nothing wrong with the ATT ad either.
IMO some of those gestures might be well-meant but still in very bad taste.
However, I do remember that as shortly after as the one-year anniversary this kind of thing was going on. A restaurant in the town where I work offered any meal at 9.11 percent off on the anniversary. There was little to no adverse comment at the time. It wouldn't have been convenient.
But now that we're 12 years out, some very delayed Righteous Indignation is spilling all over the Internet over these images. Over the past three or four days people have been sprucing up their progressive images by proclaiming how sick they are of the whole thing: why should we remember a terrible day in history when Apple's new product is out?
One person related, as if she was describing the accomplishment of a prodigy, how bored her whiny middle-schooler was that they had to pay attention to this in school for one em-effing day and she had to endure a couple of hours during which the adults failed to provide the illusion that all learning can be fun. Oh, the brutal honesty! the wisdom that drools out of the mouths of babes! the nightmare of endurance when one's Facebook "friends" fail to pretend they don't remember it! oh, the -- um, well not humanity but we're being detached and ironic anyway!
Of course, it's fairly universal when you're a child or adolescent to regard anything that you don't directly remember as an event in the last geologic age; that's become something of a Boy Scout badge of "realness" to many adults as well. But in the case of the middle-schooler, that's probably all it was. It's not like the kid figured out how to square the circle or tie up sand with a rope.
[finished with rant now ::) ]
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In 10 to 15 years we''ll all be China's bitch.
This may be the first thing you've said with which I totally agree....
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This may be the first thing you've said with which I totally agree....
Being China's bitch would, of course, be so much worse than being Monsanto's, Walmart's, or Exxon Mobil's bitch. (We were supposed to be Japan's bitch by now, but everyone knows how that turned out.)
It would certainly be bad news for the Duggars and the "full quiver" set.
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Following that concept, Monsanto, Apple, or Exxon Mobil tell us to think in a way that’s acceptable to us…or it’s what we’ve come to accept over years. China? After the fall, maybe toward the end of this century, people will knuckle under and accept the routine imprisonment of academics, of people who think and question…the “only 1” baby law, the treatment of the oceans as a sewer (and as bad as the US is, if you think for 1 minute that the US is as bad as china on the environment, you’re wrong), the theft of IP, not only from companies but individuals…they may strike that word (individual) from the chinese dictionary…is there a Chinese word for individual?
個性
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But whatever happened to becoming Japan's bitch? Not so long ago that was the accepted statement of obligatory despair.
Following that concept, Monsanto, Apple, or Exxon Mobil tell us to think in a way that’s acceptable to us…or it’s what we’ve come to accept over years.
I'm sure a lot of people would find that acceptable. They deserve whatever they get.
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Wales votes for women bishops:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24064398
Nice to hear. :) Of course, the primate of the Episcopal Church is a woman, and now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected a woman as its presiding bishop as well. Less than two generations ago, neither of those denominations even had women clergy.
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Wales votes for women bishops:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24064398
YAY!!!
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Nice to hear. :) Of course, the primate of the Episcopal Church is a woman, and now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected a woman as its presiding bishop as well. Less than two generations ago, neither of those denominations even had women clergy.
Now if the Catholic Church would follow suit...........................
(And yes I know it will never happen in my lifetime.) :P
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Perhaps God is not calling women to the Catholic priesthood. If He is, you'd think He'd mention it to the Pope.
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LOL! Sherry.
God is calling women to the Catholic priesthood. it's the supposed representative of God on earth who is having problems hearing God, as it has been for centuries.
I think they are afraid of being shown up by women.
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Now you don't know that. God may think women have enough crap to deal with.
Speaking of which, I'm sick of all the news stories trying to guilt us into stepping in to the Syrian situation. Piece after piece, at all hours of the day, on tv and the internet, we get glimpses of how bad things are in Syria... the hospitals are being attacked specifically to keep the rebels from using them, neighborhoods are being bombed specifically to drive the rebels out, people are migrating in droves to refugee camps in Jordon where conditions are horrendous. That's a shame.
BUT this started with a bunch or parents upset because their kids were arrested after placing graffiti on building walls. The kids broke the law and the parents didn't like the punishment. So now 100,000+ people are dead, millions are displaced and god knows how many lives are ruined. Assad may not be a nice guy. He may actually be the devil incarnate. But he didn't start the uprising.
And the world has no business stepping in.
Let's just imagine a group of people here (in the US) decided, for whatever reason, to take on the federal government, not within the rules, but with all the firearms we have in our possession. Does anyone believe that group wouldn't be countered with greater force? And if our revolt continued, even though there was no chance of success, would any country in the world take our whining about the situation seriously? Would the UN order the American government to cease and desist?
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Would the UN order the American government to cease and desist?
Yeah they probably would,
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At whose suggestion? Another civil war here is almost worth it to find out the answer to that question.
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LOL! Sherry.
God is calling women to the Catholic priesthood. it's the supposed representative of God on earth who is having problems hearing God, as it has been for centuries.
I think they are afraid of being shown up by women.
Amen.
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At whose suggestion? Another civil war here is almost worth it to find out the answer to that question.
By all those countries on the Security Council who vote against the US just because they can. They would be the ones to order the US to cease and desist.
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Oh, no. THEY would sit and wait for the smoke to clear, while rubbing their hands together and high fiving each other.
Our "allies," on the other hand, would tsk tsk and moan something "should be done to stop the madness" and then realize the guys who usually stepped in were the ones killing each other, so THEY would sit and wait for the smoke to clear.
No, the UN and "the world" are only interested in this kind of thing when it is a small and let's face it, backwards, country. And then, only if the fighting might affect oil prices.
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Perhaps God is not calling women to the Catholic priesthood. If He is, you'd think He'd mention it to the Pope.
Maybe he's too busy chatting with Pat Robertson.
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... (President Obama) also mentioned that the regime had consented to joining “the chemical weapons convention, which prohibits their use.”
I found this comment to be particularly interesting, and one which will bring me back to the issue (previously mentioned here) of white phosphorus.
I've discovered that on the first full day of Obama’s presidency (January 20 2009), the United States deposited its consent to be bound by the United Nations Protocol on the use of incendiary weapons.
So it’s a little confusing that he would, in his 2013 Address to the Nation on September 10, 2013 refer to an event which occurred four years earlier as if it had occurred only recently.
The “chemical weapons convention” to which he referred is the UN 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), to which the US Government was a signatory, in force since December 1983, and which aimed to provide new rules for the protection not only of military personnel, but also, and particularly, of civilians and civilian property from injury or attack.
The CCW has five separate Protocols that, in order, encompass weapons with fragments undetectable by x-rays; landmines and booby traps; incendiary weapons; blinding lasers; and explosive remnants of war.
While the US Government was a signatory to the CCW in 1982 and consented to be bound by Protocols I, II and III in March 1995, in January 2009 it presented to the UN an official reservation to being bound by Protocol III, as follows:
“The United States of America ... reserves the right to use incendiary weapons against military objectives located in concentrations of civilians where it is judged that such use would cause fewer casualties and/or less collateral damage than alternative weapons, but in so doing will take all feasible precautions with a view to limiting the incendiary effects to the military objective and to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.”
This drew objections from seventeen member nations of the UN in 2010, of which that of the Government of the Republic of France put it in a nutshell:
“this reservation [is] contrary to the object and purpose of the Protocol since, despite the assurances given by the United States of America, it cannot guarantee the protection of civilians, which is the raison d'être of the Protocol.”
The US argument appears to be that munitions containing white phosphorus are not considered to be incendiary weapons when they’re employed to provide smokescreens and flashes of light, which is precisely what Protocol III allows:
[Protocol III specifically prohibits, in all circumstances,] "making the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects, the object of attack by any weapon or munition which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons through the action of flame, heat or a combination thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target [but] it also prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against military targets near concentration of civilians.
Protocol III lists certain munition types like smoke shells which, even if they contain white phosphorus, only have a secondary incendiary effect; these munition types are not considered to be incendiary weapons.”
So what was Obama actually saying in his Address on September 10?
That, while the US reserves the right to use incendiary weapons against military objectives where civilians are located it’d cause fewer casualities than other weapons, but feels itself free to describe such weapons as non-incendiary as the need arises?
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than myself on this issue could offer some clarification.
My fingers are crossed that this time I’ll actually receive a response. 8)
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LOL! Sherry.
God is calling women to the Catholic priesthood. it's the supposed representative of God on earth who is having problems hearing God, as it has been for centuries.
I think they are afraid of being shown up by women.
I think that they are just afraid of women!
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yeah, right. I think most men want things to go back to the way they were....like in Mad Men...
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I agree with that, Nancy, but I wonder how they would cope of it really happened. All that "breadwinner" crap was a great responsibility.
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US, Russia agree on plan to destroy Syria's chemical weapons by mid-2014.
The United States and Russia have agreed on a proposal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, averting the possibility of any immediate US military action against president Bashar al-Assad's government.
US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov announced the agreement on Saturday after nearly three days of talks in Geneva.
Under the pact, Syria must submit a "comprehensive listing" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within one week, Mr Kerry said.
He told a news conference with Mr Lavrov that UN weapons inspectors must be on the ground in Syria no later than November.
The goal, he said, was the complete destruction of Syria's chemical weapons by the middle of 2014.
Mr Kerry said that if Syria did not comply with the agreement, which must be finalised by the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), it would face consequences under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the part that covers sanctions and military action.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-14/us-russia-agree-plan-on-syrias-chemical-weapons/4958432
That’s all very well, but are they aware how long the task of safely detroying chemical weapons will take?
First, the chemical weapons’ sites have be located, identified, verified and sealed, and either moved to a designated destruction site in Syria itself, which is highly unlikely during a civil war, or transported out of Syria, equally dangerous in the midst of a country at war, and also a solution which would contravene the Chemical Weapons Convention’s ruling on the shipping of chemical weapons outside state borders.
Not only that, but the process of checking that what was declared by Syria was a full and complete declaration of its chemical agents, both in weapons and in bulk storage, will be time-consuming, and could take years.
Some extracts from the following article (http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/09/11/comment-russias-plan-syrias-chemical-weapons-wont-work) reveal the complexity of the issues involved:
"This isn't simply burning the leaves in your backyard," said Mike Kuhlman, the chief scientist for national security at Battelle, a company that has been involved in chemical weapons disposal work at several sites in the U.S.
"It's not something you do overnight, it's not easy, and it's not cheap."
The decades-long U.S. push to eliminate its own chemical weapons stockpiles illustrates the tough road ahead.... The Army organization responsible for destroying America's massive quantities of munitions says the effort will take two years longer than initially planned and cost $2 billion more than its last estimate. The delay means an effort that got underway in the 1990s will continue until roughly 2023 and ultimately cost approximately $35 billion.
To be fair, the U.S. stockpiles were far larger than Assad's. At its height, the American military possessed 30,000 metric tons of mustard gas, VX and sarin, the nerve agent Assad is alleged to have used to kill more than 1,400 civilians late last month. Assad has similar weapons, but his arsenal is thought to be significantly smaller. On the other hand, the U.S. chemical weapons were stored at just a handful of sites. Assad's have been disbursed across dozens of sites, many of them moveable, so locating all of the facilities would require the complete cooperation of the Assad regime. That, to put it mildly, is far from guaranteed.
...
Finding and securing all of Assad's sites would be the first major challenge of implementing the Russian plan, but it would be far from the only one. The U.S. and allied personnel would then have to separate the chemical substances themselves from the warheads of his rockets, artillery shells or missiles that had been designed to carry them to their targets. The work itself would be carried out by either robots, contractors or specially trained troops, but it would still be time-consuming and dangerous.
The next step would be to physically destroy all of chemical weapons, which can be done through one of two basic options. The first involves spraying the chemicals themselves into specialized furnaces and then burning them at around 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit for one or two seconds. Nerve agents like sarin can also be rendered largely harmless by the addition of liquid sodium hydroxide, while mustard gas can be made safe with alkaline water.
...
Kuhlman and other experts say that either type of destruction would have to be done at individual Syrian weapons sites because it wouldn't be safe to move the munitions to a centralized collection point inside Syria while the fighting was raging. That would mean either building a new permanent disposal facility at each Syrian compound or bringing in newly fielded mobile disposal units from the U.S. The mobile systems have not been tested in an active warzone and may not have the capacity to deal with Assad's huge quantities of weapons.
"Do you really want to have truckloads of chemical weapons driving around Syria during the current situation?" Kuhlman asked.
A senior Defense Department chemical weapons specialist raised a different concern.
The official said the biggest security challenge would be keeping the weapons safe while they were in storage waiting to be destroyed, not while they were being moved.
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I think that they are just afraid of women!
Good point, Jess! I agree.
Having a long history with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, it is the ultimate misogynistic system. As in most situations there are a few priests and bishops who support woman religious, but not in the positions where it would do any good, (the Pope and cardinals).
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The late Kennedy Shultz, of the Atlanta Church of Religious Science, used to point out that if it were not for the bias against women, Mary Magdalene would have been the first Pope, since "she was the first to see the living Christ." Rev Schultz was raised Catholic, although Religious Science is not a Christian group.
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A couple of weeks ago we went to Hampton Court Palace, (just west of London), we were looking at the priceless tapestries, and I mean priceless, from the time of Henry VIII which were worked with gold thread. The curator explained to us that they were made by men because the work was too heavy for women as the gold is very difficult to pull through the fabric.
Also, women were thought not to have souls, and were therefore unable to create a thing of beauty, as they were not human beings.
In fact, he said, "did we know that women were not classed as human beings until the 1850's in Spain, because of the residual effects of the Inquisition."
I was stunned by all this, as was Mr Janjo.
The church is starting from a very low point as far as the inclusion of the rights and obligations of women is concerned.
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Seems to me, this bias against women started before any Christian (as in Bible beliving) church or organization. God created woman second and only as a companion for man. There are a number of passages in the Bible that place woman in the subordinate position.
As for personal history with Catholicism, I converted early in my teens. Most of my family (Madamas, Pinzas, Vegas, McFees, MacDogals and Lowes) and all my friends (except for those I was in Job's Daughters with) were Catholic. A number of my female relatives are nuns. One of my best and longest friendships is with a man, now in his 80s, who left the priesthood to marry a woman he fell in love with. I was a "practicing" Catholic for 20 or so years... and back then we practiced 7 days a week. I have never, not even once, had a conversation with anyone, male or female, who expressed the opinion that women should be priests. Actually, I've never had a conversation with any Catholic about theology (except for during the conversion process and then only with the priest who taught me my "instructions.")
The only time the idea of women Catholic priests comes up is in the non personal... like "ain't it a sin Catholics don't allow women priests."
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A couple of weeks ago we went to Hampton Court Palace.....
The curator explained to us that they [tapestries] were made by men because the work was too heavy for women as the gold is very difficult to pull through the fabric.
Also, women were thought not to have souls, and were therefore unable to create a thing of beauty, as they were not human beings.
In fact, he said, "did we know that women were not classed as human beings until the 1850's in Spain, because of the residual effects of the Inquisition."
I was stunned by all this, as was Mr Janjo.
The church is starting from a very low point as far as the inclusion of the rights and obligations of women is concerned.
Jess, that must have been a wonderful excursion. Hampton Court, I believe, was bullied out of Cardinal Wolsey, and has ever had a rich history.
But, with every apology, that curator is a ding-bat. Might be ok for art; not remotely for history and theology.
Women were supposed not to have souls? Ridiculous. The cult of the Virgin Mary excludes that. Not to mention the off-again, on-again, sovereign queens of England, as well as other European countries. John Knox, of course, railed against the governing of Scotland and England, by Mary Stewart (Stuart, after marrying Lord Darnley), and Elizabeth Tudor. But that was sexism, not denial of women having souls.
Extending that to Spain and the Spanish Inquisition is equally ludicrous. Was Ferdinand presumed to be married to a zombie Isabella?
Finally, in the 16th century, the secular Spanish invaders of America questioned whether the natives had souls. The Vatican shot back: yes, they do, and spreading the gospel was urgent. No mention of females excluded. Which doth explain the entrenched Catholicism of the lands south of the American border.
Jess, de curator was an inventor, and had, I think, an agenda of argument by distortion.
Still, you got to see Hampton Court, and we have no easy day trips like that, here in Norfolk :D.
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No comment necessary.
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....Seems to me, this bias against women started before any Christian (as in Bible beliving) church or organization. God created woman second and only as a companion for man. There are a number of passages in the Bible that place woman in the subordinate position.
Exactly, Sherry, and we see in the Old and New Testament, a reflection of the prejudices of male priests, disciples, and scribes. There was a female Israelite judge (Deborah?). And also, Jesus over-ruled the disciples who complained of a woman learning his teaching, in private company. So, if one is a faith-believer, it is possible to suggest that God has dealt with us, as best as He could, given our primitive prejudices (many supported by women).
Meanwhile, we can not rule out female priests for the Catholic Church. The Church evolves, and has the authority, allegedly, to adapt (the Keys to the Kingdom option: "What thou shalt bound....or loose..etc.").
Privately, Pope John Paul II considered accepting primus inter pares, if that would end the historical schism with the Eastern Churches. A powerful bumping down of the papacy.
Just recently, the Vatican has said it is now open for discussion for priests of the Western rite to marry. And Europe was agog over the story of the French intellectual who wrote to Pope Francis about the pain of the church's teaching against gay sex, and claimed Pope Francis called him, and said, amongst other things: "What difference does your being gay make? Stay with God." Which story sent the Vatican staff into damage control. But no denial by the Renault-driving, dogma-bashing, Italian/Argentinian, Jesuit pope with an advanced degree in chemistry.
As far as women priests, he said the door was closed there, but also added, the current status was unacceptable. And we should also remember that when the Church of England began ordaining women, Pope John Paul broke precedent by stating that that created obstacles to re-unification of the two churches, allowing for an Anglican rite.
It is noteworthy that that pope did NOT say it was a deal-breaker. The remaining impediments to re-unification, of any consequence, are the Anglican ordination of female bishops, but, more seriously, the Vatican's decision that there was a break in apostolic succession under Edward VI, and the consequent need for Anglican priests to be re-ordained. Which has the Anglican clergy baffled, miffed, and more than a little dubious.
In these discussions, it might be helpful to remember that we, in the West, want vending-machine answers. Put in the quarter, pull the lever, and out comes the product. The Catholic Church has not endured for 2,000 years by public opinion polls, and vending-machine theology. It takes time, but, we may yet see change.
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Seems to me, this bias against women started before any Christian (as in Bible beliving) church or organization. God created woman second and only as a companion for man. There are a number of passages in the Bible that place woman in the subordinate position.
Going on that topic, wasn't marriage originally set up as a way for men to "own" women?
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In these discussions, it might be helpful to remember that we, in the West, want vending-machine answers. Put in the quarter, pull the lever, and out comes the product. The Catholic Church has not endured for 2,000 years by public opinion polls, and vending-machine theology. It takes time, but, we may yet see change.
I have never wanted nor accepted vending machine answers to anything and I am part of the West, and I know a lot of people who won't accept them either. What few women who were powerhouses in the Old Testament, and what Christ preached and supported is a far cry from what is taught and supported in today's church, and the hierarchy of that church. Since the early translations of the Catholic Bible, it has always been what the MALE hierarchy SAID God and Jesus MEANT, not actually what was written.
One of the prime examples of this is the condemnation of the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) of the US, for the sin of preaching the Gospel through thought and action, as Jesus meant them to. Support of the poor, feeding the starving, teaching and supporting the "working" form of birth control. This is things the priests should be doing but don't mainly because there are not enough to do the job.
Pope Benedict started it and Pope Francis has supported it.
The image of the dance was offered in the current context of the strained relationship the LCWR now has with the Vatican, after the release by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) last year of a doctrinal assessment calling for reform within the LCWR — a superiors’ organization of about 1,500 sisters who lead orders that include 80% of the sisters in the country — and placing the group under the direction of Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle. While Archbishop Sartain delivered a brief public address at the start of the LCWR’s Aug. 13-16 conference, his specific discussions with the LCWR with respect to the doctrinal assessment occurred only during closed meetings. The LCWR leadership announced earlier that its board would meet privately for three days afterward, before making a public response to the Vatican initiative.
Referencing Perfectae Caritatis (Perfect Charity), the decree on the renewal of religious life issued in 1965 by the Second Vatican Council, Sister Florence added, “It called on religious to undertake a ‘radical renewal’ in the sense of a return to the roots or sources of Christian life, including the vision of our founders; and to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as we adapt to the changing conditions of our times.”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/lcwr-leader-describes-its-relationship-with-the-church-as-delicate-weaving/#ixzz2evXDEB7f
As I said in the previous post, change will not take place in my lifetime. If the Catholic Church wants to continue in to the future, the male hierarchy will have to allow women a greater role in the future of this Church.
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Well, back to the beginning... as it was and ever will be. Evolution is not always an improvement. Like I said, I don't know anyone, Catholic or otherwise, who is upset by the lack of female priests, if they ever think about it in the first place. I personally can't see that having a woman in that position would change anything. What's next... a female wide receiver on the Green Bay Packers?
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The size and style. They're saying (I assume) that the smaller cross is less "in-your-face" and therefore acceptable in the workplace.
It was my understanding (and I could be wrong) that the Muslim headwear and Jewish Yamakas are required by their religion, so how can they be forbidden? Sherry also raises a good point with the beards and dreadlocks. That would also include the Pe'ot, the two curls that come down in front of the ears.
There is nothing in the koran that says women must wear a hijab or any other headwear. I suspect the same is true with jews. I don't think dreads are considered religious symbols by most people, they are just cool, lol!
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Meanwhile, in Quebec, Canada:
Charter of Quebec values would ban religious symbols for public workers
Public employees would not be allowed to wear overt religious symbols at work under the proposed charter of Quebec values, released by the Parti Québécois today.
A diagram from the charter of Quebec values website illustrating banned overt religious symbols for public employees. (http://www.nosvaleurs.gouv.qc.ca)A diagram from the charter of Quebec values website illustrating permitted religious symbols for public employees. (http://www.nosvaleurs.gouv.qc.ca)
The minister in charge of the charter, Bernard Drainville, announced at the national assembly that if the charter were adopted by the legislature, the wearing of kippas, turbans, burkas, hijabs and "large" crosses would be banned for civil servants while they are on the job.
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The top three pictograms show what would be acceptable and the five bottom ones show what would be banned if the charter is accepted. I doubt that it will be because the PQ government doesn't have a majority.
A big demo is planned for Saturday by the people opposed to the charter, should be interesting.
It's just so difficult to know where to draw the line, and I suspect everyone would draw it slightly differently.
My own feelings are that for a woman to feel the need to cover her face in the presence of men is deeply offensive to all parties, as well as the security angle which would could apply in some workplaces. (And on a slight tangent, for some Orthodox Jewish women to cover their hair with realistic wigs seems nothing short of bizarre - just what is that supposed to say?)
I am not criticising Islam or Judaism - just some of their manifestations. And I know that there are endless "But what abouts?......"
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Former diplomat Richard Butler welcomes Syria weapons agreement
In a seven minute interview (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-15/former-diplomat-richard-butler-welcomes-syria-weapons/4958830) on ABC News today Richard Butler, who was also Chief UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq, says the US and Russia's Chemical Weapons Agreement with Syria is a model for how these things should be done—politically, legally and in technical terms.
Considering his experience in Iraq—and that it was an off-the-cuff interview rather than the presentation of some prepared speech—I thought his comments were interesting enough to transcribe, for the benefit of those with only dial-up, what I believe to be his pertinent comments:
“The Agreement asks the Syrians to declare everything they hold, it provides a mechanism for verification of that declaration and then for the destruction of all chemical weapons—and chemical labs—in Syria. This is a model, and if we think about the politics which went behind it we should all be pretty pleased.
Will it be done? I suspect it’s going to be hard, and harder than it was in Iraq, because it’s taking place in a country that’s at war...
The first step to watch, in the days immediately ahead, because Syria’s been given one week in which to declare all of its holdings, will be will Syria do it, does it actually know how much of this stuff that it’s got? Will its declaration accord with what intelligence sources know to be the case? That’ll be the first really sharp test. Syria would be crazy if it doesn’t try to make a credible declaration, but stranger things have happened...
The Agreement takes the whole issue of CW out the hands of two big powers demonstrating their muscularity to each other; they have, instead, put this where it should be:
right in the centre of international structures and the law, the organisation for the prevention of chemical weapons is involved, [and] the UN’s involved and the Security Council under Chapter 7 will be involved.
This is the international system working in the way that it should, not the will of any individual state, but under the rules, under the principles of international law...”
[Regarding the use of “military strikes,” Butler thinks, as he says do many others, that there’s too much ready recourse to military threats when there’s more complex problems to solve (i.e. 2 million people in refugee camps, 7 million internally-displaced people) and it was of interest to him that “the Agreement has in it an agreement between Russia and the United States that if this project starts to fail they will consider taking action under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which provides for the use of military force in certain circumstances.”]
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Exactly, Sherry, and we see in the Old and New Testament, a reflection of the prejudices of male priests, disciples, and scribes. There was a female Israelite judge (Deborah?). And also, Jesus over-ruled the disciples who complained of a woman learning his teaching, in private company. So, if one is a faith-believer, it is possible to suggest that God has dealt with us, as best as He could, given our primitive prejudices (many supported by women).
Meanwhile, we can not rule out female priests for the Catholic Church. The Church evolves, and has the authority, allegedly, to adapt (the Keys to the Kingdom option: "What thou shalt bound....or loose..etc.").
Privately, Pope John Paul II considered accepting primus inter pares, if that would end the historical schism with the Eastern Churches. A powerful bumping down of the papacy.
Just recently, the Vatican has said it is now open for discussion for priests of the Western rite to marry. And Europe was agog over the story of the French intellectual who wrote to Pope Francis about the pain of the church's teaching against gay sex, and claimed Pope Francis called him, and said, amongst other things: "What difference does your being gay make? Stay with God." Which story sent the Vatican staff into damage control. But no denial by the Renault-driving, dogma-bashing, Italian/Argentinian, Jesuit pope with an advanced degree in chemistry.
As far as women priests, he said the door was closed there, but also added, the current status was unacceptable. And we should also remember that when the Church of England began ordaining women, Pope John Paul broke precedent by stating that that created obstacles to re-unification of the two churches, allowing for an Anglican rite.
It is noteworthy that that pope did NOT say it was a deal-breaker. The remaining impediments to re-unification, of any consequence, are the Anglican ordination of female bishops, but, more seriously, the Vatican's decision that there was a break in apostolic succession under Edward VI, and the consequent need for Anglican priests to be re-ordained. Which has the Anglican clergy baffled, miffed, and more than a little dubious.
In these discussions, it might be helpful to remember that we, in the West, want vending-machine answers. Put in the quarter, pull the lever, and out comes the product. The Catholic Church has not endured for 2,000 years by public opinion polls, and vending-machine theology. It takes time, but, we may yet see change.
Although, from what I've heard, many Anglican installations of bishops during the twentieth century have included Orthodox bishops who, at least up to the time of ordination of women, were on friendly relations with the Anglican communion and saw their participation among other things as a way to poke Rome in the eye. As a result many, though not all, Anglican bishops can be seen as borderline valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
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Jess, that must have been a wonderful excursion. Hampton Court, I believe, was bullied out of Cardinal Wolsey, and has ever had a rich history.
But, with every apology, that curator is a ding-bat. Might be ok for art; not remotely for history and theology.
Women were supposed not to have souls? Ridiculous. The cult of the Virgin Mary excludes that. Not to mention the off-again, on-again, sovereign queens of England, as well as other European countries. John Knox, of course, railed against the governing of Scotland and England, by Mary Stewart (Stuart, after marrying Lord Darnley), and Elizabeth Tudor. But that was sexism, not denial of women having souls.
Extending that to Spain and the Spanish Inquisition is equally ludicrous. Was Ferdinand presumed to be married to a zombie Isabella?
Finally, in the 16th century, the secular Spanish invaders of America questioned whether the natives had souls. The Vatican shot back: yes, they do, and spreading the gospel was urgent. No mention of females excluded. Which doth explain the entrenched Catholicism of the lands south of the American border.
Jess, de curator was an inventor, and had, I think, an agenda of argument by distortion.
Still, you got to see Hampton Court, and we have no easy day trips like that, here in Norfolk :D.
I suspect he was referring to arcane points of law, which often linger for centuries after society has moved on.
Hampton Court, is absolutely fabulous. We were there all day and never got to see all of it, or to go in the maze.
I would like to go back.
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It's just so difficult to know where to draw the line, and I suspect everyone would draw it slightly differently.
My own feelings are that for a woman to feel the need to cover her face in the presence of men is deeply offensive to all parties, as well as the security angle which would could apply in some workplaces. (And on a slight tangent, for some Orthodox Jewish women to cover their hair with realistic wigs seems nothing short of bizarre - just what is that supposed to say?)
I am not criticising Islam or Judaism - just some of their manifestations. And I know that there are endless "But what abouts?......"
It is difficult to know where to draw the line and this proposed charter is incredibly controversial here. However it seems to have the support of a majority of Quebecois. I think it's because Quebec was essentially a theocracy up until the sixties. The Catholic church controlled every part of people's lives. Some were actually excommunicated for refusing to have more children. Nuns & brothers ran hospitals and schools, people in tunics and habits were everywhere. That may be a reason why so many here feel threathened by religious symbols. We managed to free ourselves from Catholic oppression so we don't want religion to creep back into our secular government. I also think that where people live is another factor, people in cities who are often in contact with religious minorities tend to be more accepting while those living in small towns and suburbs who rarely see them, feel threatened. Which is kind of ironic when you think about it. Personally, I wouldn't be bothered if my doctor wore a kippa or the person at the licence bureau wore a hijab, but I'm apparently in the minority. On the other hand seeing a woman with her face covered does creep me out. In fact as a gay person, ultra orthodox/fundamentlist religious people do make me uneasy because they tend to be very homophobic.
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Costa Concordia salvage operation to go ahead Monday
The Italian island of Giglio made final preparations Sunday on the eve of an unprecedented attempt to raise the 114,500-ton Costa Concordia cruise ship from its watery grave.
Salvage workers could be seen fixing the giant metal chains and cables that will hoist up the 290-metre (951-foot) wreck, which is roughly the length of three football fields.
The civil protection agency, which is overseeing the project, gave its final go-ahead on Sunday, saying the weather forecast looked favourable.
The biggest rotation of a passenger ship ever attempted is set to begin shortly after 6:00 am (0400 GMT) on Monday and could last up to 12 hours.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/costa-concordia-salvage-operation-ahead-monday-134446321.html
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Hampton Court, is absolutely fabulous. We were there all day and never got to see all of it, or to go in the maze.
I would like to go back.
Hampton Court is on my "bucket list" if, indeed, I ever do get to England. I have checked a couple of group tours, thinking that might be my best bet, but none of them have included Hampton Court, and with my love of Tudor history, not including Hampton Court was a deal breaker. If I ever get across the pond, I have three "must-sees," the Abbey, the Tower, and Hampton Court. (Anything else will just be "gravy.")
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Miss Uzbekistan mystery: Rakhima Ganieva competing in Miss World, called an 'imposter'
While the Miss America 2014 competition takes place Sunday (Sept. 15), offering its own share of entertainment outside the actual pageant, the Miss World 2013 competition has a bizarre mystery at the center.
One contestants' background is currently unknown, and officials are unaware how she made it all the way to Miss World.
According to officials from Uzbek Culture and Sports Ministry and the National Committee on Women, Uzbekistan didn't hold a Miss Uzbekistan competition and anyone saying they represent the country is an "imposter" ... a.k.a. 18-year-old Miss Uzbekistan Rakhima Ganieva.
The Tashkent native gained fame this summer when she was named Uzbekistan's first-ever representative in the Miss World competition, although now many are wondering how she even made it to the competition.
Ganieva seems to believe she belongs at the Miss World competition. "On 20 of July, I took part in a beauty contest, and I won the title of Miss Uzbekistan 2013 and I am very happy of this event," Ganieva says in her Miss World introduction video.
Zhavlon Komolov, a representative of the Tashkent-based Pro Models modeling agency where Ganieva briefly trained as a 15-year-old, said, "Rakhima Ganieva never passed through any special selection process in Uzbekistan. If there had been a process to choose a young lady for this competition, I can assure you that a much more beautiful model would have been chosen. I'm sorry that Ganieva is choosing to build a career on lies."
While this mystery is ongoing and she hasn't been kicked out of Miss World yet, officials have more important issues to handle -- they are currently looking for a new location to host the competition in Indonesia because some Islamists in Jakarta say the capital city would be disgraced by hosting a "pornographic" contest.
http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2013/09/miss-uzbekistan-mystery-rakhima-ganieva-competing-in-miss-world-called-an-imposter.html
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Evolution is not always an improvement.
Indeed. In almost any public place you can see it happening:
http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2013/09/14
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Seems to me, this bias against women started before any Christian (as in Bible beliving) church or organization. God created woman second and only as a companion for man.
That's one of the two creation stories in Genesis. In the other, God's creation of human being is referred to in the plural (assuming the translations are accurate).
The "woman from a Kansas City BBQ" version might have reflected very early beliefs about how developing life started. The male was assumed to have contributed everything necessary for the new life, with the female's contribution being environmental; i.e., providing the nourishment and the place for the embryo to develop. For "Eve" to have been created out of "Adam" fit perfectly with both the norms of the time and the science -- which was, needless to say, incomplete.
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I don't care what people believe, but the truth is the world is divided by different creation and spiritual beliefs, including the non religious ones. Catholics fall into the Christian category of religions and therefore, the Bible is the general roadmap for them. And the Bible puts females in a secondary position to males. Also, the old testament has several scriptures about women not preaching. Both ideas would preclude female priests. Of course, the old testament rules were put to rest with the coming of Christ, but then, that depends on what translation your particular religion chooses to follow.
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However, genetically speaking, woman is the "original" type, whilst men are, biologically speaking, more of an experiment.
Sexual reproduction was developed in this way.
Could this be why men feel threatened by women?
Why some men feel that women have to be kept in a subservient position, (generally, not personally, speaking)?
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And of course, there is no explanation needed for why some women feel threatened by men.
Biology not withstanding, if your belief is Bible oriented, God created woman as a helper for man. He didn't say helper around the house or helper in the workplace or helper in government or helper in presenting His word to the world. Just plain ol' helper as in assistant.
And you can compare it to Hamburger Helper... the helper part is everything that is needed for the single hamburger part to work.
And personally speaking, you are the rarest of women if you have never been around a man who felt you needed to be kept in a subserient position. Congratulations.
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I don't care what people believe, but the truth is the world is divided by different creation and spiritual beliefs, including the non religious ones. Catholics fall into the Christian category of religions and therefore, the Bible is the general roadmap for them. And the Bible puts females in a secondary position to males. Also, the old testament has several scriptures about women not preaching. Both ideas would preclude female priests. Of course, the old testament rules were put to rest with the coming of Christ, but then, that depends on what translation your particular religion chooses to follow.
You're welcome to come to my church some Sunday. I'll find out for you when our lesbian assistant minister is preaching and consecrating Communion. ;)
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I love women preachers, lesbians or not.
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I love women preachers, lesbians or not.
The Roman Church doesn't know what it's missing by forbidding the priesthood to women. Based on my own experience, I feel that women who have borne and raised children are much better equipped by their own life experiences to be pastoral counselors than men are. I've had better counsel, comfort, and advice from a woman pastor than I've ever had from a man.
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It's the nature of the beast and why so many really strong preacher-men have made great wife choices. But counselling is only part of the job. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been in a church, Catholic or otherwise, where one person was better than average at everything required of THE spiritual leader.
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Our rector (Church of England) is pretty good on all fronts - I've never heard one word of complaint about her in the two years she's been here, which must be fairly unusual.
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Yesterdays Navy Yard shooting was yet another in a series of tragedies. But, am glad it may bring some attention to the poor clearance habits for the, what is it, 1.5 million private contractors? They can retrieve a telephone pizza order from 3 years ago, but they can't track 2 incidents of gun violence before granting clearance? What are the super-computers doing, watching Ozzie and Harriet re-runs ::) ?
Meanwhile, I nearly fell out of my chair over an early CNN interview with one Navy commander.
He goes: "Well a lot of us run to the rooms for when people come in shooting....". Suggesting routine ::).
And then asked if he was traumatized by a friend being shot in the head near to him, he looks blank and says, "Am sure glad it wasn't me !"
CNN began editing those parts out of the interview, later in the day. Probably someone alert in the Navy PR office.
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How 'bout screen for mental illness, including PTSD? The guy just got out of the Reserves AND was trying to get help with the voices in his head at the VA hospital a couple weeks ago.
Yep, no natiuonal health service needed in THIS country.
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Yep, no national health service needed in THIS country.
Well, we can't have that its Socialism. We can't have that here in USA. It leads to Communism.
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Right. Plenty of examples of that.
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Or not.
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Exactly!
[sarcasm]Don't you just love how America is going to hell in a hand basket because of socialized medicine and gay marriage??[/sarcasm]
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Damn, Linda. Is nothing safe with you?
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Nope! ;)
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The Roman Church doesn't know what it's missing by forbidding the priesthood to women. Based on my own experience, I feel that women who have borne and raised children are much better equipped by their own life experiences to be pastoral counselors than men are.
And for women who have not 'borne and raised children', I guess there's always that Hamburger Helper option. ::)
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There are any number of ways the Church can avail itself of female "pastoral" services without allowing women priests.
On the other hand or knee, if there was a huge outcry from within the Church membership FOR female priests, the powers that be might have to pay attention. But I doubt there is much interest anywhere but in the "civilized" world.
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Well, male or female, religious or secular, I have always maintained that it is vital to have an advocate nearby when trouble strikes.
Years ago a now fairly famous actor, but not then, fell from a fake tree during the performance of a play.
It was a long drop and he hit his head and fell awkwardly on his ankle.
He was able to finish the act, but as the lights went on for the intermission, he was hobbling off stage.
(This was at Circle in the Square, so there was no stage curtain.)
The stage manager helped the actor offstage, and the lead, (then an already very famous actor) made an announcement to the effect of
"Mr. X seems to have injured himself, so if there is a doctor in the house, would you please come to the stage door."
They took the injured actor to the lead actor’s dressing room, where there was a
couch he could lay on. He was lying there with a group of us around him, when suddenly a man appeared in the doorway.
"ARE YOU A DOCTOR?" snapped the lead actor.
The man, apparently stunned by the intensity of the words, stammered, "Well, I'm a therapist..."
The lead said, "HE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT HIS FUCKING CHILDHOOD - HE FELL OUT OF A TREE!!"
This event is not "news", of course, but somehow it feels "current".
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Pope Francis appears to be open to the idea of women appointed to the permanent diaconate. Not enough to please many people, but it would be a huge step forward.
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Well, as a former catholic I haven't the faintist idea what a diaconate is but I'm sure the outfit is fabulous, lol!
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So, they could diaconate, but not transubtantiate :D ?
Well, it's a start. And we should remember the progressive changes in the Church of England were gradual, over, what, a decade or so?
BTW, isn't there a theory of the Universal Priesthood, which the Catholic church concedes, but fears? Meaning, if one has been confirmed (with the laying on of the hands), then one has apostolic succession? Egads, if Doodler was confirmed, (and little girls and adults are, routinely), does this mean..... oh, heck, I don't wanna go there :D !!!
Thou art a priest of the order of Melchizedek...., said at every Mass.
Sorry, but I'm picky as to who hears my confession :). Sherry wouldn't want to endure that anyway. It's too boring. I don't get around much, and also am too mundane.
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I hear enough confessions already and I never wear a collar. Even total strangers want to tell me all their secrets.
As if I was interested in anybody's problems but my own.
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Speaker Boner calls on Obama to help him defeat
The Affordable Care Act "Obamacare":
“It’s a shame that the president could not manage to rise above partisanship today. Instead, he should be working in a bipartisan way to address America’s spending problem -- the way presidents of both parties have done before. He should work with us to delay his health care law for everyone – just as he’s done for big businesses – expand energy production, simplify our tax code, and more. The president is right that we’re ‘not yet where we need to be,’ which is why Republicans will stay focused on growing our economy and expanding opportunity for all Americans.”
http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/speaker-boehner-responds-president-obama-s-speech
video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ncRVfJ2y8
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We have 3 - 4 RAM clinics here a year, including the largest in the US and yet the Republican Congresspeople... I think they're all men... from VA and TN are working to push Phil Roe's new health care plan which will terminate Obamacare before it starts and will do nothing to provide health care for people who can't afford it. There is also a plan before the TN state legislature to make SNAP (food stamp) recipients use the benefits on HEALTHY food only, as if there aren't enough restriction on their use already. Healthy food costs more than run of the mill canned and processed foods, but hey, if they have to eat less it will also help with the obesity problem, eh?
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so our gov't isn't quite as smart as the UK, where universal healthcare coverage has been around since 1948...we just can't seem to get it right...
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Four dozen countries have universal health care for their citizens, with varying success, but even the worse of them are better than what passes for health care in the US. I simply do not understand the resistance.
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Something of a news overdose today.
* Pope Francis has warned the Catholic church that being obsessed with abortion, gays, and contraception will cause the church to collapse like a house of cards. While not undermining church teaching, he said the church should be like a field hospital after a battle, and mindlessly focusing on theological decisions of the church reduces everything to bureaucratic rule-enforcing. Besides, he said, no one should interfere with someone else's spiritual journey.
He also said women MUST enter into places of authority. He could not consider altering the rules against female priests at this time, but step-by-step discussions must begin. This was on Yahoo news, and am sorry I can't provide a link, but this sounds like the rumblings of the biggest revolution in church history. And it's in plain sight.
* From Facebook, supposedly, Russian President Medvedev said, off-mike, that the Russian secret police are tracking extra-terrestrials there, but they can't give out numbers to avoid panic. Huh? Is this new urban legend, or did this dude actually say that? Either way, it will become a source for the Area 51 crowd.
* Somebody detained at the Norfolk Naval Base, with suggestions vaguely of a pre-emption of something like the Navy Yard shooting. Little news given out, so far. It's 1 mile from me, at that location. I hope it was over-caution.
* The YouTube video of the "Crazy Toledo Cop", looked to me to be a prime example of being cautious even about what you see. Looking more closely, it is possible this was a case of defying a police officer, on a traffic stop, and the usual: "We're white; and you DON'T tell us no."
Too much news in a rapidly changing world. I can't keep up :P......
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REALLY hopeful about that interview with Pope Francis.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-churchs-obsession-with-gays-abortion-and-contraception-means-it-could-fall-like-a-house-of-cards-8827784.html
The full text of the interview.
http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview
dated 30 September, curiously enough.
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REALLY hopeful about that interview with Pope Francis.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-churchs-obsession-with-gays-abortion-and-contraception-means-it-could-fall-like-a-house-of-cards-8827784.html
The full text of the interview.
http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview
dated 30 September, curiously enough.
Fritz, thank-you so much for providing these links ! Whenever someone does that, it is so very helpful. It's already a lead story on CNN, but I think the story is so important, people should read the original. And I wonder if some of us will take "yes" for an answer.
I do think the Pope is trying to find a balance between a call to spiritual strictness, and condemning people. Promiscuity, for example, is contrary to a spiritual life, IMO. He's not giving a blessing to all forms of anything goes. But that would be for another thread. Here, the news is that NONE of this Pope's attack on Pharasaical ways, can be retracted. He's said them, they stand, and he's just getting started.
This has enormous implications for the gay community. Pope Francis has repeatedly brushed to the side "intrinsic disorder", condemnation, and disinclusion. In the above articles, he said he does not want gays to be or even feel injured by the church. This is in line with the fact that straights have stuff going on, a LOT of stuff, and picking on one group is phony and un-Christian.
There are also, believe it or not, huge political implications for the U.S. For decades, the bishops have been the patsy of the fundamentalists, placing theological dogma above social justice, and aligning with them. Pat Robertson has been one to play this card heavily. And so a huge swing vote, Catholics, now have to ponder the Pope's message the next time they go vote. And conservative Catholic political leaders are really up the creek without a paddle.
Anyone who doubts political implications to papal statements should remember, a mostly Protestant U.S., was stomping on the emerging labor unions in the 1860's era. Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum, (Of New Things), which included a condemnation of suppression of worker's rights as sinful. The pressure to outlaw unions vanished.
Habemus Papem :). And the worst he's done so far, is to annoy atheists, by suggesting they are welcome in heaven, too. Gosh, the audacity :D.
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On the other news story, still no proof Medvedev has the Russian secret service tracking extra-terrestrials amongst us ::).
In yet other news, CNN is reporting that the Navy Yard shooter's first major psychotic episode, believing he was being followed, happened at the Norfolk airport.
Local news is reporting he was working at the Amphib Base, here, several months ago. Very creepy.
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Creepy? Odd choice of words. The mentally ill walk among us, unnoticed, undiagnosed, unfettered. Then shit happens. Creepy? Criminal is more like it. But on whose part? If the nutjobs were noticed, diagnosed and fettered with either forced medications or confinement, it would be a violation of their civil rights. So the rest of us can kiss OUR civil rights good-bye.
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Fritz, thank-you so much for providing these links ! Whenever someone does that, it is so very helpful. It's already a lead story on CNN, but I think the story is so important, people should read the original. And I wonder if some of us will take "yes" for an answer.
I do think the Pope is trying to find a balance between a call to spiritual strictness, and condemning people. Promiscuity, for example, is contrary to a spiritual life, IMO. He's not giving a blessing to all forms of anything goes. But that would be for another thread. Here, the news is that NONE of this Pope's attack on Pharasaical ways, can be retracted. He's said them, they stand, and he's just getting started.
This has enormous implications for the gay community. Pope Francis has repeatedly brushed to the side "intrinsic disorder", condemnation, and disinclusion. In the above articles, he said he does not want gays to be or even feel injured by the church. This is in line with the fact that straights have stuff going on, a LOT of stuff, and picking on one group is phony and un-Christian.
There are also, believe it or not, huge political implications for the U.S. For decades, the bishops have been the patsy of the fundamentalists, placing theological dogma above social justice, and aligning with them. Pat Robertson has been one to play this card heavily. And so a huge swing vote, Catholics, now have to ponder the Pope's message the next time they go vote. And conservative Catholic political leaders are really up the creek without a paddle.
Anyone who doubts political implications to papal statements should remember, a mostly Protestant U.S., was stomping on the emerging labor unions in the 1860's era. Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum, (Of New Things), which included a condemnation of suppression of worker's rights as sinful. The pressure to outlaw unions vanished.
Habemus Papam :). And the worst he's done so far, is to annoy atheists, by suggesting they are welcome in heaven, too. Gosh, the audacity :D.
Exactly. Here's hoping to an end of the Pharisee era, having begun perhaps in 1978, or at the end of the Second Vatican Council, for at least a little while since it will always return sometime. May he live healthily and long.
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House Republicans approve deep cuts to food stamps
By Chris Casteel
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House narrowly approved Republican legislation on Thursday that would cut nearly $40 billion from the federal food stamp program and require more people to work in order to receive the assistance.
Democrats charged that the bill would cut nearly 4 million Americans from the program — including 170,000 unemployed veterans — and mean 210,000 children will no longer qualify for free meals at schools.
“This legislation is preying on people,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, said.
The bill passed 217-210; every Democrat in attendance and 15 Republicans voted against it.
http://newsok.com/house-republicans-approve-deep-cuts-to-food-stamps/article/3884659
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Hundreds of snakes found at man's suburban NY home
September 19, 2013
SHIRLEY, N.Y. (AP) — An animal-control officer had hundreds of snakes, including two 6-foot Burmese pythons, at his home, where he ran an illegal side business selling them, authorities said Thursday.
There were 850 snakes worth half a million dollars in a detached garage at the Shirley home of Richard Parrinello, including the Burmese pythons, which are illegal in New York state, officials said.
"There is a reason why Burmese pythons are illegal," said Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross, citing the deaths of two young boys in New Brunswick, Canada, who were killed by an African rock python while they slept last month.
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Hundreds-of-snakes-found-at-man-s-suburban-NY-home-4827539.php
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House Republicans approve deep cuts to food stamps
By Chris Casteel
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House narrowly approved Republican legislation on Thursday that would cut nearly $40 billion from the federal food stamp program and require more people to work in order to receive the assistance.
Democrats charged that the bill would cut nearly 4 million Americans from the program — including 170,000 unemployed veterans — and mean 210,000 children will no longer qualify for free meals at schools.
“This legislation is preying on people,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, said.
The bill passed 217-210; every Democrat in attendance and 15 Republicans voted against it.
http://newsok.com/house-republicans-approve-deep-cuts-to-food-stamps/article/3884659
Fuckin' pigs. Who are hurt most buy these cuts are CHILDREN. Fuckin' Pigs.
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If the nutjobs were noticed, diagnosed and fettered with either forced medications or confinement, it would be a violation of their civil rights. So the rest of us can kiss OUR civil rights good-bye.
You know, there are quite a few people here who have made quite a few 'nutjob' statements over the years. And all of us know people in RL that we just can't figure out. People who are introverted are often suspect in Western culture where gregariousness and the ability to run one's mouth 24/7 are close to sacred obligations. And, as everyone here knows, "nutjobs" included gay people for a long time. There are radical atheists who will be very quick to tell you that they consider anyone with a religious belief to be delusional.
It is not a "violation of our civil rights" to fail to arrest, imprison and "treat" people on the grounds of not conforming to a norm. Humankind has a ghastly history of brutality to those who are 'different', including but not limited to burning alive and destruction of the victim's brain via electricity used as "therapy"; when the Nazis started pruning their population they started with the developmentally disabled and yes, the mentally ill. It's quite likely that some of the people they murdered were undoubtedly potentially dangerous but I doubt anyone would argue today that this form of population 'cleansing' is defensible -- especially since it's now at a safe distance of several decades. In St. Joseph (MO) there's a psychiatric museum about the history of mental illness; everyone who thinks that anyone peculiar should be locked up should visit it.
If a noticeable dangerously deranged people slip through the cracks, it's not because of civil rights laws. And it shouldn't be in the least surprising considering the loss of community in the Western world and especially in the US. People literally don't know their neighbors anymore and sometimes not even family members; so mental illness is now able to fly under the radar until it reaches a lethal level, just as physical illnesses have long been able to do.
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And the beat goes on.
The next time some poor misunderstood badly raised unloved guy on Twinkies shoots up an office or runs his car into a crowd or slips some poison in the church supper's potato salad, we'll hear the same weeping and wailing about why it happened.
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Typhoon hits Fukushima and weakens containment even more
By JG Vibes
September 18, 2013
On Tuesday, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant said that over 1,000 tons of contaminated water was dumped into the sea after a typhoon hit the area.
Typhoon Man-yi hit Japan on Monday, causing heavy rains and uncontrollable floods.
“Workers measured the radioactive levels of the water collected in the enclosure walls, pumping it back into tanks when the levels were high,” said a TEPCO official.
“Once finding it was mostly rain water they released it from the enclosure, because there is a limit on how much water we can store.”
The Tokyo Times reported that:
The utility said the rainwater was discharged from barriers at seven locations and contained strontium 90, which can cause bone cancer if ingested. The beta radiation given off by the strontium did not exceed the government’s limit of 30 becquerels per liter, it said.
Tepco said the radiation level of the water overall, including strontium 90, which accounted for about half of the beta ray emissions, maxed out at 24 becquerels per liter.
In areas where water samples were highly toxic, however, Tepco took a different approach and transferred it elsewhere through makeshift pumps. One of those areas contained rainwater that was emitting 170,000 becquerels per liter, far higher than allowed.
Additionally, both TEPCO and the UN continue to raise the acceptable levels of radiation, so just because the government says its healthy, doesn’t mean that it actually is.
This is still small when compared to the 300 tons of contaminated groundwater that has been leaking into the sea every day for years.
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Not that there is anything that can be done, but is this site being monitored only by Japan?
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.... People who are introverted are often suspect in Western culture where gregariousness and the ability to run one's mouth 24/7 are close to sacred obligations. ......
This post, in its entirety, really spoke to the dilemmas we have, and the regular cruelties of the present and past. Including the decline of family and friendship relationships preventing any sensible warnings.
All of it spoke better than I ever could. I just quoted the above, as there are few who would have said that part. People ARE anti-introvert, and we are tending towards being an extrovert-blob society, easily manipulated. Towards what, I do not know.
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And the beat goes on.
The next time some poor misunderstood badly raised unloved guy on Twinkies shoots up an office or runs his car into a crowd or slips some poison in the church supper's potato salad, we'll hear the same weeping and wailing about why it happened.
How do you know it won't be you?
One in four people suffer from mental illness at some time in their lives..
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People may be introverted... we used to call it shy but the psych-experts have to have a less plain talk label... but no more these days than ever. These days ,more are stupid and lazy, not to mentioned entitled. So called "social" media is what passes for human interaction, even within families. Anyone who doesn't know a son or brother or father is "disturbed" is either not paying attention or in denial. It may be more more difficult with neighbors, since most people don't have interaction, except in the negative, with those who live next door or down the block. Co-workers fall between those two groups, but even then, people usually have some idea someone's a little "off." Of course, in all circumstances, it is not polite or politically correct to mention it.
Believe me, if these mass murderers were women or teenage girls, something would have been done about it already.
But, sigh, boys will be boys and they are more aggressive than girls.
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It's one thing to be introverted and another if you admit that you "hear voices". I think that's an obvious red flag and your right to "bear arms" should be immediately revoked. I mean you can lose your driver's licence if your doctor determines you are an alcoholic.
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How do you know it won't be you?
One in four people suffer from mental illness at some time in their lives..
Mental illness is the excuse we give everyone who doesn't "fit in." There is a mental illness category for everything.
And it won't happen to me because
1) I'm female and females do not murder groups of people
and
2) if I ever put a bullet in someone, they will see it coming and deserve it and I won't pretend I didn't mean it.
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It's one thing to be introverted and another if you admit that you "hear voices". I think that's an obvious red flag and your right to "bear arms" should be immediately revoked. I mean you can lose your driver's licence if your doctor determines you are an alcoholic.
Gee, not here. And losing your license sure doesn't mean you stop driving.
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NOT going back! Why does she have to defend her decision?
Amanda Knox on Retrial: 'Everything Is at Stake'
ABC News
American student Amanda Knox on Friday defended her decision not to return to Italy for a new appeals trial over the 2007 killing of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/amanda-knox-retrial-stake-20315901
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NOT going back! Why does she have to defend her decision?
Amanda Knox on Retrial: 'Everything Is at Stake'
ABC News
American student Amanda Knox on Friday defended her decision not to return to Italy for a new appeals trial over the 2007 killing of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/amanda-knox-retrial-stake-20315901
Her Italian ex-boyfriend doesn't have that choice unfortunately.
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Perhaps he should have moved.
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Mental illness is the excuse we give everyone who doesn't "fit in." There is a mental illness category for everything.
And it won't happen to me because
1) I'm female and females do not murder groups of people
and
2) if I ever put a bullet in someone, they will see it coming and deserve it and I won't pretend I didn't mean it.
What about if the voices tell you to?
To say that you could never become mentally ill is like saying you will never get pneumonia.
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Since I don't hear voices, that's not a problem. If someone IS hearing voices, I suggest they seek help immediately, not that it will make any difference, but at least there will be a record of it and someone to blame.
I've been thinking about your "1 in 4" statistic and I think it's bull.
Just for instance, let's take my family. There's me, my two sisters and 7 maternal cousins. (We were not raised around my father's family, so I don't have much of an idea what has happened with them the last 50 years or so, although a cousin from that side got in touch a couple years back and brought me up to date.) In the next generation, my sisters and I have 4 biological and 5 adopted children. (Not going to get in to the cousins since they're all Catholic and have flocks of kids. And I'm not going to discuss adopted kids because, contrary to popular belief, there is a HUGE difference between biological and adopted children raised in the same family and that difference is genetics.) Of the 4 bio-kids, there are 9 (third generation) grandchildren. Without talking about the add-ons, that's 23 adult people. I don't know what happened to us but nary a one has been institutionalized in a jail or mental hospital. As far as I know... and as I said a few posts back, I'm the Mother Confessor... none of us has sought psychiatric help although we have made use of a couple divorce lawyers and I can speak only for my own kids, but we don't take prescription aids to get through the day or night. If you insist on adding in the cousins' kids and the adoptees, it doesn't change the rate of incarceration or mental health problems one iota... except for my adopted niece who is a drug addict or as everyone likes to say, a recovering addict, which is only a mental health issue when it's needed as an excuse for bad behavior.
Poor Grayson. We're so overdue for our 1 in 4, we should just lock him up now and throw away the key.
And Igot the pneumonia shot two years ago.
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:D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2Fputin-dog_zps4618c3ab.jpg&hash=3e4b16f22d7dd71c35545891a6ea119ca9f81c79)
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:D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2Fputin-dog_zps4618c3ab.jpg&hash=3e4b16f22d7dd71c35545891a6ea119ca9f81c79)
I feel sorry for the dog. Looking like that Evil man is sad.
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Doodler, how very lucky you and your family have been.
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Exactly. Here's hoping to an end of the Pharisee era, having begun perhaps in 1978, or at the end of the Second Vatican Council, for at least a little while since it will always return sometime. May he live healthily and long.
This evening's news is of a Melbourne priest who was excommunicated by the pope in May. The priest openly supports the ordination of women and same-sex marriage.
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What about if the voices tell you to?
To say that you could never become mentally ill is like saying you will never get pneumonia.
In a way, mental illness is like suicide in that people still want to believe that "it won't happen in our family". So many people never get any help from professionals or from their own families and if they're not violent, who notices? It's easy to imagine that a problem can be solved via a good talking-to or a slap upside the head; and if no troubled person in a family has ever been treated, then 'it doesn't happen here' is an automatic option.
I assume that's why people in politics don't openly seek help; don't want to be on the record as being tainted with what a lot of people still deem weakness. Which might answer a lot of questions, come to think of it. >:D
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Doodler, how very lucky you and your family have been.
Absolutely. Generation after generation of luck. Probably has nothing to do with being taught, and teaching the next generation, that you have to be strong and face up to your disappointments and accept that you and you alone are responsible for your own happiness and unhappiness. Knowing that shit happens to everyone many times, but you have to fight through it, learn from it and go on with your life. Figuring out that it is okay to cry, even to whine, for a short time, but then you have to let it go because it's a temporary situation and won't matter to anyone, including yourself, in a hundred years. Realizing that taking a pill or a drink or paying someone to say "There, there, it's not your fault" doesn't change anything. You're right. It's all about luck.
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In a way, mental illness is like suicide in that people still want to believe that "it won't happen in our family". So many people never get any help from professionals or from their own families and if they're not violent, who notices? It's easy to imagine that a problem can be solved via a good talking-to or a slap upside the head; and if no troubled person in a family has ever been treated, then 'it doesn't happen here' is an automatic option.
I assume that's why people in politics don't openly seek help; don't want to be on the record as being tainted with what a lot of people still deem weakness. Which might answer a lot of questions, come to think of it. >:D
Ninety percent of "mental illness" IS weakness. It is coddling. It is treated, but never cured, with a pill. And of course, there is no way to make people take their pills. The other ten percent is actually a physical illness or "imbalance," also treated with a pill and again, there is no way to make people take their pills. People have to learn to get along, to survive, with PHYSICAL issues, why are mental ones any different? If you have a communicable disease, you are isolated. But if you have a mental problem, you're free to inflict on everyone in your world.
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Ninety percent of "mental illness" IS weakness. It is coddling. . . But if you have a mental problem, you're free to inflict on everyone in your world.
This is my last post on the subject: I rest my case.
I come from a family where mental illness is an embarrassment that people would never even talk about, and that's no more constructive than dismissal on the grounds of "coddling". Both types of family cultures are bombs waiting to go off, in more ways than one.
http://www.stjosephmuseum.org/glore.htm
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Perhaps instead of waiting for a bomb to go off, it might be best to detatch the fuse. If mental illness is a problem in a family, members of it should not produce another generation. Genetics has a way of trumping environment time and time again.
The Chicago woman whose 3 year old grandson was shot in the face in the park on Thursday night said it was time for parents to stop being afraid of their children.
Amen to that.
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When I was young my cousins and I used to joke to each other the old adage
"Everyone in the world is crazy, except thee and me and I am starting to wonder about thee!"
;)
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North Dakota town ready for trouble as white supremacists stake claims
By Dave Thompson
BISMARCK, North Dakota (Reuters) - Grant County Sheriff Steve Bay is ready for fireworks if clashes break out between a band of neo-Nazi white supremacists and protesters determined to keep them from taking over the tiny North Dakota town of Leith.
With a population of just two dozen in a mostly white county, Leith is an attractive destination for members of the U.S. National Socialist Movement, who recently revealed that they are joining plans to turn the disintegrating town into an all-white enclave.
Group members plan to be in town on Sunday and Monday to introduce themselves to the community in what their organization's leader, Jeff Schoep, calls an "act of good will and faith."
"We have every intention of legally assuming control of the local government," Schoep said in a statement.
The group is America's largest neo-Nazi organization, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.
According to the center, for more than a year, white supremacist activist Craig Cobb has been buying up properties in Leith and inviting his fellow supremacists to move in and set up a "Pioneer Little Europe," as some supporters have called it.
In an interview with WXMB-TV in Bismarck, Cobb said he had gotten a lot of offers to buy up land from what he termed like-minded people who believe white people should not be punished for wanting to live near each other.
"It's fine for all these other minorities, but not us," he said in the televised interview. "If you merely speak about it, you're going to be defamed in this country."
Schoep said that the visitors would inspect the new property, raise ceremonial flag poles, and hold a town meeting and a news conference.
"We know that opinion is divided in the town and in the media," Schoep said in the statement, adding that the trip was "a symbolic gesture of good will and faith."
Schoep will be met by a grassroots group organized through social media to protest the National Socialists' presence in the time. Organizers are hoping several hundred will attend.
"We are planning a true grassroots peaceful protest to demonstrate that we are united in a stance against hatred, violence and prejudice," reads a statement by UnityND, an anti-racism group organizing the protest, on its website. "Join us as we take to main street rural America to fight against racism."
Sheriff Bay said does not expect any trouble to break out among the 350 people expected at the event and protest, but he is prepared.
He has his officers, members of the North Dakota Highway Patrol and others coming to Leith on Sunday to help in crowd control.
"Both sides say they plan on having their demonstrations," Bay said. "They have both indicated to me that they will be peaceful demonstrations. They may be a little loud, but peaceful."
Cobb's plans were revealed in August after the Montgomery, Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center published a report detailing his land purchases in Leith, which is located in a county that is 97 percent white.
The center's report also cited county tax and property records showing that other leading supremacists, in addition to the National Socialists, had followed his lead, including Tom Metzger, leader of the White Aryan Resistance, and Alex Linder, who runs the Vanguard News Network, an online forum for the neo-Nazis.
http://news.yahoo.com/north-dakota-town-ready-trouble-white-supremacists-stake-120240693.html
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2429784/Terror-Kenya-Massacre-mall-ablaze-Islamic-terrorists-blew-Fierce-gunfire-heard-inside-Kenyan-shopping-centre-militants-holding-dozens-hostages.html
I honestly think the world is going to hell, I really do!
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/us/obama-to-attend-memorial-service-for-victims-of-navy-yard-shooting.html?_r=0
And President Obama, mad as hell!
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/us/obama-to-attend-memorial-service-for-victims-of-navy-yard-shooting.html?_r=0
And President Obama, mad as hell!
I'm glad somebody is. What predictable treacle these regular shootings attract.
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Like he said something has to be done, it just has to be! I honestly feel his hands are tied, which is incredible. He is the frigging President!
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John Kerry said the Kenya terrorists were, and I quote
"... ruthless and completely reckless."
I guess they haven't yet received the newest addition of the Universal Law of Terrorism manual.
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Why are piglets sent to slaughterhouses?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FMiscellany%2Fyoda-the-piglet-01_zps7a5c8941.jpg&hash=da3c9a1daca2c89fd9ea64dfb961ef3f0450b0b8)
Piglet rescued after fall from slaughterhouse-bound truck
Animal sanctuary adopted the piglet, now named Yoda
Falling off a transport truck may be the best thing that could have happened to a piglet who was on his way to be slaughtered, but will now live the rest of his life in an animal sanctuary.
Last Wednesday evening, Quebec provincial police found the month-old piglet wandering along Highway 30 near Brossard.
It seems he had tumbled from a truck that was taking him to a farm, where he would be prepared for slaughter.
"The people who were following that trailer saw the piglet sneak through a hole and fall off the trailer," says Sûreté du Québec spokeswoman, Joyce Kemp.
Kemp says police called animal control officers, who came to pick up the piglet.
Brenda Bronfman from the Wishing Well animal sanctuary says the piglet had some scrapes an bruises when he fell from a truck heading to the slaughterhouse, but is otherwise unhurt. (Facebook)
Through an online network of animal lovers, the piglet ended up getting a ride to the Wishing Well animal sanctuary north of Toronto.
Brenda Bronfman — who is originally from Westmount and opened the sanctuary two years ago — named him Yoda.
"He just loves to crawl into people's laps and be held. He's a little angel," says Bronfman.
Bronfman says Yoda has a few bumps and scrapes, but the vet gave him a clean bill of health last night.
She says Yoda is doing everything a little pig should be doing, and she's even bought him a little sweater to keep him warm.
The Wishing Well Sanctuary permanently adopts animals, meaning that Yoda never has to leave the farm.
"He's just going to live the rest of his, god willing, long life. And will be happy with the other pigs and all the attention. There is always somebody on the farm, and he will just be loved for the rest of his natural life," says Bronfman.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/piglet-rescued-after-fall-from-slaughterhouse-bound-truck-1.1866257
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Deadly flesh-eating 'Krokodil' drug hits the Valley
By: Pete Suratos
PHOENIX - It’s a deadly drug out of Russia that’s now hit the Valley.
"In the 12 years that I've been doing substance abuse and prevention education, it's probably the most destructive drug I've ever seen,” said Shelly Mowrey, a substance abuse and prevention expert in the Valley.”
They call the flesh-eating drug “Krokodil.” Mowrey says it started in Siberia in 2002 and quickly spread across Russia’s transient and prostitute populations
"What they started noticing was all these horrendous, flesh-eating types of wounds on people,” said Mowrey.
It’s a deadly mixture of codeine, red phosphorous, iodine, and paint thinner. Users of the drug see their skin turn green, bumpy, and scaly.
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/Deadly-flesh-eating-Krokodil-drug-hits-the-Valley#ixzz2fzh9zMDL
If you Google Image search "Krokodil" you can see what it does to the body, but bear in mind, the pics are disturbing.
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If the previous pattern set by meth is still operating, law enforcement will chase the purveyors out of cities and congratulate each other on "solving" the problem. Of course, all they'll do is chase the producers and sellers into rural areas. Out of sight, out of mind when either marginal or rural populations are concerned.
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Since I live in a rural area, I can tell you you have it backwards.
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with apologies to Antoinette Tuff....
911: What is your emergency?
caller: Dey dis strange crooky-face man done come in here to de Capital Building. He say he gonna shut down de government, stop food to de hungry, kick old peoples around.
911: Has he identified himself?
caller: He say he Eric Cantor, and is of de 'Publicans Al-Shaboobs.
911: Does he have any weapons?
caller: He got a laptop dat look funny. He callin somebody called AIPAC, and Bibi, and he say de Logan Act don't never apply to him.
911 : Does he say why he doin dis?
caller: something about we got to stop medical and food aid to some Palestinians or something. And he gonna bite de Speaker's hind parts until we stop.
911: We sending somebody out. Keep him calm.
caller: Ok. Eric, we ain't gonna hate on you, baby. Just lay flat on de floor, and put yo hands out flat....
caller: What, can you have a drink of water? Why sure, honey, just put dat laptop down, before dem helicopters come...Dese 'Publican Shaboobies, dey told you bad, das all. I'll get de water.
....to be continued.
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Since I live in a rural area, I can tell you you have it backwards.
I live in a rural area too, and I can tell you I have it exactly right. Whether it's something people like hearing is another matter.
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You always think people are ignoring "facts" when they disagree with you. Around here, people have a habit of reporting things to the cops rather than sitting on their behinds and ho-humming about the world going to hell. One of our local newscasts has summaries and photos of the area's "most wanted" a couple times a week and they are usually picked up because of tips on their whereabouts the same day or day after they're featured. Bath salts were banned several years ago, and the shops that sold them shut down, long before I heard anything about it on the national news. The manufacturing of meth has pretty much moved out of here because there were so many busts... instead of individual stories, they were just listed in one report (again on the news,) and I don/t think I've heard about any meth labs being found in the last couple months. Last week there were two fatal car crashes within the same block inside the "city" limits and there's already an investigation to see what changes, if any, are needed in the area. Perhaps it's different in THIS rural area because we're in the South and people are interested in their surroundings... nosy, if you will. Problems are dealt with right away rather than waiting to see if the state or feds have any ideas or want to fund it. Oh, and on the interstate, locals move over so people coming up the on ramps can get on easily.
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Judge legalizes same-sex marriage in New Jersey; Christie vows to appeal
By Salvador Rizzo/The Star-Ledger
A state judge today ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey, saying gay couples would be denied federal benefits if the state kept allowing only civil unions.
Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson granted an emergency request by six gay couples, ordering state officials to begin officiating same-sex marriages on Oct. 21.
"Same-sex couples must be allowed to marry in order to obtain equal protection of the law under the New Jersey constitution," the judge wrote in a 53-page opinion.
But Gov. Chris Christie, who opposes gay marriage, vowed today to appeal the ruling all the way to the state Supreme Court.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/09/nj_superior_court_gay_marriage_ruling.html
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^^^^^^
Does flogging a dead horse come to mind? :(
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But Gov. Chris Christie, who opposes gay marriage, vowed today to appeal the ruling all the way to the state Supreme Court.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy I'd temporarily forgotten how much I loathe Chris Christie.
The governor is entitled to his personal opinion on same-sex marriage, but when the state legislature, presumably speaking for the people of New Jersey, passes a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, he shouldn't allow his personal opinion on a social issue to stand in the way of the people of New Jersey.
He's acting like a brat on this issue, being obstructionist just because he can because he doesn't like same-sex marriage.
I'm glad he's not my governor. Tom Corbett is bad enough. ::)
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I'm glad he's not my governor. Tom Corbett is bad enough. ::)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Corbett,_Space_Cadet
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The governor is entitled to his personal opinion on same-sex marriage, but when the state legislature, presumably speaking for the people of New Jersey, passes a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, he shouldn't allow his personal opinion on a social issue to stand in the way of the people of New Jersey.
He's acting like a brat on this issue, being obstructionist just because he can because he doesn't like same-sex marriage.
What we hear in weeks (hopefully not months) to come might illustrate why "civil unions", useful in 2008 for politicians who opposed same-sex marriage but wanted to appear all progressive-y, are a stopgap measure at best.
On August 2nd, Christie had filed a brief defending New Jersey's Civil Union Act of 2006. Slate referred to it as " the most incoherent defense of heterosexual supremacy yet" and compared it to "a student paper written during an all-nighter".
Christie's first argument was that civil unions are sufficient: the language, reasoning of Windsor [Windsor v. United States] all mandate that civil union partners are entitled to the same federal benefits as married couples" and that the lawsuit was therefore "unripe". (pg 8). The "same as" wording, of course, emphasizes the separate-but-equal distinction that the institution of civil unions makes between same-sex and opposite-sex couples. The second argument is that federal post-Windsor policies are "in flux and non-uniform" (a statement repeated later in the brief) and the third is that the lawsuit should have made the Federal government the defendant because the Feds could not "refuse to extend marital benefits to civil union couples without running afoul of constitutional principles, violating the historic practice of deferring to state-law policy decisions concerning domestic relations, and ignoring precedent regarding essence and labels. (emphasis added)
Christie also argued that Federal law could not trump a provision of the New Jersey state constitution on the basis of "the vagaries of federal policy or the actions of federal officials over whom the State has no control." Christie also described the defendants' position as New Jersey's "presumptively rational decision to reserve the name of marriage for heterosexual couples."
The brief spends several pages arguing that civil unions convey the same rights as legal marriages, but later notes (p. 28) that "there does not yet appear to be a uniform federal policy regarding the extension of federal benefits to civil union spouses". And after quoting that US v. Rivera (pg 25) regarding the unimportance of labels ("Shakespeare wondered what's in a name?; for purposes of federal criminal law the answer is 'nothing'"), but later (pg 44), quoted Lewis v Harris (2006 and 2010) as stating that "the State's presumptively rational decision to reserve the name of marriage for heterosexual couples is still valid". It also uses Lewis to point out the "reality that the shared societal meaning of marriage -- passed down through the common law into our statutory law -- has always been the union of a man and a woman."
I'd assume this will be the basis for Christie's defense. It sounds rather flimsy (e.g., 'things should stay the same because they've always been this way') and hints at regarding the Federal government as something akin to a foreign government, and hopefully he won't be pulling any of the cutesy delaying tactics that were used in California. But he might think it's in his political interest to do just that.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/08/chris_christie_s_legal_brief_on_gay_marriage_pure_nonsense.html
brief at http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/samesex/Garden%20State%20Equality_Defendants%27%20Opposition%20to%20Summary%20Judgment.pdf
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I'd assume this will be the basis for Christie's defense. It sounds rather flimsy (e.g., 'things should stay the same because they've always been this way') and hints at regarding the Federal government as something akin to a foreign government, and hopefully he won't be pulling any of the cutesy delaying tactics that were used in California. But he might think it's in his political interest to do just that.
That thought had occurred to me, too. In the end, New Jersey will get marriage equality, and he can throw up his hands and tell the Right-wing Republicans that it's not his fault.
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It is looking to me that there is more than a little whiff of similarity to the disaster caused by differing mobilization timelines before WWI, and the approaching battle over raising the debt ceiling.
Am working from memory (Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August), and may get it wrong, but the principle is the same. As the nations blustered, the technical problem existed of differing timelines for mobilizing troops, to be ready for war, as well as to signal standing their ground. But Russia had a much longer time needed than Germany or France. German troops were massed to invade France, but the Tsar was advised that he needed to issue orders for mobilization against Austria-Hungary. He gave the order to prepare for that front, and then, 2 days later, for the German front. The reponses were declarations of war. Even so, Nicholas II was still in touch with his cousin, the Kaiser, both believing they could fend off actual war. We know what happened there. Once the blustering starts, it is very difficult to pull back.
And that seems to be the timeline similarity over the debt ceiling increase this month. The leaders of the 2 parties have different timelines, each assuming a run-out of time would or could be reversed afterwards. The GOP has already mobilized, and therein lies the problem.
As for the government shutdown, which is far less serious, it turns out enough Republicans were willing to join the Dems, but were blocked by Speaker Boehner. And yet the Speaker originally said he didn't want to play brinksmanship and supported a clean bill. Why the change? 30 members of the Tea Party? No way. It is Eric Cantor who is holding the Speaker hostage, and lusting to take his place.
And, given Cantor's intimate relationship with the Prime Minister of Israel, if this goes too far, and we suffer a great crash, I think we would begin to see the unravelling of American support for an Israel governed by right-wing expansionists and funded by real-estate developers.
Cantor, IMO, is the greatest threat to the safety of our economy and the historic ties between Israel and the U.S. I really believe he is the new Gavril Princeps. One man. With a gun. And no conscience.
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Newt's temper tantrum 17 years ago shut down the government for 28 days and we all survived that. Only 18% of government agencies is affected by THIS shut down and the percentage of affected individuals working for those agecies varies greatly.
According to the nightly national news which I just heard on CBS, only 8 (EIGHT) Republicans deserted to the other party. Only 224 to go. OR... 9 if we're going for a simple majority.
As for the unravelling of the US-Israeli relationship, the bell is tolling. Iran and Syria are pulling the cord.
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Point is why does the U.S. not have a Universal Health Care System? ???
The Soviet Union implemented universal health care in 1937 and extended equal access to its rural residents in 1969.[2][3] New Zealand created a universal health care system in a series of steps from 1939 to 1941.[2][4] On July 5, 1948, the United Kingdom implemented its universal National Health Service. Universal health care was next introduced in the Nordic countries of Sweden (1955),[5] Iceland (1956),[6] Norway (1956),[7] Denmark (1961),[8] and Finland (1964).[9] Universal health insurance was then implemented in Japan (1961), Saskatchewan (1962) followed by the rest of Canada (1968–1972),[2][10] and twice in Australia (1974 and 1984). Universal national health services were then introduced in the Southern European countries of Italy (1978), Portugal (1979), Greece (1983), and Spain (1986), followed by the Asian countries of South Korea (1989), Taiwan (1995), and Israel (1995). From the 1970s to 1990s, the Western European countries of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg expanded their social health insurance systems to provide universal or near-universal coverage, as did the Netherlands (1986 and 2006) and Switzerland (1996).
Most current universal health care systems were implemented in the period following the Second World War as a process of health care reform, intended to make health care available to all, in the spirit of Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, signed by every country doing so. However, the USA did not ratify the social and economic rights sections, including Article 25's right to health.[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care
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Capitalism and self sufficiency.
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Point is why does the U.S. not have a Universal Health Care System? ???
The Soviet Union implemented universal health care in 1937 and extended equal access to its rural residents in 1969.[2][3] New Zealand created a universal health care system in a series of steps from 1939 to 1941.[2][4] On July 5, 1948, the United Kingdom implemented its universal National Health Service. Universal health care was next introduced in the Nordic countries of Sweden (1955),[5] Iceland (1956),[6] Norway (1956),[7] Denmark (1961),[8] and Finland (1964).[9] Universal health insurance was then implemented in Japan (1961), Saskatchewan (1962) followed by the rest of Canada (1968–1972),[2][10] and twice in Australia (1974 and 1984). Universal national health services were then introduced in the Southern European countries of Italy (1978), Portugal (1979), Greece (1983), and Spain (1986), followed by the Asian countries of South Korea (1989), Taiwan (1995), and Israel (1995). From the 1970s to 1990s, the Western European countries of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg expanded their social health insurance systems to provide universal or near-universal coverage, as did the Netherlands (1986 and 2006) and Switzerland (1996).
Most current universal health care systems were implemented in the period following the Second World War as a process of health care reform, intended to make health care available to all, in the spirit of Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, signed by every country doing so. However, the USA did not ratify the social and economic rights sections, including Article 25's right to health.[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care
I agree with you and I actually think a majority of people here probably do. But the loud minority seems to be in charge. They won't let us have any sensible discussions about health care nor about guns. No matter how much sense you throw at them, they say it backwards and stand on their heads and pretend they are making sense just to stop any progress. You would think it couldn't go on or get any worse, but so far, no letting up.
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And finally BO is standing his ground. No deals. Works for me. I've already seen most of the national parks and the monuments AND been to the National Zoo. None of that stuff is going away.
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The problem is that for an awful lot of people, this was their only chance to see--well, my personal example!--the Grand Canyon. They've come from Australia or Britain, etc, and they won't get to come back. Thousands of workers from rangers to maids are suddenly out of work. River running companies rely on these final trips of the year to make their profits, which aren't fat to begin with. And the big parks--GC, Yosemite, and Yellowstone for sure--rely on fees, concessions and lodging for a substantial part of their operating budgets. And for those of us who can, yes, come back later, maybe we forfeit weeks of intense training to hike, or a year's wait for a raft trip or reservations at Phantom Ranch.
I'm not looking to be critical of you, not at all. It meant nothing to me when the gov't shut down back in the Clinton era. But it means something to me now, because I realize, just in the example of one national park, just how many people can be hurt by the utter and intractable stupidity of the Republicans.
PS. I myself got fantastically lucky. For the first time in ten years, I did not have any hiking scheduled in October, but I was insanely lucky and was suddenly able to spend four days there in perfect weather doing dayhikes. Last week.
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What I actually came in here to post was this: I see that YET ANOTHER public figure, in this case the CEO of Barilla Pasta, has decided to discriminate. You know what? As much of an idiot as he is, it's not his homophobic stance that pisses me off. It's the fact that, like nearly every other person who gets caught saying something he actually meant, HE APOLOGIZED.
You know, if you're going to have beliefs, the least you can do is have the courage of your convictions. That's what I despise him most for--he ran like a cockroach in a flashlight beam at the first sign that his "beliefs" might hurt his bottom line.
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We have a forum member here from Australia who had a tour scheduled to see all the National Parks out here in the West starting in San Francisco going east then south and ending up in LA. He is already here, so he cannot cancel. It looks as if the company is not going to give their money back and is taking them somewhere, but not any of the places he or anyone on the tour want to see.
He saves up for two years to come visit, and this is what he is met with.
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Yep, that is regretable. And the fact that my daughter HAS to go to work and one of my sons has been "furloughed" and most likely neither will be paid when the government gets its shit together is also regretable. But it is time to stop this crap. How many years has this government been without a budget? Every three months we have to listen to these stupid arguments about the debt ceiling but we go on spending millions on non essentials like wars and donations to foreign governments and buying naval vessels the Navy says it doesn't need and funding research into how pythons got into the Everglades. Our infrastructure is falling down. People all over the country are hungry. We are having our fourth RAM clinic this weekend, the fourth in six months. Yep, too bad that one person... or a million people's... vacations are messed up. I hope it pisses people off enough for them to FINALLY make their voices heard. The madder EVERYONE gets, the better.
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The tour we did in May, took us to eight National Parks, and cost us over £2,000 pounds each. The effect of this lockdown on people taking that tour this week must be awful. For people visiting from abroad, for whom this is the trip of a lifetime, this is neither trivial or funny.
However, Obama does have to stand up to these right wing nutters. I can only hope it gets sorted out soon for everyones sake.
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The problem is that for an awful lot of people, this was their only chance to see--well, my personal example!--the Grand Canyon. They've come from Australia or Britain, etc, and they won't get to come back.
But that touches on one of the most intractable aspects of the situation: the encouragement and enshrinement of "I've got mine; to hell with everyone else". The result is a group of elected officials representing about 18% of the US population holding our economy and the economy of much of the world (once we get to about mid-month) hostage. And that 18% enthusiastically supports their actions because they imagine that they're not among the hostages.
Ibsen spotlighted this aspect of human nature and its potential to produce monsters in Peer Gynt, with the lines he gives the troll characters. Essentially, their philosophy is "to hell with the rest of the world" [Rollo May].
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We have a forum member here from Australia who had a tour scheduled to see all the National Parks out here in the West starting in San Francisco going east then south and ending up in LA. He is already here, so he cannot cancel. It looks as if the company is not going to give their money back and is taking them somewhere, but not any of the places he or anyone on the tour want to see.
He saves up for two years to come visit, and this is what he is met with.
And the people who work at those national parks, and those who own, manage or work at businesses nearby are pretty much screwed as well. That applies to just about everything that's closed.
Moreover, the longer this goes on the more people will be hurting financially because everyone's economy at present depends on consumer spending. That's why "downsizing" has profitable for a very small group but has been corrosive over time for everyone else.
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Ok, ok, I'm convinced. It is better that everyone in the country be screwed every time the GOP has a stick up its collective ass than getting this thing settled now. Who needs Obamacare or any socialized medicine anyway?
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As Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory would say
"Was that sarcasm?"
;) :D :D
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Government Shutdown causes massive effect in Norfolk Area :
*The Great Dismal Swamp....is closed ! In this ghastly turn-away of non-furry primates, there are no targets for mosquitoes and ticks....and they will starve ! Brown bears will be unable to approach cars for treats, and occasionally claw over-enthusiastic, but Darwinially-challenged, children. Fish will swim about in peace. And NO beer cans can be tossed onto the roadsides and forest paths !
*Naval Intelligence (and hopefully NCIS) have suffered massive furloughs, which will temporarily end the daily clogging of restaurants on Hampton Boulevard, and cause serious deprivation symptoms for those rushing about, imitating tv shows. The super-secret grungy wardrobe centers (heavily guarded by marines with semi-automatic guns)....must shut down.
*In related news, the NSA has been forced to furlough 70% of their employees, which means....at least for now, they will never know if you order pepperoni and sausage on your pizza orders !!!
This is a crisis. It must end !!!!
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AEG cleared of any responsibility in Jackson's death.
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Government Shutdown causes massive effect in Norfolk Area :
*The Great Dismal Swamp....is closed ! In this ghastly turn-away of non-furry primates, there are no targets for mosquitoes and ticks....and they will starve ! Brown bears will be unable to approach cars for treats, and occasionally claw over-enthusiastic, but Darwinially-challenged, children. Fish will swim about in peace. And NO beer cans can be tossed onto the roadsides and forest paths !
*Naval Intelligence (and hopefully NCIS) have suffered massive furloughs, which will temporarily end the daily clogging of restaurants on Hampton Boulevard, and cause serious deprivation symptoms for those rushing about, imitating tv shows. The super-secret grungy wardrobe centers (heavily guarded by marines with semi-automatic guns)....must shut down.
*In related news, the NSA has been forced to furlough 70% of their employees, which means....at least for now, they will never know if you order pepperoni and sausage on your pizza orders !!!
This is a crisis. It must end !!!!
[channeling Rocky the Flying Squirrel] Here's something you'll really like: [/channeling Rocky the Flying Squirrel]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/vladimir-putin-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize-8853349.html
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This should inspire some hilarity:
"The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) will not issue new payments to states, meaning that any state that has already spent all its federal food assistance money will be without recourse. Utah’s WIC program shut down suddenly on Tuesday, leaving 65,000 residents without nutrition assistance. WIC administrators in Chicago and Wisconsin told Forbes they do not know how much of a funding cushion they have and fear a surprise cutoff to services. In Tennessee, contingency funding may or may not last into next week."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/02/2716921/bill-kristol-shutdown-wic/
and check out this one for additional giggles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEy5i5Yqlgc
(in the interest of perspective) Kristol famously predicted that the Iraq war would be a 'short and easy' one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nONm4myKwY8
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AEG cleared of any responsibility in Jackson's death.
But I hope the lawyers will stop hoarding his estate and meanwhile diminish it before it goes to the Jackson family.
Meanwhile, it probably makes sense that AEG was cleared.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/business/media/concert-promoter-found-not-liable-in-death-of-michael-jackson.html?_r=0
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Well, I guess somebody is mad as hell and isn't gonna take it any more.
Shots fired at the Capitol after a car tried to run the auto barrier at the White House.
Two cops injured... one shot, the other after hitting a barrier in his car.
Woman driver either dead or in custody.
Capitol now clear and reopened.
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[channeling Rocky the Flying Squirrel] Here's something you'll really like: [/channeling Rocky the Flying Squirrel]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/vladimir-putin-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize-8853349.html
Vladimir Vladimirovich is a piece of work. He has dissidents in the UK poisoned, but calls Edward Snowden "a strange man", and grants asylum.
His biggest tap dance is saying he favors a constitutional monarchy, but can't support the Spanish collateral branch of the Romanovs since the Russian Orthodox Church is still dubious about the DNA results of two successive inquiries into the remains from the slaughter in Ekaterinburg. [There is, in fact, some disinformation there, as the first had 2 children missing and the second conveniently found some remains elsewhere, which were upped to a high probability. Very swift work, there. Especially since Israeli scientists have discovered how to fake DNA results]. All of this allows him to move towards allowing no checks and balances from a monarchy, and, establishing a Putin dynasty.
Nobel Peace Prize? Rocky and Bullwinkle have more qualifications. But we should be careful what we say as this guy has a long reach for bumping people off. Almost as advanced as U.S. intel agencies with dissident reporters and potential whistleblowers. And we have more exotic secrets to protect, in order to enforce the New World Rule: zero accountability.
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LOL, that one flew right over like a flock of pigeons.
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His biggest tap dance is saying he favors a constitutional monarchy, but can't support the Spanish collateral branch of the Romanovs since the Russian Orthodox Church is still dubious about the DNA results of two successive inquiries into the remains from the slaughter in Ekaterinburg.
Sorry, I'm confused here. I thought the R.O.C. had given its stamp of approval to the burial of the remains of Czar Nicholas and Empress Alexandra? ???
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/vladimir-putin-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize-8853349.html
Well, why not. Obama got one for just getting elected.
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Sorry, I'm confused here. I thought the R.O.C. had given its stamp of approval to the burial of the remains of Czar Nicholas and Empress Alexandra? ???
Yeah, Jeff. There was no doubt of their remains, and they were buried, with full state ceremony, at a cathedral in Moscow. As for those presumed to be the children, I do not know whether they were also interred. It's not something I followed that closely. At any rate, that ceremony occurred after the first inquiry, which left some doubt whether two of the children were accounted for. And so, the stubborn refusal of the Church to give up on possible survivors.
Then, conveniently, a new commission found another site, several years later, accounting for the missing two. The DNA, there, said to be 98% certain. Where those remains were interred, I don't know. But, what with the dubious, and all-too-convenient discovery of a second site, and debate over the probability of the DNA evidence there, the Church has only grudgingly conceded there were no survivors. But, I believe that is unofficial acceptance.
All of this has been to Putin's advantage, especially since public opinion favoring a monarchy has waned. The whole subject is a mare's nest of improbability and disinformation. I only brought it up to show the ways of Putin in manipulating the public and the Church.
I've been a lukewarm student of this issue. But I tend to believe the Grand Duchess Tatiana was a survivor, and all the clap-trap (the mysterious "Rescuing the Czar" book, of the 1920's, and the phony pretenders, all of it has all been disinformation.
As it happens, my father's cousin, Admiral Earnest Eller, was a history buff, and the head of our Naval Archives. [He's on Wikipedia]. It's my understanding he favored the survivor theory. But all of this is nothing but fodder for years of foolishness. The real issue is Putin. The guy is a jerk. At the very least.
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Moving right along, with the latest, and now almost routine, shooting in Washington, Orwellian lingo has taken another great leap forward.
D.C. Police Chief, Cathy Lanier, was unable to say the suspect was pronounced dead. Four times, she said the subject was "pronounced".
So, now, is this a matter of convenience for law enforcement? Avoid the word "dead" ? Will there be rallies protesting the Pronouncement penalty for murder? Will hospitals change their jargon?
Gosh, words around the world, are running for cover, in hopes of not being ---- pronounced :P.
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Yeah, Jeff. There was no doubt of their remains, and they were buried, with full state ceremony, at a cathedral in Moscow. As for those presumed to be the children, I do not know whether they were also interred. It's not something I followed that closely. At any rate, that ceremony occurred after the first inquiry, which left some doubt whether two of the children were accounted for. And so, the stubborn refusal of the Church to give up on possible survivors.
Thanks, Tony. I seem to recall that one or two of the children were unaccounted for at the time of the funeral, but I didn't know the R.O.C. was sticking to the possibility of a survivor or survivors--and I suppose by now descendants.
I agree with you about Putin.
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SHOCKER! Peter Schlessel Takes Over Focus Features
By MIKE FLEMING JR
Another shoe has dropped at Universal Pictures, as former top Sony exec Peter Schlessel has taken the reins of its prestige film label Focus Features in an effort to beef up the company’s output. James Schamus, the bow-tied erudite writer/producer who has run Focus, will leave to produce the 3D boxing movie that will be directed by his regular collaborator, Oscar winning Life Of Pi director Ang Lee. FilmDistrict, which was launched by Schlessel, Graham King and Tim Headington, will have its films absorbed into the new Focus Features. Focus has always had a strong executive team and a good record of profitability under Schamus and Andrew Karpen’s leadership–they won world rights for $6 million for one of Toronto’s most coveted films, the Jason Bateman-directed Bad Words–but it is too early to say what the new structure will be until Schlessel gets settled in January. He will report to Donna Langley, who became Universal Pictures chairman in the recent shakeup that left Adam Fogelson packing, and Jeff Shell in command at the studio with Ron Meyer becoming vice chairman of NBC Universal.
http://www.deadline.com/2013/10/shocker-peter-schlessel-takes-over-focus-features/
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D.C. Police Chief, Cathy Lanier, was unable to say the suspect was pronounced dead. Four times, she said the subject was "pronounced".
So, now, is this a matter of convenience for law enforcement? Avoid the word "dead" ?
If that's the worst thing that happens when a wingnut starts shooting, I'd take a pass on the linguistic indignation. Especially if I was in the vicinity.
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Well, the pronounced woman didn't do any shooting. She didn't have a gun.
Obviously, though, she was a wingnut.
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Man Lights Himself On Fire On National Mall In D.C.
by DAVID BADASH on OCTOBER 4, 2013
A man this afternoon around 4:00 PM ET reportedly lit himself on fire, possibly with gasoline, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. There are no reports detailing who he is or why he did it. He reportedly is alive and a witness said passersby put the flames out.
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/breaking-man-lights-himself-on-fire-on-national-mall-in-d-c-photos/news/2013/10/04/76328#.Uk80BSSsim5
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Well, the pronounced woman didn't do any shooting. She didn't have a gun.
Obviously, though, she was a wingnut.
I guess, these days, all "wingnuts" must be killed. I'm surprised they didn't also kill the wingnut's child, just to be on the safe side. ::)
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I'd love to hear about any alternatives you have in mind.
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I'd love to hear about any alternatives you have in mind.
Blow out the tires and arrest her.
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I guess, these days, all "wingnuts" must be killed. I'm surprised they didn't also kill the wingnut's child, just to be on the safe side. ::)
Blow out the tires and arrest her.
First off, your first post spoke of all wingnuts and the second was specific to the CT woman.
I take it you didn't see any of the videos of her racing around town?
Or for that matter, you didn't see the video of the NY SUV racing away on flatten tires from the motocycle gang (a different incident, not involving cops, but involving uninflated tires.)
I wish you could go on a day's ride-along with cops to see what the job was really like.
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A lot of fantasies about use of firearms are products of over-consumption of cop shows. No righteous shooter ever misses his target and hits an innocent bystander in TVland; any more than bullets fired into the air ever hit and kill anyone. And a person can be shot with blanks at close range and suffer nary a scratch.
This woman tried to ram the White House gates with her car and led the police on a high-speed chase that could have gotten people killed, even if the police hadn't chased her. She supposedly had "mental health issues", and unstable people are bound to be affected by the current attack in Congress. But apparently the absolutely worst aspect about this is that someone repeatedly said "pronounced" instead of "pronounced dead". Now, how could any possible consequences of an insane person attacking the White House come close to measuring up to that?
Of course, in some countries such behavior might be considered perfectly sane. Who are we to judge? ::)
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"Which plan to fix America’s ailing health care system to do you like more, the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare? That’s the question that correspondents from Jimmy Kimmel Live asked unsuspecting pedestrians on Hollywood Boulevard Monday. As Jimmy Kimmel explained to his audience, 'as you may know Obamacare is just a nickname for the Affordable Care Act, they’re the same thing.'
"Apparently not too many people walking the streets of Hollywood are aware of this fact. Even in liberal Los Angeles, Kimmel’s crew found plenty of people who think Obamacare is 'un-American' but are all for the Affordable Care Act. "
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jimmy-kimmel-asks-people-which-they-prefer-the-affordable-care-act-or-obamacare/
video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx2scvIFGjE
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I only hope to God that "affordable healthcare" covers people with "mental health issues."I
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A lot of fantasies about use of firearms are products of over-consumption of cop shows. No righteous shooter ever misses his target and hits an innocent bystander in TVland; any more than bullets fired into the air ever hit and kill anyone. And a person can be shot with blanks at close range and suffer nary a scratch.
Boy, howdy! And (unless it serves the purpose of the drama) nobody ever needs to reload, either. ::)
"Which plan to fix America’s ailing health care system to do you like more, the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare? That’s the question that correspondents from Jimmy Kimmel Live asked unsuspecting pedestrians on Hollywood Boulevard Monday. As Jimmy Kimmel explained to his audience, 'as you may know Obamacare is just a nickname for the Affordable Care Act, they’re the same thing.'
"Apparently not too many people walking the streets of Hollywood are aware of this fact. Even in liberal Los Angeles, Kimmel’s crew found plenty of people who think Obamacare is 'un-American' but are all for the Affordable Care Act. "
That's about what I would expect.
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"Which plan to fix America’s ailing health care system to do you like more, the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare? That’s the question that correspondents from Jimmy Kimmel Live asked unsuspecting pedestrians on Hollywood Boulevard Monday. As Jimmy Kimmel explained to his audience, 'as you may know Obamacare is just a nickname for the Affordable Care Act, they’re the same thing.'
"Apparently not too many people walking the streets of Hollywood are aware of this fact. Even in liberal Los Angeles, Kimmel’s crew found plenty of people who think Obamacare is 'un-American' but are all for the Affordable Care Act. "
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jimmy-kimmel-asks-people-which-they-prefer-the-affordable-care-act-or-obamacare/
video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx2scvIFGjE
That's about what I would expect.
Me as well. I remember the 2008 voting day, and there were people doing exit poling in heavy Republican areas, asking political questions, and they were getting crazy answers in return. Things were no better in Democratic areas. They were asking for politician names and platforms, but were getting a lot of stupid answers.
The one question that got steady answers was "What candidate said "I can see Russia from my house."? Everyone answered "Sarah Palin", which wasn't correct, it was Tina Fey as Sarah Palin that said that.
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She did say this:
Palin responded: "They're our next door neighbors. And you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/11/18/abc-brings-i-can-see-russia-my-backyard-palin-interview#ixzz2grouB0tH
So evidently Tina Fey was playing that up.
Nor, when given the chance, did Palin deny it in this interview later, when Barbara Walters asked her about it:
BARBARA WALTERS: On the business of “I can see Russia from my backyard,” what you did say to Charlie Gibson was that there were places in Alaska where one could see Russia. Do you still feel that Alaska’s proximity to Russia from whatever place you can see it, is significant foreign policy experience?
SARAH PALIN: Very significant, and we are a gatekeeper for the continent, so far national security reasons, and for energy independence and resource development reasons, Alaska should be recognized for strategic location on the globe.
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/11/18/abc-brings-i-can-see-russia-my-backyard-palin-interview#ixzz2grph44Zi
And there are quotes from the original interview in which she goes on to talk about perceived problems with Putin, and her supposed ideas of foreign policy. So it's true the SNL quote is what sticks in our minds, but it was based on a set of statements she made in more than one interview.
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I only hope to God that "affordable healthcare" covers people with "mental health issues."I
Well, the way they are coming out of the woodwork, they'll all have been taken care of by the time Obamacare is really in force.
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This woman tried to ram the White House gates with her car and led the police on a high-speed chase that could have gotten people killed, even if the police hadn't chased her. She supposedly had "mental health issues" [quotes because there were no details], and unstable people are bound to be affected by the current attack in Congress. But apparently the absolutely worst aspect about this is that someone repeatedly said "pronounced" instead of "pronounced dead". Now, how could any possible consequences of an insane person attacking the White House come close to measuring up to that?
Well, I don't know how many details you need, but she had fallen and suffered a head injury, then suffered from post partum depression and in the last year or so been diagnosed as bi-polar and schizophrenic and was reportedly having a problem dealing with that. Recently, she had several times called her local cops to report that Obama was having her watched. As far as I know, no one has released her blood pressure history.
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Thanks for the info; I updated my post. Very thoughtful of you.
In some circles, her fantasy would be taken seriously, fur shurr.
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SARAH PALIN: Very significant, and we are a gatekeeper for the continent, so far national security reasons, and for energy independence and resource development reasons, Alaska should be recognized for strategic location on the globe.
So I guess she could see Russia from her gate.
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Elizabeth Warren speaks out against civic nihilism:
"So Mr. President, to those who have forced us to the brink, to those who rail against a make-believe government, to those who seem to rejoice in anarchy, to those who salivate at the chance to shut down our government because of their extremist views have left them disconnected from the experiences of the American people, it is time to hear a simple message.
"You can do your best to make government look like it doesn't work when you stop it from working.
"You can do your best to make government look paralyzed when you paralyze it.
"You can do your best to make government look incompetent and ineffective through your incompetence, and ineffective through your ineffectiveness.
"But sooner or later, the government will reopen. Because this is a democracy, and this democracy has already rejected your views.
"We have already chosen to do these things together because we all know that we are stronger when we come together. "
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/why-government-good-elizabeth-warren
video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTxWMkW8s_c
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..... But apparently the absolutely worst aspect about this is that someone repeatedly said "pronounced" instead of "pronounced dead". Now, how could any possible consequences of an insane person attacking the White House come close to measuring up to that?
Oh, well. I guess you never heard of the movie "A Beautiful Life", where a father jokes with his son as they are being transported to the Nazi concentration camps. Sometimes, when you are powerless against the madness and cruelty in life, focusing on the absurd is all that is left.
Then, too, an advance in jargon, to describe someone's death, is worthy of mention, and even some gentle prodding can go to stopping it. Sorry you were offended.
*****
Doodler, you asked what was anyone supposed to do? This one question hit me hard. Her family should have intervened, at the first sign of serious trouble. I had a mentally ill parent, of danger only to herself, and fought a 20 year war to see her treated and safe. That's why I have no family now. My 5 older siblings were ashamed of her, found her inconvenient, and fought me every step of the way. Since I was the youngest, and arrived when she was 45 years old, she was always, to me, like a troubled grandparent. I do have this: She passed on, in peace, at home, at an advanced age.
Families are responsible. Mine were looking out for themselves.
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Yes, Tony, families SHOULD accept responsibility (although there are some here who don't like the idea of SHOULD.) However, mentally ill or not, the sick (diseased? injured? wounded?) person also has to accept responsibility and it is a violation of an individual's civil rights to force treatment and/or medication. Confining them against their wills is also a violation of their civil rights. So too bad for society at large. AND, in my opinion, mental health "experts" are just as, if not more, guilty of any crimes committed by mentally ill individuals as the family.
MY experience was with my first husband who was, apparently, mentally ill only in my opinion and that of his family. Trying to burn down his mother's house, blow up his pastor's church, tampering with the brakes of his sister's car were, and I quote, "A cry for help" as we were informed by his medical doctor. A cry that, again, only I and his victims acquaintances could hear. Time and again he was pronounced "competent" by VA and civilian doctors. One of the things I am most grateful for in my life is that I managed to get away, with my children, and raise them without his presence, an opinion they have all agreed with as they met him, individually, once they were adults.
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A lot of fantasies about use of firearms are products of over-consumption of cop shows. No righteous shooter ever misses his target and hits an innocent bystander in TVland; any more than bullets fired into the air ever hit and kill anyone.
This comment is really intriguing. Do you have statistics on or maybe links to stories about real life innocent bystanders being hit by bullets from righteous shooters or killed by bullets falling out of the sky?
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Well, the way they are coming out of the woodwork, they'll all have been taken care of by the time Obamacare is really in force.
Presumably the people with the guns and mental health issues will have shot themselves, shot other people, or have been shot by the police before Obamacare gets going.
But actually, this is not funny.
For the sake of public safety the US must do something about its care of the mentally ill, and i am not at all sure it shouldn't happen here in the UK too.
When families ask for help for a loved one they should be taken very sriously, not fobbed off with nonsense.l
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Why do you mental health experts continue to ignore the fact that there is no way to force someone who "has issues" to seek, accept and continue treatment... as if anything but drugging them is going to "work" anyway? The rights of the single individual, as usual, supercede the rights of society in general. But let's go on blaming it on law enforcement and the family's failure to handle the problem.
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I wouldn't call myself a mental health expert, except in as much as I have worked with people with mental health problems and learning difficulties, and I have suffered from problems myself.
However, here, at least in theory, people who are at risk of harming themselves or others, are "sectioned" under the Mental Health Act.
Of course it fails all of the time, and people are wandering around in a psychotic state doing all sorts of unspeakable things.
The intention is failed by the lack of money, hospital beds in the system.
It is at least something to aim at.
It is hard to force people to take medication regularly etc. but we must at least try. It is very hard to make people who are too ill to be responsible for their actions, responsible for the outcome if things go badly wrong.
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So you have no solution either.
I don't give a hoot about people with phobias or quirks or mental health issues that affect no one but themselves... like a fear of clowns or going out of the house or washing their hands 10 times an hour or having to live by patterns (stand up, turn around to the right three times, tirn to the left twice and then walk out of the room type stuff.)
I'm concerned about the number of people who "go off the deep end" and kill multiple "innocent bystanders" even though other people are aware they have a serious problem. No doctor is going to risk his/her livelihood by seeking to have someone committed or "sectioned" unless forced to by the family or law enforcement. And families are more likely to give up, ignore or deny the problem than force a doctor to act while law enforcement has "real" crimes to take care of and claim a person's mental health issues are not their problem unless a crime has been committed. Everyone sits around worrying about hypothetical "it could happen to me" possibilities while it happens to other people.
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On a lighter note!
Oh, happy day! Glee star Dot-Marie Jones is engaged to her longtime girlfriend Bridgett Casteen! The three-time Emmy-nominated actress proposed to Casteen near Disneyland Resort's Sleeping Beauty Castle in Anaheim, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 4.
Jones, 49, revealed the engagement at a Q&A session during Anaheim Gay Days, an annual weekend event that draws in LGBT allies and visitors to the amusement park.
"It's the happiest day of my life," the actress told The Advocate. "I never thought I'd find somebody that is so loving and kind." The happy news is the second Glee engagement just this week! On Oct. 4, Naya Rivera's rep confirmed to Us Weekly that the actress got engaged to rapper Big Sean.
Jones is most known for her role as gym teacher Shannon Beiste on the FOX series since 2010. She's also a 15-time world and 6-time national arm-wrestling champion. This will be the first marriage for the star. Casteen, 39, has two children from a previous marriage.
Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/dot-marie-jones-is-engaged-glee-star-set-to-wed-longtime-girlfriend-bridgett-casteen-2013610#ixzz2gz0ewdYT
Follow us: @usweekly on Twitter | usweekly on Facebook
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So you have no solution either.
I don't give a hoot about people with phobias or quirks or mental health issues that affect no one but themselves... like a fear of clowns or going out of the house or washing their hands 10 times an hour or having to live by patterns (stand up, turn around to the right three times, tirn to the left twice and then walk out of the room type stuff.)
I'm concerned about the number of people who "go off the deep end" and kill multiple "innocent bystanders" even though other people are aware they have a serious problem. No doctor is going to risk his/her livelihood by seeking to have someone committed or "sectioned" unless forced to by the family or law enforcement. And families are more likely to give up, ignore or deny the problem than force a doctor to act while law enforcement has "real" crimes to take care of and claim a person's mental health issues are not their problem unless a crime has been committed. Everyone sits around worrying about hypothetical "it could happen to me" possibilities while it happens to other people.
I don't think we are far apart on this one, Sherry,
Of course most people with mental health issues just suffer, affecting no one but themselves, and / or their families, as they would with any illness.
Most are not "the mad axeman," the problem is in delineating the ones that are, and getting them safely into secure units.
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You're right. Most people have some little... and not so little... issues and bug-a-boos throughout their lifetime.
However, I'm pretty sure we're worlds apart on how to deal with the problem and if there could ever be a "cure" for these serious illnesses.
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Then, too, an advance in jargon, to describe someone's death, is worthy of mention, and even some gentle prodding can go to stopping it. Sorry you were offended.
Actually, it was more amusing, in the same sense as hearing people wax distraught over punctuation errors. What you were seeing was most likely workplace jargon: no matter what the setting and circumstances, certain things about workplaces tend to be consistent.
This just in from the Ministry of Things People [and Monty Python] Never Thought To Worry About:
IRS official says she never consorted with devil
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the record, the Internal Revenue Service official in charge of implementing a big part of the new health care law tells Congress she has never knowingly consorted with the devil.
And she cannot fly.
Sarah Hall Ingram was testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday when Congressman Gerald Connolly tried to mock Republican efforts to demonize her. The Virginia Democrat asked Ingram several unorthodox questions about witchcraft as part of the hearing.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/irs-official-says-she-never-consorted-devil
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A live mic caught some unguarded remarks about the infotainment media's focus on 'compromise' with hostage taking
Rand Paul, to Senator Mitch McConnell:
McConnell: I'm all wired up here, um
Paul: I just did CNN and I just go over and over again 'We're willing to compromise. 'We're willing to negotiate.' I think... I don't think they poll tested we won't negotiate. I think it's awful for them to say that over and over again
McConnell: Yeah, I do too and I, and I just came back from that two hour meeting with them and that, and that was basically the same view privately as it was publically.
Paul: I think if we keep saying 'We wanted to defund it. We fought for that and that we're willing to compromise on this', I think they can't, we're gonna, I think... well I know we don't want to be here, but we're gonna win this I think.
http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/home/ticker/Live-mic-catches-Senators-McConnell-and-Paul-talking-strategy-226238531.html
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Judge refuses to delay start of same-sex marriage in New Jersey
GEOFF MULVIHILL | Associated Press
A state judge refused Thursday to delay the start of same-sex marriage in New Jersey until a legal appeal can be settled, denying efforts by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration to put off gay weddings.
As it stands, the state must grant marriage licenses for same-sex couples starting Oct. 21. But the administration of Christie, a Republican who is considered a possible presidential candidate for 2016, was expected to appeal the denial of the stay to a higher court.
“Granting a stay would simply allow the state to continue to violate the equal protection rights of New Jersey same-sex couples, which can hardly be considered a public interest,” Judge Mary Jacobson wrote.
The Christie administration had already asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in Jacobson’s initial decision last month that the state had to allow gay marriage.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/10/judge-refuses-to-delay-start-of-same-sex-marriage-in-new-jersey/
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Judge refuses to delay start of same-sex marriage in New Jersey
GEOFF MULVIHILL | Associated Press
A state judge refused Thursday to delay the start of same-sex marriage in New Jersey until a legal appeal can be settled, denying efforts by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration to put off gay weddings.
As it stands, the state must grant marriage licenses for same-sex couples starting Oct. 21. But the administration of Christie, a Republican who is considered a possible presidential candidate for 2016, was expected to appeal the denial of the stay to a higher court.
“Granting a stay would simply allow the state to continue to violate the equal protection rights of New Jersey same-sex couples, which can hardly be considered a public interest,” Judge Mary Jacobson wrote.
The Christie administration had already asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in Jacobson’s initial decision last month that the state had to allow gay marriage.
Yay!
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http://drunkdialcongress.org
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They mentioned that website this morning on NPR Morning Edition. Sounds like it should be useful!
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They mentioned that website this morning on NPR Morning Edition. Sounds like it should be useful!
If the site urged them to get drunk and then drive to the Capitol to air their grievances personally, we'd get quite a lot of natural selection accomplished. Maybe they all visited www.excusesforgoingoffthewagon.com first.
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The lack of yesterday's rain should have been a tipoff; but then you never know -- Obama's Secret Climate Council could have stopped it for an hour or so
Viral photo from Beltway trucker protest actually from an event last May
"A picture circulating in some corners of the Internet shows a huge convoy of tractors, tractor trailers and pickup trucks seemingly bound for Capital Beltway as part of a trucker protest.
"The only problem? The photo was actually taken in May at a Make-a-Wish Foundation fundraiser in Lancaster, Penn."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2013/10/11/viral-photo-from-beltway-trucker-protest-actually-from-an-event-last-may/
When yesterday's event was being promoted, the organizers vowed that the truckers would drive only the 55 mph speed limit and block lanes so that no one could pass. That provoked considerable hilarity among people who drive on the Beltway regularly.
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:D :D :D
Yep!
Supposedly four trucks were stopped and given warnings by the Virginia State Police.
I guess most truckers for some reason actually prefer to use their vehicles to make a living.
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I don't know much about the trucking industry, but was wondering who would pay for all that fuel if the event had come off.
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Owner-operators would pay for their own as always, and theoretically the trucking companies would pay that for their hired truckers, but they would probably look at such a non-profitable use of their trucks rather dimly. And they would have a great deal of say over how those trucks would be used, hirees going against those rules would lose their jobs quickly.
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Current events being what they are, it's always good to see something good going on. This is a great clip of a baby and 2 dogs. The dogs can walk but are wanting to accomodate the human pup, and so, crawl. Especially cool is the way the younger dog seems to laugh, and then the baby looks back, annoyed.
Maybe the wigs in D.C. should study this, as an example of species interaction (Dems vs. GOP vs. bat-crazy GOP).
Otherwise, it's a current event, in that there's more going on in the world :) ?
http://youtu.be/GlC_oZXsfFg
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Well, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks, news-wise, to put it mildly.
Not only has the threat of a possible global recession been avoided, but those responsible haven’t even the grace to admit their selfish tactics have failed.
The eighteen US Congressional Republicans who brought about the government shutdown by opposing the raising of the debt ceiling, also unsuccessfully attempted to thwart budget proposals to fund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or ACA for short) unless it incorporated changes, as stated in the ABC News Online (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-17/congress-passes-debt-ceiling-to-end-us-governmen/5028464):
Barack Obama signs debt ceiling legislation to end US government shutdown
President Barack Obama has signed into law legislation raising the Treasury Department's borrowing authority, officially ending the government shutdown that has crippled the country since October 1.
His signature came hours after the US House of Representatives passed the legislation, the result of a deal that reopens the federal government with a temporary budget until January 15 and extends US borrowing authority until February 7.
Earlier, the Senate passed the bill by 81 votes to 18.
Tea Party Republicans demanded changes to “Obamacare”
Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, two vocal opponents to the deal, said they would not attempt to delay it further.
“I have no objection to the timing of this vote,” Mr Cruz told reporters.
But that didn't stop Mr Cruz firing another shot at the Senate.
“The House of Representatives has taken a bold stance listening to the American people,” he said.
“But unfortunately, the United States Senate has refused to do likewise.”
There seem to be two points here, Senator Cruz:
a) Your reference to the House taking "a bold stance" confuses boldness with acquiescence—why don’t you just admit that you've been defeated?
b) Your opinion that the House, unlike the the Senate, was listening to "the American people" is misguided, as it not only overlooks the fact that the US Senate voted in favour of the legislation 81-18 (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/senate-leaders-strike-debt-ceiling-deal-shutdown), with a majority of both Democrats and Republicans, but that the Senate did so before it was passed by the House of Representatives, by 285 votes to 144, with a majority of Democrats (bolstered by a minority of Republicans).
Senator Cruz also said:
“The United States Senate has stayed with the traditional approach of the Washington establishment of maintaining the status quo and doing nothing to respond to the suffering that Obamacare is causing millions of Americans.”
What on earth do you mean, Senator, when you say “millions of Americans suffering” due to the Affordable Care Act?
My understanding is that 95% of Americans (i.e. 32 million) are now insured under the ACA (in comparison to 15% being previously without insurance), including 500,000 newly-insured young adults, and that most people are now more able to afford health care because health insurance costs less.
So what I’d like to know is how can providing affordable health care to those who most need it possibly be seen as causing suffering?
Or have I missed something peculiarly American here?
The LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-government-shutdown-20131017,0,256522.story) summarised the situation as follows:
Republicans had sought the confrontation in hopes that a shutdown and the threat of default would give them leverage to extract concessions from Obama on his signature healthcare law. In the end, the compromise negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made no significant changes in the Affordable Care Act.
The ABC News article I mentioned above also included this statement:
House conservatives backed by the Tea Party movement have thus far thwarted votes on the debt ceiling and on passing a budget, demanding concessions from Mr Obama.
Democrats have refused to allow Republicans to hold those issues to "ransom" with attempts to slash spending or dismantle the president's landmark health insurance reform.
As far as "extracting concessions" and "dismantling" the Affordable Care Act are concerned, it appears, as stated in The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/senate-leaders-strike-debt-ceiling-deal-shutdown), that
“The only apparent change to the Affordable Care Act... involves asking the Obama administration to carry out better checks on the incomes of people registering for insurance exchanges.”
Well, that's neither a concession nor a dismantling—it’s plain common sense.
While the Act already incorporates a 5.4% surtax on individual Americans whose gross income exceeds $500,000 ($1 million for married couples filing joint returns) it’s fair that the incomes of people should be checked thoroughly in order to avoid fraudulent claims.
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Too bad Obama had to resort to the Michael Corleone Strategy but being 'the adult in the room' specifically includes not giving in to irrational tantrums:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2FMichaelCorleoneObama_zpsd7872eec.jpg&hash=0bbb4716003a7085014dbc337a73acb9a1722eaf)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnmIoF_2Q4Y
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The eighteen US Congressional Republicans who brought about the government shutdown by opposing the raising of the debt ceiling, also unsuccessfully attempted to thwart budget proposals to fund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or ACA for short) unless it incorporated changes, as stated in the ABC News Online (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-17/congress-passes-debt-ceiling-to-end-us-governmen/5028464)
Title 18 of the USC [United States Constitution], Part I, Paragraph 2384 - Seditious conspiracy - If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
In 1994, "fined not more than $20,000" was substituted for "fined". The 20-year option sounds more fitting.
http://docs.uscode.justia.com/1999/title18/USCODE-1999-title18/pdf/USCODE-1999-title18-partI-chap115-sec2385.pdf
(second bolding added)
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Here we go again. The Siberian Times has a story on a virulent new form of the HIV virus, with 20,000 cases so far. I haven't heard anything about this in our news.
The Times is in English and easily found on the internet. Also on Facebook. I'd give a link, except am clumsy there, and also don't have reliable internet on weekends.
I hope everybody keeps track of this.
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Here we go again. The Siberian Times has a story on a virulent new form of the HIV virus, with 20,000 cases so far. I haven't heard anything about this in our news. The Times is in English and easily found on the internet. Also on Facebook. I'd give a link, except am clumsy there, and also don't have reliable internet on weekends. I hope everybody keeps track of this.
Here is the link, Tony.
http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/siberian-alert-on-dangers-of-new-virulent-hiv-strain/
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Thanks, Chuck ! I went back and tried & screwed it up. Am very grateful you stepped in !
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You're welcome, buddy!!!!
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...The 20-year option sounds more fitting.
:)
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http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/siberian-alert-on-dangers-of-new-virulent-hiv-strain/
That's a disturbing story, and I'd like to see more details. The final paragraph suggests some aspects that sound familiar; scapegoating is one of the things that immediately come to mind:
According to the UN, Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the only region in the world where the HIV infection is clearly on the rise - and 52 percent of HIV-positive people in that region live in Russia, reported RIA Novosti. The scientists say the threat from the disease remains poorly understood in Russia, with 'underfunding' of research into the spread and properties of new HIV strains. Critics say a lack of sex education in Russian school contributes to a high HIV infection rate from lack of awareness about sexually transmitted diseases and protection against them.
Have bookmarked the Siberian Times, partly for follow-up on this story.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv157%2Fdandydoodles%2Fpower_zps77caa5f1.jpg&hash=51d3b469f7e27f2a38ced61d36ee800bca05adc9)
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Some time back, I had noticed that abusive people seem to have some equational thinking, formulas that justify the grotesque. The first formula I noticed was that they supposed themselves as the victim. Of course, we all probably have some of these formulas, and, more and more, scientists are saying the brain works as a computer, with software and even self-programming. The point is when that goes over the line.
So, why was I slightly surprised when I saw Dick Cheney following the formula, with his new book about his heart condition? Many thousands dead, rivers of blood, on his watch, but he writes a book about his suffering? But then, we just don't understand: he's a victim. I guess he's just not one of those people who learn, from suffering, to have a care for the suffering of others.
Anyway, on a different track, Cheney is now saying he sat bolt upright over a recent episode of Homeland, where there was a cyber-attack on a VP's pacemaker. And tells CNN, he knew it was possible, and, in fact, they had altered his to prevent just that. Whee, he gets to reveal classified information, to sell his book.
But, moving right along, cyber-attacks from hackers, on pacemakers. And we just learned cyber-attacks on cars less than 10 years old are fairly easy.
It figures. Cheney was safe. Michael Hastings wasn't.
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Plenty of older cars out there....
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Tea Party Republicans demanded changes to “Obamacare”
Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, two vocal opponents to the deal, said they would not attempt to delay it further.
“I have no objection to the timing of this vote,” Mr Cruz told reporters.
But that didn't stop Mr Cruz firing another shot at the Senate.
“The House of Representatives has taken a bold stance listening to the American people,” he said.
“But unfortunately, the United States Senate has refused to do likewise.”
There seem to be two points here, Senator Cruz:
a) Your reference to the House taking "a bold stance" confuses boldness with acquiescence—why don’t you just admit that you've been defeated?
b) Your opinion that the House, unlike the the Senate, was listening to "the American people" is misguided, as it not only overlooks the fact that the US Senate voted in favour of the legislation 81-18 (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/senate-leaders-strike-debt-ceiling-deal-shutdown), with a majority of both Democrats and Republicans, but that the Senate did so before it was passed by the House of Representatives, by 285 votes to 144, with a majority of Democrats (bolstered by a minority of Republicans).
Senator Cruz also said:
“The United States Senate has stayed with the traditional approach of the Washington establishment of maintaining the status quo and doing nothing to respond to the suffering that Obamacare is causing millions of Americans.”
What on earth do you mean, Senator, when you say “millions of Americans suffering” due to the Affordable Care Act?
My understanding is that 95% of Americans (i.e. 32 million) are now insured under the ACA (in comparison to 15% being previously without insurance), including 500,000 newly-insured young adults, and that most people are now more able to afford health care because health insurance costs less.
So what I’d like to know is how can providing affordable health care to those who most need it possibly be seen as causing suffering?
I have three words for Ted Cruz:
Bless.
Your.
Heart.
;)
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Now it's 14!
Christie Withdraws Appeal of Same-Sex Marriage Ruling in New Jersey
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey announced on Monday that his administration would drop its legal challenge to allowing gay marriage in the state, hours after same-sex couples started exchanging vows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/nyregion/christie-withdraws-appeal-of-same-sex-marriage-ruling-in-new-jersey.html
At 12:01, Same-Sex Couples in New Jersey Say ‘I Do’
In Lambertville, N.J., the marriage certificate of Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey allowed only for a “bride” and a “groom,” so Ms. Asaro — in a pink suit — was listed as the groom, and Ms. Schailey — in a black suit — as the bride.
The same went for the marriage license application that Karen and Marcye Nicholson-McFadden filed in Aberdeen a few hours before they were due to marry on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park a minute after midnight. “It’s just going to list one of us as groom and one of us as bride, and we’re just going to wing it,” Marcye Nicholson-McFadden said breathlessly.
And in Elizabeth, Marsha Shapiro’s walk down the aisle was only minutes away when she realized she had forgotten something very important — or two somethings. “We need a ring bearer,” she said, as bottles of Champagne popped around her. “And I need to put my lipstick on.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/nyregion/a-rush-to-the-altar-for-same-sex-couples-in-new-jersey.html
The marriage certificates definitely need to be updated, but now marriage equality in New Jersey seems to be a done deal.
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Christie Withdraws Appeal of Same-Sex Marriage Ruling in New Jersey
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey announced on Monday that his administration would drop its legal challenge to allowing gay marriage in the state, hours after same-sex couples started exchanging vows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/nyregion/christie-withdraws-appeal-of-same-sex-marriage-ruling-in-new-jersey.html
I guess he figures he's done enough to establish his cred with the tea-baggers-partiers.
;)
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Good to know! ;D
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I have three words for Ted Cruz:
Bless.
Your.
Heart.
;)
Yep. Bless your little three-chambered heart.
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And yay that it's official now in NJ!
May the lawsuit in VA prevail, somehow.
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Your tax dollars at work !
The local media are advising us that the Navy will be simulating an attack on the Norfolk Naval Base, on Tuesday and Wednesday, with all manner of ships and boats. But, we are assured, they will be using blanks.
I am 1 mile away. I don't trust them. And will look about me with the greatest suspicion. Sometimes, some moron can't distinguish between blanks and the real thing :P.
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Modified rapture
The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly has just passed the Marriage Equality Bill in principle by 9 votes to 8.
Same-sex couples from all over Australia will be welcome to marry under the ACT law, though our marriages will not be recognised in our own states. (Legislation in Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia is expected soon).
The Assembly is going on to debate amendments to strengthen the law against the forthcoming challenge by the Commonwealth government in the High Court. The ACT is arguing that its law can operate concurrently with the Federal law which restricts marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Many couples hope to marry in the ACT in the next few months even though the High Court may annul our marriages.
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Too bad Obama had to resort to the Michael Corleone Strategy but being 'the adult in the room' specifically includes not giving in to irrational tantrums:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2FMichaelCorleoneObama_zpsd7872eec.jpg&hash=0bbb4716003a7085014dbc337a73acb9a1722eaf)
That's a sexy President right there!! :-*
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Some updates on the New South Wales bushfires
While here in Melbourne the rain has been pouring down today (and as I write this tonight) bushfires have raged across NSW, with many homes already destroyed in the Blue Mountains, thousands of hectares in the state have been burnt and large-scale deaths have occurred amongst Australian wildlife.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is “expected to be the wrost day of the bushfire emergency, with temperatures in the high 30s and wind gusts up to100 kph.”
Read more here (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-22/live-blog-bushfire-conditions-expected-to-worsen-tuesday/5036812)
NSW bushfires - Conditions forecast tomorrow 'about as bad as it gets'
Cooler weather gives firefighters a brief respite before "D-Day" on Wednesday, as four major bushfires remain as serious 'watch and act' advisories.
http://www.theguardian.com/global/2013/oct/22/nsw-bushfires-live-blue-mountains-emergency-still-in-place
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520October%25202013%2FCurrentFiresinNSW_zpsa4db7f6b.jpg&hash=fe2b3ff312af90b39ac06e2c0e8354a3e4cc1546)
Map of Current Fires
http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?cat_id=683
One of the most shocking features of the fire emergency in New South Wales is that five children have now been arrested and charged with lighting some of the most dangerous fires.
Among them are an 11-year-old and a 15-year-old who are accused of starting the Heatherbrae blaze which ripped through Port Stephens last week, destroying several buildings and burning out more than 5,000 hectares of bushland. The boys were arrested separately on the New South Wales mid-north coast yesterday afternoon and have been charged with arson offences.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-22/kids-playing-with-fire/5038134
Injured and distressed animals that have survived the bushfires in the Blue Mountains are emerging from affected areas and seeking refuge.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-22/animal-victims-of-the-blue-mountains-bushfires-seek-refuge/5038032
Bushfires take heavy toll on wildlife, including possums, koalas and gliders:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/22/bushfires-take-heavy-toll-wildlife
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Sounds very bad, Paul. I hope your rain may go in the right direction.
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Modified rapture
The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly has just passed the Marriage Equality Bill in principle by 9 votes to 8.
Same-sex couples from all over Australia will be welcome to marry under the ACT law, though our marriages will not be recognised in our own states. (Legislation in Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia is expected soon).
The Assembly is going on to debate amendments to strengthen the law against the forthcoming challenge by the Commonwealth government in the High Court. The ACT is arguing that its law can operate concurrently with the Federal law which restricts marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Many couples hope to marry in the ACT in the next few months even though the High Court may annul our marriages.
Modified congratulations, Tony. Well, it does sound promising. My daughter has just emailed me about it too.
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Paul, we are getting a lot of coverage on those fires on network news. Am surprised, as they have been pretty parochial at times on non-US disasters.
Sounds pretty bad. I hope things go better.
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Yeah, good luck for your country, Paul.
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I've also heard it on the news, like Sara said, I hope the rains go the right way.
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Thinking of you. Paul, and all other Australians.
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Stay safe, Paul. We are hearing about them here in California as well.
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So about that controversy about people having trouble enrolling in Obama Care because of website issues: One journalist, granted he's a francophone, claims that the only people having problems are actually from Red States and that People from Blue States have no issues. He said he had no problem enrolling, he's in Nevada, and is set to save a lot of money on insurance. SO, apparently it's the repugnicans that are actually making enrollment diffilcult. Has anyone heard about this?
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My son in good ol' red TN got signed up after several hours on several different days.
His cousin in blue OH just got enrolled last night, again after several tries on several different days.
Of course, according to the news, they may both find out their applications, etc are incomplete or whatever.
Everyone else I know who is seriously interested in exploring the possibilites has decided to wait until some of the bugs are ironed out.
I seriously doubt there is any kind of conspiracy to deny Republicans coverage. Their money is as good as anybody else's.
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Thank you all—Sara, Tony, Fritz, Chuck, Jess and Linda—for your expressions of concern, and for your support.
Some rain did indeed fall on the Blackheath and Springwood fires in the Blue Mountains (and in the Southern Highlands) last night, giving the Rural Fire Service a short respite as the fires were dampened, but flame activity started up again today.
The hot, dry and windy weather reached its peak this afternoon, with burning embers being blown toward homes.
An emergency warning has been reinstated for Springwood, with a number of Fire Service crews and thirty fire trucks being relocated to the area. The RFS has issued a warning to local residents that there is “immediate danger” and they need to take shelter or go to evacuation centres.
One of the largest firefighting contingents ever to be assembled in NSW history is now battling an active 1500 kilometre (932 miles) fire edge in the Blue Mountains.
The extreme weather conditions are now also affecting areas west of Newcastle on the NSW coast, with strengthening winds up to 80 kph and above causing spot fires to break out.
A scrub fire of 52 hectares (130 acres) at Minmi near Newcastle is currently out of control.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520October%25202013%2FWed_zpsb88e2ce4.jpg&hash=cc3ca2a2ac52c38bbe04bbb522b50859a9a3c927)
Current fires and incidents being attended by NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers
5.00 pm Wednesday 23 October AEDT
Meanwhile, here in Melbourne the day has been cool to cold, with frequent heavy showers and ongoing drizzle... ::)
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HRH Grumps - but by George, he's gorgeous! Not a tear, not a peep from our future king as prince is christened at St James's Palace
The world able to see Prince George in public for the first time in three months as he arrived to be christened
Royal fans braved the wind and rain and slept on street in London to be outside St James's Palace yesterday
George was baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the historic Chapel Royal yesterday afternoon
Guest list secret until yesterday morning and in break from tradition most uncles, aunts and cousins not invited
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrated with the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry
Kate's family also there along with Her Majesty and three future monarchs - Charles, William and George
George was baptised using water from the River Jordan in a replica of royal christening robe first made in 1841
Christening followed by tea at Clarence House served with slices of Kate and William's wedding cake from 2011
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2472989/Prince-Georges-day-Royal-family-St-James-Palace-christening-Kate-Williams-baby.html#ixzz2iapzB8Yz
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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From a yahoo article on same sex marriage in NJ
Q. What should couples with civil unions in New Jersey do? Are they considered married already?
A. The state Health Department is advising those 16,000 or so couples that their civil unions remain in effect and that they are not converted automatically to marriage. While civil unions are intended to confer all the state-granted legal benefits of marriage, they do not entitle couples to many of the federal benefits. The gay rights group Garden State Equality is advising couples with civil unions to get married.
Q. What about same-sex couples married legally in another state?
A. This is murkier. Heterosexual couples married out of state are considered wed in New Jersey. But the court decision does not address how this works for gay couples. Garden State Equality executive director Troy Stevenson said he wants the state attorney general to issue an opinion clarifying the matter. The attorney general, however, has not released such an opinion, though the state Health Department does consider those couples as renewing their commitment and says they do not have to wait 72 hours before being granted marriage licenses the way newly married couples do.
So why would it (marriage) be any different for any couple depending on whether they are gay or straight?
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From Dave Cullen on Facebook:
Book #2:
I took my time on "Columbine" and hopefully got it right. I wanted to do the same here, and really thought, wrote and researched long and hard before pitching this to publishers.
Now, I'm sure. These guys have an amazing story, and I have been following them 13 years. (Nearly as long as I've been on the Columbine story.) And I'm really excited about Tim Duggan, and the team at HarperCollins. They are totally behind it.
This will be appearing on the web soon:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
(October 24, 2013) Harper Executive editor Tim Duggan has acquired North American rights to Soldiers First by Dave Cullen, New York Times Bestselling author of Columbine, winner of the Edgar Award and Barnes and Noble Discover Prize. A former soldier himself, Cullen offers a war story and a love story in this account of two closeted gay men whose lives and quest for love paralleled the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. Sold at auction by Betsy Lerner at Dunow, Carlson and Lerner Literary Agency.
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Yay! Really looking forward to reading that one. I feel such a connection to gay military.
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NSW bushfire update for Saturday 26 October
In the Blue Mountains (where more than 3,300 hectares have been burnt so far) crews accessed difficult terrain with the support of aircraft to conduct extensive backburning operations and the completion of a control line. In other areas of the mountains firefighters strengthened containment lines. In the Springwood area 120 firefighters strengthened and patrolled the eastern containment lines, and mopped up along accessible edges of the fire to minimise potential threats. Many roads remained closed, and although no properties are under immediate threat, residents were advised to remain vigilant and closely monitor the situation.
A fire in the Southern Highlands (to date, more than 15,650 hectares burnt) was contained as firefighters worked throughout the day and continued to patrol the fireground. Aerial incendiary work in the bushland to the east of the Hume Highway removed a number of areas containing unburnt fuels.
West of Newcastle: fire crews worked throughout Saturday to create containment lines for a large fire in the Yengo National Park, and undertook extensive backburning operations to slow the fire’s progress.
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Lucky Country
The fire threat was “as bad as it gets.” Soaring temperatures and fierce winds were preceded by an unusually warm and dry winter.
But the damage was relatively contained so what went right?
New South Wales’ worst fire crisis in 20 years turned out to be the triumph of hard work and hope over experience, and, given the conditions, with little loss of life and property.
For days the state faced the fear that Mother Nature was about to unleash her worst. But somehow the weather and the RSF fire-fighters combined to avert catastrophe.
The use of aircraft-borne heat-seeking infra-red scanning equipment also played an important role as it provided RFS strategists with the ability to see through dense smoke to direct firefighting teams and equipment to the most dangerous ground.
Mark Adams, the dean of agriculture and environment at the University of Sydney and one of Australia's foremost authorities on bushfires, said
“It could have been much worse. Fortuitously, the weather didn't behave as predicted... South-east Australia has always had its catastrophic fire events, but the research suggests the big ash forest fires, the ones that scare the living daylights out of anyone who gets even close to them, have come in the order of every 50, 100 or 200 years. ... But now we've had them in 1939, 1983 and 2009. That's getting very short.
Many of the scientific community feel that we just have to wait for the next El Nino and we'll have another one. And the area that is subject to high-intensity wildfire is expanding. Previously, it was pretty much restricted to that south-east corner, particularly around Melbourne.
But, as climates change, so do fires. The recent disastrous fires in NSW remind us the potential for high-intensity bushfire now spreads as far north as Sydney and we are seeing increasingly long fire seasons in parts of Queensland, all the way up to Rockhampton.”
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520October%25202013%2FCrisisMap_zps3c877bcf.jpg&hash=768508583287aa40752616562be6ab55f7cb74f6)
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/lucky-country-20131025-2w761.html
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NBC suggests whole of Australia was on fire
The NSW bushfires have caught the attention of media outlets around the world, but a bizarre graphic produced by US television network NBC on 23 October suggests that almost the entire country has been ablaze this past week.
According to NBC, fires have affected areas including vast swathes of Cape York, the entire Darwin region and vast portions of Western Australia's Great Sandy Desert, where you'd be lucky to find two blades of grass to rub together.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520October%25202013%2FAustraliaonfire_zpsc2768fbb.jpg&hash=88b21ac5f3eca80fca1a6106313f012c825b4886)
Now it turns out there may be an explanation for what appears to be a major cartographical catastrophe.
Read more: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/american-network-nbc-publishes-map-suggesting-the-whole-of-australia-is-on-fire/story-fni0cx12-1226746193315
Here’s the first 13 seconds of that broadcast: http://youtu.be/LTJC7FKFPog
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Severe storm sweeps across Europe
At least 13 people were killed and thousands of homes left without power in the worst storm to hit northern Europe in a decade.
Hurricane-force winds and heavy rain brought down trees and powerlines, causing severe travel disruption with trains, flights and ferries being cancelled and major roads closed.
Four people were killed in southern England by trees falling onto a caravan in Kent and a car in north London, and a man and a woman died in a house in west London.
Six people were killed in Germany—four by trees falling onto cars and a fisherman and a sailor were killed in separate incidents at sea, the BBC reported—and in northern France a woman was swept out to sea, and a tree crushed a woman near a canal in Amsterdam.
Hurricane-force winds battered Scandinavia from mid-afternoon, closing the bridge between Sweden and Denmark and paralysing road and rail transport.
Heavy winds also swept across the low-lying Netherlands, halting all trains into Amsterdam.
In France winds topped 100 kph felling trees, whipping up six-metre high waves and cutting power supplies to 75,000 homes...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-29/thirteen-dead-in-europes-worst-storm-in-a-decade/5051248
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***SPOILER ALERT***
The full score is online
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi275.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fjj282%2FSanFranciscoJohn%2FBBMScorecover_zpsed680530.jpg&hash=68c918c09fab9e018f45d0b583d4c9d8e9fd4804) (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/SanFranciscoJohn/media/BBMScorecover_zpsed680530.jpg.html)
http://edition-peters.com/newsdetails.php?articleID=IN00308 (http://edition-peters.com/newsdetails.php?articleID=IN00308)
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This is probably not as major a Current Event as some News items posted here—certainly not as major, for instance, as the recent storm which swept over the southern UK, France, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands, causing the deaths of 13 people, considerable damage to homes, and disruption to transport services—but I thought it was worth mentioning, especially as NSW has just suffered a week of bushfires.
Wild weather batters NSW
Hail storms have caused havoc in parts of the NSW mid north coast at Gloucester and Port Macquarie and in the north west around Armidale.
Large hailstones, some as big as macadamia nuts, have been seen in Port Macquarie.
Strong winds have brought down trees and power lines and blown roofs off homes and businesses.
Emergency service crews say it could take until tomorrow to clear the backlog of calls for help from people whose homes and businesses have been damaged by gale force winds that have lashed Sydney and the central coast.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-29/macadamia-nut-sized-hail-hits-nsw-mid-north-coast/5053496
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On newsworthy issues unrelated to weather, I'm very pleased to post this item here because—at long last—it appears (and I quote) that the White House,
a) has admitted that the covert surveillance of American allies might have gone too far; that it
b) “promises” reforms to its electronic surveillance program; and is now
c) “conducting a review of [its] intelligence programs.”
That's not bad for a start, at least, and I'll look on from the sidelines with great interest to see what happens next...
But I'm particularly pleased (which should be no surprise to anyone) that Edward Snowden# is “out of reach of US attempts to arrest him.”
US spy chiefs face Congress amid spying rift with Europe
When top US intelligence officials testified at a congressional hearing weeks ago, the public uproar was over the National Security Agency collecting the phone and email records of Americans.
But when the NSA director and other spy chiefs appear at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday it will be against a backdrop of angry European allies accusing the United States of spying on their leaders and citizens.
The most prominent target appears to have been German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose mobile phone was allegedly tapped by the NSA.
More than any previous disclosures from material given to journalists by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the reports of spying on close U.S. allies have forced the White House to promise reforms and even acknowledge that America's electronic surveillance may have gone too far.
“We recognize there needs to be additional constraints on how we gather and use intelligence,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate's intelligence committee, joined the ranks of critics on Monday, expressing outrage at U.S. intelligence collection on allies, and pique that her committee was not informed.
“With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of U.S. allies, including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany—let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed,” said Feinstein, who appeared to confirm U.S. spying on Merkel's communications since 2002.
The White House is conducting a review of intelligence programs prompted by disclosures about top secret spying programs to the media by Snowden, who is living in Russia, out of reach of U.S. attempts to arrest him.
Read more here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/10/29/us-spy-chiefs-face-congress-amid-spying-rift-europe
# Perhaps it's now time for me to also post my thoughts on the debacle surrounding the interruption to President Morales' flight to La Paz after the conclusion of GEFC II, and the alleged involvement of France, Spain, Portugal and Italy...
But not, interestingly, Germany.
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Paul, these weather and other catastrophes seem to be increasing, and, IMO, it's an example of how so much that is unnecessary is dragging us down, when handling the natural events is where we should focus.
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Am surprised the NSA is spying on Angela Merkel. What, their porn sites went down ?
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Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.
Sun Tzu
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My take on the spying.
These other nations getting their panties in a bunch, shouldn't be too overly concerned, or "shocked" that the US has spied on their leaders, even though they are our friends. What they should be concerned about, is the fact that they were speid on; and, their counter intelligence assets failed to prevent it from happening. That means that if we can do it; their enemies and potential enemies can also do it...and, probably are doing it. Maybe they can protest against Russia and China, even though they haven't officially caught them because of a whistle blower. I'm sure that once they protest, it will stop the Russians and Chinese right in their tracks. ... Yeah! ... Right!
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Like they're not doing exactly the same thing.
And how dumb are they to be talking important secret stuff on cell phones, for god's sake?
I think behind the reporters' backs everyone is snickering at the big act they're ALL putting on.
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I totally agree, Sherry. They are just as guilty.
It is a case of "he doth protest too much"!
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Too much time has passed since the events surrounding the rerouting of the Bolivian presidential jet in July to warrant further comment from me on a thread devoted to Current Events. I would, however, like to make a final post on the matter and so get it out of my mind once and for all.
At the time I noticed serious inconsistencies and contradictions in news reports about what had occurred once President Evo Morales’ jet (designated FAB-001) had landed at Vienna's Schwechat International Airport, which I was going to discuss, but never mind about that now, nor the alleged involvement of France, Spain, Portugal and Italy in the affair.
As I said some few pages back the entire situation arose because of an off-hand remark made by Morales, one which unintentionally precipitated an international diplomatic incident and a subsequent backlash against the US. I also made a few posts about Snowden being not offically in Russia because was in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo International Airport; but as he’d also had his US passport revoked and was therefore denied access past Russian passport control, he was unable to leave Russia to fly to Cuba (as it was alleged that that was what he’d proposed to do). In other words, unable to leave the airport, he was “marooned” in a non-Russian No Man’s Land.
Snowden arrived from Hong Kong on Aeroflot Flight SU213 and landed at Sheremetyevo Airport on June 23. Although some reports (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2425767#msg2425767) at the time were confused about Snowden’s actual location (Domodedovo or Sheremetyevo?) his lawyer confirmed that he was at Sheremetyevo (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2421162#msg2421162), and had been there when Morales left the country, and was still there when he gave a televised interview from within the transit zone prior to his being granted temporary asylum in Russia.
President Morales arrived in Russia on July 1 to attend the second summit meeting of GECF at the Grand Kremlin Palace, and made a remark to the effect that if it was requested he would “consider and debate” the possibility of granting Bolivian asylum to Snowden. On July 2, after the summit meeting, Morales left Russia for La Paz, and we all know what happened after that...
The subsequent rumour that Snowden was on board FAB-001 was a nonsense, one which escalated to directly involve the US, Bolivia, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy and eventually Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela, NATO, the Vienna Convention and the UN. (After which President Morales changed his mind and said that Snowden was definitely welcome in his country, making the offer as a protest against the U.S. and European nations he accused of temporarily blocking his flight.)
It was all a nonsense because it completely ignored the fact that Snowden was trapped in one airport 27 km northwest from Moscow, and Morales departed from another—Vnukovo International Airport—an airport primarily used by visiting dignitaries and Russian government officials, and 28 km southwest of Moscow. The two airports are 40 kilometers apart as the crow flies, and even further apart by road, between 57 km and 80 km, depending on the route taken:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520October%25202013%2Fmap-moscow-airportsii_zps02fa711d.jpg&hash=12940e7f359be4e9a4a49d4058686973c33e175d)
Finally (and briefly) it would take me far too long to sort out all the allegations about what country did what, when it was done, who told who to do what, whether they were bullied to do it or weren’t told to do anything but did it anyway, what the pilot said as FAB-001 approached Schwechat Airport, what happened after that, and why it happened, and then all the denials that anything was done at all, let alone all the apologies which eventually arose, the outraged claims of totalitarian and piratical behaviour, the humiliation of a stunning violation of national sovereignity, the disrespect, and so on and so on...
And all for what, I wonder?
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Paul, these weather and other catastrophes seem to be increasing, and, IMO, it's an example of how so much that is unnecessary is dragging us down, when handling the natural events is where we should focus.
I agree with that, Tony.
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Geez, we've had weather since... well, since forever. And we (in the US) have kept "official" records for about 200 years. But considering how long weather has affected the Earth, getting excited because storms and temperatures have been different in the last 10 or even 20 years seems way premature to me. Hey, yeah! icebergs and glaciers are melting... didn't that start at the end of the Ice Age? And before that, at the beginning of the Ice Age, the weather changed from what it had been... bet there was a lot of "Oh my, the storms are getting worse and worse and the weather is getting colder. Bet it's all those campfires the Neanderthals are using, blocking out the sun." Al Gore spins a good tale... that's why he started the internet... but adaptation to change is part of living.
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America’s Least Favorite Neighbors: Renters
Most Americans know their neighbors by name, new research finds, and might even invite them over occasionally for tea. That is, unless the neighbor is — gasp — a renter.
Indeed, people are more prejudiced against renters than any other group living on their street, according to a survey of over 3,000 adults released Thursday by research firm Harris Interactive on behalf of Trulia, a real-estate firm. Of those picky neighbors, 33% want people on their street to speak the same language, 16% want their neighbors to have the same family structure and 10% prefer the same race or ethnicity. But 35% (even those who are renters themselves) said it was most important that their neighbors be homeowners. In fact, 51% of homeowners say they prefer to have other homeowners as neighbors.
That may be disheartening news for the large proportion of renters who can’t actually afford to buy a home. Homes in just eight of the 25 largest urban areas are within reach of median-income households, according to data released last week by Interest.com, which tracks consumer credit. “Millions of owner-occupied, single-family homes that went into foreclosure in 2008 became rentals,” says Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia. The home ownership rate now hovers at 65%, the lowest level since 1995, after peaking at over 69% in 2004, according to the Census Bureau.
more
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/america-least-favorite-neighbors-renters-113113757.html
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Geez, we've had weather since... well, since forever. And we (in the US) have kept "official" records for about 200 years. But considering how long weather has affected the Earth, getting excited because storms and temperatures have been different in the last 10 or even 20 years seems way premature to me. Hey, yeah! icebergs and glaciers are melting... didn't that start at the end of the Ice Age? And before that, at the beginning of the Ice Age, the weather changed from what it had been... bet there was a lot of "Oh my, the storms are getting worse and worse and the weather is getting colder. Bet it's all those campfires the Neanderthals are using, blocking out the sun." Al Gore spins a good tale... that's why he started the internet... but adaptation to change is part of living.
All well and good, Sherry, but what I had meant was that we NEED to adapt to the often harsh natural changes, and it is ever more difficult to do that with totally unnecessary political bull crap.
I doubt the Neanderthals or their lesser relatives (us), could have survived the harshness so well, were Michelle Bachmann, the Koch brothers, and Fox news distracting them from the business at hand of survival. That was what I meant.
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Ah, I missed your point entirely.
I agree... everything, as in everything! seems so much worse than ever now that it is reported the absolute first second it occurs and rereported by everyone with a smartphone or facebook page, regardless of facts. Opinions become gospel within a matter of minutes and when was the last time that gospel was actually something good?
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Paul, your noting the discrepancies in the Snowden story are appreciated. That, plus Doodler's noting, on another thread, that the current generation supposes, if it is on Wikipedia, it is biblical truth, reminds me of how often we never challenge generally accepted stories.
Just to toss a few out, for history buffs:
* The history books have James II tossing the Great Seal into the Thames as he fled England. Right. As if he would give up an additional bauble supporting his legitimacy. I think the old Seal is still around.
* History books have his grandson Charles Edward Stuart, finally acknowledged as not the son of a warming-pan baby (a propaganda convenience of that time), but many have him vanishing, as a drunken grumpy alcoholic, his final ending unknown. Wikipedia gives a date of death, and has him buried in St. Peter's Basilica, along with his legitimate wife, but wobbliness as to any heir. Right.
* The standard story of the attempt on Hitler's life still stands. The Princes of Wittelsbach and Wurtenburg, joined in with other royals, nobility, and dissenters, on the plot. Up to 5,000 of their relatives arrested and killed. The Princes sent to the concentration camps they had learned of, and which discovery had motivated much of the plot. The standard story is wrong.
Army intelligence, after the war, found that Hitler was seriously injured, fearful of the popularity of the Wittelsbach prince, and used his total control of state media, to slightly alter and delay much of the true story. Something discovered by a relentless history buff from the U.S. Navy, after the war. And suppressed, as it was entangled with other, more serious secrets.
But, to use a Hillary Clintonism: "What difference does it make?" [Her reference to Benghazi details]. Any of these discrepancies? Maybe nothing to bother with. Or maybe some startling discoveries, eventually, in Canada ;). [The latter, a tweak to a few forum guests :)]
But, at the very least, the stories we are told, are all too often the product of convenience. Sorry for wandering Paul. Into what may seem historical eccentricities. But your post questioning the Snowden story triggered some my usual, and yet does support what we should all have: a healthy skepticism. And, of course, where we lack that, there is always Doodler :D.
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Al Gore spins a good tale... that's why he started the internet.
Really? :o I thought it was so we could all have easier access to porn. ... 8)
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Am surprised the NSA is spying on Angela Merkel. What, their porn sites went down ?
I don’t know about the porn sites, Tony, but the German Chancellor’s phone has been tapped by the NSA since 2002. [i.e. even before she was Chancellor.]
The link I provided above was updated (http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/10/30/obama-may-ban-surveillance-foreign-allied-leaders) on October 30:
Obama may ban surveillance of foreign allied leaders
President Barack Obama is considering whether to ban US spy agencies from eavesdropping on allied leaders, a senior official said Tuesday, following outrage in Europe over National Security Agency snooping.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the step was under consideration, but that no policy decisions had yet been finalized, as Obama awaits results of several already announced reviews into US surveillance practices. The senior official, however, pushed back on a claim by powerful Senate Select Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein that "collection on our allies will not continue," [saying that] the statement was not accurate, though Feinstein's remarks were unspecific enough to leave considerable doubt as to the true intentions of the administration regarding snooping on foreign leaders. The official said that while some changes had been made to US intelligence gathering in the wake of claims that US spies tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone, there had yet been no across-the-board changes, including a decision to halt intelligence sweeps aimed at all foreign allies.
One adjustment Obama does appear to have made is to halt surveillance on Merkel's cellphone.
Reports have said he did not know about the decade-long surveillance of the German chancellor, whom he considers a friend, and stopped it when he found out.
White House officials said Washington will not and is not tapping Merkel's phone -- leaving the clear implication that it had done so in the past.
On Monday Feinstein had strongly denounced US spying on foreign leaders, saying that her committee,
“which is supposed to provide oversight of US intelligence agencies, was not informed of the program.
“Unless the United States is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, I do not believe the United States should be collecting phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers,” she said.
Elsewhere in the SBS article the Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs was highly critical of the US overstepping its bounds, saying that the “espionage on Chancellor Merkel and others [was] not acceptable” and that “eavesdropping on the German administration [could be] a breach of German law.”
Angela Merkel was also reported last week to have branded the snooping as unacceptable between friends.
In the interests of impartiality I'll next post something else of interest from Der Speigel Online on October 28, in which there's an interesting reference to Merkel's phone...
PS I've underlined some statements which refer to Angela Merkel, her phone and what appears to be a reciprocal friendship with President Obama.
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Appearances and Reality: Merkel Balks at EU Privacy Push
Chancellor Merkel has put on a good show of being outraged by American spying.
But, at the same time, she has impeded efforts to strengthen data security.
Does she really want more privacy, or is she more interested in being accepted into the exclusive group of info-sharing countries known as the “Five Eyes” club?
One particular point of clarification was especially important to Chancellor Angela Merkel during the EU summit in Brussels last week.
When she complained about the NSA’s alleged tapping of her mobile phone the German chancellor made clear that her concern was not for herself, but for the "telephones of millions of EU citizens," whose privacy she said was compromised by US spying.
Yet at a working dinner with fellow EU heads of state on Thursday, where the agenda included a proposed law to bolster data protection, Merkel's fighting spirit on behalf of the EU's citizens seemed to have dissipated.
Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/germany-impedes-eu-privacy-efforts-despite-outrage-at-nsa-spying-a-930488.html
The Five Eyes group referred to above is a spying alliance of English-speaking democracies which shares intelligence on a range of global threats, including cyber crime.
It consists of the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“The US boasts the most advanced technical abilities and the biggest budget.
Britain is a leader in traditional spying, thanks in part to its reach into countries that were once part of the British Empire.
Australia has excelled in gathering regional signals and intelligence, providing a window into the growing might of Asia.
Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders can sometimes prove useful spies because they don't come under the same scrutiny as their British and American counterparts.”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/five-eyes-spying-alliance-will-survive-edward-snowden-experts-20130718-hv0xw.html
As I said earlier, I was being impartial. 8)
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Paul, your noting the discrepancies in the Snowden story are appreciated. That, plus Doodler's noting, on another thread, that the current generation supposes, if it is on Wikipedia, it is biblical truth, reminds me of how often we never challenge generally accepted stories. [...]
Thank you, Tony. :)
But it’s not only on Wikipedia that misinformation occurs.
Although he could be excused on the grounds of “dramatic licence,” Shakespeare is also culpable when it comes to propagating incorrect (and biased) versions of the truth, as demonstrated by the discovery in January this year, beneath the City of Leicester Social Services’ car park, of what was confirmed to be the remains of King Richard III.
Shakespeare described him as being deformed, having an enormous hunchback, legs of unequal length and a shrunken, withered arm, so “lame and unfinished that dogs barked at him,” to support his portrait of Richard as a tyrant and a viilainous king who had had his two young nephews murdered in the Tower of London.
While some of this might be attributed to the influence of Tudor propaganda that sought to vilify him (in an age when physical deformity was thought to reflect a deformed mind and evil intent), Richard was instead an enlightened and pious ruler and his nephews, Prince Edward and Prince Richard, the sons of King Edward IV, and proven to be illegitimate, had no claim to the throne upon his death.
His excavated skeletal remains indicate that Richard had been fit and strong, his legs were of equal length and he didn’t have a withered arm.
At worst, his right shoulder was higher than his left, and he suffered from severe scoliosis, resulting in a curvature of the spine (rather than having a hunchback).
But the popular image of Richard III comes to us from Shakespeare, largely via Laurence Olivier’s portrayal in 1955, although modern depictions, such as that of Ian McKellen in 1995, have dispensed with such physical characteristics.
This could very well bring me to other examples of liberties being taken with a source for dramatic purposes. :D
I’d also like to think about the implications of your “Hillary Clintonism” (what difference do discrepancies make?).
Food for thought, indeed, so had better continue in a separate post.
Some sources:
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/archaeology/25august.html
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/media-centre/richard-iii/features/discovery-could-potentially-separate-the-man-from-the-myth-say-university-of-leicester-experts
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/history/myths.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/william-shakespeare/9542146/Shakespeares-histories-are-no-more-than-legends-but-they-live.html
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I, for one, am thoroughly fed up with all the crap about the Obamacare website. So it was screwed up. Big deal. It was the fault of the designers AND the people who refused to give them ALL the info during the design/coding process whether it was because they didn't have it or were afraid it would be leaked. A computer program the size of the health care one is bound to have glitches, serious problems, even if everything goes as planned. So what's the big deal if some of the sign up deadlines have to be changed? Are they written in stone?
And I don't see the problem with some people... even millions... having their policies cancelled because they don't offer the MINIMUM required by the new law. Yeah, BO said "you can keep your old policy" when he should have said "you can keep your old policy IF it's up to snuff," but it's not like insurance companies didn't know they didn't measure up. Of course, they couldn't be expected to speak up and tell their customers that and lose money if/when customers shopped around for other companies. But let's get real, customers knew they had el cheapo policies and didn't want to pay out any more. It's the same deal as the housing crap where people bought stuff they couldn'tafford because the financiers gave them the paperwork to sign. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. The other guy is always the one at fault.
In a couple months, the website will be working properly and things will be going about as well as any big business government can hope for. Just rein in your horses to a walk until we get over the rough ground.
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Geez, we've had weather since... well, since forever. And we (in the US) have kept "official" records for about 200 years. But considering how long weather has affected the Earth, getting excited because storms and temperatures have been different in the last 10 or even 20 years seems way premature to me. Hey, yeah! icebergs and glaciers are melting... didn't that start at the end of the Ice Age? And before that, at the beginning of the Ice Age, the weather changed from what it had been... bet there was a lot of "Oh my, the storms are getting worse and worse and the weather is getting colder. Bet it's all those campfires the Neanderthals are using, blocking out the sun." Al Gore spins a good tale... that's why he started the internet... but adaptation to change is part of living.
With regard to Neanderthal campfires, if you look at the figures for carbon emissions over the last 1000 years, (which I did with an IT student once), you can see quite clearly that the only time emissions have gone down was at the time of the Black Death when the population was cut by a third.
I know that isn't the Neanderthal period, but it does indicate to me that if there are too many of us nature will do what it has to do to restore the balance, and that in its turn will lessen the carbon emissions.
Just saying.
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Your point?
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That we are creating enormous amounts of carbon emissions and that if the climate goes to hell in a handcart because of us, and many of us cease to exist when nature decides to restore the balance then we have only ourselves to blame.
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Paul, your reference to the controversy on Richard III was excellent. Strangely enough, that was where I got my start on learning to consider the source and their agendas, with regard to anything.
As an undergrad, we were assigned "To Prove a Villain", which included dozens of different versions, about Richard III. What was the point? Well, the instructor said it was especially of value, owing to the long passage of time, which would prevent us from having prejudices. A good subject for dissecting propaganda.
And studying these historical mysteries have every relevance in assessing the firestorm of information, and disinformaton, we are hit with every day.
More recent mysteries, of course, are subject to being considered too exotic, and so, we accept, all too often, whatever the party lines are. And that's how we get into wars, economic collapses, and the danger of civil disorder. We don't question.
*****
Anyway, since my internet access may well be challenged this week-end, I'd like to do a double, and say something about the carbon emissions/weather change issue. I think the worst is that change, artificially induced, will not be gradual. We now know, from Chaos theory, that once something hits a tipping point, projections no longer apply. It would not be a curve line.
Also, as usual, we totally ignore the natural solutions. Trees soak up carbon. In fact, President George H.W. Bush noted that massive resoration of the forests in the Great Plains states (nibbled away by the herds of Buffalo), would go far to reversing the problem. And scientists agreed. But, the chances of that being done are as little as reversing the unhealthy food trends that are exploding all the health problems.
What really angers me is that all these Darwinially-challenged people, are bothering the prospects of everyone else's survival.
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That we are creating enormous amounts of carbon emissions and that if the climate goes to hell in a handcart because of us, and many of us cease to exist when nature decides to restore the balance then we have only ourselves to blame.
Correct. But we seem to think everything is here for us and that it all revolves around our need to survive as a species. Unfortunately, we are just another life form and no more important to Mother Nature than the ebola virus. The earth was here before us and will be here after. We are but passing through.
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Anyway, since my internet access may well be challenged this week-end, I'd like to do a double, and say something about the carbon emissions/weather change issue. I think the worst is that change, artificially induced, will not be gradual. We now know, from Chaos theory, that once something hits a tipping point, projections no longer apply. It would not be a curve line.
Also, as usual, we totally ignore the natural solutions. Trees soak up carbon. In fact, President George H.W. Bush noted that massive resoration of the forests in the Great Plains states (nibbled away by the herds of Buffalo), would go far to reversing the problem. And scientists agreed. But, the chances of that being done are as little as reversing the unhealthy food trends that are exploding all the health problems.
What really angers me is that all these Darwinially-challenged people, are bothering the prospects of everyone else's survival.
See my post above. We matter not in the great scheme of things.
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And no one has anything to say about the NSA's incursion into the loud via Google and Yahoo, along with our British friends?
More big whoop! about nothing, but since we are not alone in being "caught," it will blow over quickly.
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I, for one, am thoroughly fed up with all the crap about the Obamacare website.
It will be the downfall of Obama and perhaps the Dems in next year's election. People are mad and starting to hate Obama more. He's at the lowest in the pulls right now, but he is still better than Republicans. They are at their lowest in years.
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See my post above. We matter not in the great scheme of things.
Here, you may speaketh only for thine self. It may be that I do not, myself, matter in multitudinous schemes of things, great, or otherwise. But, for some odd reason, I do feel each of us matters, far more than random hydrogen atoms floating about, deciding if they will become galaxies, or some strangely peaceful, future earth, devoid of sentient life. And Fox news. Ok. That last part was redundant :).
Then, too, according to quantum physics, nothing exists unless there is an observer (the collapse of the wave function). There may be a great scheme of things, Sherry, but it don't mean jack except for people. What's going on, I cannot claim to know. But to move from that to supposing we matter not, is, for me, too great a leap.
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I disagree. I don't think people are nearly as mad as the press would have us believe. Not about Obamacare, not about the so called spying, not about the drones. It's easy to think everyone is up in arms (thank god for the second amendment!) when every other story on yahoo and the tv news is about how angry everyone is. And of course, all the politicians, Dem as well as Rep, are trying to get their say in, thinking their constituents are actually upset. I don't know ANYONE who cares a wit about any of this crap.
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It will be the downfall of Obama and perhaps the Dems in next year's election. People are mad and starting to hate Obama more. He's at the lowest in the pulls right now, but he is still better than Republicans. They are at their lowest in years.
Don't give up on ObamaCare yet, Tom. These things are always a mess at first.
As for the low poll ratings for the Prez from this, I noticed the Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia, had his lead cut in half, the day after Obama campaigned for him. So, yes, people are angry and confused, now.
But, by the time of the 2014 election, am fairly confident it will be an enormous plus.
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Don't give up on ObamaCare yet, Tom. These things are always a mess at first.
As for the low poll ratings for the Prez from this, I noticed the Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia, had his lead cut in half, the day after Obama campaigned for him. So, yes, people are angry and confused, now.
But, by the time of the 2014 election, am fairly confident it will be an enormous plus.
I hope you are right.
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It will be the downfall of Obama and perhaps the Dems in next year's election. People are mad and starting to hate Obama more. He's at the lowest in the pulls right now, but he is still better than Republicans. They are at their lowest in years.
I bet not, Tom. By next year this website stuff will be smoothed out and most people will have some equivalent or better form of health care than they have today, and they will be on to something else.
The NSA stuff, IMO, is more serious but the Republicans can't complain too much about that -- because whoever gets elected will want to continue surveillance and drones.
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Here, you may speaketh only for thine self. It may be that I do not, myself, matter in multitudinous schemes of things, great, or otherwise. But, for some odd reason, I do feel each of us matters, far more than random hydrogen atoms floating about, deciding if they will become galaxies, or some strangely peaceful, future earth, devoid of sentient life. And Fox news. Ok. That last part was redundant :).
Then, too, according to quantum physics, nothing exists unless there is an observer (the collapse of the wave function). There may be a great scheme of things, Sherry, but it don't mean jack except for people. What's going on, I cannot claim to know. But to move from that to supposing we matter not, is, for me, too great a leap.
Or, at least, if we can avoid the end of our species, even if we still end up our same flawed bunch, it will be more interesting and hurt less.
Kurt Vonnegut did a good job in Galapagos imagining the future sea creatures our few survivors might become if we destroy the human race, no language and so forth. Cleaner and less dangerous, but not nearly as interesting.
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At least you don't have a major who is a crack head!
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/10/31/mayor_rob_ford_is_finished.html
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Here, you may speaketh only for thine self. It may be that I do not, myself, matter in multitudinous schemes of things, great, or otherwise. But, for some odd reason, I do feel each of us matters, far more than random hydrogen atoms floating about, deciding if they will become galaxies, or some strangely peaceful, future earth, devoid of sentient life. And Fox news. Ok. That last part was redundant :).
Then, too, according to quantum physics, nothing exists unless there is an observer (the collapse of the wave function). There may be a great scheme of things, Sherry, but it don't mean jack except for people. What's going on, I cannot claim to know. But to move from that to supposing we matter not, is, for me, too great a leap.
My, but humans think highly of themselves, don't they. which really changes nothing. We are the same made up of the same dna as the rest of the planet and of no more importance. And honestly, WE are the only ones who think we're the best of all. I have no doubt that not a single dolphin or amoeba or fir or rock has ever wished it could be one of us.
Or, at least, if we can avoid the end of our species, even if we still end up our same flawed bunch, it will be more interesting and hurt less.
Kurt Vonnegut did a good job in Galapagos imagining the future sea creatures our few survivors might become if we destroy the human race, no language and so forth. Cleaner and less dangerous, but not nearly as interesting.
Interesting to whom? When we're gone, who's to care?
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Correct. But we seem to think everything is here for us and that it all revolves around our need to survive as a species. Unfortunately, we are just another life form and no more important to Mother Nature than the ebola virus. The earth was here before us and will be here after. We are but passing through.
I agree with you totally, Sherry.
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Thank you, Tony. :)
But it’s not only on Wikipedia that misinformation occurs.
Although he could be excused on the grounds of “dramatic licence,” Shakespeare is also culpable when it comes to propagating incorrect (and biased) versions of the truth, as demonstrated by the discovery in January this year, beneath the City of Leicester Social Services’ car park, of what was confirmed to be the remains of King Richard III.
Shakespeare described him as being deformed, having an enormous hunchback, legs of unequal length and a shrunken, withered arm, so “lame and unfinished that dogs barked at him,” to support his portrait of Richard as a tyrant and a viilainous king who had had his two young nephews murdered in the Tower of London.
While some of this might be attributed to the influence of Tudor propaganda that sought to vilify him (in an age when physical deformity was thought to reflect a deformed mind and evil intent), Richard was instead an enlightened and pious ruler and his nephews, Prince Edward and Prince Richard, the sons of King Edward IV, and proven to be illegitimate, had no claim to the throne upon his death.
His excavated skeletal remains indicate that Richard had been fit and strong, his legs were of equal length and he didn’t have a withered arm.
At worst, his right shoulder was higher than his left, and he suffered from severe scoliosis, resulting in a curvature of the spine (rather than having a hunchback).
But the popular image of Richard III comes to us from Shakespeare, largely via Laurence Olivier’s portrayal in 1955, although modern depictions, such as that of Ian McKellen in 1995, have dispensed with such physical characteristics.
This could very well bring me to other examples of liberties being taken with a source for dramatic purposes. :D
I’d also like to think about the implications of your “Hillary Clintonism” (what difference do discrepancies make?).
Food for thought, indeed, so had better continue in a separate post.
Some sources:
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/archaeology/25august.html
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/media-centre/richard-iii/features/discovery-could-potentially-separate-the-man-from-the-myth-say-university-of-leicester-experts
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/history/myths.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/william-shakespeare/9542146/Shakespeares-histories-are-no-more-than-legends-but-they-live.html
So nice to see your defence of poor maligned Richard III, Paul.
I have been reading a great deal about "Good King Richard" in recent months since the discovery of his skeleton in Leicester.
I find it very hard to watch even a clip of Laurence Olivier in the Shakespeare play now it has all been proved to be such nonsense,
Back to the historians logic, "Who said it," "Why," "What's in it for them?"
It is a good rule to apply to any information really.
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That we are creating enormous amounts of carbon emissions and that if the climate goes to hell in a handcart because of us, and many of us cease to exist when nature decides to restore the balance then we have only ourselves to blame.
I suspect everyone who read your original post understood that in the first place. Getting irrational when it comes to taking responsibility doesn't apply only to individuals.
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It will be the downfall of Obama and perhaps the Dems in next year's election.
Seems inevitable, in view of the prediction of President Romney's stunning victory from the same source.
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Seems inevitable, in view of the prediction of President Romney's stunning victory from the same source.
What source was that?
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That we are creating enormous amounts of carbon emissions and that if the climate goes to hell in a handcart because of us, and many of us cease to exist when nature decides to restore the balance then we have only ourselves to blame.
I suspect everyone who read your original post understood that in the first place.
But not, apparently, someone who asked Jess what her point was, hence her answer...
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Unfortunately Paul you are quite right. :-*
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Still doing catch-up here... :)
But, to use a Hillary Clintonism: "What difference does it make?" [Her reference to Benghazi details]. Any of these discrepancies? Maybe nothing to bother with. Or maybe some startling discoveries [...]
As Secretary of State at the time it would have been far better had she not said “What difference at this point does it make?” especially as she followed it with “It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again,” as if what she’d said previously (“was it a protest or guys out for a walk one night”) didn’t count toward “figuring it out.”
The details are important, and whether the attack on the American Consulate was a pre-planned or a random, spontaneous attack needed to be addressed, not dismissed; and certainly so if—as she said—the aim was “to prevent it from ever happening again.”
I’ll use the Snowden/Morales issue to rebut her comment by pointing out that it was because the “details” were overlooked that an international diplomatic incident occurred which could have been easily avoided had they been taken into account.
I found it astounding that numerous online news sites had, without fail, unquestioningly accepted—as fact—the rumour that Edward Snowden had been actually smuggled onto President Morales’ plane on July 2.
At no stage had anyone raised the likelihood of it being unfounded until after the plane had landed at Schwechat Airport later the same day, and it was discovered that Snowden was not, after all, actually on board.
But even then it wasn’t until two days later! (on July 4, and one day after Morales had returned to Bolivia) that the issue of Moscow’s airports was even raised at all, and by AFP (Agence France-Presse) in a report (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news./130704/russia-condemns-france-spain-portugal-blocking-moraless-flight-0) from Moscow:
“Security analysts in Moscow said Morales could not have taken Snowden even if he had wanted to, because the US fugitive was staying in Sheremetyevo international airport and is being denied access past Russian passport control [and] Morales's plane left from another international airport on the other end of Moscow called Vnukovo...” (My emphases added.)
Had any self-respecting journalist taken the trouble to investigate the rumour when it was first aired,
and had France, Spain, Italy and Portugal been inclined to similarly question the rumour’s authenticity,
the Bolivian Presidential jet wouldn’t have been diverted from its original flight plan—and an international diplomatic incident and a backlash against the US would not have occurred. ::)
So, to Hillary Clinton I’d say, “Ma’am, ignoring details, no matter at what point, does indeed make a difference.”
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Unfortunately Paul you are quite right. :-*
Thanks, Jess, and I apologise for stepping in as I did.
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But, at the very least, the stories we are told, are all too often the product of convenience.
At the very least, perhaps.
Sorry for wandering Paul. Into what may seem historical eccentricities.
Your wandering was fine with me, Tony.
But your post questioning the Snowden story triggered some my usual, and yet does support what we should all have: a healthy skepticism. And, of course, where we lack that, there is always Doodler :D.
A healthy skepticism is indeed a good thing, Tony, as long as it’s actually healthy, and not a spouting of bile because someone personally doesn’t like something.
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Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.
Sun Tzu
I was very intrigued by the use of this aphorism in connection with a discussion about the friendship of Angela Merkel and Barack Obama, a friendship which each had (apparently) freely acknowledged.
Aphorisms are prone not only to misapplication, but also to misinterpretation, and this one appears to be a particularly ambiguous choice.
I would have thought that keeping one’s friends close would exclude snooping on them without their knowledge, so perhaps what is meant is that America considers Germany to be an enemy which it should “keep closer” than a friend.
Then there’s Sun Tzu’s second sentence to consider.
While the US hasn’t publicly announced that Germany is its enemy, it’s done so, both frequently and loudly, regarding terrorism.
This seems to be a more apt interpretation of the aphorism, and certainly so as the US has also explained that the covert surveillance undertaken by the NSA is to uncover equally covert terrorist plots designed to undermine if not destroy America.
In other words, in order to know its enemy (terrorism), the US must become its enemy.
i.e. The US has itself become a terrorist.
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Like they're [i.e. the “nations getting their panties in a bunch” referred to by brokebacktom] not doing exactly the same thing.
Maybe they are, maybe they’re not, but if they are it’s certainly not to the same extent as the US, or with anything like the same level of sophistication.
In Germany (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205-3.html) alone, for instance,
“high-level government officials admit America’s technical capabilities are in many ways superior to what exists in Germany.
At its Domestic Intelligence Agency, for example, not even every employee has a computer with an Internet connection.”
Although I’ve yet to hear what’s happening with France’s "panties," 70 million phone calls per month were (allegedly) spied upon in France by the NSA.
But the real issue, as I see it, appears to be not whether other nations are doing what the US is doing, but that NSA agents in 80 locations world-wide [19 of which are in Europe—cities such as Paris, Madrid, Rome, Prague and Geneva—including two in Germany itself, in Berlin and Frankfurt] are involved in covert global surveillance, not only of foreign nationals in other countries (as well as US citizens in other countries) but also of government administration personnel of "purported allies."
So I think it's a bit rich to say that these "other nations" are "doing exactly the same thing," frankly.
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And how dumb are they to be talking important secret stuff on cell phones, for god's sake?
As far as Germany is concerned, Angela Merkel, according to Der Spiegel (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205.html), uses her mobile phone mainly “to communicate with party members, ministers and confidants, often by text messages” and switches to a secure landline for “very delicate conversations.”
I don’t know what “other nations” might be doing and—unless you have a reliable source of information about their actions—neither do you.
I think behind the reporters' backs everyone is snickering at the big act they're ALL putting on.
You might very well think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment, to quote Francis Urquhart...
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I totally agree, Sherry. They are just as guilty.
Perhaps they are guilty, Linda—but surely not as guilty.
It is a case of "he doth protest too much"!
If they are guilty, and they then find that they've been spied upon—without their knowledge—what would you expect them to do?
Protest slightly? :D
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Geez, we've had weather since... well, since forever. And we (in the US) have kept "official" records for about 200 years. But considering how long weather has affected the Earth, getting excited because storms and temperatures have been different in the last 10 or even 20 years seems way premature to me. Hey, yeah! icebergs and glaciers are melting... didn't that start at the end of the Ice Age? And before that, at the beginning of the Ice Age, the weather changed from what it had been... bet there was a lot of "Oh my, the storms are getting worse and worse and the weather is getting colder. Bet it's all those campfires the Neanderthals are using, blocking out the sun." Al Gore spins a good tale... that's why he started the internet... but adaptation to change is part of living.
Good tales are the best kind of tales. :)
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With regard to Neanderthal campfires, if you look at the figures for carbon emissions over the last 1000 years, (which I did with an IT student once), you can see quite clearly that the only time emissions have gone down was at the time of the Black Death when the population was cut by a third.
I know that isn't the Neanderthal period, but it does indicate to me that if there are too many of us nature will do what it has to do to restore the balance, and that in its turn will lessen the carbon emissions.
Just saying.
Your “Just saying” is far more than that, Jess. :)
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Paul, your reference to the controversy on Richard III was excellent.
Thank you, Tony. :)
Strangely enough, that was where I got my start on learning to consider the source and their agendas, with regard to anything.
As an undergrad, we were assigned "To Prove a Villain", which included dozens of different versions, about Richard III. What was the point? Well, the instructor said it was especially of value, owing to the long passage of time, which would prevent us from having prejudices. A good subject for dissecting propaganda.
Your instructor sounds like someone with his head screwed on the right way.
I'm just guessing he was a male, here.
If I'd said "someone with her head screwed on the right way," who knows what would happen. :D
Dangerous times, dangerous times...
And studying these historical mysteries have every relevance in assessing the firestorm of information, and disinformaton, we are hit with every day.
More recent mysteries, of course, are subject to being considered too exotic, and so, we accept, all too often, whatever the party lines are.
I agree with your first sentence, but am a little unsure what the second means...especially "party lines."
Is it a coded reference?
And that's how we get into wars, economic collapses, and the danger of civil disorder. We don't question.
I'd certainly agree with the last sentence.
It takes someone with good bones and a stout heart to question "canons." ;)
Catch-up finished, at last—I hope. ;D
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I agree with your first sentence, but am a little unsure what the second means...especially "party lines."
Is it a coded reference?
No coded reference, Paul. It was a disorganized post. There was a tweaking to some of the guests that read, here, but never post, but that's a goofy of no interest, other than mentioning old historical misinformation. It wasn't in code :D. Probably shouldn't have done it.
Also, no party lines. I wasn't even being critical of Mrs. Clinton; just borrowing the phrase she used.
Am glad to see how strongly you, yourself, question news reports. That was good to read.
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WTF ? The Siberian Times is reporting an American/British surveillance plane stranded in Siberia. And I thought, oh, no, not another incident.
But the Times mentioned something called the Open Skies Treaty, something I had never heard of before. Going To Wikipedia, there it is. In 2002, 34 countries opened up their air space for surveillance from other countries.
So, Sarah Palin not only can see Russia from her back yard, but any of us can look upwards and see Russians legally spying on us? And Germans, Lithuanians, and the occasional Aussies ? Add this to the NSA snooping and, it seems to me, it's all gone whack-bat.
But, on the other hand, it is interesting to get expanded news coverage. I highly recommend adding the Times, to anyone's Facebook likes. They don't overwhelm your news feed, and the photos are extremely creative and interesting. And they aren't government propaganda in English. They seem to have every freedom. Outside of FB, it would be The SiberianTimes.com. Also, I especially recommend this site for those who appreciate artistic photography.
The stranded snoopers are getting hot meals and beds, until the plane is fixed. And, given the party-hardy ways of the Siberians, possibly having a dalliance or two :).
I wonder if some of our provincials would extend the same courtesy to any random foreigners landing out in the corn fields or peanut farms? Of course, they might drop in to the East Village, and, there, all bets are off :D.
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more thoughts on the spying:
How stupid do these European rulers really think the rest of the world are? That we won't notice their blinding, multi-layered hypocrisy over this issue? Specifically, do they really think we're unaware that they themselves routinely bug each other (and the rest of the world), and thus can't be surprised that America does the same to them?
Or what about their pre-emptive rejection of the whistleblower, Edward Snowden's asylum application, even though it was he who had sacrificed everything to reveal the staggering scale of these activities by his government? Or their deliberate humiliation of President Evo Morales, whom they suspected of sheltering Snowden, at the behest of the same US government they now pretend to be furious with?
Still, I would be willing to ignore the insincerity of their outrage if they would immediately offer Snowden his human right to asylum (which would end his understandable angst over his uncertain future in Russia), and issue an unreserved apology to President Morales for his shameful mistreatment.
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ORRRR he could stand up for his principles and come back to the US and state his case before a jury of his peers in a court of law.
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If they are guilty, and they then find that they've been spied upon—without their knowledge—what would you expect them to do?
Protest slightly? :D
I was not referring to the amount of protest, Paul, but to "trying to say that if someone puts too much energy into saying something is true, it almost makes you believe that they are lying."
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I was not referring to the amount of protest, Paul, but to "trying to say that if someone puts too much energy into saying something is true, it almost makes you believe that they are lying."
It crosses my mind that in addition to any legitimate concerns, those European leaders who are protesting so much have to play to their own constituencies, too. I mean, what was Angela Merkel supposed to do? Meekly tell the Germans that she didn't care? Of course they all have to protest.
Meanwhile, we are hearing that us U.S. voters are angry at the President and the Democrats because of the fiasco of the Affordable Care Act roll-out. Not so long ago we heard that us voters are angry at the Republicans in Congress for causing the government shut-down.
The President is in his last term anyway, and I wouldn't count out the Democratic Party because of the roll-out problems. This isn't going to deliver the government into the hands of the Tea Party Republicans.
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I think there is some open space between what we know and what they try to make us believe....
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I think there is some open space between what we know and what they try to make us believe....
Boy, howdy!
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The gap is rapidly closing in the Virginia governor's race, at least according to some polls. If the Democrat loses, I believe it's because Obama began campaigning for him, at a time when the Prez has dropped way low in approval ratings.
A lot of pols are looking to the outcome, to see what the trend is for 2014. The Dems had a 12 point lead. It may have vanished.
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For almost 100 years, VA's governors were Democrats, but since 1970 they seem to have alternated with Republicans with one party being in office 2-3 terms followed by the other for 2-3 terms. Republican McDonnell has only been in office since the last election. He was preceded by Democrats Kaine and Warner for one term each and before that there was 8 years of GOP, then 12 years of Dems, then 12 of Reps. Having a Republican win this time would fit the pattern.
Tennessee had Democrat governors for 50 years, then, starting in 1971, it has alternated with Republican governors.
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So nice to see your defence of poor maligned Richard III, Paul.
I have been reading a great deal about "Good King Richard" in recent months since the discovery of his skeleton in Leicester.
I find it very hard to watch even a clip of Laurence Olivier in the Shakespeare play now it has all been proved to be such nonsense
It’s not poor Larry’s fault that his Richard was a deformed villain, Jess.
It was the screenwriter’s fault for relying on an unreliable source. :D
And even McKellen’s portrayal (albeit minus hunchback, withered arm and limp—mere physical details, after all) was still William’s version of the character.
Back to the historians logic, "Who said it," "Why," "What's in it for them?"
It is a good rule to apply to any information really.
And a very good rule, too—one especially applicable where historical figures are concerned.
When (or if) a film is ever made about Edward Snowden, for instance, I wonder how the script will deal with the issue of his “Escape from Russia” on a Bolivian presidential jet.
I suspect, though, that it’d have to be an independent film.
If Hollywood-financed, where the $ rules, who knows how it might turn out?
The depiction of fictional characters, however, is another matter, and “dependent” (of course) upon what an author might include in the text.
For instance, Austen, perhaps wisely, restricted her physical description of Elizabeth Bennet to only a few hints (she was “pretty”—but less so than her sister, Jane—and had “dark sparkling eyes”) which enabled her to be portrayed onscreen by actresses such as Greer Garson, Elizabeth Garvie, Jennifer Ehle and Keira Knightley on film, and by numerous others on television.
Do you see where I’m going with this? ;) :D
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I thought I’d comment on the climate change issue which was discussed recently in a number of posts (and credit goes to Tony (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2441791#msg2441791) for its introduction).
In summary, the points raised appear to be (but I could be wrong) that:
• less important issues are deflecting attention away from global ones;
• it’s our own fault if our species is destroyed;
• we’re basically no more important than a virus, so if we disappear it won’t matter in the scheme of things;
• it’s cyclical and has happened before, so it’s Nature’s way of healing the planet/restoring its balance; and
• we’re unable, as individuals to do anything about it, so why not just accept it.
I feel that just sitting on our collective backsides is defeatist, and while we individually might not have any control over the direction in which the world appears to be heading it’s at least possible to discuss the issue here with some sense of the impact global warming will have upon the planet, rather than to imply, for one reason or another, that’s it’s really not important.
I wonder whether those, both here and elsewhere, who think that it really doesn’t matter whether human beings are made extinct have informed their children, and their children’s children, if any, not only that human life isn’t important in “the scheme of things,” but also that they (and the rest of humanity) are only as important as some random virus.
I also wonder, had they done so, how their children (and their grandchildren) reacted to their parents’ (and their grandparents’) news.
Of course, if someone is childless, the situation might be, “So what, I’m going to die before the human race is made extinct anyway.”
Which is fair enough, I suppose... But such people (presumably) would have siblings, and have nephews, nieces, and so on, down the generations.
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Being aware that long posts aren’t exactly the preferred posting method here I include a link (http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2013/10/01/7-things-know-about-new-un-climate-change-report) to the most recent report (Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, released in an unedited form on Monday, 30 September) of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the fifth since the IPCC's creation in 1988 on the science of climate change. It contains details of the seven points listed below.
These reports are published every five to seven years, and are “the work of several hundred scientists from around the world who summarize the current understanding of all aspects of climate change research. Thousands of other scientists review the summary, after which the IPCC publishes a comprehensive report, which synthesize findings from thousands of research studies. Almost 200 countries are involved in the process. The IPCC also publishes reports that provide potential options for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The creators of the fourth IPCC report collectively were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.”
7 things to know about the new UN climate change report:
There are seven key findings on the state of the science of climate change:
1. It is virtually certain that the planet has warmed since the mid-20th century.
2. Scientists are more confident than ever that humans are responsible.
3. Further warming is imminent, and short-term records do not reflect long-term climate trends.
4. The surface could warm anywhere from 2.7°F to 7.2°F by 2100, relative to pre-1900 conditions.
5. The melting pace of land ice is accelerating in the Arctic and Antarctica, and sea levels could rise by more than 3 feet by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are unchecked.
6. The IPCC's estimates of temperature and sea level rise are conservative.
7. Weather extremes are expected to change from human influence.
The report is over 2000 pages long and cites 9200 scientific publications.
The full, edited report will be released online in January 2014 and published by Cambridge University Press later that year.
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I thought I’d comment on the climate change issue which was discussed recently in a number of posts (and credit goes to Tony (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2441791#msg2441791) for its introduction).
In summary, the points raised appear to be (but I could be wrong) that:
• less important issues are deflecting attention away from global ones;
• it’s our own fault if our species is destroyed;
• we’re basically no more important than a virus, so if we disappear it won’t matter in the scheme of things;
• it’s cyclical and has happened before, so it’s Nature’s way of healing the planet/restoring its balance; and
• we’re unable, as individuals to do anything about it, so why not just accept it.
I feel that just sitting on our collective backsides is defeatist, and while we individually might not have any control over the direction in which the world appears to be heading it’s at least possible to discuss the issue here with some sense of the impact global warming will have upon the planet, rather than to imply, for one reason or another, that’s it’s really not important.
I wonder whether those, both here and elsewhere, who think that it really doesn’t matter whether human beings are made extinct have informed their children, and their children’s children, if any, not only that human life isn’t important in “the scheme of things,” but also that they (and the rest of humanity) are only as important as some random virus.
I also wonder, had they done so, how their children (and their grandchildren) reacted to their parents’ (and their grandparents’) news.
Of course, if someone is childless, the situation might be, “So what, I’m going to die before the human race is made extinct anyway.”
Which is fair enough, I suppose... But such people (presumably) would have siblings, and have nephews, nieces, and so on, down the generations.
I agree with you, Paul.
In the great scheme of things, I am not important, human life is not important, the planet will adjust itself and get on without me, but, I am important to me, my children and grandchildren are important to me, my friends and family are important to me, the culture associated with human civilization, our history, our writers, William Shakespeare, (come on William, don't be pressured by those Tudor propagandists :D), and Jane Austen are important to me, our arts and everything about our lives here and now, are important to me.
We must not let our actions destroy all of this because of stupidity and greed, something we are in danger of doing.
We are clever enough to avoid it, but do we have the will?
Nature is far more powerful than we are, we should be afraid for our own sakes of tweaking her tail.
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How egotistical to think WE are what must last as if we've done something besides destroy the Earth's air and water.
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What post are you referring to? I'm not sure who you think is being egotistical.
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We. Humans.
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It seems to me the question of our place in the "grand scheme of things" is going to go wrong, because there are different paradigms in play, that probably intersect, somewhere.
The Ozymandian absurdity is attractive to those who see us as of no consequence (Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair, and the sand stretched empty all around).
Then there's the Judeo-Christian insistence on creation being the playing field created by God for us. And Jesus emphasizing extreme importance to each person (the Father knows the very number of the hairs on your head). And yet, "Dust thou art...etc." touching upon the apparent opposite.
The paradigms relevant to this question each support radically different points of view, but, IMO, they each have some plausibility and are only fragments of a larger truth which, we just don't happen to be able to know or prove.
I just, myself, think it's safer, from either a metaphysical/faith direction, or from secular humanism, to not collapse into a nothing matters syndrome. The latter is attractive, when convenient, or in despair, but could undermine the human journey.
What that journey is, or for what purpose (if any), I wouldn't claim to know from certainty. I just think something is going on, and, saying this as a metaphor, rather than as choosing a paradigm, it is better to be on the side of the angels.
Finally, viruses, rocks, and sub-atomic particles do not love, or grieve. We ARE different. But where that leads to, is an entirely different question.
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Thank you, Tony. I like what you say.
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And you know "viruses, rocks, and sub-atomic particles do not love, or grieve" because...?
I suppose it is not possible that there is anything we humans do not know, nothing new to be learned, no replacement dominant species waiting in the wings to take over after the current one has wiped itself out.
Fear not, social media will live on whether humans are here to appreciate it or not until the world explodes into nothingness.
If I were The Creator, I'd be rethinking this free will business.
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Thank you, Tony. I like what you say.
Thanks, Sara, for the encouragement !
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......And you know "viruses, rocks, and sub-atomic particles do not love, or grieve" because...?
Probably because I didn't get the memo from the Nihilistic Ashram of Bangkor. I'll check my spam folder, but, they never liked me anyway, so, maybe dropped me off the list.
Curiously, Sherry, there was a Jesuit scientist in the 1950's, Pierre Teilhardt de Chardin (sp?), who, as a propounder of evolution, was ok with the Vatican. But he then moved into philosphy, and was exploring the strangeness of humanity, composed of material knick-knacks, having identity and consciousness. Under the dubious watchfulness of the Church, he crossed the line into proposing that God was entering ALL of the material world, gradually. He had the cocktail party elite wild for him.
Anyway, the mind boggles. Candle-light vigils and requiem masses for bugs? People for the Ethical Treatment of Neutrinos? Somebody hep me, please :P......
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Well, the earth used to be flat.
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Well, the earth used to be flat.
Resting on the back of a giant turtle.
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Fritz has a turtle. I wonder if that's the one resolving the paradigms? Or just innocently munching on canteloupe :).
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I was not referring to the amount of protest, Paul, but to "trying to say that if someone puts too much energy into saying something is true, it almost makes you believe that they are lying."
When Gertrude says to Hamlet, about the Player Queen, that “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” she’s saying that the actress sounds insincere because she’s overdoing it (about not remarrying after the death of her husband, the Player King), that her vows are too elaborate, too insistent, to be taken seriously.
The parallel is that Gertrude has married Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, after he’d killed her husband, Hamlet’s father.
She could also be cynically implying that such vows are silly in the first place, and is thus indirectly defending her own remarriage.
Had the Player Queen been less insistent about promising to not remarry she would have sounded more sincere, which was the point I was making before:
Whether the unspecified European nations to whom you were referring would have (in your opinion) sounded more sincere had their reactions to being spied upon without their knowledge been less insistent.
I would have thought that a muted response would have suggested that they were indeed guilty.
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It crosses my mind that in addition to any legitimate concerns, those European leaders who are protesting so much have to play to their own constituencies, too. I mean, what was Angela Merkel supposed to do? Meekly tell the Germans that she didn't care? Of course they all have to protest.
I agree. It does seem to be a case of being found guilty whether they objected or whether they didn’t.
The real issue is that the US, with all its sophisticated surveillance technology, bungled, and was caught out.
It would have been ironic had the situation been reversed, and it was discovered that President Obama’s phone was being tapped—without his knowledge—by German intelligence.
Imagine the reaction from the offended party if that had been the case. ::)
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Fritz has a turtle. I wonder if that's the one resolving the paradigms? Or just innocently munching on canteloupe :).
He's been eating cantaloupe since yesterday. Before that it was cucumber.
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Got back from voting, a couple of hours ago. Turn-out is light to moderate, but, indications so far are that the Democrat will win for governor of the Commonwealth. Which would be a big slap in the face to the Tea Party, whose creature he is.
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Got back from voting, a couple of hours ago. Turn-out is light to moderate, but, indications so far are that the Democrat will win for governor of the Commonwealth. Which would be a big slap in the face to the Tea Party, whose creature he is.
I hope so. If it is not, then the Dems will suffer in the 2014 elections.
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just got a new job. they cut benefits. NO Healthcare. I went to look for an individual coverage. The cheapest I could fine was $167.50 a month. Can't afford it. What can I do? I'm scared.
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Amen, Tony.
From what I've been hearing, overall turnout has been above average for this off-off-year election.
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Tom, can you determine yet whether you'll qualify for any of the subsidies under the ACA?
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S167 a MONTH? That's the cheapest I've ever heard of.
And I doubt this election is going to foreshadow anything. Not a big enough sample. It's like the flipping of a coin... if you do it just once and it comes up heads, it doesn't mean it will the next time.
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S167 a MONTH? That's the cheapest I've ever heard of.
And I doubt this election is going to foreshadow anything. Not a big enough sample. It's like the flipping of a coin... if you do it just once and it comes up heads, it doesn't mean it will the next time.
but i can't afford it. i'll have cut somewhere but where? I refinance beginning of this year, so that helped. Save $150.00/month. I really don't know what to do?
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but i can't afford it. i'll have cut somewhere but where? I refinance beginning of this year, so that helped. Save $150.00/month. I really don't know what to do?
So, Tom, here are some questions.
How large is the company for whom your currently went to work?
Did you apply for coverage through your State exchange?
If you can't afford the plan you chose, (if through the exchange), do you qualify for a subsidy?
If you do not qualify for the subsidy, which as I understand it is a tax credit which may be useless if you don't make enough to need a tax credit, then why would you not qualify for the Medicaid option?
The ACA is supposed to be designed to assist those who are in your situation.
I am not being facetious and I certainly do not pretend to understand the ACA (that may sound facetious but, trust me, it is not). I am sincerely interested. Why is this not working for you?
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Here is an article that kind of, sort of, explains the problem Tom may be facing. It uses California as a template but Tom's situation should not be too much different. If it is different, then what is the difference and why is the ACA not working for him?
http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/Lower-2014-income-can-net-huge-health-care-subsidy-4891087.php (http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/Lower-2014-income-can-net-huge-health-care-subsidy-4891087.php)
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Got back from voting, a couple of hours ago. Turn-out is light to moderate, but, indications so far are that the Democrat will win for governor of the Commonwealth. Which would be a big slap in the face to the Tea Party, whose creature he is.
McAuliffe wins nailbiter Virginia governor's race
"A bitter, divisive race between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is over and it turned out to be a nailbiter. McAuliffe defeated Cuccinelli in a surprisingly razor-thin 47-46 percent victory to become Virginia's next governor, breaking a long Virginia tradition going back to 1977 of voting for a governor from the opposing party of the sitting president.
~ ~ ~ ~
"According to exit polls, both McAuliffe and Cuccinelli did very well among their own partisans - each getting more than nine in 10 votes from members of their own parties. Cuccinelli had a nine-point edge among independents, who make up three in 10 voters in Virginia. But McAuliffe did better than Cuccinelli in getting out his base: slightly more voters described themselves as Democrats (37 percent) than Republicans (32 percent). McAuliffe also won among voters under 45 and college graduates - both groups that McDonnell won four years ago - and he led among moderates (22 points) and women (9 points)."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57611013/mcauliffe-wins-nailbiter-virginia-governors-race/
(The rest is a fairly lengthy summary)
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I agree with you, Paul.
Thanks, Jess.
In the great scheme of things, I am not important, human life is not important, the planet will adjust itself and get on without me, but, I am important to me, my children and grandchildren are important to me, my friends and family are important to me, the culture associated with human civilization, our history, our writers, William Shakespeare, (come on William, don't be pressured by those Tudor propagandists :D), and Jane Austen are important to me, our arts and everything about our lives here and now, are important to me.
I’m delighted to know that you’re not a nihilist, Jess. :D
Unlike Macbeth, who after hearing of his wife’s suicide, says that human life has no meaning or purpose and whose pessimism leads him to say that life itself is “but a walking shadow,” insubstantial, a nothing.
In a way, his speech could also possibly be seen as being rather defensive, even self-justifying, in that his crimes also “signify nothing.” (Which is open to argument, of course.)
If so, perhaps it’s also the approach taken by others who are, perhaps, presently unaware of the consequences of their deeds.
I recently came across a site (Countercurrents.org) in which Mary Hamer (http://www.countercurrents.org/hamer140510.htm) deplores the way that the earth’s crust is being imperilled by the building of massive reservoirs, the injection of toxic and nuclear waste, underwater nuclear bomb tests on ocean sea beds, drilling to extract oil, fracking and the erection of immense skyscrapers.
The Taipei 101 tower, for instance, currently the tallest building on earth, with a weight of 700 thousand tons of steel and concrete, was constructed only 600 feet from an ancient fault line, and has, as reported in The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2005/dec/02/naturaldisasters.climatechange),
“raised concerns about similar man-made megastructures as it’s thought to have triggered two recent earthquakes because of the stress it exerts on the ground beneath.”
According to the geologist Cheng Horng Lin, from the National Taiwan Normal University, the stress from the skyscraper may have reopened an ancient earthquake fault.
Before the construction of Taipei 101, the Taipei basin was a very stable area with no active earthquake faults at the surface. Its earthquake activity was similar to parts of the UK, with micro-earthquakes (less than magnitude 2) happening about once a year.
However, once Taipei 101 started to rise from the ground, things changed. “The number of earthquakes increased to around two micro-earthquakes per year during the construction period (1997 to 2003). Since the construction finished there have been two larger earthquakes (magnitude 3.8 and 3.2) directly beneath Taipei 101...” says Dr Lin.
Despite its excessive capitalisation, Hamer’s article, “The Rape Of The Earth And The Human Ego,” is worth reading for the connection she makes with such things as human-induced earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic and other seismic-related activity.
We must not let our actions destroy all of this because of stupidity and greed, something we are in danger of doing.
We are clever enough to avoid it, but do we have the will?
If the evidence of current “progress” is anything to go by, I'd doubt it, Jess.
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Nature is far more powerful than we are, we should be afraid for our own sakes of tweaking her tail.
I agree with you, Jess.
Unfortunately, though, when I earlier wondered whether those who think that it doesn’t matter whether human beings are made extinct had informed their children and grandchildren that human life was no more important than a random virus, they were, sadly, silent.
Talk’s pretty cheap, it would seem, when it’s easy—when the big questions are asked, though, it seems to be a different matter. Perhaps the issue was too intrusive; but, still...
Each of us has a responsibilty to future generations. It’s not our world which will be destroyed (and even that’s open to doubt, at the moment)—it’s theirs.
What the deniers of climate change are declaring by saying human life is insignificant, that it doesn’t matter whether Homo sapiens exists or not, and that it’s egotistical to think we deserve to survive is:
“We don’t care about you. We will be long gone—Oh, and good luck!”
How can anyone look in their childens’ eyes and say that?
...and I've yet to even mention Teilhard de Chardin. Sorry, Tony. :)
Let alone the concept of “The Grand Scheme of Things.”
Apparently something engraved in stone, also known as “The Easy Way Out.” :D
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So, Tom, here are some questions.
How large is the company for whom your currently went to work?
Did you apply for coverage through your State exchange?
If you can't afford the plan you chose, (if through the exchange), do you qualify for a subsidy?
If you do not qualify for the subsidy, which as I understand it is a tax credit which may be useless if you don't make enough to need a tax credit, then why would you not qualify for the Medicaid option?
The ACA is supposed to be designed to assist those who are in your situation.
I am not being facetious and I certainly do not pretend to understand the ACA (that may sound facetious but, trust me, it is not). I am sincerely interested. Why is this not working for you?
Well, I changed jobs. I'm trying to get into the Medical Field, Medical receptionist. But with NO luck. Not enough experience. Loved my internship at a clinic. They loved me too. But with no luck either. I got this Medical Assembly job thru a temp service. This temp service offered benefits. The reason I took it. With the new ASA law they changed it and it really doesn't meet the ASA requirements for Healthcare. So, they told to look for a private source. I also took this job because it was a second shift, so I could donate some time in the afternoon at a clinic in order to get experience. I have a more paying jobs with benefits starting next month in order to advance my job in the medical field. I really don't know what to do now? I'm on my last nerve and to top it off it coming to the year anniversary of my mother's death. Its actually tomorrow. So, I'm in a pickle.
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Unlike Macbeth, who after hearing of his wife’s suicide, says that human life has no meaning or purpose and whose pessimism leads him to say that life itself is “but a walking shadow,” insubstantial, a nothing.
You left out my personal favorite part: "a tale told by an idiot." ;D
;)
Meanwhile, speaking of elections, I'm personally aware of something here in Pennsylvania during the run-up that I thought was unusual. Over the weekend I was talking to my dad, and I mentioned that I had received a recorded phone call from former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell urging me to vote for the retention of the incumbent Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. My dad replied that he had received a recorded phone call from former Republican Gov. Tom Ridge urging the same thing! :o
(I would have voted to retain him anyway. He's a former Philadelphia District Attorney, and I approve of him. He was retained.)
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News from the BBC:
Concentrations of warming gases break record
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520November%25202013%2Fan_oil_refinery_at_night_zps9063807b.jpg&hash=72975e64a9e167aec937a7a676f7eb1bb0111fcf)
The levels of gases in the atmosphere that drive global warming increased to a record high in 2012.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), atmospheric CO2 grew more rapidly last year than its average rise over the past decade.
Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide also broke previous records.
Since 1750, global average levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased to 141% of the pre-industrial concentration of 278 parts per million (ppm).
“The observations highlight yet again how heat-trapping gases from human activities have upset the natural balance of our atmosphere and are a major contribution to climate change,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
“The more we delay action the bigger the risk we cannot stay under the 2 degree Celsius limit that countries have agreed,” he said.
Scientists believe that the new data indicates that global warming will be back with a vengeance, after a slowdown in the rate of temperature increases over the past 14 years.
“The laws of physics and chemistry are not negotiable,” said Michel Jarraud.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24833148
This statement was of particular interest, I thought:
Recent research indicates that the rate of increase in emissions might be slowing down, but the gases can continue to concentrate in the atmosphere and exert a climate influence for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
We can live with that, I suppose—I mean, after all, none of us will be around then (and as it's all part of The Grand Scheme of Things), who really cares?
Is that the consensus here, or merely a minority view? ;D
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You left out my personal favorite part: "a tale told by an idiot." ;D
;)
Sorry about that, Jeff. :)
Yes, Life is indeed a tale told by an idiot—according to Macbeth, anyway...
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Sorry about that, Jeff. :)
Yes, Life is indeed a tale told by an idiot—according to Macbeth, anyway...
NP, Friend! :D
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Well, I changed jobs. I'm trying to get into the Medical Field, Medical receptionist. But with NO luck. Not enough experience. Loved my internship at a clinic. They loved me too. But with no luck either. I got this Medical Assembly job thru a temp service. This temp service offered benefits. The reason I took it. With the new ASA law they changed it and it really doesn't meet the ASA requirements for Healthcare. So, they told to look for a private source. I also took this job because it was a second shift, so I could donate some time in the afternoon at a clinic in order to get experience. I have a more paying jobs with benefits starting next month in order to advance my job in the medical field. I really don't know what to do now? I'm on my last nerve and to top it off it coming to the year anniversary of my mother's death. Its actually tomorrow. So, I'm in a pickle.
Tom, are you in reasonably good health right now? If so, you can probably relax some. Stressing over what MIGHT happen is going to increase your chances of something happening (since stress lowers your immunity.) If you are not in good health, maybe you qualify for medical help just based on that. The state where you live should have info on line or via phone about benefits for people with low incomes. When my son was out of work here he got medical help (for kidney stones) from several low income clinics which base their fees on what people can afford to pay. I raised my kids without health insurance and when I had to have my gall bladder removed a couple years back, I hadn't seen a doctor myself in over 30 years. My family is genetically blessed with good health, which I know doesn't mean anyone else is, and none of us complicate things with smoking or drinking (even moderately) or sky diving, motorcycle racing, etc.
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I agree with you, Jess.
Unfortunately, though, when I earlier wondered whether those who think that it doesn’t matter whether human beings are made extinct had informed their children and grandchildren that human life was no more important than a random virus, they were, sadly, silent.
Talk’s pretty cheap, it would seem, when it’s easy—when the big questions are asked, though, it seems to be a different matter. Perhaps the issue was too intrusive; but, still...
Each of us has a responsibilty to future generations. It’s not our world which will be destroyed (and even that’s open to doubt, at the moment)—it’s theirs.
What the deniers of climate change are declaring by saying human life is insignificant, that it doesn’t matter whether Homo sapiens exists or not, and that it’s egotistical to think we deserve to survive is:
“We don’t care about you. We will be long gone—Oh, and good luck!”
How can anyone look in their childens’ eyes and say that?
...and I've yet to even mention Teilhard de Chardin. Sorry, Tony. :)
Let alone the concept of “The Grand Scheme of Things.”
Apparently something engraved in stone, also known as “The Easy Way Out.” :D
If this is directed at me, I do not deny climate change. Far from it. I see the same things the sky-is-falling people see. I just believe it is part of a normal cycle and even if it has been accelerated by human activity, it is just no big deal. The earth has been around for millions of years and people have kept track of the weather and climate for a couple hundred so what we know is... nothing. What we imagine is always the worse. And what we matter is of no consequence except in our own minds. It is interesting to me that so many people claim a belief in god or a supreme being that created this world for us and watches over us but is, apparently, not supreme enough... or maybe not interested enough... to save us even from ourselves.
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McAuliffe wins nailbiter Virginia governor's race
"A bitter, divisive race between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is over and it turned out to be a nailbiter. McAuliffe defeated Cuccinelli in a surprisingly razor-thin 47-46 percent victory to become Virginia's next governor, breaking a long Virginia tradition going back to 1977 of voting for a governor from the opposing party of the sitting president.
~ ~ ~ ~
"According to exit polls, both McAuliffe and Cuccinelli did very well among their own partisans - each getting more than nine in 10 votes from members of their own parties. Cuccinelli had a nine-point edge among independents, who make up three in 10 voters in Virginia. But McAuliffe did better than Cuccinelli in getting out his base: slightly more voters described themselves as Democrats (37 percent) than Republicans (32 percent). McAuliffe also won among voters under 45 and college graduates - both groups that McDonnell won four years ago - and he led among moderates (22 points) and women (9 points)."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57611013/mcauliffe-wins-nailbiter-virginia-governors-race/
(The rest is a fairly lengthy summary)
The Democrat winner won in metropolitan areas. The entire rest of the state went to the Republican. Cuccinelli won over 70% of the vote in the counties on this side of VA.
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Is there an expectation of surprise here, or just a celebration?
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As a Virginian, more one of relief.
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It seems to me the question of our place in the "grand scheme of things" is going to go wrong, because there are different paradigms in play, that probably intersect, somewhere.
The Ozymandian absurdity is attractive to those who see us as of no consequence (Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair, and the sand stretched empty all around).
When the grand scheme of things was introduced a few pages back it was raised to support the idea that global warming and climate change was part of an ongoing cyclical process in the history of the planet, that it had happened before and in the long run it didn’t matter whether the human species survived the events predicted to occur over the next few decades and into the twenty-second century.
The idea that such a “scheme” exists is not new, but it’s a fallacious belief, an example of begging the question, involving circular reasoning: we’re unimportant in some Grand Scheme of Things in which nothing matters, therefore such a plan—without proof or certain knowledge—does indeed exist.
In the religious sense, the scheme is seen as being that of a deity, one who has a great plan for everything, but the lack of such a plan, even one with a presumed theistic purpose, doesn’t mean that existence is a joke, that life is meaningless, and there’s no reason why a human-invented purpose would be inferior to an unprovable Grand Plan, let alone an equally unprovable one provided by some deity, and to think so is to take a defeatist attitude.
The concept of a Grand Scheme of Things is a human construct, derived from the fact that our species is aware of its own mortality, that each human being is aware, unlike individuals in other species, that one day he/she will die.
That we die does not prove that such a plan exists, and this is what the “traveller from an antique land” is saying when he relates what he saw in the desert.
While even mighty kings are mortal, and the monumental statuary they commission to memorialise their importance must succumb to the ravages of time, to become decayed “colossal wrecks,” Shelley’s 1818 sonnet is essentially acknowledging human mortality, not that there’s a Grand Plan.
Byron, two years earlier, had already taken things further when, in his poem “Darkness,” he presciently foretold not only the end of humanity but also the heat death of the universe, some fifty years before the discovery and formulation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics:
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air...
Its conclusion offers nothing but death and desolation:
...The world was void,
The populous and the powerful–was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless–
A lump of death–a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd
They slept on the abyss without a surge—
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them—She was the Universe.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173081
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Then there's the Judeo-Christian insistence on creation being the playing field created by God for us. And Jesus emphasizing extreme importance to each person (the Father knows the very number of the hairs on your head). And yet, "Dust thou art...etc." touching upon the apparent opposite.
A variation on The Grand Scheme of Things, Tony, another convenient supposition designed to provide comfort.
As I said, “...also known as “The Easy Way Out.”
The paradigms relevant to this question each support radically different points of view, but, IMO, they each have some plausibility and are only fragments of a larger truth which, we just don't happen to be able to know or prove.
Although Teilhard de Chardin’s philosophy is too complex to raise here it’s tempting to suggest that his was a view of a “larger truth.”
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I just, myself, think it's safer, from either a metaphysical/faith direction, or from secular humanism, to not collapse into a nothing matters syndrome. The latter is attractive, when convenient, or in despair, but could undermine the human journey.
Agreed, but thinking that nothing matters might be a convenient way of dealing with life...
What that journey is, or for what purpose (if any), I wouldn't claim to know from certainty. I just think something is going on, and, saying this as a metaphor, rather than as choosing a paradigm, it is better to be on the side of the angels.
Do I detect a subtle reference to a deity here? :)
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As a Virginian, more one of relief.
That I can understand.
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That we die does not prove that such a plan exists, and this is what the “traveller from an antique land” is saying when he relates what he saw in the desert.
While even mighty kings are mortal, and the monumental statuary they commission to memorialise their importance must succumb to the ravages of time, to become decayed “colossal wrecks,” Shelley’s 1818 sonnet is essentially acknowledging human mortality, not that there’s a Grand Plan.
That might be a contentious issue to those at the time who believed in the divine right of kings; but IMO the fragments of ruined statuary, combined with the now-unknown ruler's boast, illustrates how transitory human power is. Any change in that has been only in one direction; i.e., the ability to destroy and make unlivable whole parts of the earth, or the entire planet, has been a reality for six decades at least. Human technology, including but not limited to nuclear weaponry has made that possible, which is why the faux humility displayed in skepticism about the human role in global warming (i.e., ''oh, it's just so arrogant to think that human beings could change the course of climate patterns') is either grossly ignorant or grossly dishonest. But we don't have the ability to go in the other direction undo it or rebuild what was destroyed once the destruction has happened.
What it also suggests is the futility of trying to construct a kind of quasi-immortality by imagining that instead of a personal existence after physical death, immortality can be understood to be the person "living on" in the memory of survivors. There are people who were famous and celebrated millenia ago whose names we don't even know; for most of us, the memory vanishes in only a few generations. Even when religious teachings make honoring ancestors a priority, war and other regional/global upheavals can scatter those to the winds. Oral history has managed to transcend that in some cases, but that, too, can be lost. The vast majority of people ever born have become totally obscure very quickly.
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.... Macbeth, who after hearing of his wife’s suicide, says that human life has no meaning or purpose and whose pessimism leads him to say that life itself is “but a walking shadow,” insubstantial, a nothing.
In a way, his speech could also possibly be seen as being rather defensive, even self-justifying, in that his crimes also “signify nothing.” (Which is open to argument, of course.)
Ah, Macbeth - happy memories of learning chunks of it, aged 15, for O Level exams.
That whole context of that speech:
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more...
is a brilliant negative response to the perennial problem of "Why are we all here anyway?" (although hopefully most of us don't have as much on our consciences as Macbeth did). I have no idea why we are here - but we are, so just have to do our best with it.
Yes, I think we are at least partly responsible for global warming, and yes, we do need to consider future generations, especially in our production of damaging emissions, destruction of irreplaceable natural habitats and pollution of all kinds. And as Jess pointed out, levels of CO2 emission have apparently risen continuously even before the industrial revolution, presumably just owing to increasing numbers of humans on our planet, so overpopulation is another vital factor to consider (and not just leaving it to the effects of war, disease, famine and the impact of large asteroids, which we’ve just learnt is more common than previously thought).
But how far should we as individuals actually go in this? Should I feel guilty because I keep my house comfortably warm, drive a car and visit family in Australia, take advantage of technical innovation? How much should this generation sacrifice for the sake of future generations? Do we owe it to ourselves and our creator, if there was one, to try to make the best of the life that we've got?
How do we get the balance right?
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Oral history has managed to transcend that in some cases, but that, too, can be lost. The vast majority of people ever born have become totally obscure very quickly.
Annie Proulx does a fine job with this theme in 'Them Old Cowboy Songs". Yvette and few others of us had an interesting conversation about this a good while ago.
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How do we get the balance right?
It just seems to me that, as guests, we should at least attempt to keep the place tidy.
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..... and there’s no reason why a human-invented purpose would be inferior to an unprovable Grand Plan, let alone an equally unprovable one provided by some deity, and to think so is to take a defeatist attitude.
Great posts, Paul ! The above caught my attention, as, IMO, reasonable. But especially so, the constant hammering at meaninglessness is, I also believe, defeatist.
Sometime, in areas of the unknown, people go into saying nothing can be known. For example, we do not know if there is intelliigent life elsewhere in the universe, and so some people promptly collapse. Actually, we DO know something. It is either a yes or a no, and each has implications. And I would think the same applies to "meaning". But collapse into meaninglesness IS a choice, and it has consequences to ourselves and others.
Another way of putting this is that non-denominational churches are a denomination. With their own liturgy and theology, as they attempt to escape both. Better to just say: we don't know, but, meanwhile, do no harm.
It was fun to see where this topic has gone. And Gary"s abbreviated post cracked me up :D...
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...... The vast majority of people ever born have become totally obscure very quickly.
The above comes from a very long post which I thought was very near to my own thinking. And am not disagreeing with the last sentence, above, especially, as it is taken out of context. But it has variations of interpretation, so it provoked some thoughts:
- I've read that, because of the demographic curve, over half of the people ever alive, have lived in our own times. If they are obscure, it's probably because they aren't on the evening news. By an extension, it is possible to apply that to the other half. And then go join Planned Parenthood, before the demographics get even more weird :P.
It was difficult to explore that last sentence, and, again, as it was written, it was in a different context. But, standing alone, it touches on many directions, all worthy, but too foreign to the original intent.
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Once again, frustrating events around here. The Coast Guard and Navy had to go rescue some idiots in sailboats, 200 miles off the Virginia Capes, who were in distress, as a huge cold front blew through.
This time, it was at unusual hazard to the rescuers as they were low on fuel, and had difficulty in balancing a horizon safety level. This is an advancing cultural illness, where people do whatever they want, and put first responders at risk. I think I heard that they may get cited. They should be prosecuted !
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Another grump. The parents of that woman shot in Dearborne, Michigan, are playing the race card, as well as the zero responsibilty card.
Their daughter had a car accident, and, for reasons unknown, was banging on the door of an elderly man, living alone, at 3:30 in the morning, 2 hours later. Who shot her.
Not all the facts are known, and it does need further investigation, but the woman's actions were identical to the methods of the ever-expanding home invasions.
We can always say he should not have opened his door, but just called 911. That's what I would have done. But this requires of the guy that he be ever-alert to the safest possible resolution to the stranger at his door, and also not sleep-groggy.
Her assumption that everybody has to accomodate her choice at being out late at night, and also assume she is safe, when banging on the door of a total stranger, is part of the new mindless American culture.
Her parents should not be playing the race card and organizing demonstrations. And am saying this as someone who believed Trayvon Martin was murdered. The two cases are opposites, IMO.
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It just seems to me that, as guests, we should at least attempt to keep the place tidy.
If I could like this here, I would!
I so totally agree.
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Once again, frustrating events around here. The Coast Guard and Navy had to go rescue some idiots in sailboats, 200 miles off the Virginia Capes, who were in distress, as a huge cold front blew through.
This time, it was at unusual hazard to the rescuers as they were low on fuel, and had difficulty in balancing a horizon safety level. This is an advancing cultural illness, where people do whatever they want, and put first responders at risk. I think I heard that they may get cited. They should be prosecuted !
I totally agree, Tony. With my younger son being in the Coast Guard, and as a avionics technician for the 60 rescue helicopters, he has to ride with the helicopters when they go out. He has told me numerous stories such as this.
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I totally agree, Tony. With my younger son being in the Coast Guard, and as a avionics technician for the 60 rescue helicopters, he has to ride with the helicopters when they go out. He has told me numerous stories such as this.
I was reading your post, Linda, and, just then, the news had an extended story on the rescued couple. In their 60's or 70's, they'd sold their home, and bought the boat (which looked to be somewhat large). Down it went, and I doubt they had equivalent insurance. They were more interested in re-telling their brush with death (they were in the water), with only a somewhat required and brief thanks to the Coast Guard.
What is scary is that they have probably reproduced, thus passing on the junk DNA/gene code for mindlessness to several generations :P.
Having now gotten their mugs on tv, it is that much harder to cite them for reckless behavior.
I hope your younger son stays safe from risking too much ! The responders here said it was a risky call for themselves, to continue.
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What is scary is that they have probably reproduced, thus passing on the junk DNA/gene code for mindlessness to several generations :P.
Having now gotten their mugs on tv, it is that much harder to cite them for reckless behavior.
I hope your younger son stays safe from risking too much ! The responders here said it was a risky call for themselves, to continue.
Thanks Tony! It was more dangerous when he was in Alaska, but a lot of those rescues there were less idiot related. He does not go up on all rescues, there is a rotation, but they do have a lot of practice flights, and last year a whole crew from CG Station Mobile were killed during a practice flight over Mobile Bay. I worry all the time.
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Finally, viruses, rocks, and sub-atomic particles do not love, or grieve. We ARE different. But where that leads to, is an entirely different question.
And you know "viruses, rocks, and sub-atomic particles do not love, or grieve" because...?
We’re different in that, unlike viruses, rocks, and sub-atomic particles, we possess a mammalian brain containing 100 billion neurons, each of which can contact thousands of others through electrochemical pulses via synapses, forming a million new connections every second of our lives, as well as glial cells (outnumbering neurons 10:1), in which the limbic system, a complex series of brain structures such as the thalamus (hippocampus and amygdala) and the hypothalamus and includes nearby structures such as the cingulate gyrus, the ventral tegmental area, the basal ganglia (including the caudate nucleus, the globus pallidus and the substantia nigra) and the prefrontal cortex, wrapped around the brain stem beneath the cerebral cortex, is primarily responsible for emotion formation (such as sexual arousal, pleasure, aggression, anxiety, fear) and visceral and motor responses (but also supports other functions such as cognition and learning, behaviour, motivation and short and long-term memory), but while life forms other than mammalian hominids, such as amphibians, cetaceans, birds and reptiles possess well-developed limbic systems, neuroscientists have yet to discover that they also exist in viruses, rocks and subatomic particles.
That said, the difference between humans and viruses, minerals and particles could be accounted for by something other than the possession of a limbic system in that, for instance, while two of the latter are yet to be designated as life forms the jury’s out regarding viruses—after all, they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection, and while they’re unable to exist outside the cells of living animals, plants and even bacteria they lack key characteristics (such as a cellular structure) generally considered necessary to constitute life.
As a cellular structure is also a characteristic of minerals I decided to mention to a friend of mine that rocks do not love or grieve.
I noticed, however, that he seemed to quiver slightly—presumably because, despite his lack of a limbic system, my pet rock was capable of experiencing and expressing emotion. :D
I dismissed the possibility at once, of course, knowing full well that minerals (and the mass-less elements of particle physics, and possibly pathogens) aren’t actually life forms, and so are incapable of experiencing and expressing emotions such as love and grief, of demonstrating consciousness, possess an awareness of their spatial environment, have and display a capacity to reason about what others think by deduction—all of which are proven to be present in the behaviour of wild chimpanzees, apes, orangutans, tamarins and macaques as well as human children as early as between the ages of one and three years of age, and sometimes, in the case of self recognition in mirrors, as early as nine months, the same time that the capacity for reflective thought emerges—something feasible (whether or not the human race becomes extinct) only, so far, in the realms of science fiction—and not only because they lack opposable thumbs. 8)
While humans are alone in being able to demonstrate self-directed behaviour and self-recognition and, in some cases, able to make ethical and moral decisions,
the most significant difference, the thing which sets us apart from all other life forms, is our awareness of our own mortality—something even viruses, rocks and particles lack, and for which they should be grateful, if that’s possible...
I'd better go and console my dear little mineralised friend, now... :)
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I suppose it is not possible that there is anything we humans do not know, nothing new to be learned, no replacement dominant species waiting in the wings to take over after the current one has wiped itself out.
A “replacement dominant species” has been a somewhat favorite in science-fiction novels, such as Stanton Coblentz’s After 12,000 Years (1950) in which genetically-engineered giant termites, designed—interestingly—to win a war to control the climate, take over the Earth.
And in City, Clifford Simak’s 1952 novel spanning ten thousand years, humankind leaves Earth for Jupiter, permanently transformed in order to survive unaided on its surface, eventually dying out as the world they left is occupied by dogs who, surgically given speech and advanced vision, create a pacifist and vegetarian civilisation, only to be forced to leave Earth themselves by a developing industrial ant society, whose civilisation spreads across the planet.
And then there’s John Wyndham’s Web, published posthumously in 1979, in which a new species of spider, genetically enhanced by atomic tests in the Pacific, acquires advanced socialisation skills to become intelligent hunters, stalking and attacking their prey in “pseudo-militaristic squads,” with acute visual prey-recognition, capable of learning and problem solving, of using their webs, already covering the small island on which the story is set, to coincide with light breezes and updrafts to migrate in their millions across the ocean to South America.
If insects are indeed to replace us let's hope that they care more for the planet, but insects being what they are (even if granted super intelligence) I suspect it's unlikely, and eventually the world will become Byron’s “lump of death–a chaos of hard clay,” or simply a world dominated by ant cities, massive, impenetrable giant termite mounds or continuous grey webbing.
Phase IV, a 1974 film directed by Saul Bass, though, offers an alternative.
In the film super-intelligent ants form a collective society of previously disparate ant species and wages war against two research scientists working in the Arizona desert; its ending implies that a new, combined species has been created in our planet’s evolutionary chain.
So there's some hope for us yet.
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It just seems to me that, as guests, we should at least attempt to keep the place tidy.
Oh, Lord! I'm a terrible housekeeper. ... :(
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It was difficult to explore that last sentence, and, again, as it was written, it was in a different context. But, standing alone, it touches on many directions, all worthy, but too foreign to the original intent.
Depends on whose original intent you're referencing. My own "intent" certainly didn't get lost between one paragraph and another.
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Which was what I meant. Your own post was integrated and consistent. But anything anyone says, can bring up other directions or thoughts. Which should not be ascribed to the original writer. Was trying to hold to that. Must not have worked :P.
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Terrible scenes from the Philippines on the news.
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Our pastor is from the most affected province in the Philippines. He hasn't heard anything from or about his people yet.
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Thoughts for him, Fritz.
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Thanks, Sara.
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http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/harold-jellicoe-percival-hundreds-of-strangers-turn-up-at-dambuster-veterans-funeral
Gives you faith back in the human race.....doesn't it ?
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It made the national news here this evening, Sue!
And yes it does.
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If this is directed at me, I do not deny climate change. Far from it.
My post was not specifically directed at you, Sherry, but rather at climate change sceptics in general.
Climate change deniers
The debate is over about whether or not climate change is real. Irrefutable evidence from around the world—including extreme weather events, record temperatures, retreating glaciers and rising sea levels—all point to the fact that climate change is happening now and at rates much faster than previously thought.
The overwhelming majority of scientists who study climate change agree that human activity is responsible for changing the climate. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is one of the largest bodies of international scientists ever assembled to study a scientific issue, involving more than 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries. The IPCC has concluded that most of the warming observed during the past 50 years is attributable to human activities. Its findings have been publicly endorsed by the national academies of science of all G-8 nations, as well as those of China, India and Brazil.
http://davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/science/climate-change-basics/climate-change-deniers/
I was actually more concerned about your equating humanity with the ebola virus.
Even Gore Vidal didn’t use such a pejorative metaphor:
“As for the human case, the generation of men come and go and are in eternity no more than bacteria upon a luminous slide, and the fall of a republic or the rise of an empire—so significant to those involved—are not detectable upon the slide even were there an interested eye to behold that steadily proliferating species which would either end in time or, with luck, become something else, since change is the nature of life, and its hope.”
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If this is directed at me, I do not deny climate change. Far from it. I see the same things the sky-is-falling people see. I just believe it is part of a normal cycle and even if it has been accelerated by human activity, it is just no big deal. The earth has been around for millions of years and people have kept track of the weather and climate for a couple hundred so what we know is... nothing. What we imagine is always the worse. And what we matter is of no consequence except in our own minds..
The problem I’ve had with interpreting your comments on climate change is what could be called, I'm sorry to say, their dismissive tone.
A fair reading of your posts on the issue could lead a reasonable person to believe, despite your recent denial, that you were a climate change sceptic:
- there’s no point in getting excited about the weather because “we’ve had [it] since ... forever;”
- that things get “reported and rereported regardless of facts [and] opinions become gospel...” and “Al Gore spins a good tale;”
- that the human species was “just another life form” unimportant to Mother nature, that we “are but passing through;” and
- “When we’re gone, who’s to care?”
Do you see what I mean?
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It is interesting to me that so many people claim a belief in god or a supreme being that created this world for us and watches over us but is, apparently, not supreme enough... or maybe not interested enough... to save us even from ourselves.
Fair points, but I wonder whether the citizens of the Phillipines ascribe their trevails to God, to Mother Nature or just to plain ol’ bad luck.
I also doubt that any affected Filipinos would appreciate being likened to a deadly virus being purged by Mother Nature, but perhaps I’m being sentimental.
Typhoon Haiyan: is climate change to blame?
The Philippines has been hit by 24 typhoons in the past year but the power of Haiyan was off the scale, killing thousands and leaving millions homeless.
Is there even worse devastation to come?
Just as the world was beginning to take in the almost unimaginable devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan, a young Filipino diplomat, Naderev Sano, was getting ready to lead his country's negotiations in the UN climate talks in Warsaw, Poland. Yeb, as he is known, is a scientist and head of his country's national climate commission and had flown out of Manila just hours before the vastness of Haiyan had become apparent.
By Monday morning, Sano knew that the Philippines had been struck by possibly the strongest storm ever measured, killing many thousands of people and making millions homeless. He took the floor and, in some trepidation in front of the delegates of 190 countries, gave an extraordinary, passionate speech in which he clearly linked super typhoon Haiyan to manmade climate change and urged the world to wake up to the reality of what he said was happening from latin America to south east Asia and the US. He lambasted the rich countries, and dared climate change deniers to go to his country to see for themselves what was happening.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/12/typhoon-haiyan-climate-change-blame-philippines
The video included in The Guardian’s article is worth watching.
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rob-ford-threatens-legal-action-over-court-documents-1.2426060
Can you imagine a politician speaking like this on TV?? ::)
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FINALLY! Airline passengers win one.
Airline Passengers Raise Objections When Blind Man, Service Dog are Kicked Off Flight
An unusual event in the world of air travel occurred last night, as a flight was canceled thanks to the aftermath of kicking a blind man and his service dog off the plane. The man, Albert Rizzi, was informed that in order for him to fly with his service dog, Doxy, the dog would have to remain under the seat in front of him. This is where the accounts from the airline, US Airways, and Rizzi and his fellow passengers begin to diverge. According to the airline, Rizzi became verbally abusive with flight attendants when they tried to calm his dog, who had left his required underseat location. Rizzi counters that the dog barely moved and was not misbehaving.
Rizzi and Doxy were kicked off the flight, and then other passengers ended up raising such objections about the pair's dismissal that the pilot emerged from the cockpit to dismiss the rest of the passengers. The flight was canceled, and all passengers, not just Rizzi and his dog, were driven by bus from Philadelphia to Long Island. Evidence that passengers were also upset is substantial. One woman, known as Sophie B on Twitter, posted a series of angry tweets:
more
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/airline-passengers-raise-objections-when-blind-man--service-dog-are-kicked-off-flight-172524277.html?vp=1
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A small step; but marriage equality is gradually creeping beyond the blue states:
"Gov. Jay Nixon said Thursday that he supports legalizing gay marriage in Missouri during a news conference announcing that homosexual couples married under the laws of other states would be allowed to file combined state tax returns.
"n an executive order, Nixon directed the Department of Revenue to accept the combined returns as a reaction to the June ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. That law barred same sex couples who were legally married from receiving any marriage-based federal benefits, such as tax exemptions and Social Security payments."
http://m.columbiatribune.com/news/local/gov-jay-nixon-says-he-supports-legalizing-gay-marriage/article_6c271bde-4d72-11e3-92c7-001a4bcf6878.html
(Cross posted at Gay Marriage thread)
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I just heard that insurance premiums MIGHT GO UP based on the President saying people can keep their old policies. And before he said that they were GOING UP because of ACA and before the ACA they were GOING UP for at least 50 years (that I know about). Also, if you point this out, costs may go up. Ditto if you sneeze.
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I just heard that insurance premiums MIGHT GO UP based on the President saying people can keep their old policies. And before he said that they were GOING UP because of ACA and before the ACA they were GOING UP for at least 50 years (that I know about). Also, if you point this out, costs may go up. Ditto if you sneeze.
I'm not a fan of the ACA, but its a start. The debate is finally coming to head like a zit. WE can no long keep going the way it has been. Employers do not want to keep paying for Healthcare anymore. Its too much of a burden. My plan when I had Healthcare been going up every year for the last 15. IN one year it went up 25% and the coverage went down. I do like the fact he is trying, but still has a LONG way to go. I just wish he was more of a fighter.
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Has anyone here on the forum purchased a health plan via one of the ACA exchanges?
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Somebody please tell me something that hasn't go up. My gasoline jumped from $2.75 to $3.15 overnight.
I don't get the uproar about the plans that have been cancelled because they do not comply with the new law's minimum coverages. What part of law do people not get? If you are used to driving on roads that have no posted speed limits, would you expect to continue at whatever speed you wanted AFTER speed limit signs went up? All this crap is coming from people who couldn't think their way out of a paperbag even if one end was wide open... and from the press. But that may be redundant.
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Somebody please tell me something that hasn't go up. My gasoline jumped from $2.75 to $3.15 overnight.
really? Prices here have been going down, we're down to 2.97 now.
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I'm not a fan of the ACA, but its a start. The debate is finally coming to head like a zit. WE can no long keep going the way it has been. Employers do not want to keep paying for Healthcare anymore. Its too much of a burden. My plan when I had Healthcare been going up every year for the last 15. IN one year it went up 25% and the coverage went down. I do like the fact he is trying, but still has a LONG way to go. I just wish he was more of a fighter.
10 years ago when I was 51 yo, I was self insured. My premium went up to $950 a month. Rick was able to get VA benefits, which is the equivalent to Medicaid (not Medicare). There is a big difference.
The next year the premium went up to $1375 a month. This was more than my monthly house payment. I did not renew it, as it was priced beyond my means. Because of pre-existing conditions not one else would touch me, even if I could have afforded it.
I don't want to even imagine what my policy would be now at 61 yo. I am in that wasteland of being uninsured and not yet eligible for Medicare. ACA will be that stop gap for me, even though I will have to get help in able to afford the premiums.
Somethings got to give somewhere.
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Has anyone here on the forum purchased a health plan via one of the ACA exchanges?
Not yet for me, but I will sit down in the next week or so and wade through the maze and see what is out there for me.
I will let you know what I find out. CA is supposed to be the best State set up for ACA exchanges.
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really? Prices here have been going down, we're down to 2.97 now.
I just paid $3.49 today and that is the lowest I have seen out here.
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I don't want to even imagine what my policy would be now at 61 yo. I am in that wasteland of being uninsured and not yet eligible for Medicare. ACA will be that stop gap for me, even though I will have to get help in able to afford the premiums.
Somethings got to give somewhere.
See bolded.
That is fine, great, okay. That is exactly what is supposed to happen. You should be able to find a plan, purchase it, and get a subsidy based upon your needs. I look forward, seriously, to see what happens. I hope, of course, that it works. It SHOULD work and I truly hope that it does. Let us know.
g
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I will keep you posted, Gary.
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Hoping it works out well for you, Linda.
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Has anyone here on the forum purchased a health plan via one of the ACA exchanges?
My son signed up when it first started, but I don't think he's paid out anything yet. Not sure when coverage begins.
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My son signed up when it first started, but I don't think he's paid out anything yet. Not sure when coverage begins.
Probably Jan. 1, 2014.
Did he qualify for a subsidy, if needed?
What about you? Do you have a plan? I think I remember reading a post that you were "self insured" for quite a while and that you are quite healthy and that this condition may be genetically induced. If you still do not have health insurance, do you plan to purchase a plan on the exchange?
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really? Prices here have been going down, we're down to 2.97 now.
We are at $2.95 to $3.07 depends where you buy in the Twin Cities.
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Probably Jan. 1, 2014.
Did he qualify for a subsidy, if needed?
What about you? Do you have a plan? I think I remember reading a post that you were "self insured" for quite a while and that you are quite healthy and that this condition may be genetically induced. If you still do not have health insurance, do you plan to purchase a plan on the exchange?
I've been on Medicare for several years. Love that government "hand-out" and they sure won't go broke from me using it!
But if I were younger and still without insurance, I would check to see what the offset of cost and penalty are and go with the cheaper.
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10 years ago when I was 51 yo, I was self insured. My premium went up to $950 a month. Rick was able to get VA benefits, which is the equivalent to Medicaid (not Medicare). There is a big difference.
The next year the premium went up to $1375 a month. This was more than my monthly house payment. I did not renew it, as it was priced beyond my means. Because of pre-existing conditions not one else would touch me, even if I could have afforded it.
Those premiums, even ten years ago, are disgracefully exorbitant, Linda. :o
$1375 nine years ago would have been about my annual Private Health Insurance premium!
My best wishes in “wading through the [ACA] maze to see what’s out there for you.” :)
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We are at $2.95 to $3.07 depends where you buy in the Twin Cities.
Our two local stations were both $2.73 until yesterday; then they went up to $2.75.
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WASHINGTON — The office of House Speaker John Boehner secured meeting space for the World Congress of Families after their original sponsor, Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, canceled their space in a Senate office building following an outcry from LGBT activists, the group’s leader said.
World Congress of Families President Allan Carlson praised Boehner’s intervention at in opening remarks at the event, which is focusing on what “pro-family legislators” can learn from foreign laws like Russia’s ban on “promoting non-traditional sexual relationships to minors.”
“At least in the House of Representatives people have not succumbed to the great fear” of LGBT activists, Carlson said, likening the situation to developments in Germany, France, and Italy as fascism took hold of Europe.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/speaker-john-boehner-hosts-supporters-of-russias-anti-gay-la
Speaker Boner's spokesman Michael Steel stated that Boner does not "necessarily" support their views.
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But if I were younger and still without insurance, I would check to see what the offset of cost and penalty are and go with the cheaper.
It will be interesting to see how this option plays out. I don't understanding opting out however. The odds of someone, no matter how healthy they are, of dying in their sleep or just keeling over dead while out tending the pups, seems to be pretty low. That means medical bills are going to be involved and who is supposed to pay them if the person has no insurance?
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The same people who pay them now when folks have no insurance. It IS our national health care system and has been for a long time. TN has opted out of the national program and there are thousands of people who fall in the area where they don't make enough money to pay for health insurance but don't qualify for medicaid (or Tenncare as it is called here.) There was a story on the local news this week of a single middle age man who makes under $10,000 a year and who would have to pay $350 a month for health care under the new plan. That's an impossible situation. What's he supposed to do? Give up housing? Stop eating?
And on the other hand, there are people living in subsidized housing who make over $50,000 a year. A number of families in Johnson City are making between $75,000 and $100,000. And they are not breaking the rules. According to the people running the program, it is the income the family has when it moves in that counts and there are no rules about income limits after.
And while we're at it, why is there not one size fits all in what medical care costs? If you have insurance, the insurance company pays a much lower fee to the hospitals, doctors, etc... and that varies from company to company...than what YOU are charged if you are paying for it yourself... and THAT depends on what you can negotiate. Same for drugs. Last year I managed to lose a month's supply of blood pressure pills right after I bought it. I paid $5. When I went to Walgreen's to get a replacement supply, my insurance, of course, would not pay again. It was going to cost me $80. But the woman at the pharmacy offered me a free membership in THEIR prescription program and I ended up paying around $17. And when I get my monthly prescription statement, it does NOT show my insurer paying $75 a month for my blood pressure med, but under $10... so who is paying the difference? Why does someone with no insurance have to pay $80 while I and my insurer pay $15?
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There was a story on the local news this week of a single middle age man who makes under $10,000 a year and who would have to pay $350 a month for health care under the new plan. That's an impossible situation. What's he supposed to do? Give up housing? Stop eating?
I think the information in that report is incorrect. The gentleman, from what I can glean, would pay around $300.00 per year, not month.
And while we're at it, why is there not one size fits all in what medical care costs? If you have insurance, the insurance company pays a much lower fee to the hospitals, doctors, etc... and that varies from company to company...than what YOU are charged if you are paying for it yourself... and THAT depends on what you can negotiate. Same for drugs. Last year I managed to lose a month's supply of blood pressure pills right after I bought it. I paid $5. When I went to Walgreen's to get a replacement supply, my insurance, of course, would not pay again. It was going to cost me $80. But the woman at the pharmacy offered me a free membership in THEIR prescription program and I ended up paying around $17. And when I get my monthly prescription statement, it does NOT show my insurer paying $75 a month for my blood pressure med, but under $10... so who is paying the difference? Why does someone with no insurance have to pay $80 while I and my insurer pay $15?
yes, the retail health care rate vs. insured rate has been a problem for a very long time. It could get worse since the negotiated insurance payments as well as the negotiated Medicare payments seldom cover the actual cost of treatment.
Prescription drugs are a different, though similar, issue.
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Those premiums, even ten years ago, are disgracefully exorbitant, Linda. :o
$1375 nine years ago would have been about my annual Private Health Insurance premium!
My best wishes in “wading through the [ACA] maze to see what’s out there for you.” :)
Thanks, Paul. I'll post here what I find out about what coverage I can get and afford. I am wondering though, if getting the subsidy is linked to only getting the lowest coverage available, or if I can pick a higher coverage and can still a subsidy? I'll find this out.
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Since I have not had insurance in about 3 years now, (I work part time and have no coverage and do contract bookkeeping, so no coverage), I have signed up for the Walgreen's program. I take 2 prescription medications, and pay $10 apiece for a 90 day supply of each. With this program you get money back for buying Walgreen brand over the counter medication, and they have a rewards program that gives you points for prescriptions and Walgreen brand items throughout the store. It's not a lot, but it is a savings.
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Since I have not had insurance in about 3 years now, (I work part time and have no coverage and do contract bookkeeping, so no coverage), I have signed up for the Walgreen's program. I take 2 prescription medications, and pay $10 apiece for a 90 day supply of each. With this program you get money back for buying Walgreen brand over the counter medication, and they have a rewards program that gives you points for prescriptions and Walgreen brand items throughout the store. It's not a lot, but it is a savings.
I notice quite a few people using the Walgreen program. I think CVS has one as well. My scrips are usually around a $10 copay for a 30 day supply of generics. My one brand name scrip is quite a bit more and this is with a pretty darn expensive small group health plan. When we go on Medicare, our monthly premium per person I have been advised will be $333 per month on top of a supplemental plan that will be $650. Not much less than what we pay now. The Medicare payment is ramped up based upon previous 12 month income. I think there may be a less expensive supplemental plan.
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I notice quite a few people using the Walgreen program. I think CVS has one as well. My scrips are usually around a $10 copay for a 30 day supply of generics. My one brand name scrip is quite a bit more and this is with a pretty darn expensive small group health plan. When we go on Medicare, our monthly premium per person I have been advised will be $333 per month on top of a supplemental plan that will be $650. Not much less than what we pay now. The Medicare payment is ramped up based upon previous 12 month income. I think there may be a less expensive supplemental plan.
I compared the CVS program to the Walgreens, and Walgreens is better.
Luckily my two meds are inexpensive and it is really good I can get the 90 day supply for $10 for the generic plan. I am not taking the sleeping meds anymore, because I was paying almost $40 a month and it kept going up. So I just dropped it.
Come February I will be 3 years away from Medicare.
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I think the information in that report is incorrect. The gentleman, from what I can glean, would pay around $300.00 per year, not month.
That may be... BUT you would think the reporter would check that out and the man said it would leave him with less than $6000 a year to live on. The real point of the story, for ME, was the reaction of one of TN's top honchos who said just beause the guy made too much to get on Tenncare it didn't mean he couldn't get insurance. All he had to do was pay for it....
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That may be... BUT you would think the reporter would check that out and the man said it would leave him with less than $6000 a year to live on.
Hmm, the gentleman appears to fall at least $1400 below the federal poverty threshold for a one person household and I am led to believe that ACA is set up so that someone in his income bracket will not pay more than 3% to 4% of annual income for yearly healthcare coverage. I realize TN did not opt into the program so the state does not have to extend its version of Medicade to those under 65 or whatever the age is so I get why he does not qualify for that.
But, hey, I am no expert on the intricacies of the ACA. If our President can't get it straight, I certainly can't be expected to do so.
I guess somebody should have read this thing before enacting it. But nooooo, instead both sides just get themselves on Sunday morning talk fests and demonstrate the immensity of their backsides. Show and tell is so much easier than reading and comprehension.
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Hmm, the gentleman appears to fall at least $1400 below the federal poverty threshold for a one person household and I am led to believe that ACA is set up so that someone in his income bracket will not pay more than 3% to 4% of annual income for yearly healthcare coverage. I realize TN did not opt into the program so the state does not have to extend its version of Medicade to those under 65 or whatever the age is so I get why he does not qualify for that.
But, hey, I am no expert on the intricacies of the ACA. If our President can't get it straight, I certainly can't be expected to do so.
I guess somebody should have read this thing before enacting it. But nooooo, instead both sides just get themselves on Sunday morning talk fests and demonstrate the immensity of their backsides. Show and tell is so much easier than reading and comprehension.
The way I understand it, it is EITHER the federal version OR the state version if you live in a state that opted out of the federal exchanges. You don't get to chose which you want to be part of. TN's reason for turning down the federal money is it wasn't enough since at some point it starts to decrease annually. I'm pretty sure that is why most states declined. We have to stop treating health "insurance" like homeowners or auto. I want health care that applies to everyone across the board at the same cost regardless of ANY differences... location, income, health, age, etc. Not going to happen, I know, at least not for many years.
This week, Bill Clinton pointed out that the EXACT same website problems occurred when Bush rolled out Medicare Part D and that it was many months until it actually settled down. People were upset then, but you hardly hear anything about it now. I sure didn't have any problem at all, with SS sign up, with Medicare when I became eligible or with Part D. Next year, people will still be talking about Obamacare, but after that... it will just be part of the landscape.
As someone who studied programming in college and who designs and maintains a number of commercial websites for various types of local businesses, I know it is very difficult to reach an understanding of what is wanted/what is needed/what is possible especially when you're dealing with a "committee" and/or people who have no idea about setting up a site, even a simple, non-interactive one. I do think the people hired by the government to design and program the Obamacare site should be fired... if for nothing else than not putting their foot down with the politicos and their appointed overseers. Websites are not "go along to get along" situations. And the best way to solve this one's problems is to start from scratch and switch out the new one for the current one as soon as the new one is tested and WORKING.
Whomever designed the forum site should be consulted immediately.
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Whomever designed the forum site should be consulted immediately.
I don't think Greg would be interested!!
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Hmm, the gentleman appears to fall at least $1400 below the federal poverty threshold for a one person household and I am led to believe that ACA is set up so that someone in his income bracket will not pay more than 3% to 4% of annual income for yearly healthcare coverage.
That seems rather high to me, I mean in comparison to what we have in AU.
Our Medicare is funded partly by a 1.5% income tax levy (with exceptions for low-income earners), but it's funded mostly out of general revenue.
An additional levy of 1% is imposed on high-income earners (in the 2011/12 financial year $80,000 for singles and $168,000 for couples) without private health insurance.
I realize TN did not opt into the program so the state does not have to extend its version of Medicade to those under 65 or whatever the age is so I get why he does not qualify for that.
It's interesting to me that states are able to "opt out" of ACA... Isn't it a national program?
Sorry about butting in, but I've been following what people here think about the US health care system.
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exchanges
http://obamacarefacts.com/state-health-insurance-exchange.php
states foregoing $500 million federal money
http://www.medicaldaily.com/states-resisting-obamacare-will-forgo-500-million-federal-funding-leaving-1-million-americans-260100
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/obamacare-states_n_4086910.html
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/11/biggest-obamacare-losers-cities-states-wont-expand-medicaid/7537/
hospitals opting out
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/hospital-of-tomorrow/articles/2013/10/30/top-hospitals-opt-out-of-obamacare
insurance companies opting out
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/20/little-competition-insurers-some-states-obamacare-plans/2986795/
Something I didn't understand... healthcare.gov, or whatever that website is, is ONLY for people in the states that have opted out. If your state has it's own exchange or marketplace (Linda) you use its website... which probably works.
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Aaahhhh! Life is GOOD!
The local BP station is closed, shuttered, dark and there is a "for sale" sign up. Don't know how they lasted this long. Their business has been next to nothing since the little incident in the Gulf. Bye bye, ta ta, write when you get work.
AND McDonald's is going to be open all day Thanksgiving.
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Something I didn't understand... healthcare.gov, or whatever that website is, is ONLY for people in the states that have opted out. If your state has it's own exchange or marketplace (Linda) you use its website... which probably works.
Yes, Sherry, California's exchange works very well. When CBS did a report last week, CA lead the country in the amount if signups.
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I don't think Greg would be interested!!
blast from the past! Parenthetically!
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It's interesting to me that states are able to "opt out" of ACA... Isn't it a national program?
When the Supreme Court ruled (summer, 2012) that ACA was Constitutional, they did make one change -- that states could opt out. And that change causes a world of hurt for the people who need to sign up for healthcare in those states that aren't participating.
The government is trying to provide exchanges for those states. The people living in the states that are participating in ACA are having a much better experience, overall.
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blast from the past! Parenthetically!
Yep, Ellen!!
Now it is Episodically!! 8)
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http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20757139,00.html
Terminally Ill Woman Travels Cross-Country to Legally Marry Her Partner
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Thank you for the links, Sherry.
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When the Supreme Court ruled (summer, 2012) that ACA was Constitutional, they did make one change -- that states could opt out. And that change causes a world of hurt for the people who need to sign up for healthcare in those states that aren't participating.
The government is trying to provide exchanges for those states. The people living in the states that are participating in ACA are having a much better experience, overall.
Thank you, Ellen.
While people in the participating states are better off health-wise, apparently they’re the ones whose Federal taxes will be used “to take care of anti-ObamaCare states’ constituents.” *
Why should the government bother about the “opt-out” states? ???
After all, they made their choice, so it’s unfair that others should cover for them.
Obamacare Struggles Even Worse In States That Resisted It
The Obama administration aims to sign up 7 million people for private insurance via the exchanges. This enormous task, challenging under ideal circumstances, is made more difficult by the decisions of many states -- mostly Republican-led and including nearly the entire South -- to resist the law's implementation.
As a result, the reach of Obamacare's enrollment drive is expected to vary widely. Fewer uninsured people are expected to get coverage in places like Virginia, which is doing next to nothing to help its residents sign up, than in places like the [strongly Democratic] District of Columbia, which embraced the law's goals. ... [and] opted to build its own health insurance exchange, and the entire apparatus of the District government is behind the project. Sixteen other states also built their own exchanges. By contrast, Virginia is among the more than 30 states that declined to create their own health insurance marketplace, leaving it to the federal government...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/obamacare-states_n_4086910.html
As an outsider it seems silly to me that a national health care plan designed to help “poor working families” and the 44 million people “who couldn’t [before ACA] afford health insurance” ** hasn’t been accepted country-wide because states are able to choose not to participate—the ACA is either a national health care system or it’s not (certainly not the fragmented thing it's become, with “average Americans caught in the crossfire,” as I read somewhere).
Medicare, our national health care system, provides for all Australian citizens and residents (including Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders): free treatment in public hospitals, subsidised treatment from medical practitioners and a Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme subsidising the costs of prescription medicines, with a PBS Safety Net in which medicines are free for the rest of the year once a threshold is reached. We also have an elective Private Health Insurance system which provides services not, or only partly, covered by Medicare and which the government supports by providing income tax rebates on premiums of 30% (increasing to 35% and 40% for people 65 and over).
I’m tempted to say that perhaps it was easier for our Medicare to be introduced in 1984 because we haven't as many states—and no GOP (although that’s currently debatable. ::) )
The new tax related provisions in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) include tax hikes, limits to deductions, tax credits, tax breaks, and other changes.
While a few of the changes directly affect the average American, tax increases primarily affect high earners (those making over $200,000 as an individual or $250,000 as a family) ... (as they should—those who make more should pay more, those who make less should pay less) ... while tax credits primarily affect (benefit?) low-to-middle income Americans (again, as they should).***
* http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-pros-and-cons.php
** http://obamacarefacts.com/
*** http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-taxes.php
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The government has even more of a duty to look after poor people in the "opt out states" surely, because they may well not have voted for the Republican administration that controls their healthcare needs?
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They didn't opt out of Obamacare. They opted out of changing their Medicaid programs and accepting federal funds to do so and they opted out of setting up state run "exchanges" or "marketplaces." Taxpayers were and are still going to be paying for caring for the poor so what difference does it make if the money comes from the right hand or the left?
The ACA does not give the US "universal" or socialized health care. It is a completely different system than what Canada, GB, Australia, etc. has. It is certainly flawed and will take some time to get working BUT it is a beginning.
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They didn't opt out of Obamacare. They opted out of changing their Medicaid programs and accepting federal funds to do so and they opted out of setting up state run "exchanges" or "marketplaces." Taxpayers were and are still going to be paying for caring for the poor so what difference does it make if the money comes from the right hand or the left?
The ACA does not give the US "universal" or socialized health care. It is a completely different system than what Canada, GB, Australia, etc. has. It is certainly flawed and will take some time to get working BUT it is a beginning.
That's the way I see it, too.
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Virginia state senator and former gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds is in critical condition following an incident with his son on Tuesday.
His son, 24-year-old Austin Creigh "Gus" Deeds, is dead of a gunshot wound, reports The Recorder.
"Bath law enforcement and rescue personnel responded around 7:30 this morning to a report of a shooting and stabbing on Vineyard Drive, off Route 42, in Millboro, with two male victims – one with multiple stab wounds to the shoulder and torso; another with a gunshot wound to the head," the newspaper reported Tuesday.
Sen. Deeds, 55, is being treated for injuries from multiple stab wounds at the University of Virginia Medical Center.
Deeds, a former Bath County prosecutor, was elected to the House of Delegates in 1991 and to the state Senate in 2001, in a special election after the death of Emily Couric. He ran for attorney general in 2005, but lost to Republican Bob McDonnell.
The margin of victory was fewer than 400 votes out of nearly 2 million cast. Deeds and McDonnell squared off again in 2009 in the race for governor after Deeds defeated Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran in the Democratic Party, but Deeds lost.
Deeds, a rural Democrat who drafted a constitutional amendment guaranteeing Virginians' right to hunt, long enjoyed support from the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20757374,00.html
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Gus stabbed his father, then shot himself.
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In fact, of 11 states that are running their own online sign-ups and have delivered progress reports, all are doing better than the federal website HealthCare.gov, which 36 states are relying on.
The performance gap is a sign of how the federal website has been, by the admission of its own creators, marred by management failures including inadequate testing. It also reflects the fact that it’s easier to create a website for residents and insurance firms in a single state than for dozens of them.
Important, too, to this comparison is the politics of Obamacare. It’s no secret that the law – with its “individual mandate” for Americans to buy insurance and its imposition of new federal standards for acceptable coverage – is more popular in Democratic-leaning states than in conservative ones.
The ACA gave states the option of setting up their own exchanges, and those that did so tend to be those in which both officials and the public generally welcome the law.
“We made this work, and it's worked actually pretty well,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D) of Rhode Island said at a recent hearing on Obamacare in the US Senate.
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• The 11 states that run their own websites and have given progress reports account for about 30 percent of America’s population, but 75 percent of total enrollments during the first month of Obamacare exchanges.
• When states are ranked by the share of potential enrollees who have already signed up, these 11 states capture the top 11 spots. In other words, no state relying on the Obama administration to manage its exchange did better than Maryland, which had the poorest-performing state-run website. The numbers for potential enrollment, by state, come from analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research group.
• All 11 state-run exchanges had at least 1,000 enrollees, led by California at 35,364. By contrast, of the 36 states using HealthCare.gov, 27 had fewer than 1,000 enrollees.
• Within the 11 states running their own exchange websites, results vary widely. Vermont and Connecticut have done a lot better than Minnesota or Nevada, in the share of potential enrollees signed up. Maryland, where website users have run into significant technical challenges, is signing up people at a pace only slightly faster than Delaware, a neighboring state that’s relying on HealthCare.gov.
Even in the states where enrollment is going fastest, the sign-ups are just getting started.
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates the potential pool of shoppers on Obamacare exchanges at nearly 29 million Americans in all 50 states. Those are people who, for instance, don’t have employer-based insurance or Medicare, and whose income is too high to qualify for Medicaid. Of these, more than half (17 million) would qualify for subsidies when buying insurance under the law.
http://news.yahoo.com/obamacare-sign-ups-states-own-websites-stack-014100012.html
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That we die does not prove that such a plan exists, and this is what the “traveller from an antique land” is saying when he relates what he saw in the desert.
While even mighty kings are mortal, and the monumental statuary they commission to memorialise their importance must succumb to the ravages of time, to become decayed “colossal wrecks,” Shelley’s 1818 sonnet is essentially acknowledging human mortality, not that there’s a Grand Plan.
That might be a contentious issue to those at the time who believed in the divine right of kings;
I wasn’t talking about rulers’ justifications of their god-given right to rule, another matter altogether, but about the fact that even "living gods" must eventually die.
... but IMO the fragments of ruined statuary, combined with the now-unknown ruler's boast, illustrates how transitory human power is. Any change in that has been only in one direction; i.e., the ability to destroy and make unlivable whole parts of the earth, or the entire planet, has been a reality for six decades at least. Human technology, including but not limited to nuclear weaponry has made that possible, which is why the faux humility displayed in skepticism about the human role in global warming (i.e., ''oh, it's just so arrogant to think that human beings could change the course of climate patterns') is either grossly ignorant or grossly dishonest. But we don't have the ability to go in the other direction undo it or rebuild what was destroyed once the destruction has happened.
There’s far more to humanity than an urge to destroy, or to demonstrate power, even if you refer only to the decades in which man has acquired the abilty to render the planet unliveable.
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Apologies in advance for possibly rambling... :)
What it also suggests is the futility of trying to construct a kind of quasi-immortality by imagining that instead of a personal existence after physical death, immortality can be understood to be the person "living on" in the memory of survivors. There are people who were famous and celebrated millenia ago whose names we don't even know; for most of us, the memory vanishes in only a few generations. Even when religious teachings make honoring ancestors a priority, war and other regional/global upheavals can scatter those to the winds. Oral history has managed to transcend that in some cases, but that, too, can be lost.
There are also people whose names we do know, and who are still famous, from past ages.
Your comment (that 'for most of us, the memory vanishes in only a few generations") is indeed valid, but overlooks what could be called humanity's non-destructive achievements, those in which fame and celebration play no motivational role.
The anonymous sculptor in Shelley’s sonnet* achieved a form of immortality regardless of his intention.
His work outlived not only its subject but also its creator; and while it too succumbed to the passage of time (as did Ozymandias, and his sculptor) it didn’t disappear entirely, even if only in a ruined form, but continued to exist—and even if only in a sonnet.
There are many whose works are now remembered, even if their creators didn’t consciously set out to immortalise themselves by demonstrating their power as a ruler (unlike Ozymandias), and so have so achieved a form of immortality, and not only in the realms of art (sculpture, painting, music, architecture) and literature over the last two or more thousand years (Praxiteles, Petronious, Chaucer, Bach, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Dante, Giotto, Raphael, da Vinci, Bernini, Rembrandt, Wren, Debussy, Monet and Stravinsky, to name a few).
Others have also achieved "immortality" for their work in philosophy, in medicine and the sciences—physics, astronomy, geography, mathematics—Archimedes, Pliny the Elder, Euclid, Plato, Galileo, Einstein, Lister and so on.
Even the creations of unacknowledged persons (e.g. Tim Berners-Lee, Fritz Haber, Leó Szilárd and Mary Anderson, for instance) have granted them a form of (albeit anonymous) immortality—which rather sounds like an oxymoron—but no different to the unknown artisans who built the Mayan and Egyptian pyramids, Minoan and Greek temples, Stonehenge and Medieval cathedrals, those who painted Egyptian tomb paintings, early Christian fresoes, and the anonymous potters, sculptors, metalworkers and composers who’ve contributed to humanity’s cultural development over the millenia—and not because they wished to immortalise themselves, or that they considered their efforts to be futile.
Gore Vidal put it very well, I think, when he said,
“The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with his private vision the deeds and thoughts of men.
The creation of a work of art, like an act of love, is our one small yes at the center of a vast no.”
The vast majority of people ever born have become totally obscure very quickly.
Which is perhaps as it should be—can you imagine how boring life would be if everyone was the same?
Even the futurist scenarios of Orwell and Huxley supported hieratical differentiation.
* Allegedly inspired by news of the discovery in Egypt of a colossal carved head of the Pharoah Rameses II, which he never saw as it didn’t arrive in England until six months after the sonnet was published, by which time Shelley and his family had moved to Italy.
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So, how do you like him now?
Snowden Leak Reveals Europe's Role in Mass Surveillance Programs
According to documents passed to the Guardian by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, British eavesdropping agency GCHQ has been working in close cooperation with a host of European nations to covertly tap into citizens’ communications. German, French, Spanish, and Swedish intelligence services have “all developed methods of mass surveillance of internet and phone traffic over the past five years” alongside GCHQ, the newspaper reported Friday.
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But though these countries may not be engaging in surveillance that is as broad and aggressive as the programs operated by the United States and the United Kingdom, it is clear that they are playing at least some sort of contributory role. The documents cited by the Guardian reportedly say that GCHQ has been assisting Germany’s secret services to push for broader surveillance powers. GCHQ describes Germany’s federal intelligence service as having "huge technological potential and good access to the heart of the internet.” France is described as a “highly motivated, technically competent partner” who works with GCHQ on a "cooperate and share" basis.
And much more
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/11/01/snowden_leak_reveals_europe_s_role_in_mass_surveillance_programs.html
And on the BBC World News program on PBS this morning, Canada and Australian where also prominently featured.
Te he he. Guess it was a matter of the pot calling the kettle black. No apologies necessary or expected.
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Apologies in advance for possibly rambling... :)
There are also people whose names we do know, and who are still famous, from past ages.
Your comment (that 'for most of us, the memory vanishes in only a few generations") is indeed valid, but overlooks what could be called humanity's non-destructive achievements, those in which fame and celebration play no motivational role.
The anonymous sculptor in Shelley’s sonnet* achieved a form of immortality regardless of his intention.
His work outlived not only its subject but also its creator; and while it too succumbed to the passage of time (as did Ozymandias, and his sculptor) it didn’t disappear entirely, even if only in a ruined form, but continued to exist—and even if only in a sonnet.
There are many whose works are now remembered, even if their creators didn’t consciously set out to immortalise themselves by demonstrating their power as a ruler (unlike Ozymandias), and so have so achieved a form of immortality, and not only in the realms of art (sculpture, painting, music, architecture) and literature over the last two or more thousand years (Praxiteles, Petronious, Chaucer, Bach, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Dante, Giotto, Raphael, da Vinci, Bernini, Rembrandt, Wren, Debussy, Monet and Stravinsky, to name a few).
Others have also achieved "immortality" for their work in philosophy, in medicine and the sciences—physics, astronomy, geography, mathematics—Archimedes, Pliny the Elder, Euclid, Plato, Galileo, Einstein, Lister and so on.
Even the creations of unacknowledged persons (e.g. Tim Berners-Lee, Fritz Haber, Leó Szilárd and Mary Anderson, for instance) have granted them a form of (albeit anonymous) immortality—which rather sounds like an oxymoron—but no different to the unknown artisans who built the Mayan and Egyptian pyramids, Minoan and Greek temples, Stonehenge and Medieval cathedrals, those who painted Egyptian tomb paintings, early Christian fresoes, and the anonymous potters, sculptors, metalworkers and composers who’ve contributed to humanity’s cultural development over the millenia—and not because they wished to immortalise themselves, or that they considered their efforts to be futile.
Gore Vidal put it very well, I think, when he said,
“The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with his private vision the deeds and thoughts of men.
The creation of a work of art, like an act of love, is our one small yes at the center of a vast no.”
Which is perhaps as it should be—can you imagine how boring life would be if everyone was the same?
Even the futurist scenarios of Orwell and Huxley supported hieratical differentiation.
* Allegedly inspired by news of the discovery in Egypt of a colossal carved head of the Pharoah Rameses II, which he never saw as it didn’t arrive in England until six months after the sonnet was published, by which time Shelley and his family had moved to Italy.
Yes, that's all very nice, if rambling; but it has no relevance whatsoever to my statement that the vast majority of people who have ever lived on this planet were totally forgotten within just a few generations. Even people who are world famous in their lifetimes, for 15 minutes or otherwise, have no guarantee. This planet has been host to billions of human beings since the human species evolved.
The notion that a facsimile of a belief in life after death can be pasted together in the form of immortality via memory is perennially popular; but it can be applied to only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of people who have ever lived. It's no more workable than many people find beliefs in heaven and hell to be.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2511221/Slave-owner-couple-bailed-captive-women-freed-London-house-horrors-following-30-years-servitude-police-search-victims.html
How can these sort of things happen in this so called civilised world? Not much information has been released about these women yet.
Too traumatised. Hope they lock up the folk that did this ....and throw away the key.....just like they did to them.
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They didn't opt out of Obamacare. They opted out of changing their Medicaid programs and accepting federal funds to do so and they opted out of setting up state run "exchanges" or "marketplaces."
I thought I had a fair grasp of what was going on, but apparently not. :'(
Perhaps I was distracted by unnecessary apostrophes in some of the links you provided...
“ObamaCare health care reform is now the law of the land, albeit with some major changes made in the supreme court ruling.
Some of the major changes include State's being able to opt-out of expanding Medicaid to it's poorest and not implementing health insurance marketplaces.
Luckily the Federal Government creates health insurance marketplaces/exchanges for State's who opt-out, but their poor will remain uncovered [...]” *
... when I clearly should have been paying closer attention. :D
But thank you for the clarification.
* http://obamacarefacts.com/
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Yes, that's all very nice, if rambling; but it has no relevance whatsoever to my statement that the vast majority of people who have ever lived on this planet were totally forgotten within just a few generations.
I disagree that my post had “no relevance whatsoever” to your statement.
In the interests of discussion I took it further by writing about those few (in all the billions) who haven’t been forgotten “within just a few generations.”
You mentioned in an earlier comment that the nature of human power was transitory, that any change which has occurred was in one direction only—from human memorials to those in which the powerful now have the ability to destroy, to render the planet unliveable. Being unsure how this related to your point about memory (although for all I know you could have been suggesting that a dead planet was a memorial to its destroyers) I took it as a side issue.
My post continued my thoughts about the relationship between memorials to human “power” intended to be long-lasting (as demonstrated by Ozymandias), your references to memory and what I see as another form of memorial, the achievements of those in the arts and sciences whose works have outlasted their creators, granting them a form of immortality, as occurred with Ozymandias’s sculptor.
Even people who are world famous in their lifetimes, for 15 minutes or otherwise, have no guarantee.
Why did you say that even people “famous in their lifetimes ... have no guarantee” of being remembered, as if they somehow differ from other people simply because of their life-time fame?
It’s an interesting view of “famous people’s” intentions, but I suspect that the artists, composers, scientists, writers, et al I mentioned produced their respective works despite having no such guarantee.
I wonder how that would apply to those such as Socrates, Keats, Dickenson, Kafka, Poe, El Greco, van Gogh, Galileo, Thoreau, Monet, Gauguin, Seurat, Vermeer and Rodin, none of whom were “famous in their lifetimes.”
Their achievements were only acknowledged after their deaths. Perhaps they similarly didn’t consider a guarantee to be relevant to their work, let alone their lives.
Your introduction of one of Warhol’s off-hand comments seemed to suggest you have an interesting view of temporal relativism, that his reference to a fleeting moment of stardom in the spotlight, to the short-lived celebrity fame of popular culture in a technological age is somehow applicable to previous periods in history—not so, I’m afraid.
I’m surprised you didn’t go the whole hog and describe Praxiteles, Petronious, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, Giotto, Raphael, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Bernini, Wren, Bach, Debussy and Stravinsky and the like as “nine day wonders.”
edited to correct a spelling error
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This planet has been host to billions of human beings since the human species evolved.
Yes, I got that—also that the vast majority of those billions are unremembered...
The notion that a facsimile of a belief in life after death can be pasted together in the form of immortality via memory is perennially popular; but it can be applied to only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of people who have ever lived.
That sounds somewhat contradictory.
The popularity of a belief (i.e. one prevalent among the general public, or liked by many people) surely cannot be held by only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of people who ever lived, even if only on a year-long basis (i.e. perennially).
Surely a “popular” belief (if such a thing existed) would be one held by the rest of the people in the percentage, the majority of those who ever lived.
It's no more workable than many people find beliefs in heaven and hell to be.
How do you know that?
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Yes, I got that—also that the vast majority of those billions are unremembered...
[channeling Jerry Seinfeld] I don't think you do.
That sounds somewhat contradictory.
The popularity of a belief (i.e. one prevalent among the general public, or liked by many people) surely cannot be held by only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of people who ever lived, even if only on a year-long basis (i.e. perennially).
Surely a “popular” belief (if such a thing existed) would be one held by the rest of the people in the percentage, the majority of those who ever lived.
How do you know that?
Here's the statement you were replying to:
The notion that a facsimile of a belief in life after death can be pasted together in the form of immortality via memory is perennially popular; but it can be applied to only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of people who have ever lived.
I have no idea how you drew such a conclusion from that but the idea of an imaginary immortality in the form of survivors' loving memories -- or fame -- has indeed been perenially popular, somewhat like the McRib or the color chartreuse. But it certainly hasn't been popular with the vast majority of people who have ever lived, including most of those who have heard of it. An idea can attain a certain amount of popularity without literally billions of people subscribing to it (with, in some cases, a certain effort in maintaining a straight face).
Again, being "immortal" in the memories of people come after you applies to a very, very tiny percentage of people who have ever lived on this planet. It has a certain believing-in-life-after-death-without-actually-believing-in-it cachet but for most of our species it simply doesn't apply. If there's any immortality it doesn't reside in anyone's memory after a person dies except for the first generation or two. And a few paragraphs about anyone's favorite famous people isn't going to change that. It's no more workable than the conventional idea of heaven or hell -- probably even less in fact -- because it applies to so few people.
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Thank god! The Tribal Elders say the US can keep troops in Afghanistan after 2014. Yea!
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And exactly why does the US and a couple other countries get to tell Iran... or any country... whether or not it an have a nuclear program, even one that is able and willing to manufacture weapons?
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And exactly why does the US and a couple other countries get to tell Iran... or any country... whether or not it can have a nuclear program, even one that is able and willing to manufacture weapons?
I sometimes wonder about that myself.
Not that I think it's a bad thing to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapon capability, but can you imagine if they tried to tell the U.S. that we can't do something or other? :D
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so the shutdown did not effect the BIG donations to the GOP from BIG business. Our system is SO broken. I can't take it anymore, when will people start waking up.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/23/tea-party-republicans-corporate-backing_n_4329597.html
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And exactly why does the US and a couple other countries get to tell Iran... or any country... whether or not it an have a nuclear program, even one that is able and willing to manufacture weapons?
Disingenuousness doesn't really suit you, Sherry. ;D
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This planet has been host to billions of human beings since the human species evolved.
Yes, I got that—also that the vast majority of those billions are unremembered...
[channeling Jerry Seinfeld] I don't think you do.
You made a straightforward statement which I said that I'd understood.
If you disagree please indicate in what way/s I’ve missed your point.
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Disingenuousness doesn't really suit you, Sherry. ;D
Apparently recognising an honest opinion isn't your strong suit either. ;)
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My apologies, Sherry.
I thought you understood why the US and some other countries were able to tell Iran whether it can have a nuclear program.
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Yeah, I know the theory they're using. But it seems they apply it rather arbitrarily, for one thing, and for another, what gives them the right? Next it will be telling some countries they have to, I don't know, sell them oil or face economic sanctions or something. What gives them the right?
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Finally! The truth begins to come out...
If canceled, not even 1% will pay more for Obamacare: Study
Just a "tiny fraction" of Americans stand to lose their current health insurance plan and pay more for coverage under Obamacare, a new study said Thursday as concern over canceled policies remained a pressing issue for the White House.
The analysis found that only 0.6 percent of people under age 65 are at risk of losing their individual plan and having to pay higher premiums for coverage approved by the Affordable Care Act, according to Families USA, the consumer health advocacy group that issued the study.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101218418?__source=yahoo%7Cfinance%7Cheadline%7Cheadline%7Cstory&par=yahoo&doc=101218418%7CStudy:%20%27Tiny%20fraction%27%20wi
and
Health insurance costs going up?
I get a lot of letters from people because, they think, the new health care law is leading to higher premiums for them. But when I dig into their stories, it seems that confusion and a rush to blame the Affordable Care Act are to blame. Consider these two stories:
Q. I used all my savings to pay medical expenses during a prolonged period of unemployment and health problems. I now have a job paying $40,000 a year to support myself and my son, a college student. My new employer doesn’t offer health insurance. The Kaiser subsidy calculator says I’ll be paying a monthly premium of $3,267. I can’t afford this! Obamacare will destroy me.
Q. I’m a Florida retiree on Medicare, but my wife is 57 and needs insurance. We live on my Social Security, $19,000 a year. What’s my choices? I hate Obummercare. Higher prices. High deductibles.
In fact, both these people are in line for major financial help to purchase health insurance.
The distraught Pennsylvania dad's mistake was easy to spot. He didn’t notice that the Kaiser Family Foundation’s subsidy calculator presents its results by the year, not the month. This father and son will actually be able to buy a Silver (midpriced) plan for $272 a month for both of them on their state’s Health Insurance Marketplace.
I used that same calculator to determine the cost of an “Obummercare” plan for the Florida man’s wife. The results showed pretty much the opposite of the “higher prices, higher deductibles” he was apparently led to expect. Because their income is barely above the poverty level, they will receive an enormous premium subsidy and his wife’s plan will cost $32 a month, less than the tab for a dinner for two of them at a sit-down chain restaurant.
Again because of her very low income, this premium entitles her to a special “Silver 94%” plan with extremely low out-of-pocket costs. I don’t have access to the specifics of these plans in Florida, but in California, a Silver 94% plan has a $0 deductible, a $3 copay for doctor visits, lab tests, and generic drugs, a $5 copay for specialist visits, X-rays, and brand name drugs, 10 percent coinsurance for hospitals and other high-cost services, and an annual out-of-pocket limit of $2,250.
It is true that not everyone will come out so well. A small number of people really are having to give up decent individual insurance that will be replaced with more costly or less generous coverage. But don’t let the politics surrounding the law discourage you from exploring your options. Not to sound like a broken record, but a good place to start is our free intractive tool, HealthLawHelper.org, which will tell you if you are in line for financial help and let you know what to do next.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/health-insurance-costs-going-154500907.html
My vet said her (and her husband's) health insurance was cancelled. They are close to 60 and had paid tons of money for almost 35 year for a policy that suited them. After talking to a number of new companies, they made use of a website that helps people sort through what they need and where to get it and found a new policy. It offers increased overage and costs less. Her annoyance was that they had to find a new policy but the savings made up for it. (They did NOT use healthcare.gov)
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1 Dead in Chopper Pub Crash, Toll Expected to Rise
By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD and BEN McCONVILLE Associated Press
Scottish emergency workers were sifting through wreckage Saturday for survivors of a police helicopter crash onto a crowded Glasgow pub that has killed at least one person and injured more than two dozen. The number of fatalities is expected to rise, officials said.
The Clutha pub, near the banks of the River Clyde, was packed Friday night and a ska band was in full swing when the chopper slammed through the roof.
Search and rescue teams are hoping to find survivors even though police couldn't say for sure whether people were still trapped inside the pub. The crash happened on the eve of St. Andrew's Day, Scotland's official national holiday.
"This is a black day for Glasgow and Scotland but it's also St Andrew's Day, and it's a day we can take pride and courage in how we respond to adversity and tragedy," Scottish leader Alex Salmond said, later ordering that flags outside government buildings be flown at half-staff.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/helicopter-crashes-roof-glasgow-pub-21053638
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That accident is just awful, it isn't something you could even contemplate happening.
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Yeah, I know the theory they're using. But it seems they apply it rather arbitrarily, for one thing, and for another, what gives them the right? Next it will be telling some countries they have to, I don't know, sell them oil or face economic sanctions or something. What gives them the right?
Entangling alliances have something everything to do with it, via both government and business. But complexity goes out the window when righteous statements about telling all & sundry what to do are being flung about. ::)
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Maybe it is lingering turkey-fog, but I, for one, have no clue what you just said.
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Maybe it is lingering turkey-fog, but I, for one, have no clue what you just said.
Lol,,
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Metro North train derails in NYC; 4 dead, 63 injured
A Metro North train bound for New York City derailed along the Hudson River early Sunday, killing four people and injuring 63, officials said.
The train was en route to New York's Grand Central Station from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., when it derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx.
It's unclear how many passengers were on board the train when it derailed. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the train's operator was among those injured.
more...
http://news.yahoo.com/metro-north-derailment-133919511.html
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Some are demanding the Medicare should be for all. Rep Alan Grayson from Florida.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-alan-grayson/medicare-expansion_b_4366549.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
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This doesn't surprise me at all:
Tom Daley admits to relationship with a man:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-25183041
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Well done, Tom! Still brave though.
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Well, you do know a man by his enemies. Rush Limbaugh is now launching mortar rounds at Pope Francis, calling his recent apostolic letter sad, and Marxist. I expected the right wing in this country to go bonkers after what is emerging as an historic break-down of the political alliance between evangelicals and right-wing Catholics.
And, Limbaugh did the usual tap-dance about the vast wealth of the church. He mentioned real estate. Would that be schools, Universities, hospitals, and the churches themselves?
I think Mr. Limbaugh's attacks are exactly what is needed to break down the ugly coalition. It will be interesting, to see how the Tea Party reacts. Perhaps losing Catholics and becoming ever more Cromwellian.
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Nearly 400 children rescued and 348 adults arrested in Canadian child pornography bust
By Daniella Silva, NBC News
Nearly 400 children have been rescued and 348 adults arrested following an expansive and “extraordinary” international child pornography investigation, Canadian police announced Thursday.
The three-year project, named Project Spade, began when undercover officers with the Toronto Police Service Child Exploitation service made contact with a Toronto man allegedly sharing “very graphic images” of child sexual abuse in Oct. 2010, Toronto Police Service Chief William Blair said at a press conference on Thursday.
Police said their investigation revealed an entire child movie production and distribution company in Toronto operating via the web site azovfilms.com.
The site was run by 42-year old Brian Way, according to police, and sold and distributed images of child exploitation to people across the world.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/14/21462256-nearly-400-children-rescued-and-348-adults-arrested-in-canadian-child-pornography-bust
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The notion that a facsimile of a belief in life after death can be pasted together in the form of immortality via memory is perennially popular; but it can be applied to only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of people who have ever lived.
That sounds somewhat contradictory.
The popularity of a belief (i.e. one prevalent among the general public, or liked by many people) surely cannot be held by only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of people who ever lived, even if only on a year-long basis (i.e. perennially).
Surely a “popular” belief ... would be one held by the rest of the people in the percentage, the majority of those who ever lived.
I have no idea how you drew such a conclusion from that but the idea of an imaginary immortality in the form of survivors' loving memories -- or fame -- has indeed been perenially popular, somewhat like the McRib or the color chartreuse.
I believe how I arrived at my conclusion is quite clear.
Your proposition was that a form of a quasi-immortality (rather than a physical existence continuing after death) can occur wherein a deceased person continues to live, albeit for only a few generations, within the memories of those who remain alive, until eventually all memories of the person fade.
In simple terms this can be stated as being “a (limited) life after death via the memory of others.”
People’s personal experiences, and common sense, would support this concept.
But you complicated this straightforward idea by introducing other factors—the issue of its popularity, not only as a belief per se but its popularity in relation to the entire human race.
Had you simply said that it was a popular idea, and left it at that, I wouldn’t have objected.
However, you quantified its popularity by introducing reference data against which its degree of popularity could be measured.
i.e. the number of people who'd ever lived (among whom this belief was popular with only the tiniest fraction of a percentage of those people).
As the percentage value to which you refer is not stated I took it to literally mean 1% (i.e. one hundredth) of that total number of people.
This figure which has been estimated* to be 107,602,707,791—or, in round figures, 108 billion (108,000,000,000)—of which 1% = 1,080,000,000 (one billion, eighty million).
What you described as “the tiniest fraction” was a little more difficult to determine.
No matter how small any fraction is it can always be divided further, but in the interests of simplicity I decided to use a fraction of one millionth** (1/1,000,000).
Using these figures I arrived at the following conclusion:
1% of 108,000,000,000 = 1,080,000,000 ÷ 1/1,000,000 = 1,080,000.
i.e. For every person who held the belief there were one million eighty thousand other people who didn’t.
The point I made earlier was that, by definition, “popular” refers to something which is generally accepted and/or acknowledged, liked, preferred and so on.
The odds against the belief being “popular” are therefore 1,080,000 to 1. ***
So it would be fair to say that,
a) while a belief in life after death in the form of immortality via memory might have been held by some people since the dawn of the human race,
b) as far as the vast majority of people who’d ever lived was concerned it was an unpopular belief.
* This depended upon when the human race came into existence, and although various human ancestors seem to have appeared at least as early as 700,000 BC and hominids appeared as early as several million years ago, modern Homo sapiens, according to the United Nations Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends, may have appeared about 50,000 BC. The figure of 107,602,707,791 was proposed by Carl Haub of the Population Reference Bureau (http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedonEarth.aspx).
** Using increasingly smaller fractions, such as one quadrillionth (1/1,000,000,000,000,000th), or centillionth (1 followed by 303 zeroes) would have been rather cumbersome.
*** Had I used a slightly smaller fraction, such as a trillionth (1/1,000,000,000,000th), the odds would have been even greater.
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An idea can attain a certain amount of popularity without literally billions of people subscribing to it (with, in some cases, a certain effort in maintaining a straight face).
I’m delighted to see that you’ve modified you initial claim to a “certain amount,” but it’s still a contradiction in terms.
It's a bit like saying Ethel was the most popular girl in her school, which conveniently avoids the issue that Ethel was highly unpopular just about everywhere else.
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Again, being "immortal" in the memories of people [who] come after you applies to a very, very tiny percentage of people who have ever lived on this planet. It has a certain believing-in-life-after-death-without-actually-believing-in-it cachet but for most of our species it simply doesn't apply.
I disagree that it would apply to such a small group of people, and that for most of our species it doesn’t apply.
Everyone on the planet has memories of deceased relations and/or friends, and while they might fade as the the years pass, others take their place in subsequent generations.
This has been going on for a very long time, and will continue to go on...
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If there's any immortality it doesn't reside in anyone's memory after a person dies except for the first generation or two.
While I believe I’ve already agreed with this comment I’m a little unsure why immortality has to be involved in the first place.
Admittedly, our discussion began with Shelley’s sonnet, and the impermanence of monuments memorialising human power, after which I raised the issue of long-lasting recognition of human achievements in the arts, literature and sciences.
But none of these (among whom I’d include Ozymandias’s sculptor, who was simply doing his job to the best of his ability) I suspect, could be described as being initiated by a desire for immortality, unlike the motivation which prompted Ozymandias to memorialise himself.
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And a few paragraphs about anyone's favorite famous people isn't going to change that.
But their achievements live on in their place, and it’s by these that they’re remembered.
Incidentally, if you’re subtly implying that the people I mentioned recently are my personal favourites, you’re sorely mistaken, and not only because the issue of having “favourites” misses the point entirely.
There are so many famous people in history that, far from filling a few paragraphs, they take up an infinite number of pages in a single, infinitely large, volume.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2Femoticons%2Fsmiley-12_zps28b65391.gif&hash=03c34e33fe1c7de5fe796799014019cfaa16985e) (http://s412.photobucket.com/user/rasalgethi_photo/media/emoticons/smiley-12_zps28b65391.gif.html)
Even if it is read back to front.
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Well done, Tom! Still brave though.
Our Tom is a bit of a local hero down your way, I understand.
He did come to Southend to train for the Olympics though!
Good on him anyway!
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Former South African President Nelson Mandela has died at age 95 of complications from a recurring lung infection.
The anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was a beloved figure around the world, a symbol of reconciliation from a country with a brutal history of racism.
Mandela was released from prison in 1990 after nearly 30 years for plotting to overthrow South Africa's apartheid government. In 1994, in a historic election, he became the nation's first black leader. Mandela stepped down in 1999 after a single term and retired from political and public life.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/nelson-mandela-dies-214057711.html
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May he rest in peace!
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Nelson Mandela. A reluctant hero. He ruled and inspired with grace and humanity. R.I.P.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519062/Nelson-Mandela-dead-95.html
Lots of nice pictures here!
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmemecrunch.com%2Fmeme%2FNIAA%2Fr-i-p-nelson-mandela%2Fimage.png&hash=c2529e5092e060d14ac931622f376b2bb04776f9)
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Nelson Mandela. A reluctant hero. He ruled and inspired with grace and humanity. R.I.P.
I agree. May he rest in peace.
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Amen.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmemecrunch.com%2Fmeme%2FNIAA%2Fr-i-p-nelson-mandela%2Fimage.png&hash=c2529e5092e060d14ac931622f376b2bb04776f9)
Uh, um. ... Despite what the url might say, that's not a picture of Nelson Mandela. That's a picture of Morgan Freeman, who played Mandela in Invictus. ...
In any case, a truly great man has gone to his final rest. His work here is done, may he indeed rest in peace.
Mandela, I mean. Not Freeman, not yet. ...
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv293%2FEABaldwin%2FDOWNLOADED%2520Images%2520from%2520the%2520Web%2F1aquote-mandela-hate.jpg&hash=34f7ba6e498932d3c337ad8411f781c3812f51de)
Might be a good one for the Daily! :-\
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Uh, um. ... Despite what the url might say, that's not a picture of Nelson Mandela. That's a picture of Morgan Freeman, who played Mandela in Invictus. ...
In any case, a truly great man has gone to his final rest. His work here is done, may he indeed rest in peace.
Mandela, I mean. Not Freeman, not yet. ...
::) And that's what happens when you don't pay attention. :D
Before I posted a pic, I read on Google that there were memes out there with quotes that Mandela did not say, but attributed to him. I just wanted one that said "RIP" on it, and that was the first one that said just that, so I put it up without looking at the pic. I should've known better.
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::) And that's what happens when you don't pay attention. :D
Before I posted a pic, I read on Google that there were memes out there with quotes that Mandela did not say, but attributed to him. I just wanted one that said "RIP" on it, and that was the first one that said just that, so I put it up without looking at the pic. I should've known better.
Aw, Chuckie. Bless your heart. :-*
Your heart was in the right place, Sweetie. :)
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Sanjay Gupta says whether the Affordable Health Care Act ends up improving health has a lot to do with whether Americans start making better personal decisions about eating, exercise and weight loss
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/02/opinion/gupta-health-optimize/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
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That's just dumb. Americans can improve their over all health withOUT Obamacare by "making better decisions, etc." Health insurance has nothing to do with improving people's health. It has everything to do with paying bills from bad health and no health care. I know the spiel about preventive care, but that ain't going to do it no matter how many people go running in to the doctor every time they burp. The ACA is insurance not a mandate to eat vegetables on smaller plates.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv293%2FEABaldwin%2FDOWNLOADED%2520Images%2520from%2520the%2520Web%2F1aquote-mandela-hate.jpg&hash=34f7ba6e498932d3c337ad8411f781c3812f51de)
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught.
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I agree 100 percent, thanks for posting that!
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Where is Paul?
Am sorely in need of those posts that deconstruct an issue semantically. That is a rare talent.
Anything going on in Oz, Paul ? If nothing else, am curious as to the reaction there that Australia is part of this multi-national snooping program. Are they taking the news pro or con ?
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If they're realists, they're taking it ho hum.
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/politicians-condemn-pay-rise-plans-29819769.html
So.....my suggestion is.....for the politicians......to accept the 11% payrise that they "don't want"....and donated
it to an appropriate charity to help people in UK. Perhaps to the 5 million people who are having to depend on food banks because even though some of them are in employment ....they are so low paid .....they qualify for free food.
Dusgusting. >:(
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http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20764749,00.html
Oops the President's in trouble!
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That's why every morning when I wake up I wish we had Rob Ford instead of Obama.
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Just can't see the problem.
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Just can't see the problem.
There is none. So, why attack him and NOT the other people. Hateful people.
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You would have to ask his wife! She went and sat in between them! :D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd123%2FMckitty_%2Fobamas_zps4c47ee16.jpg&hash=91979d529135c180f569e9b3788b093ab47b42ec)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd123%2FMckitty_%2Fhand_zpsae83778c.jpg&hash=236cceb7e0800aa1670773ab3975be1dc5aae662)
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Looks like he handled it just fine.
Wonder if he'd consider kissing Boehner's hand....
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Just can't see the problem.
I agree, Jess.
Michelle Obama Not Angry About President's Selfie, Says Photographer
“Photos can lie.”
So says Roberto Schmidt, the photographer who captured the image of President Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt as they took the now-famous group selfie at President Nelson Mandela's memorial in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“I read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved … but photos can lie,” Schmidt blogged. “Just a few seconds earlier, the First Lady was herself joking … Her stern look was captured by chance.”
Schmidt explained that the memorial was “more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid,” and that the American First Lady was not upset at her husband, as the photo seemed to imply.
“All around me in the stadium, South Africans were dancing, singing and laughing to honour their departed leader.”
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20765124,00.html
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There is none. So, why attack him and NOT the other people. Hateful people.
Any opportunity to pull others down, Tom.
The story behind "that selfie"
by Roberto Schmidt
I took these photos totally spontaneously, without thinking about what impact they might have. At the time, I thought the world leaders were simply acting like human beings, like me and you. I doubt anyone could have remained totally stony faced for the duration of the ceremony, while tens of thousands of people were celebrating in the stadium.
For me, the behaviour of these leaders in snapping a selfie seems perfectly natural. I see nothing to complain about, and probably would have done the same in their place. The AFP team worked hard to display the reaction that South African people had for the passing of someone they consider as a father.
We moved about 500 pictures, trying to portray their true feelings, and this seemingly trivial image seems to have eclipsed much of this collective work.
It was interesting to see politicians in a human light because usually when we see them it is in such a controlled environment. Maybe this would not be such an issue if we, as the press, would have more access to dignitaries and be able to show they are human as the rest of us.
I confess too that it makes me a little sad we are so obsessed with day-to-day trivialities, instead of things of true importance.”
http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post%2FSelfie#.UqhYPjuLhyU.twitter
I couldn’t agree more with Schmidt's final sentence.
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Yahoo has a different final sentence...
Schmidt claims he was surprised by the controversy his photos generated.
“I took these photos totally spontaneously, without thinking about what impact they might have," he wrote. "At the time, I thought the world leaders were simply acting like human beings, like me and you. I guess it’s a sign of our times that somehow this image seemed to get more attention than the event itself. Go figure.”
Go figure indeed.
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You would have to ask his wife! She went and sat in between them! :D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd123%2FMckitty_%2Fobamas_zps4c47ee16.jpg&hash=91979d529135c180f569e9b3788b093ab47b42ec)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd123%2FMckitty_%2Fhand_zpsae83778c.jpg&hash=236cceb7e0800aa1670773ab3975be1dc5aae662)
Apparently Mrs Obama wasn’t the only one playing musical chairs... :D
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These photos could easily be prey for a captions thread of current events (if we had one) :). Seriously, they do seem to suggest an irate wife and a repentant hubbie.
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Yahoo has a different final sentence...
Schmidt claims he was surprised by the controversy his photos generated.
“I took these photos totally spontaneously, without thinking about what impact they might have," he wrote. "At the time, I thought the world leaders were simply acting like human beings, like me and you. I guess it’s a sign of our times that somehow this image seemed to get more attention than the event itself. Go figure.”
Go figure indeed.
Yes, it’s a sad reflection on what’s considered to be newsworthy nowadays.#
However, while the quote to which you refer is indeed Schmidt’s final sentence as published by Yahoo (http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/20278551/photographer-on-michelle-obamas-reaction-to-selfie-photos-can-lie/) it’s an incorrect edit of his blog site’s second paragraph, and also not his actual final sentence.
What he actually said was,
“In general on this blog, photojournalists tell the story behind a picture they’ve taken. I’ve done this for images from Pakistan, and India, where I am based. And here I am again, but this time the picture comes from a stadium in Soweto, and shows people taking a photo of themselves. I guess it’s a sign of our times that somehow this image seemed to get more attention than the event itself. Go figure.”
His blog’s tenth paragraph contains his actual final sentence, as I’d stated.
# According to the New York Post (http://nypost.com/2013/12/10/michelle-annoyed-by-obamas-selfie-at-mandela-memorial/) Mrs Obama was “gritting her teeth in rage,” had “an icy glare” and was “appalled,” “furious and mortified” over her husband’s “inappropriate behaviour as he continued to laugh, flirt and whisper” with the Danish Prime Minister.
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Yes, it’s a sad reflection on what’s considered to be newsworthy nowadays.#
However, while the quote to which you refer is indeed Schmidt’s final sentence as published by Yahoo (http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/20278551/photographer-on-michelle-obamas-reaction-to-selfie-photos-can-lie/) it’s an incorrect edit of his blog site’s second paragraph, and also not his actual final sentence.
What he actually said was,
“In general on this blog, photojournalists tell the story behind a picture they’ve taken. I’ve done this for images from Pakistan, and India, where I am based. And here I am again, but this time the picture comes from a stadium in Soweto, and shows people taking a photo of themselves. I guess it’s a sign of our times that somehow this image seemed to get more attention than the event itself. Go figure.”
His blog’s tenth paragraph contains his actual final sentence, as I’d stated.
# According to the New York Post (http://nypost.com/2013/12/10/michelle-annoyed-by-obamas-selfie-at-mandela-memorial/) Mrs Obama was “gritting her teeth in rage,” had “an icy glare” and was “appalled,” “furious and mortified” over her husband’s “inappropriate behaviour as he continued to laugh, flirt and whisper” with the Danish Prime Minister.
G R O A N
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This is not really news and Current events but it is a Hot Topic so..
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Fromanpriests1_zps4dd30961.gif&hash=9733bb1d6b1e05eb09f7225bb01f004912ddae21)
Get ready for the 2014 Roman Priest Calendar.
The Vatican's Hottest REAL Priests Are On Display In 2014 'Roman Priest Calendar' -
But the Venice-based photographer behind the calendar, Piero Pazzi, insists the portraits are purely intended to promote the Eternal City and inform visitors about the Vatican.
They are all genuine priests, usually snapped in Rome during Holy Week, he tells The Local. He also travels to Seville to capture clergymen during the Spanish city’s Holy Week procession.
“I meet most of them on the streets in Rome and ask to take their photos,” he says.
The priests do not supply their name but “most are happy to be photographed after I tell them the reason for the calendar,” adds Pazzi, who launched the calendar in 2003.
“I do the same in Seville. Yes, the men are good-looking, but it is just a product, a way for people to be better informed about the Vatican.”
- See more at: http://instinctmagazine.com/post/vaticans-hottest-real-priests-are-display-2014-roman-priest-calendar#sthash.mvjb75U9.yWGti8qU.dpuf
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G R O A N
My sympathies, Sherry.
I’d groan too if I discovered a primary source had been misquoted. :)
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This is not really news and Current events but it is a Hot Topic so..
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Fromanpriests1_zps4dd30961.gif&hash=9733bb1d6b1e05eb09f7225bb01f004912ddae21)
Get ready for the 2014 Roman Priest Calendar.
The Vatican's Hottest REAL Priests Are On Display In 2014 'Roman Priest Calendar' -
But the Venice-based photographer behind the calendar, Piero Pazzi, insists the portraits are purely intended to promote the Eternal City and inform visitors about the Vatican.
They are all genuine priests, usually snapped in Rome during Holy Week, he tells The Local. He also travels to Seville to capture clergymen during the Spanish city’s Holy Week procession.
“I meet most of them on the streets in Rome and ask to take their photos,” he says.
The priests do not supply their name but “most are happy to be photographed after I tell them the reason for the calendar,” adds Pazzi, who launched the calendar in 2003.
“I do the same in Seville. Yes, the men are good-looking, but it is just a product, a way for people to be better informed about the Vatican.”
- See more at: http://instinctmagazine.com/post/vaticans-hottest-real-priests-are-display-2014-roman-priest-calendar#sthash.mvjb75U9.yWGti8qU.dpuf
I remember seeing these calendars on sale in Rome. It quite amused me st the time.
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"
:D People are already captioning!
Well done, Bubba !!!!
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This is not really news and Current events but it is a Hot Topic so..
- See more at: http://instinctmagazine.com/post/vaticans-hottest-real-priests-are-display-2014-roman-priest-calendar#sthash.mvjb75U9.yWGti8qU.dpuf
I think it's because they are so unattainable.....that makes them even more attractive !!!! Love the one with the longer hair on the top line.....and the one holding the book ::) ;D ( I'm so gonna go to hell) !!!
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This is not really news and Current events but it is a Hot Topic so..
Get ready for the 2014 Roman Priest Calendar.
The Vatican's Hottest REAL Priests Are On Display In 2014 'Roman Priest Calendar' -
But the Venice-based photographer behind the calendar, Piero Pazzi, insists the portraits are purely intended to promote the Eternal City and inform visitors about the Vatican.
They are all genuine priests, usually snapped in Rome during Holy Week, he tells The Local. He also travels to Seville to capture clergymen during the Spanish city’s Holy Week procession.
“I meet most of them on the streets in Rome and ask to take their photos,” he says.
The priests do not supply their name but “most are happy to be photographed after I tell them the reason for the calendar,” adds Pazzi, who launched the calendar in 2003.
“I do the same in Seville. Yes, the men are good-looking, but it is just a product, a way for people to be better informed about the Vatican.”
- See more at: http://instinctmagazine.com/post/vaticans-hottest-real-priests-are-display-2014-roman-priest-calendar#sthash.mvjb75U9.yWGti8qU.dpuf
Viewed the photos. I would do them all. Does that make me a slut?
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Yea I am Catholic and I had a Priest who looked like a male model, it was very uncomfortable! :D
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Viewed the photos. I would do them all. Does that make me a slut?
No, just human, Tom!! :D
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What's in the water in that small area in Colorado?
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I just heard about it......another school shooting, just before the anniversary of Newtown.
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Here are some nice pictures of Michelle Obama smiling at the Danish stateswoman. Doesn't fit the narrative, so these pictures are just emerging now. So she wasn't actually peeved but that was an interesting fantasy.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/photographer-who-actually-attended-mandela-service-undermines-columnist-s-premise?fb_action_ids=10202083886233942&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[659639037419872]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[]
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R.I.P. Peter O'Toole
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2FPeter-OToole-01_zpsd3925e28.jpg&hash=316fd699b95a39b7e3c8dc7786929b849bed40c2)
Peter O’Toole, star of ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ dies
The actor Peter O’Toole, who found stardom in David Lean’s masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia, has died aged 81, his agent has said.
The acclaimed leading man who overcame stomach cancer in the 1970s passed away on Saturday at the Wellington hospital in London following a long illness, Steve Kenis said.
O’Toole announced last year he was stopping acting saying: “I bid the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/15/peter-otoole-star-of-lawrence-of-arabia-dies/
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2013%2Fnews%2F131230%2Fpeter-otoole-300.jpg&hash=424c1d98da94011f8172fe1f1f3eee3ed9661330)
He looks like a young Heath, so handsome!
Rest in peace....
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Peter O'Toole had a special place in the heart of one of my friends on this forum. Won't use her name, as it may be too personal. But he was a great actor, and I hope my forum friend is taking this OK.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Ftom-laughlin-01_zpsd29acade.jpg&hash=add4f7f9da801784aa8958f0fdb63f2e29b04dc3)
Tom Laughlin, of ‘Billy Jack’ fame, dead at 82
Actor and filmmaker Tom Laughlin, star of the Billy Jack films of the late ’60s and early ’70s, died Thursday at sunset near his home in Thousand Oaks, California. He was 82.
Laughlin first rose to fame with the character of the native American motorcycle vigilante and martial artist Billy Jack in the 1967 independent film “The Born Losers,” which went on to commercial and critical acclaim. Laughlin produced and starred in three sequels. The first of which, the morally-ambiguous “Billy Jack,” remains one of the most financially-successful independent films of all time.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/15/tom-laughlin-of-billy-jack-fame-dead-at-82/
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Also Joan Fontaine:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Fjoan-fontaine-01_zpsee9c3180.jpg&hash=71cbf43c7fa7cc81293077599bfb415c549bcc81)
Oscar-winner Joan Fontaine dead at 96
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/15/oscar-winner-joan-fontaine-dead-at-96/
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Peter O'Toole had a special place in the heart of one of my friends on this forum. Won't use her name, as it may be too personal. But he was a great actor, and I hope my forum friend is taking this OK.
Tony, Peter will always have that special place in my heart. I am feeling so sad that he has passed away; I loved him since I was a young girl and first saw LOA. So great, so perfect, so beautifully handsome in that great epic film. You are right, this is so personal to me.
Such a great legendary actor and it is so so sad to think of him. Farewell, Lawrence, farewell, my beloved Peter. Always in my heart. Rest in peace, my dearest.
Thank you tony for thinking of me.
:-* :'(
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2013%2Fnews%2F131230%2Fpeter-otoole-300.jpg&hash=424c1d98da94011f8172fe1f1f3eee3ed9661330)
He looks like a young Heath, so handsome!
Rest in peace....
I feel the same way, bubba, and so sad.
Kathy :'(
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I thought of you too, Kathy. :-*
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As did I. :-*
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In unexpected news, a federal district court judge has ruled much of the NSA's sponge snooping unconstitutional. Score one for Edward Snowden :).
In related news, the Justice Department has dropped the treason charges against Paul Revere.
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And no one mentions Joan Fontaine?
Bad weekend for movie stars... but we're up to three, so it's all over.
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Actually Sherry, Gil mentioned Joan Fontaine about halfway up the page.
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Well, there's Audrey Totter too.
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To: Cally and janjo from Kathy --
Thank you so much for thinking of me re Peter. It's so much appreciated. I think it really hit me today 'cause my eyes are filling up too much. It's so hard to believe; I loved him so much. I honestly did.
(I was a young girl and seeing LOA for the first time, the greatness of his performance and the great film itself, that beautifully handsome face and those white robes...well, you get the point). He did many other super roles, but I suppose he'll always be Lawrence to me.
Charlie Rose once asked him: "You know what is going on your tombstone, don't you?" Peter nodded yes; Charlie went on to say "what do you think of that?" Peter answered "... proud of it". Wow, what an understatement.
Kathy :-* :-*
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Kathy is this you in the picture?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F25.media.tumblr.com%2F1d50f30a82e493b4bdba77611a33339c%2Ftumblr_mf4ottj7Hr1qdwmf8o1_1280.jpg&hash=da5c82592dd134f471326d24c0f801f9f151a3be)
;)
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Actually Sherry, Gil mentioned Joan Fontaine about halfway up the page.
Thanks. Sorry, Gil. I missed it completely because of Tom's announcement.
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Well, there's Audrey Totter too.
Audrey Totter makes 4. Had to look her up.
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In unexpected news, a federal district court judge has ruled much of the NSA's sponge snooping unconstitutional. Score one for Edward Snowden :).
In related news, the Justice Department has dropped the treason charges against Paul Revere.
Uhhh, I just sat through a tv report that said the fed court ruled the lawsuit against the NSA COULD CONTINUE because the data gathering MAY be unconstitutional.
It apparently had nothing to say about Snowden stealing and revealing national secrets or violating his confidentiality oath.
And it wasn't Paul Revere, it was Benedict Arnold.
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Uhhh, I just sat through a tv report that said the fed court ruled the lawsuit against the NSA COULD CONTINUE because the data gathering MAY be unconstitutional.
It apparently had nothing to say about Snowden stealing and revealing national secrets or violating his confidentiality oath.
And it wasn't Paul Revere, it was Benedict Arnold.
Well, Sherry, I guess we get our information from different sources.
* The court ruled that large parts of NSA activity were unconstitutional, and others questionable. But he issued a stay, so that higher courts could weigh in. His verdict: the Constitution had been breached.
* The Supremes have upheld tracking calls, before, back in 1979, but the judge said technology had made the ruling no longer sustainable. And also, the 3-step program made everybody too vulnerable. Too much invasion of privacy, and no proof of any value. Anybody who orders a pizza by phone falls under the 3 step application of snooping.
* Paul Revere warned against the arrival of government troops seeking to enforce abridgement of known liberties (see the listed complaints in the Declaration of Independence). Benedict Arnold switched sides to support the dubious Hanoverian dynasty, the oligarchy, and the suppression of understood common-law freedoms.
Admit it: You're still ticked off about Jamie Oliver and it has tilted you :).
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:D That damned Jamie Oliver!
And not only that, but that damned Mary Queen of Scots took off with the bastard son and didn't take Stirling with her.
However, when it comes to the courts and NSA we may be talking about two different stories, rather than two different sources. The one I heard yesterday was about some group suing the NSA and the court ruling there were grounds for the suit to continue. Late last night, actually at 4 this AM, I heard part of the story you were talking about, interspersed with bits from the CBS 60 Minutes story that aired Sunday night.
As for Paul, WE were the bad guys and he was working for us, therefore a good guy. The Brits may consider him a traitor, but he can just join the crowd in that case. Benny, on the other hand, screwed us, or tried to, and deserved what he got.
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Kathy is this you in the picture?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F25.media.tumblr.com%2F1d50f30a82e493b4bdba77611a33339c%2Ftumblr_mf4ottj7Hr1qdwmf8o1_1280.jpg&hash=da5c82592dd134f471326d24c0f801f9f151a3be)
;)
Nooo it isn't; but do I wish it was! Wow...look how tall and handsome he is. Actually, I'd probably be the same height she is too, right there in that special spot.
I always wanted to see/meet Peter :-* but he never came near here. I went to NYC to see him twice but somehow I missed him. And I really wanted to see him as the special guest for the interview on TCM in April, 2012 and see him place his hand prints and footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater (about time). Alas, the back wouldn't let me.
Still, I think I'd be too shy to go up to him; maybe I could get Robt. Osborne to take me or maybe I'd just stare at him and he'd notice me.
Boy, do I regret it now!
Kathy :-* :-*
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Also Joan Fontaine:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Fjoan-fontaine-01_zpsee9c3180.jpg&hash=71cbf43c7fa7cc81293077599bfb415c549bcc81)
Oscar-winner Joan Fontaine dead at 96
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/15/oscar-winner-joan-fontaine-dead-at-96/
I always thought Joan and Eleanor Parker were so pretty.
Kathy
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R.I.P. Peter O'Toole
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2FPeter-OToole-01_zpsd3925e28.jpg&hash=316fd699b95a39b7e3c8dc7786929b849bed40c2)
Peter O’Toole, star of ‘Lawrence of Arabia,’ dies
The actor Peter O’Toole, who found stardom in David Lean’s masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia, has died aged 81, his agent has said.
The acclaimed leading man who overcame stomach cancer in the 1970s passed away on Saturday at the Wellington hospital in London following a long illness, Steve Kenis said.
O’Toole announced last year he was stopping acting saying: “I bid the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/15/peter-otoole-star-of-lawrence-of-arabia-dies/
I think this is the heaviest he ever was; Peter's frame was always lean and tall. But oh boy just look at the golden-haired beauty in LOA.
RIP, me darlin' boy. I'll always love you.
Kathy :-* :'(
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“I read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved … but photos can lie,” Schmidt blogged. “Just a few seconds earlier, the First Lady was herself joking … Her stern look was captured by chance.”
That's probably true of a lot of unflattering, or strange-looking, photos we see posted here, on Facebook....
I have a part-time job transcribing some meeting minutes for the govt of a Kansas City suburb, and we've progressed from using cassette tapes to CDs to online videos. When you're transcribing from videos you have to stop and backtrack a lot, and the some of the split-second expressions on peoples' faces have to be seen to be believed. People often look drunk or half-asleep for like they're trying out funny faces to make kids laugh; one guy looked like he was bowed down with grief when all he was doing was looking at his notes. Once in awhile a freeze-frame will catch someone with their tongue stuck out.
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from the What Could Possibly Go Wrong? department Stephanie Miller did a hilarious routine about Amazon's proposal for deliveries-by-drone that must have been heard in this town:
Residents of Deer Trail, Colo. may soon be able to obtain permits allowing them to shoot drone aircraft out of the sky.
A judge ruled Tuesday that a petition drive to put a proposal to issue drone-hunting permits to a vote was legal, Denver TV station KUSA reported, setting the stage for a special election to decide the issue.
The small town has only 320 registered voters, according to KUSA. Only 19 signatures were needed to trigger the special election.
Deer Trail's mayor, Frank Fields, said the week before the court decision that a special election could take place after April 1 if a judge ruled in favor of the petition's supporters.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/colorado-town-to-vote-on-drone-hunting-proposal
Fast-forward a year or two and A&E will be running a "reality" show called Drone Dynasty.
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from the What Could Possibly Go Wrong? department Stephanie Miller did a hilarious routine about Amazon's proposal for deliveries-by-drone that must have been heard in this town:
Residents of Deer Trail, Colo. may soon be able to obtain permits allowing them to shoot drone aircraft out of the sky.
A judge ruled Tuesday that a petition drive to put a proposal to issue drone-hunting permits to a vote was legal, Denver TV station KUSA reported, setting the stage for a special election to decide the issue.
The small town has only 320 registered voters, according to KUSA. Only 19 signatures were needed to trigger the special election.
Deer Trail's mayor, Frank Fields, said the week before the court decision that a special election could take place after April 1 if a judge ruled in favor of the petition's supporters.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/colorado-town-to-vote-on-drone-hunting-proposal
Fast-forward a year or two and A&E will be running a "reality" show called Drone Dynasty.
It's not like Colorado citizens need another reason to drag the long gun out of the closet.
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I want the British justice system.
They've already tried and convicted the two terrorists who murdered Lee Rigby, a British soldier, in May this year.
Sentencing is next month.
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North Dakota says man in same-sex marriage may wed woman too
A man already married to another man in a state that permits same-sex marriage could wed a woman in North Dakota without breaking state laws, the state's top attorney has found.
The finding raises potentially complex issues about Social Security and death benefits, tax exemptions and even possible prosecutions for bigamy or polygamy, said a constitutional law expert.
Those issues are likely to arise more often with 16 states plus the District of Columbia now recognizing same-sex marriage while a majority of states still ban it, said Jeffrey Shaman, a professor at DePaul University's College of Law.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/north-dakota-says-man-same-sex-marriage-may-233235900.html
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State #17! A unanimous decision!
http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/2013/12/breaking-new-mexico-supreme-court-rules.html
The North Dakota case is begging for a Supreme Court ruling. Probably more people frown on bigamy than same-sex marriage.
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If you read the article, it makes perfect sense. Which is why it is necessary for the feds to get their asses in gear and make same sex marriage legal period.
As for bigamy, I personally don't care who marries whom or how many whoms they marry. It doesn't affect me.
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London (CNN) -- The hundreds of theatergoers who packed Thursday night into Central London's historic Apollo Theatre were expecting to watch a mystery.
But about 40 minutes into the play, shortly after 8 p.m., they got a drama instead.
"One of the actors said, 'Watch out!'" said one woman. "We thought it was part of the play."
It wasn't. Instead, it was part of the century-old structure's ornate plaster ceiling, which tumbled five stories onto the theatergoers, injuring scores of them, four of them seriously, officials said.
"We heard a creak, somebody screamed, somebody from over there said, 'Look out!' and then the ceiling kind of creased in the middle and then just collapsed," said Hannah, who with her husband had snagged one of the last pairs of tickets to the performance in the 775-seat theater.
Though she said she herself felt "slight panic," she credited those around her for keeping their calm. "It wasn't every man for himself," she said, noting that several of her fellow theatergoers checked on those around them. "Everyone was looking out for each other, and in a couple of minutes, everyone was out."
The London Fire Brigade's Kingsland Station Manager Nick Harding said about 720 people were inside when a section of the ceiling collapsed on the theatergoers, taking parts of the balconies with it.
An ambulance official put the number of "walking wounded" at 81, many of whom suffered head injuries.
"It was like slow motion," said one girl, who initially thought the sound of the falling ceiling was sound effects, but soon learned otherwise. "It just kinda came down."
Harding said what fell was a 10-meter-by-10-meter square section of the ceiling, and that it dragged down balconies with it.
"You initially thought it was part of the play and then you could feel things on you," said an older woman. "The dust that came down -- you couldn't see in front of you."
Metropolitan Police said those who were seriously hurt had been taken to hospitals in central London. None of the injuries appeared life threatening, one official said.
Within an hour, a spokesman for the fire department said everyone, including those who had been hurt, had been evacuated from the building.
Martin Bostock, who was with his wife and two children, said he thought the cave-in was part of the show until something very hard hit him on the head and chaos and panic erupted.
"You couldn't see across the room because of the dust, which we were all breathing in," he told CNN. "It was absolutely horrific and very terrifying. I was with my wife and two kids. Thank God, we got out."
The Apollo is located next to Piccadilly Circus in the Soho district, which is usually packed with tourists, shoppers and diners at theater time.
Within minutes, paramedics arrived carrying stretchers as police cordoned off the area.
A few minutes later, some of the paramedics emerged from the theater, their stretcher full; others helped someone limp out of the building.
Many of the injured were taken initially to the nearby theaters for an initial assessment of their condition by medical workers.
The initial police assessment of the collapse was that it was an accident. "There is no suggestion at this stage that this was as a result of a criminal act, however, at this stage we are keeping an open mind," Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Outside the Apollo, the street was packed with dozens of police, fire and ambulance vehicles as well as well-dressed theatergoers, some of their faces darkened with dust.
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," which was adapted to the theater from the 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon, is about a 15-year-old boy's investigation into the death of a neighborhood dog.
Ticket prices at the four-level theater, which opened its doors in 1901, included a 1 pound ($1.64) "theatre restoration levy," the theater's website said. It was not immediately clear whether the ceiling was part of the restoration of the building, which is owned and operated by Nimax Theatres.
Prime Minister David Cameron, in a tweet, commended the fast work of emergency services.
Now, what started as a mystery and veered into drama has again become a mystery, as engineers try to determine what caused the collapse.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/19/world/europe/britain-london-theater-collapse/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbreeders411.com%2Fblogfile%2Futahmarriage1.jpg&hash=5bf9f01755175bdfabaf1c0bf75cc9376f7079d0)
Seth Anderson, left, and Michael Ferguson, right, hold up their Utah marriage certificate and license.
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10th Circuit Court denies Utah's Emergency Motion for Temporary Stay
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert filed seeking an Emergency Motion for Temporary Stay following a federal judge’s ruling that struck down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage, and on Sunday the United States Court of Appeals Tenth District denied the motion.
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Where is Paul?
Am sorely in need of those posts that deconstruct an issue semantically. That is a rare talent.
I’ve been taking a break (apart from a brief tiptoe into the Michelle Obama issue) from the hurlyburly of the News Thread, Tony.
The effort required for “semantic deconstruction” of newsworthy issues (thank you for the compliment :)) can be a little draining, as does the fact that I’m also a rather slow typist...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520December%25202013%2Fslowtyping_zpse1f2b85a.jpg&hash=ed9935fdb0e1f98a417305887ffbeb6ba0392cd7)
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Anything going on in Oz, Paul ? If nothing else, am curious as to the reaction there that Australia is part of this multi-national snooping program. Are they taking the news pro or con ?
I don’t recall any notable reactions to Snowden’s revelations, apart from factual news reporting, until the Angela Merkel phone-tapping issue arose and even then it was, as Sherry suggested, rather “Ho-hum.” But things started to get more animated when our newly-elected Prime Minister put his foot in it regarding revelations in November that Australia had, four years ago, tapped the mobile phones of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, (Indonesia’s Prime Minister), his wife and top Indonesian officials. Indonesia then demanded an explanation and a personal apology from our PM, Tony Abbott, who did nothing. The results?
The Indonesian government [then] withdrew its ambassador (for just the second time in 60 years), lowered diplomatic relations and stopped intelligence sharing.
It ... suspended military and defence cooperation and halted two ongoing joint exercises—one in Darwin and one in West Java. Officials [said] they [would] withdraw cooperation in slowing people smuggling from Africa and elsewhere.
Indonesian officials are now publicly attacking Australians. Deputy Chairman of Indonesia's foreign affairs commission Tebagus Hasannudin described Tony Abbott as “lacking in diplomacy skills” among other insults.
Australian flags [were] being burned at demonstrations. Australia’s embassy [was] attacked by angry protesters. Some are calling for war against Australia and these calls are being reported in the region.
Kompas newspaper’s poll yesterday claimed eight per cent of Indonesians support a military strike against Australia. That’s a small percentage, but it’s twenty million people. #
To diplomats and observers with experience in South-East Asia, the required response was simply a prompt public apology, a promised investigation into how it came about and assurances it won’t happen again.
Once the offence became public, a brief grovel had to be public as well. This would certainly have averted the damage done already.
Abbott’s response instead was interpreted as “We can do whatever we want because we are superior to you.”
The following ABC News article, of 15 December, is a good example of Abbott’s way with words when talking about a neighbouring sovereign nation:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says it is "high time" Indonesia resumed cooperation with Australia to stop the flow of asylum seeker boats.
Indonesia suspended military cooperation on people smuggling operations following revelations that Australia attempted to spy on Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone and those of his wife and inner circle in 2009. The revelations were uncovered in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and reported by The Guardian and The ABC.
During a press conference on his first 100 days in office, Mr Abbott described the decision to suspend military cooperation as "singularly unhelpful" and ... urged Indonesia to reverse it.
"Given that people smuggling is a crime in Indonesia, just as it is a crime in Australia, I think it is high time that that cooperation was resumed," he said.
"But I accept that in the end what Indonesia does is a matter for Indonesia." ##
Abbott now expects that it will “blow over,” despite recent statements to the effect that Australia will continue to spy on Indonesia despite a new plan to repair relations between the two countries. ###
Back in November the Australian Broadcasting Commission, after being attacked for publishing the story of the spying scandal, posted an article in its defence:
Without fear or favour: why we broke the spy story
The ABC projects Australian democracy to the world not by acting as a mouthpiece for government, but by reporting the news as it is with rigour and independence.
That's why you'll continue to see us breaking stories like the one on Indonesian phone-tapping, writes Kate Torney.
These are strange days indeed when elements of the media are arguing that stories legitimately questioning the use of power should remain hidden because they may have too great an impact.
This is not an argument you normally hear from journalists.
In attacking the ABC for doing its job on the Indonesian phone-tapping story, our critics have employed a series of arguments, each one weaker than the last.
The first argument was that there was no story. Everyone spies, and so it is no surprise that Australia spies on Indonesia.
The problem with that argument is that this was never a story about whether all nations spy. It was a story about where the line in such activities is drawn in a world in which technology has made it possible to penetrate far deeper into government and personal activity. We all know that when the US was caught monitoring the phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel, both sides of US politics acknowledged it should not have happened and would not happen again. That acknowledgement happened because the media did its job.
The second argument was that the ABC simply published everything that Edward Snowden released without any consideration of the balance between the public interest and the interests of national security.
As the ABC's managing director made clear at Senate Estimates last week, that simply isn't true. We did not publish everything we had access to. We took advice from Australia's intelligence authorities on the matter, and redacted sensitive operational information which may have compromised national security. What was left was the central revelation which we considered then and consider now to be a matter of legitimate public debate. The allegation that we recklessly dumped unfiltered data doesn't stand up to the most cursory examination.
One of the maxims of a free press is that news is what someone somewhere doesn't want you to print: everything else is advertising.
It is rare that any story about potential abuse of power fails to result in repercussions and damage to reputations and relationships. It is easy to forget that it is the original act which is the problem and not the fact that it was brought to light.
That explains why our critics have now taken refuge in the most convoluted argument of all. It has been suggested that it would have been fine for any other media outlet to run the story, but not the ABC. The ABC, according to this argument, has a special responsibility to act in the "national interest" because its contract to run the overseas broadcaster, the Australia Network, means it is an arm of Australian foreign policy, with an obligation not to embarrass the nation or damage Australia's reputation.
So now, at last, the story has become a legitimate one, but apparently not for the ABC.
This is the strangest argument of all.
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-26/torney-why-the-abc-broke-the-spy-story/5116594
I believe this article “hits the nail on the head,” and not only with regard to the Indonesian spying scandal.
# http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/indonesia-crisis-entirely-of-tony-abbotts-making,5922
## http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-15/abbott-says-high-time-indonesia-resumes-cooperation/5157724
### http://www.news.com.au/national/we-will-still-collect-intelligence-on-indonesia-says-tony-abbott/story-fncynjr2-1226776843876
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Also Joan Fontaine:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2Fjoan-fontaine-01_zpsee9c3180.jpg&hash=71cbf43c7fa7cc81293077599bfb415c549bcc81)
Oscar-winner Joan Fontaine dead at 96
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/15/oscar-winner-joan-fontaine-dead-at-96/
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%2520Thread%25202013%2FNews%2520Thread%2520December%25202013%2FFontaine_Set_zps0163f04b.jpg&hash=dfbe07d5c255d1e387ba6cbcaecb9070ba4d64b6)
I’ve always liked Joan Fontaine’s deliciously cocked left eyebrow—what she could do with it was nobody’s business.
But as far as her death is concerned, I'd like to paraphrase Muriel Spark's remarks (when she spoke at Grahame Greene’s Memorial Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral in 1991) to reference Ms Fontaine:
“... she lived to a good old age. There is no tragedy in her dying. But certainly we will all miss her. We are aware of her absence.”
I thought that was a pretty good way of putting it—brief, succinct and unsentimental—and a fine valediction.
Valé, Joan.
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“I read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved … but photos can lie,” Schmidt blogged. “Just a few seconds earlier, the First Lady was herself joking … Her stern look was captured by chance.”
That's probably true of a lot of unflattering, or strange-looking, photos we see posted here, on Facebook....
I know what you mean, Marcia. ;D
For example:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbreeders411.com%2Fblogfile%2Futahmarriage1.jpg&hash=5bf9f01755175bdfabaf1c0bf75cc9376f7079d0)
Seth Anderson, left, and Michael Ferguson, right, hold up their Utah marriage certificate and license.
Seth's already, apparently, slyly trying to check the fine print for a possible loophole. :D
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Seth's already, apparently, slyly trying to check the fine print for a possible loophole. :D
Either that or he's already semantically deconstructing the documents.
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Great posts on the snooping scandals in Oz, Paul. We can get that info here, but it's usually way low on the news stories. Thanks, muchly :).
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Photo by Ryan McPherson (Pa Twist)
So far, there aren't yet plans for an American production, though Wuorinen says that there have been "nibbles" of interest,
and there will be a DVD of the Madrid production.
http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2014/1/Features/Love_in_the_Western_World.html
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This happened a few days ago, but I didn't get around to posting it before, due to Christmas:
Alan Turing given posthumous pardon for being homosexual:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25495315
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I thought this response in the Times letters yesterday expressed what I was feeling:
"The pardoning of Alan Turing is no less than a further insult to the great man. Pardoning implies guilt and it is therefore inappropriate....
It would be more appropriate to give Turing a posthumous apology and to annul the verdict which so destroyed his life."
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Great posts on the snooping scandals in Oz, Paul. We can get that info here, but it's usually way low on the news stories. Thanks, muchly :).
Thank you, Tony. I'd guessed that the issue wasn’t necessarily a high priority in the newsworthiness stakes elsewhere. ;)
People here might very well be aware of the results of the review into the NSA's surveillance, but as no posts have been made about them I've taken the liberty to make a few (as well as some reactions to the panel’s recommendations).
It’ll be interesting to see what President Obama decides to do about them...
Review urges wide-ranging overhaul of how NSA conducts surveillance
A review board set up following revelations of vast US surveillance programs has called for a wide-ranging overhaul of National Security Agency (NSA) practices while preserving "robust" intelligence capabilities.
The panel was set up by president Barack Obama after disclosures made by the fugitive American intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
It has issued 46 recommendations, including reforms at a secret national security court and an end to retention of telephone metadata.
The 308-page report says the US government needs to balance the interests of national security and intelligence gathering with privacy and “protecting democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law.”
The full report, Liberty and Security in a Changing World, was released publicly on 18 December and is available here (http://www.scribd.com/doc/192411963/Liberty-and-Security-in-a-Changing-World).
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-19/review-urges-wide-ranging-overhaul-of-nsa/5166662
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The New York Times published the following article in its “Room for Debate” (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/12/19/has-snowden-been-vindicated) section the following day:
Has Snowden Been Vindicated?
Edward Snowden faces espionage charges for taking records from the National Security Agency to reveal a massive web of surveillance on Americans, foreigners and even foreign leaders.
While some call him a traitor who has been hunted around the globe, others call him a hero for revealing the shocking extent of snooping in the name of national security.
But with a presidential panel calling for an end to the agency’s collection of all Americans’ phone-call records, two days after a federal judge called that program, which was revealed by Snowden, “almost Orwellian” and probably unconstitutional, can Snowden now be called a whistleblower and not a scoundrel?
The ensuing debate contained two affirmative arguments and one negative argument:
High-Level Confirmation He’s a Whistle-Blower
by Jesselyn Radack, national security and human rights director of the Government Accountability Project and a legal adviser to Edward Snowden.
A federal judge and a White House panel show real concern about government overreach, not fear about imaginary damage by Snowden.
The wheels of justice have turned swiftly in the past few days for Edward Snowden, proving that he is a whistle-blower who exposed abuse and illegality of the highest order by the National Security Agency, and that he does not deserve having the United States government threaten him with the crushing silence of a jail cell.
The significance of Judge Richard Leon calling the N.S.A.’s phone surveillance program “almost certainly” unconstitutional, and a White House panel recommending that the program be “terminated” cannot be overstated.
Read more here (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/12/19/has-snowden-been-vindicated/high-level-confirmation-that-snowdens-a-whistle-blower).
End His Prosecution
by Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Snowden.
Without Snowden, the president wouldn't even have drafted the panel that recommended changing the surveillance programs he revealed.
Edward Snowden has made our democracy stronger. He should be praised, not prosecuted.
Here are some things we’ve learned because of him:
The N.S.A. is collecting information about every phone call made on U.S. telephone networks — collecting information, daily, about hundreds of millions of innocent Americans. It is searching Americans’ international communications, retaining some untold number of them for years in databases that can be accessed without judicial oversight. It has subverted global encryption standards. It has even revived J. Edgar Hoover’s playbook, plotting to discredit “radicals” by exposing their penchants for pornography.
Read more here (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/12/19/has-snowden-been-vindicated/end-snowdens-prosecution).
A Battle That Snowden Is Not Winning
by lawyer Stewart Baker, the assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush.
Nothing that the panel report on the N.S.A. says vindicates Edward Snowden’s decision to violate the law and put masses of sensitive intelligence at risk.
Edward Snowden has managed to create a controversy over the N.S.A.’s collection of domestic telephone metadata. Winning the argument is a different matter.
One federal judge has ruled against the program, and 11 from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court have ruled for it. The issue is bound for the appellate courts -- and for Congress, which is reluctant to abandon a tool for identifying cross-border plots like 9/11 without a workable substitute. The president’s review group has proposed a substitute, but not an especially workable one. In short, the debate is on.
None of that vindicates Snowden’s decision to violate the law and his oath, or to put masses of sensitive intelligence at risk. Even if you like the debate, it’s hard to like the way Snowden and his journalist allies tried to game it -- withholding for nearly two weeks the court order limiting N.S.A.’s access to the metadata.
Snowden could have spurred the metadata debate by releasing just a handful of documents...
Read more here (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/12/19/has-snowden-been-vindicated/report-on-the-nsa-a-battle-that-snowden-is-not-winning).
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Mr. Obama’s Disappointing Response
By the time President Obama gave his news conference (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/us/politics/president-obama-news-conference.html?hp) on Friday, there was really only one course to take on surveillance policy from an ethical, moral, constitutional and even political point of view.
And that was to embrace the recommendations of his handpicked panel on government spying — and bills pending in Congress — to end the obvious excesses.
He could have started by suspending the constitutionally questionable (and evidently pointless) collection of data on every phone call and email that Americans make.
He did not do any of that.
Sure, Mr. Obama thanked his panel for making 46 recommendations to restore the rule of law and constitutional principles to government surveillance activities.
(The number alone casts a bad light on the president’s repeated claims that there really was nothing wrong with surveillance policy.)
And he promised to review those ideas and let us know next month which, if any, he intends to follow.
But Mr. Obama has had plenty of time to consider this issue, and the only specific thing he said on the panel’s proposals was that it might be a good idea to let communications companies keep the data on phone calls and emails rather than store them in the vast government databases that could be easily abused. But he raised doubts about such a plan, and he left the impression that he sees this issue as basically a question of public relations and public perception.
Mr. Obama, who six months ago said that he thought the data collection struck the “right balance” between security and civil liberties, said on Friday that the government had not abused its access to private information. He continued to defend the mostly secret, internal protocols that the government uses to prevent abuse.
He kept returning to the idea that he might be willing to do more, but only to reassure the public “in light of the disclosures that have taken place.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/opinion/mr-obamas-disappointing-response.html?src=recg&_r=0
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Even more recently...
Newly released documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal extent of US, British spying
Newly released documents have revealed more targets of British and American intelligence agencies, including a senior European Union official, Israeli government offices, foreign companies and aid organisations.
The Guardian, New York Times and Der Spiegel have published details of documents leaked by the fugitive US intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, which show that the agencies - the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart GCHQ - had a long list of surveillance targets.
The reported extent of the surveillance has upset many US allies and fuelled a heated debate about the balance between privacy and security, as Snowden remains living in Russia under temporary asylum.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-21/new-documents-reveal-extent-of-us-british-spying/5170920
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Lawmakers vow to constrain NSA from collecting U.S. phone records
By David G. Savage
December 22, 2013
WASHINGTON — The drive to end the bulk collection of phone records by the National Security Agency is gaining strength, as Senate Democrats said Sunday that Congress will change the law to ban the practice if President Obama does not do it first.
“It’s time to have real reform, not a veneer of reform,” said Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), a longtime critic of the NSA. “We have got to rebuild the American people’s trust in our intelligence community so we can be safe,” he said on ABC’s This Week. “But we don’t do that by bulk data collection that violates the privacy of Americans. That’s unconstitutional, and has shown to not be effective.”
Last week, a federal judge said the routine collection of the dialing records is probably unconstitutional, and a panel appointed by President Obama recommended a major change.
“We believe the government shouldn’t hold this data any longer,” Michael Morrell, a former acting director of the CIA and a panel member, said on CBS’ Face the Nation.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-nsa-phone-records-20131222,0,6798521.story#axzz2oHDKYgYI
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A spy world reshaped by Edward Snowden
Leaks from the former NSA contractor have been so illuminating that experts say they mark a turning point in U.S. intelligence operations.
By Ken Dilanian
December 22, 2013.
WASHINGTON — After news reports that the National Security Agency had secretly monitored German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone calls, America's top intelligence official was asked why congressional oversight committees were kept in the dark. Shouldn't Congress have been briefed, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) asked James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, about a spying operation that would embarrass the U.S. government if exposed?
"Well, sir, there are many things we do in intelligence that, if revealed, would have the potential for all kinds of blowback," Clapper replied at a House Intelligence Committee hearing in October.
"The conduct of intelligence is premised on the notion that we can do it secretly, and we don't count on it being revealed in the newspaper."
Not these days.
[...]
NSA officials say Snowden downloaded and removed about 1.7 million documents from computer networks at an NSA listening post in Hawaii where he worked until June. The haul included about 2,000 specific requests for NSA surveillance that officials say make up a digital road map of spying successes and gaps in such high-profile targets as Iran, Russia, North Korea and China.
The requests have not been made public. But other leaks from Snowden's cache have been so illuminating that experts say the disclosures will mark a turning point in U.S. spying, much as revelations of CIA assassinations and NSA domestic spying led to creation of the congressional oversight committees and new laws in the 1970s.
At least some change appears inevitable. In just the last week, events produced "a seismic shift in the movement for real surveillance reform," said Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a critic of NSA programs.
In Washington, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon issued a sharp rebuke to the NSA on Monday when he ruled that a major program that Snowden exposed — the secret logging of virtually every American's telephone calls — was "almost Orwellian" in scope and probably violated the Constitution. Leon stayed his ruling pending an expected government appeal. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and has been a staunch Capitol Hill ally for the embattled agency, announced that she would welcome a Supreme Court review to determine whether the bulk collection is legal.
The next day, the leaders of the nation's largest technology companies sat down with President Obama and complained that the NSA was damaging their reputations and undermining Silicon Valley's ability to sell computer hardware and cloud services, hurting the U.S. economy. (Privacy advocates have noted that they have been calling on leading technology companies to offer safeguards of their own against the use of personal information they gather.)
Several executives said some foreign customers had begun to reject American-made technology because Snowden's leaks showed that the NSA had enlisted tech firms and secretly tapped their data-transfer hubs. Some companies are facing lawsuits from shareholders demanding disclosure of any cooperation with NSA data-mining programs.
And on Wednesday, a presidential task force called for sweeping changes in NSA operations at home and abroad, including an end to the NSA's vast collection of U.S. telephone records. It said telephone companies or other groups, instead of the government, should keep the logs and allow the NSA access only if it obtains a court order.
Some critics say that's not enough.
[...]
The crosscurrents added pressure on Obama to act more forcefully. On Friday, he said at a news conference that he would make "a pretty definitive statement" in January to outline surveillance reforms, including support for at least some of the task force's 46 recommendations. "People are concerned about the prospect, the possibility of abuse," he said. But he said he was confident that the NSA was "not engaging in domestic surveillance or snooping around" on Americans.
The rest of Dilanian's detailed, informative article is available here (http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-nsa-snowden-20131222,0,7166210.story#axzz2oHDKYgYI).
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Paul, no sooner had I read your posts, then I heard the lead story on CNN: the NSA's TAO program, where they attach snoop-ware to lap-tops bought by mail, and also insert viruses into peoples PCs at will. As usual, they had the usual justifications.
At what point are we going to end the upward graph-line, and just admit this is a perverted area of human nature: voyeurism. Which, like rape, is more about aggression and seeking power than the obvious disorder.
Jungian psychology suggests extroverts don't mind a bit if they have no privacy. Life for them is all-day show-biz, anyway. Introverts find that sick. The long journey of establishing rule of law, had left the balance more towards privacy rights. Maybe everybody watching television has begun to subliminally undermine the concept that we have a right to decide what privacy is given over and what is not. Meaning, the majority are shrugging it all off, and undermining minority rights. And we hear, all too often : what have you got to hide? Morons, who suppose they can toss out other people's rights at will.
As it happens, I do support programs that are provably required for safety. But this stuff they're doing is weird, and whatever oversight there is, comes from...weird people. Good grief, even the intelligence community is saying the tidal wave of snooping is hindering security - too much information.
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As it happens, I do support programs that are provably required for safety. But this stuff they're doing is weird, and whatever oversight there is, comes from...weird people. Good grief, even the intelligence community is saying the tidal wave of snooping is hindering security - too much information.
Oh, well. Reduced to quoting myself.
Anyway. As far as supporting programs provably required for safety. Gee, wouldn't that, well, have scooped up the Tsarnaev brothers? Let's see. Chechens, more known for backsliding into terrorism than any group on the planet. For over 200 years. Ok, profiling is out. The Tsarnaevs going to internet terror websites. Does that count? Their names given to the FBI by Russia. Did that raise any warning flags ?
So, while mini-cities have computers storing our every delivery order for pizzas, at a cost of probably over 2 trillion dollars over 10 years (satellites, super-computers, mini-cities, and 1 million IT techs). And we get......the Boston bombing.
The system is broken. And there are no congressional hearings. And zero accountability.
The history of these decades will have a damning indictment.
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Did you also miss the Supreme Court ruling that people have no expectation of privacy with phone conversations? Of course, this ruling was long before cell phones, but cell phone use would imply less of an expectation of privay than lineline use in the relative privacy of your own home or office.
quote:
The Fourth Amendment only protects you against searches that violate your reasonable expectation of privacy. A reasonable expectation of privacy exists if 1) you actually expect privacy, and 2) your expectation is one that society as a whole would think is legitimate.
end quote
Society as a whole obviously thinks this phone spying business is nonsense. Especially as conversations are not being recorded and/or stored... or even listened to. It is the phone NUMBERS that are being tracked. And since those are stored, routinely... and with no uproar from even the privacy nuts, what's the problem?
quote:
Public places. It may sound obvious, but you have little to no privacy when you are in public. When you are in a public place — whether walking down the sidewalk, shopping in a store, sitting in a restaurant or in the park — your actions, movements, and conversations are knowingly exposed to the public. That means the police can follow you around in public and observe your activities, see what you are carrying or to whom you are talking, sit next to you or behind you and listen to your conversations — all without a warrant. You cannot necessarily expect Fourth Amendment protection when you’re in a public place, even if you think you are alone. Fourth Amendment challenges have been unsuccessfully brought against police officers using monitoring beepers to track a suspect’s location in a public place, but it is unclear how those cases might apply to more pervasive remote monitoring, like using GPS or other cell phone location information to track a suspect’s physical location.
Infiltrators and undercover agents. Public meetings of community and political organizations, just like any other public places, are not private. If the government considers you a potential criminal or terrorist threat, or even if they just have an unfounded suspicion that your organization might be up to something, undercover police or police informants could come to your public meetings and attempt to infiltrate your organization. They may even wear hidden microphones and record every word that’s said. Investigators can lie about their identities and never admit that they’re cops — even if asked directly. By infiltrating your organization, the police can identify any of your supporters, learn about your plans and tactics, and could even get involved in the politics of the group and influence organizational decisions. You may want to save the open-to-the-public meetings for public education and other non-sensitive matters and only discuss sensitive matters in meetings limited to the most trusted, long-time staff and constituents.
Importantly, the threat of infiltrators exists in the virtual world as well as the physical world: for example, a police officer may pose as a online "friend" in order to access your private social network profile.
Records stored by others. As the Supreme Court has stated, "The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the obtaining of information revealed to a third party and conveyed by him to Government authorities, even if the information is revealed on the assumption that it will be used only for a limited purpose and the confidence placed in the third party will not be betrayed." This means that you will often have no Fourth Amendment protection in the records that others keep about you, because most information that a third party will have about you was either given freely to them by you, thus knowingly exposed, or was collected from other, public sources. It doesn’t necessarily matter if you thought you were handing over the information in confidence, or if you thought the information was only going to be used for a particular purpose.
Therefore it is important to pay close attention to the kinds of information about you and your organization’s activities that you reveal to third parties, and work to reduce the amount of private information you leave behind when you go about your daily business.
end quote
And then there's the US Postal Service...
quote"
Keep in mind that although you have privacy in the contents of your first class (ie non personal) mail and packages, you don’t have any privacy in the "to" and "from" addresses printed on them. That means the police can ask the post office to report the name and address of every person you send mail to or receive mail from — this is called a "mail cover" — without getting a warrant.
Bolding my insertion
end quote
quotes from https://ssd.eff.org/your-computer/govt/privacy
And this moron, who is your basic introvert, still wants to know what you have to hide in your telephone calls and emails? Maybe I can get a job with the NSA and find out.
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Oh, well. Reduced to quoting myself.
Anyway. As far as supporting programs provably required for safety. Gee, wouldn't that, well, have scooped up the Tsarnaev brothers? Let's see. Chechens, more known for backsliding into terrorism than any group on the planet. For over 200 years. Ok, profiling is out. The Tsarnaevs going to internet terror websites. Does that count? Their names given to the FBI by Russia. Did that raise any warning flags ?
So, while mini-cities have computers storing our every delivery order for pizzas, at a cost of probably over 2 trillion dollars over 10 years (satellites, super-computers, mini-cities, and 1 million IT techs). And we get......the Boston bombing.
The system is broken. And there are no congressional hearings. And zero accountability.
The history of these decades will have a damning indictment.
Well, the way I understand it, it was a matter of the left hand being unwilling to share with the right hand... or either foot or any other part of the US government body. As usual, our various organizations are more interested in protecting their own territory than protecting the whole country.
AND the Russians requested , rather than gave , info on the Brothers.
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Gosh, Sherry, we must be in parallel universes. The quote you gave was fine, but the other information is directly opposite to what I have read.
* The Russians WARNED that the Tsarnaev brothers were suspected terrorists. Twice. The FBI goes: tell us how you know; tell us how you collect information (which would have been a juicy coup). The Russians refused, and the warnings were ignored.
* The idea that the phone #'s only are stored is contrary to every version I have read. The super-computers store the conversations also. The NSA claims this isn't universal wiretapping because they have to get a warrant (from a secret court ::) ) to access and listen in. Which means, yes, they've got your pizza orders. They only listen if the anchovies are from Chechen suppliers :D ?
Holy crap. JUST as am typing this, the lead story on the local news is that this region will be the prototype for testing massive domestic drone surveillance. Am not inventing this. It'll show up on PilotonLine.com, the net branch of the local rag within a day or two. Or on a google search tomorrow. They'll flood out from Langley AFB, across the river.
Wheee. Here we go on more crazy.
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All right, then. PilotOnLine already has the story on the drones. Their version says it is to see if massive drone use has commercial value. Also to see if, in large numbers, they cause airplane crashes. I thank God I do not travel (agoraphobia), but, if it comes to that, I would prefer Amtrak, for the time being.
The story is downplayed. Their big news is a British baronet, Sir Benjamin Slade, claiming he will put a curse on anyone who buys an old painting from his family collection. It's on auction in Phoebus (across the river from me, in Hampton). It looks to be Queen Anne or the Duchess of Marlborough. He says he's good at curses.
Given the play of the two stories, you can see the priorities around here. Monty Python trumps George Orwell every time.
I want to live in Denmark. The Danes are believed to be quasi-semi normal. Or anyplace in the U.S. that is not as bat-crazy as around here.
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Ummm, once again your news sources only give you a portion of the story. Virginia was one of 24 states that APPLIED and is one of the six states chosen to work with the FAA on the drone project...
Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia.
•University of Alaska. The University of Alaska proposal contained a diverse set of test site range locations in seven climatic zones as well as geographic diversity with test site range locations in Hawaii and Oregon. The research plan includes the development of a set of standards for unmanned aircraft categories, state monitoring and navigation. Alaska also plans to work on safety standards for UAS operations.
•State of Nevada. Nevada’s project objectives concentrate on UAS standards and operations as well as operator standards and certification requirements. The applicant’s research will also include a concentrated look at how air traffic control procedures will evolve with the introduction of UAS into the civil environment and how these aircraft will be integrated with NextGen. Nevada’s selection contributes to geographic and climatic diversity.
•New York’s Griffiss International Airport. Griffiss International plans to work on developing test and evaluation as well as verification and validation processes under FAA safety oversight. The applicant also plans to focus its research on sense and avoid capabilities for UAS and its sites will aide in researching the complexities of integrating UAS into the congested, northeast airspace.
•North Dakota Department of Commerce. North Dakota plans to develop UAS airworthiness essential data and validate high reliability link technology. This applicant will also conduct human factors research. North Dakota’s application was the only one to offer a test range in the Temperate (continental) climate zone and included a variety of different airspace which will benefit multiple users.
•Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. Texas A&M plans to develop system safety requirements for UAS vehicles and operations with a goal of protocols and procedures for airworthiness testing. The selection of Texas A&M contributes to geographic and climactic diversity.
•Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Virginia Tech plans to conduct UAS failure mode testing and identify and evaluate operational and technical risks areas. This proposal includes test site range locations in both Virginia and New Jersey.
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/12/30/3107501/faa-announces-test-sites-drones/
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And from the beginning, when the T-boys were identified as the bombers, it was announced the Russians had contacted some US department... FBI, CIA, HS, who knows... and asked for any info available on the older one since he had applied for a visa or whatever the necessary paperwork was for him to return home for a visit since his country of origin is a terrorist hotbed. Since he had not been in any trouble here, except for some domestic stuff, that is what was reported to the Ruskies and nothing was passed on to any other
spy security department/organization here.
The question of why they weren't on any lists or under any surveillance has been raised a number of times. The answer is some slip through the cracks. Take Snowden for instance.
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First matter (off topic) Sherry, I love your new signature line!
Regarding all the talk here of the NSA, I would just like to take a moment to thank the Dave Cullen Forum for being a warning system for me, this was the banner at the bottom of the page today when I signed on.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpagead2.googlesyndication.com%2Fsimgad%2F5099562705527857311&hash=9956b3cf18fea0135cca9a6868bf81a105e20a33)
:D :D :D
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Still off topic...
thanks, C. It came to me over the holidays when I emailed a friend of mine a joke from the humor thread and he replied "You're STILL on that forum? Isn't there a cure for that?"
And what's wrong with you if only TWO people are spying on you?
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Nooo it isn't; but do I wish it was! Wow...look how tall and handsome he is. Actually, I'd probably be the same height she is too, right there in that special spot.
I always wanted to see/meet Peter :-* but he never came near here. I went to NYC to see him twice but somehow I missed him. And I really wanted to see him as the special guest for the interview on TCM in April, 2011 and see him place his hand prints and footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater (about time). Alas, the back wouldn't let me.
Still, I think I'd be too shy to go up to him; maybe I could get Robt. Osborne to take me or maybe I'd just stare at him and he'd notice me.
Boy, do I regret it now!
Kathy :-* :-*
p.s. I've been feeling so sad about Peter 'cause it didn't hit me until Thursday. (I always have a delayed reaction). On TCM they always show a segment of actors and actresses whom we've lost. Peter was last, in a scene from My Favorite Year. the TCM logo came on again; then he was back to blow out the match as he did in LOA. That handsome face. Well, I just started bawling.
*edited to fix quote*
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Paul, no sooner had I read your posts, then I heard the lead story on CNN: the NSA's TAO program, where they attach snoop-ware to lap-tops bought by mail, and also insert viruses into peoples PCs at will. As usual, they had the usual justifications.
Tony, your reference to CNN took me here (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/30/us/nsa-spying-hacking-program/index.html?iref=allsearch) and then to a three page article (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-nsa-uses-powerful-toolbox-in-effort-to-spy-on-global-networks-a-940969.html) in Der Spiegel:
Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
The NSA's TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency's top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.
According to internal NSA documents viewed by Der Spiegel the NSA has maintained a branch with about 2000 employees at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and in 2005 it took over a nearby former Sony computer-chip plant, where one of its two main buildings now houses the Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), the agency’s top operative unit.
TAO’s area of operations ranges from counterterrorism to cyber attacks to traditional espionage. The documents reveal just how diversified the tools at TAO’s disposal have become -- and also how it exploits the technical weaknesses of the IT industry, from Microsoft to Cisco and Huawei, to carry out its discreet and efficient attacks.
...few if any other divisions within the agency are growing as quickly as TAO. There are now TAO units in Wahiawa, Hawaii; Fort Gordon, Georgia; at the NSA’s outpost at Buckley Air Force Base, near Denver, Colorado; at its headquarters in Fort Meade; and, of course, in San Antonio [which] handles attacks against targets in the Middle East, Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia, not to mention Mexico....
One example of the way in which the TAO spies approach their work is a hacking method which exploits the error-proneness of Microsoft's Windows by redirecting the automatic message which prompts a user to report an internal error and restart the program. As it only captures and saves data sent by a computer to the internet such “passive access” doesn’t harm the machine itself, but even this access provides valuable insights into problems with a targeted person’s computer—and information on security holes that might be exploitable for planting malware or spyware.
Although the method appears to have little importance in practical terms, the NSA’s agents still seem to enjoy it because it allows them to have a bit of a laugh at the expense of the Seattle-based software giant.
In one internal graphic, they replaced the text of Microsoft’s original error message with one of their own:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2FMicrosoft_zps47185195.jpg&hash=b919c816ea4748090035f6815c1c95daff4e599a)
”Sigint” stands for “signals intelligence.”
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Juanita Moore, Oscar-nominated actress, dead at 99
Juanita Moore, a groundbreaking actress and an Academy Award nominee for her role as Lana Turner's friend in the classic weeper Imitation of Life, has died.
Actor Kirk Kelleykahn, her grandson, said Moore collapsed and died Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 99, according to Kelleykahn. Accounts of her age have differed over the years.
Moore was only the fifth black performer to be nominated for an Oscar, receiving the nod for the glossy Douglas Sirk film that became a big hit and later gained a cult following. The 1959 tearjerker, based on a Fannie Hurst novel and a remake of a 1934 film, tells the story of a struggling white actress' rise to stardom, her friendship with a black woman and how they team up to raise their daughters as single mothers.
It brought supporting actress nominations for both Moore and Susan Kohner, who played Moore's daughter as a young adult attempting to pass as a white woman. Kohner's own background is Czech and Mexican. By the end, Turner's character is a star and her friend is essentially a servant. The death of Moore's character sets up the sentimental ending.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent6.flixster.com%2Fphoto%2F11%2F34%2F86%2F11348648_gal.jpg&hash=8c4e5a6cbd31c74dec7e30bbf0b038b47b8717af)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/01/01/juanita-moore-oscar-nominated-actress-dead-at-99/4281241/
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At what point are we going to end the upward graph-line, and just admit this is a perverted area of human nature: voyeurism. Which, like rape, is more about aggression and seeking power than the obvious disorder.
An imbalance of power already exists in the US, Tony.
For instance, after the September 11 attacks several airlines gave their passenger records to federal agencies in direct violation of their privacy policies. The federal agencies used the data to study airline security.
In 2004 a group of passengers sued Northwest Airlines for disclosing their personal information. One of their claims was that Northwest Airlines breached its contract with the passengers.
In Dyer v. Northwest Airlines Corporation (http://www.leagle.com/decision/20041530334FSupp2d1196_11429) the court rejected the contract claim because “broad statements of company policy do not generally give rise to contract claims,” the passengers never claimed they relied upon the policy or even read it, and they “failed to allege any contractual damages arising out of the alleged breach.”
Regardless of the merits of the decisions on contract law, the cases represented a difficulty with the legal system in addressing privacy problems. The disclosure of the passenger records represented a “breach of confidentiality.”
The problems caused by breaches of confidentiality do not merely consist of individual emotional distress; they involve a violation of trust within a relationship. There’s a strong social value in ensuring that promises are kept and that trust is maintained in relationships between businesses and their customers.
The problem of secondary use was also implicated, as the airlines gave passenger information to the government for an entirely different purpose beyond that for which it was originally gathered. Secondary use problems often do not cause financial, or even psychological, injuries. Instead, the harm is one of power imbalance.
In Dyer data was disseminated in a way that ignored airline passengers’ interests in the data despite promises made in the privacy policy. Even if the passengers were unaware of the policy, there is a social value in ensuring that companies adhere to established limits on the way they use personal information. Otherwise, any stated limits become meaningless, and companies have discretion to boundlessly use data. Such a state of affairs can leave nearly all consumers in a powerless position. The harm, then, is less one to particular individuals than it is a structural harm.
A similar problem had surfaced in another case, Smith v. Chase Manhattan Bank (http://www.leagle.com/decision/2002891293AD2d598_1436), where a group of plaintiffs sued Chase Manhattan Bank in 2002 for selling customer information to third parties in violation of its privacy policy, which stated that the information would remain confidential.
(The complaint alleged that Chase violated its commitment to protect customer privacy and confidentiality and not to share customer information with any unrelated third party, except, inter alia, to conduct its business or make available special offers of products and services which might be of interest to customers. This confidentiality commitment was contained in a printed document entitled "Customer Information Principles," which was distributed to the plaintiffs.)
The court held that even presuming that these allegations were true, the plaintiffs could not prove any actual injury. The court’s view of harm, however, did not account for the breach of confidentiality.
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Jungian psychology suggests extroverts don't mind a bit if they have no privacy. Life for them is all-day show-biz, anyway. Introverts find that sick. The long journey of establishing rule of law, had left the balance more towards privacy rights. Maybe everybody watching television has begun to subliminally undermine the concept that we have a right to decide what privacy is given over and what is not.
Instances of “Jungian extrovert” behaviour appear to occur just about everywhere nowadays, and not only in the now-ubiquitous self-shot “portraits” taken at the most flattering angle and in the best light (narcissism at its worst).
Public demonstrations of individual self-importance (taking Warhol’s metaphorical 15 minutes of fame literally) reach a new high on reality TV programs such as Big Brother and Jerry Springer (“show-biz” in the extreme), where participants demonstrate few, if any, limitations to “letting it all hang out.”
Other forms of extrovert behaviour are seen in the public comments sections on News and other online sites, where “commenting” on articles and, indeed, on the comments made by others, provides opportunities for self-validation in the form of public disagreement with reasoned arguments, especially when hiding behind faux anonymity. Despite these sites’ various House rules it’s astonishing how much is allowed to be published.*
“Privacy” also becomes rather meaningless when wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve is seen as an accepted mode of expression simply because somebody believes that their particular personal feelings are newsworthy, as if publicising them to strangers is somehow important.
Your suggestion that the balance is shifting toward less privacy rights is borne out by the way that “privacy” per se appears to be of little importance to many people.
In fact, it’s almost as if the pendulum has swung the other way entirely, with people’s personal lives and feelings being consciously put on show, irrespective of whether anyone else cares. ::)
* Unlike DCF, where membership rules are clear and everyone is aware of the requirements for posting.
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Meaning, the majority are shrugging it all off, and undermining minority rights. And we hear, all too often : what have you got to hide? Morons, who suppose they can toss out other people's rights at will.
While “What have you got to hide?” begs the question it’s also an argument based on a singular and narrow conception of privacy.
The argument that people have nothing to fear if they’ve done nothing wrong (and so have nothing to hide) stems from the faulty premise that privacy is about concealing something bad, that when it comes to government surveillance or use of personal data, there is no privacy violation if a person has nothing sensitive, embarrassing, or illegal to conceal.
Criminals involved in illicit activities might indeed have something to fear but the activities of the vast majority of people are not illegal or embarrassing.
Therefore someone who objects to an invasion of their privacy must have something to hide.
It’s important, though, to distinguish between two ways of justifying a program such as the NSA surveillance and data mining program. The first way is to not recognize a problem. This is how the “nothing to hide” argument works—it denies even the existence of a problem.
The second manner of justifying such a program is to acknowledge the problems but to contend that the benefits of the NSA program outweigh the privacy harms (an important issue raised at some length in Liberty and Security in a Changing World). The first justification influences the second, because the low value given to privacy is based upon a narrow view of the problem.
The key misunderstanding is that the “nothing to hide” argument views privacy in a particular way—as a form of secrecy, as the right to hide things.
But there are many other types of harm involved beyond exposing one’s secrets to the government, such as the use of personal information conveyed voluntarily to third parties such as banks, ISPs and phone companies (e.g. banking records, financial statements, web sites visited, email addresses used, phone numbers dialled).
Personal information acquired during such legitimate legal activities (i.e. “transaction information”) can cause harm when secondary usage is involved (the use of data obtained for one purpose is used for an unrelated purpose without the person’s knowledge or consent). The potential future uses of any piece of personal information are vast, and without limits or accountability on how that information is used, it is hard for people to assess the dangers of the data being in the government’s control.
The problem with the nothing to hide argument is that it focuses on just one or two particular kinds of privacy problems—the disclosure of personal information or surveillance—and not others. It assumes a particular view about what privacy entails, and it sets the terms for debate in a manner that is often unproductive.
In essence, having something to hide is not the only reason to object to an invasion of one’s privacy.
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As it happens, I do support programs that are provably required for safety. But this stuff they're doing is weird, and whatever oversight there is, comes from...weird people. Good grief, even the intelligence community is saying the tidal wave of snooping is hindering security - too much information.
One of the key principles stated in Liberty and Security in a Changing World is that
“The right to privacy is essential to a free and self-governing society. The rise of modern technologies makes it all the more important that democratic nations respect people’s fundamental right to privacy, which is a defining part of individual security and personal liberty.
This is developed further in Chapter 1 of the Report:
1. The United States Government must protect, at once, two different forms of security: national security and personal privacy.
In a free society, one that is genuinely committed to self-government, people are secure in the sense that they need not fear that their conversations and activities are being watched, monitored, questioned, interrogated, or scrutinized. Citizens are free from this kind of fear. In unfree societies, by contrast, there is no right to be let alone, and people struggle to organize their lives to avoid the government’s probing eye. The resulting unfreedom jeopardizes, all at once, individual liberty, self-government, economic growth, and basic ideals of citizenship.
And referred to in Recommendations 4 and 5:
Recommendation 4
We recommend that, as a general rule, and without senior policy review, the government should not be permitted to collect and store all mass, undigested, non-public personal information about individuals to enable future queries and data-mining for foreign intelligence purposes. Any program involving government collection or storage of such data must be narrowly tailored to serve an important government interest.
Recommendation 5
We recommend that legislation should be enacted that terminates the storage of bulk telephony meta-data by the government under section 215, and transitions as soon as reasonably possible to a system in which such meta-data is held instead either by private providers or by a private third party. Access to such data should be permitted only with a section 215 order from the Foreign Intellience Surveillance Court that meets the requirements set forth in Recommendation 1.
The report is available online, and I’ve already provided a direct link for those who might wish to read it in full.
I look forward to reading President Obama’s response.
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An imbalance of power already exists in the US, Tony.
For instance, after the September 11 attacks several airlines gave their passenger records to federal agencies in direct violation of their privacy policies. The federal agencies used the data to study airline security.
In 2004 a group of passengers sued Northwest Airlines for disclosing their personal information. One of their claims was that Northwest Airlines breached its contract with the passengers.
In Dyer v. Northwest Airlines Corporation (http://www.leagle.com/decision/20041530334FSupp2d1196_11429) the court rejected the contract claim because “broad statements of company policy do not generally give rise to contract claims,” the passengers never claimed they relied upon the policy or even read it, and they “failed to allege any contractual damages arising out of the alleged breach.”
Regardless of the merits of the decisions on contract law, the cases represented a difficulty with the legal system in addressing privacy problems. The disclosure of the passenger records represented a “breach of confidentiality.”
The problems caused by breaches of confidentiality do not merely consist of individual emotional distress; they involve a violation of trust within a relationship. There’s a strong social value in ensuring that promises are kept and that trust is maintained in relationships between businesses and their customers.
The problem of secondary use was also implicated, as the airlines gave passenger information to the government for an entirely different purpose beyond that for which it was originally gathered. Secondary use problems often do not cause financial, or even psychological, injuries. Instead, the harm is one of power imbalance.
In Dyer data was disseminated in a way that ignored airline passengers’ interests in the data despite promises made in the privacy policy. Even if the passengers were unaware of the policy, there is a social value in ensuring that companies adhere to established limits on the way they use personal information. Otherwise, any stated limits become meaningless, and companies have discretion to boundlessly use data. Such a state of affairs can leave nearly all consumers in a powerless position. The harm, then, is less one to particular individuals than it is a structural harm.
A similar problem had surfaced in another case, Smith v. Chase Manhattan Bank (http://www.leagle.com/decision/2002891293AD2d598_1436), where a group of plaintiffs sued Chase Manhattan Bank in 2002 for selling customer information to third parties in violation of its privacy policy, which stated that the information would remain confidential.
(The complaint alleged that Chase violated its commitment to protect customer privacy and confidentiality and not to share customer information with any unrelated third party, except, inter alia, to conduct its business or make available special offers of products and services which might be of interest to customers. This confidentiality commitment was contained in a printed document entitled "Customer Information Principles," which was distributed to the plaintiffs.)
The court held that even presuming that these allegations were true, the plaintiffs could not prove any actual injury. The court’s view of harm, however, did not account for the breach of confidentiality.
Seriously? Violation of privay by an airline telling the government who bought tickets when and for where and how they paid? What other info does an airline collect?
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Instances of “Jungian extrovert” behaviour appear to occur just about everywhere nowadays, and not only in the now-ubiquitous self-shot “portraits” taken at the most flattering angle and in the best light (narcissism at its worst).
Public demonstrations of individual self-importance (taking Warhol’s metaphorical 15 minutes of fame literally) reach a new high on reality TV programs such as Big Brother and Jerry Springer (“show-biz” in the extreme), where participants demonstrate few, if any, limitations to “letting it all hang out.”
Other forms of extrovert behaviour are seen in the public comments sections on News and other online sites, where “commenting” on articles and, indeed, on the comments made by others, provides opportunities for self-validation in the form of public disagreement with reasoned arguments, especially when hiding behind faux anonymity. Despite these sites’ various House rules it’s astonishing how much is allowed to be published.*
“Privacy” also becomes rather meaningless when wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve is seen as an accepted mode of expression simply because somebody believes that their particular personal feelings are newsworthy, as if publicising them to strangers is somehow important.
Your suggestion that the balance is shifting toward less privacy rights is borne out by the way that “privacy” per se appears to be of little importance to many people.
In fact, it’s almost as if the pendulum has swung the other way entirely, with people’s personal lives and feelings being consciously put on show, irrespective of whether anyone else cares. ::)
* Unlike DCF, where membership rules are clear and everyone is aware of the requirements for posting.
Obviously, somebody... LOTS of somebodies care or it wouldn't be happening. Just because I don't want to take part in facebook and selfies and exposing all my "secrets" on Springer and Povich, it doesn't meant that other people can't if they want to.
Privacy:
a. The quality or condition of being secluded from the presence or view of others. b. The state of being free from unsanctioned intrusion
It can also be used to mean a secluded place or the quality or state of being apart from company
Privacy (from separated from the rest, deprived of something, esp. office, participation in the government, from privo to deprive) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. The boundaries and content of what is considered private differ among cultures and individuals, but share basic common themes. Privacy is sometimes related to anonymity, the wish to remain unnoticed or unidentified in the public realm
When I want to keep something to myself, I do. I don't give out personal info that I don't want people to have... not on the computer, not on the phone, not in private conversation. I learned as a child there is no such thing as a secret if you tell anyone else. The problem is paranoia. Big Brother is watching everyone and has evil intentions. Well, people have more to fear from Little Brother and the next door neighbor than from the government.
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..... Well, people have more to fear from Little Brother and the next door neighbor than from the government.
Sherry, the police states of the Nazis and the commies relied on the intertwining of State power with next door neighbors. Informants, people with real or false grievances, as well as those thrilled to twerk for anyone with a badge or fed ID. It is the seduction of the worst of human nature, by those, most lawless, with power. Police states rely on Little Brother.
Paul, those were very careful, well researched posts. Thank-you, for the effort. Today, the New York Times called for clemency for Edward Snowden, on the grounds that if he did break the law, it was to expose historic lawlessness.
I was just watching a debate on CNN on granting clemency, and the columnist saying no way, was Ruth Marcus, and she was promptly called out for having always opposed investigation or prosecution of any of the Bush/Cheney perps, and also the intel chief who recently perjured himself before Congress.
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Tony, I just have more trust than you and a few others. It's not that I don't know there is the possibility of history repeating itself, I just have too many real current things to take care of to worry about something that might happen someday if we don't prevent it now. Frankly, I doubt anybody here is of much interest to the feds... OUR feds... Paul needs to watch his step. You know what they say, the squeaking wheel is the one that gets removed and chopped up for kindling first.
And no way Snowden should be rewarded for his treasonous acts. Investigation of misdoings, real or imagined, is one thing. Taking matters into your own hands is another. There were any number of ways Snowden could have gone about his big exposes without endangering so many people's lives. It is important to note he is working through a non US newspaper as though there is no one here who could be trusted. Take that Woodward and Bernstein.
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U.S. spy agency developing computer to crack privacy codes: report
Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency is trying to develop a computer that could ultimately break most encryption programs, whether they are used to protect other nations' spying programs or consumers' bank accounts, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
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The research is part of a $79.7 million research program called "Penetrating Hard Targets," the newspaper said. Other, non-governmental researchers are also trying to develop quantum computers, and it is not clear whether the NSA program lags the private efforts or is ahead of them.
http://news.yahoo.com/u-spy-agency-developing-computer-crack-privacy-codes-022425096.html
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Seriously? Violation of privay by an airline telling the government who bought tickets when and for where and how they paid? What other info does an airline collect?
The issue wouldn't change no matter what “other info” was collected, Sherry.
In both Ryan and Smith the plaintiffs’ private information (names, addresses, telephone numbers, credit card numbers and other financial data) was used without their consent.
That both cases were dismissed because no actual harm or injury had occurred in law doesn’t mitigate the power imbalance and the breaches of confidentiality to which I referred.
And, as I said earlier,
Personal information acquired during ... legitimate legal activities (i.e. “transaction information”) can cause harm when secondary usage is involved (the use of data obtained for one purpose is used for an unrelated purpose without the person’s knowledge or consent). The potential future uses of any piece of personal information are vast, and without limits or accountability on how that information is used it is hard for people to assess the dangers of the data being in the government’s [or a bank’s] control.
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Obviously, somebody... LOTS of somebodies care or it wouldn't be happening.
I think you mean that it’s happening because lots of people don’t care.
Just because I don't want to take part in facebook and selfies and exposing all my "secrets" on Springer and Povich, it doesn't meant that other people can't if they want to.
What you do or don’t do is up to you, and the same applies to “other people.”
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Exactly!
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When I want to keep something to myself, I do.
“What have you got to hide?”
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2Femoticons%2F01d752b7.gif&hash=21e0d63d5b3a98e5fe716f501fc4f361203a0d26)
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This LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-facebook-sued-scanning-private-messages-20140102,0,3009508.story#axzz2pOlZjA2i) article reminds me of the lawsuits I mentioned earlier, and especially of the Smith vs Chase Manhattan case, where personal information was provided to third party vendors without users’ consent.
It will be interesting to see whether this case is more successful.
Facebook sued over alleged scanning of users’ private messages
Facebook is being sued over allegations it monitors private messages on the social network to surreptitiously gather even more information on its users and share the data with marketers.
According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose, Facebook scans the contents of private messages including links to other websites “to improve its marketing algorithms and increase its ability to profit from data about Facebook users.”
The links to third-party websites are interpreted as a “like” of that website and contribute to a profile of the sender’s activity on the Web for the purpose of targeting advertising, the lawsuit alleges.
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The following ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-03/facebook-sued-for-selling-information-in-users-private-messages/5183904) report focuses more upon the invasion of privacy issue:
Facebook alleged to have sold information in users’ private messages
Documents filed in California as part of a class action lawsuit claim Facebook intercepts and scans messages for information about its millions of users.
The class action is being led by two Facebook users in the US, and is being brought on behalf of all users located within the US who have sent or received private Facebook messages that included a URL (webpage link) in the content of the message.
Matthew Campbell of Arkansas and Michael Hurley of Oregon allege that Facebook promises users differing levels of privacy based on whether they make a public post or send a private message or chat, but that the company scans those private communications for purposes unrelated to sending them.
“Contrary to its representations, 'private' Facebook messages are systematically intercepted by the company in an effort to learn the contents of the users' communications,” the plaintiffs claim in court documents.
“When a user composes a Facebook message and includes a link to a third party website, the company scans the content of the Facebook message, follows the enclosed link, and searches for information to profile the message sender's web activity.”
The lawsuit alleges that this breaches the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Californian privacy and competition laws. It is also alleged that this behaviour gives Facebook an advantage over many of its competitors.
“Representing to users that the content of Facebook messages is 'private' creates an especially profitable opportunity for Facebook, because users who believe they are communicating on a service free from surveillance are likely to reveal facts about themselves that they would not reveal had they known the content was being monitored,” the lawsuit alleges.
In the past two years, Facebook has paid more than $US30 million to settle law suits relating to privacy.
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“What have you got to hide?”
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2Femoticons%2F01d752b7.gif&hash=21e0d63d5b3a98e5fe716f501fc4f361203a0d26)
I pick my nose.
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Don't we all! :D :D
And we don't want anyone to see us, or tell anyone else!
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I smell my armpits and I kinda like it.
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I pass gas in public but I don't post a pic of the event on FB.
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“Representing to users that the content of Facebook messages is 'private' creates an especially profitable opportunity for Facebook, because users who believe they are communicating on a service free from surveillance are likely to reveal facts about themselves that they would not reveal had they known the content was being monitored,” the lawsuit alleges.
Users who believe this deserve their alleged naiveté to be further abused by ambulance chasing lawyers.
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I smell my armpits and I kinda like it.
Bwwwaaaahhhhhaaaaaa!! ;D ;D ;D
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Paul, those were very careful, well researched posts. Thank-you, for the effort.
Thank you, Tony.
Nice to receive a "bouquet" (rather than the usual brickbat). :)
Today, the New York Times called for clemency for Edward Snowden, on the grounds that if he did break the law, it was to expose historic lawlessness.
I was just watching a debate on CNN on granting clemency, and the columnist saying no way, was Ruth Marcus, and she was promptly called out for having always opposed investigation or prosecution of any of the Bush/Cheney perps, and also the intel chief who recently perjured himself before Congress.
I don't understand. Why was she "called out?"
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... Frankly, I doubt anybody here is of much interest to the feds... OUR feds... Paul needs to watch his step. You know what they say, the squeaking wheel is the one that gets removed and chopped up for kindling first.
Goodness me. What've I done now? ???
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Regarding the recent posts on nose-picking, armpit smelling and gas passing:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fcells_zps864cce27.jpg&hash=a0ab2eb4a9dca1a9a74f78b2d336eddef420c72f)
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“What have you got to hide?”
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2Femoticons%2F01d752b7.gif&hash=21e0d63d5b3a98e5fe716f501fc4f361203a0d26)
Quite a lot actually; and I don't talk about any of it on Facebook or online forums. Nose-picking and armpit-smelling is for amateurs. And a lot of people snarking about the loss of privacy talk on their cell phones loudly enough to be heard in the next county. Now that restrictions on planes are being lifted, airliners are going to start sounding like the livestock barn at the Missouri State Fair when the chickens are being exhibited.
Sometimes I do like to imagine people learning all sorts of things about me after I've passed on, and shaking their heads.
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I don't understand. Why was she "called out?"
Well, she's a columnist for the Washington Post, and she's been defending every illegality of Bush/Cheney all the way back. And she's uninterested in charging the guy who smugly lied about snooping before a Senate committee.
Yet, when it comes to Snowden, she wants him brought to trial. They called her out on bias. She's a shill for government lawlessness. and an enemy of those who expose it.
IMO, she wants Snowden "pronounced" (a new American term for being dead :P)
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Quite a lot actually; and I don't talk about any of it on Facebook or online forums. Nose-picking and armpit-smelling is for amateurs. And a lot of people snarking about the loss of privacy talk on their cell phones loudly enough to be heard in the next county. Now that restrictions on planes are being lifted, airliners are going to start sounding like the livestock barn at the Missouri State Fair when the chickens are being exhibited.
Sometimes I do like to imagine people learning all sorts of things about me after I've passed on, and shaking their heads.
From what I'm hearing, the airlines are not going to allow cell phone conversations in flight.
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From what I'm hearing, the airlines are not going to allow cell phone conversations in flight.
God, I hope that's true. When I fly I love taking the quiet to watch a movie (if offered) or to just read an actual book. If I had a bunch of people chatting around me on their cells, ugh.
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Well, she's a columnist for the Washington Post, and she's been defending every illegality of Bush/Cheney all the way back. And she's uninterested in charging the guy who smugly lied about snooping before a Senate committee.
Yet, when it comes to Snowden, she wants him brought to trial. They called her out on bias. She's a shill for government lawlessness. and an enemy of those who expose it.
IMO, she wants Snowden "pronounced" (a new American term for being dead :P)
Thanks, Tony. :)
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God, I hope that's true. When I fly I love taking the quiet to watch a movie (if offered) or to just read an actual book. If I had a bunch of people chatting around me on their cells, ugh.
Amen. And double Amen.
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So our weather in Canada in the US --
Turns out it is not only a polar vortex, but it's a DISTORTED polar vortex!
:) I had thought "polar vortex" was only a made-up term but the vortex is real.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/06/us/polar-vortex-explained/
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The "Rude Pundit" observes some connections between Colorado's recent doobiepalooza and the ACA rollout, in which Republicans and "news anchors" whipped the word debacle till it expired:
**As we hear continuous stories of all the blips and fuck-ups with the insuring of people through, especially, the federal exchange, you have to keep in mind that so many of these things could have been solved if, along the way, Republicans in Congress and at the state level had said, "Okay, fuck it. We don't like it, but let's make sure our people don't get dicked over." All states could have accepted the expanded Medicaid and insured another 5 million people. They could have set up their own exchanges, which have, for the most part, worked far more efficiently than the federal one. Over in Congress, they could have worked with the administration to anticipate problems and fix them ahead of time instead of trying for endless futile repeals. Fuck, they might have even gotten a few things in the deal.**
http://www.rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-legalized-pot-in-colorado-teaches.html
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Virginia's State Board of elections has certified Linwood Lewis over Marshall Coleman (R), for the dinky, way gerrymandered 7th district Senate seat. Out of 20,000 votes, Lewis has won by 8 votes.
It was a particularly important election as the Senate needs an even division for Virginians to have the Affordable Health Care here. There's one more election, Loudon county, up near Fritz, but that should go Democratic.
It's my district, (7th), but it was the coldest day in 20 years, I had already had gone to the dentist (on 2 hours sleep :P ), and was near to not going out again, but a friend was encouraging me, so I did.
Of course there'll be a recount, but they're fairly confident the tiny margin will hold.
Am passing this along to point out how every vote does count. And, in this case affects the health care of every Virginian. But am going to be sorely amazed if the recount drops to a 3 vote lead. That would mean, Trudy, me, and another friend.......well, we did it :) !!!!! How cool would THAT be ?
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Geaux Tony!
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Tony, is VA one of the states that has not set up its own exchange?
The thing is, whether you go through your state marketplace or the federal website, it's 6 of one and a half dozen of another and the state websites are mostly working better than the federal one.
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There's one more election, Loudon county, up near Fritz, but that should go Democratic.
It's my district, (7th), but it was the coldest day in 20 years, I had already had gone to the dentist (on 2 hours sleep :P ), and was near to not going out again, but a friend was encouraging me, so I did.
Of course there'll be a recount, but they're fairly confident the tiny margin will hold.
Am passing this along to point out how every vote does count. And, in this case affects the health care of every Virginian. But am going to be sorely amazed if the recount drops to a 3 vote lead. That would mean, Trudy, me, and another friend.......well, we did it :) !!!!! How cool would THAT be ?
That would be way cool, Tony.
My Dad was born (1926) and raised in Loudon county and went to Loudon High School. He lived there until he was 18 when he went into the Air Force.
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Well, she's a columnist for the Washington Post, and she's been defending every illegality of Bush/Cheney all the way back. And she's uninterested in charging the guy who smugly lied about snooping before a Senate committee.
Yet, when it comes to Snowden, she wants him brought to trial. They called her out on bias. She's a shill for government lawlessness. and an enemy of those who expose it.
IMO, she wants Snowden "pronounced" (a new American term for being dead :P)
Yup. She's as bad as the rest of the cheney/bush bums. What a lousy jerk.
Kathy >:(
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Well, folks, I have been scammed twice in the past 2-1/2 weeks. I was afraid of it and of course it happened.
First time was when a so-called no-name company got the numbers on my credit card. (I thought it was Dell and I was stupid at this one).
Second time is the damned Target (what great security they have!) thing. My card was hacked from criminals in the Ukraine and it seems everything on the card was stolen. I called the bank right away 'cause of purchases on my statement that I never made. I have to wait for a new card.
Now Target is saying they also got the PIN numbers and other info. It seems the gov't. is not doing anything about it and Target is not doing anything about it. Same old thing.
Why aren't they doing anything? Here again, it is the victims who are the losers. Oh, why did I go into that store at all??
Kathy >:(
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Users who believe this deserve their alleged naiveté to be further abused by ambulance chasing lawyers.
Maybe so, but if what the plaintiffs say is correct it doesn’t exonerate Facebook.
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An intriguing parallel to the Facebook case, especially the reference (later in the report) to the issue of Google having an “unprecedented ability to monitor its users’ tastes and purchasing patterns.”
France fines Google 150,000 euros in data privacy row
France's data protection watchdog on Wednesday 8 January fined Google 150,000 euros ($205,000) -- the maximum possible -- for failing to comply with its privacy guidelines for personal data.
The watchdog, the CNIL, also ordered the US Internet giant to publish a statement relating to its decision on its French homepage for at least 48 hours within the next eight days.
France's move follows Google's introduction in 2012 of a new privacy policy which enables it to track user activity across its search engine, Gmail, the Google+ social networking platform and other services it owns, which include YouTube.
The changes make it easier for Google to collect and process data that could be used by advertisers to target individuals with tailored offers, thereby increasing the company's revenue potential.
Read more here (http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/france-fines-google-150-000-072653865.html).
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Well, folks, I have been scammed twice in the past 2-1/2 weeks. I was afraid of it and of course it happened.
First time was when a so-called no-name company got the numbers on my credit card. (I thought it was Dell and I was stupid at this one).
Second time is the damned Target (what great security they have!) thing. My card was hacked from criminals in the Ukraine and it seems everything on the card was stolen. I called the bank right away 'cause of purchases on my statement that I never made. I have to wait for a new card.
Now Target is saying they also got the PIN numbers and other info.
Sorry to hear that, Kathy; but you did the right thing by checking your statement...
The video clip below has some other tips as well.
Target Nearly Doubles Estimate of Customers Affected by Data Breach
The data breach that exposed the credit and debit card accounts of millions of Target shoppers caused more damage than first thought, the discount retailer said today [10 January].
Target said in a statement that up to 70 million [American] customers were affected by the breach last month. The company had originally reported that 40 million individuals were affected.*
The Minneapolis-based retailer also noted that thieves swiped more information than had been previously disclosed. Not only did they get their hands on customer names, account numbers, security codes and expiration dates from the magnetic strips on the backs of credit and debit cards, but thieves also stole mailing addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.
Read more here (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2014/01/target-nearly-doubles-estimate-of-customers-affected-by-data-breach/).
* updated now to possibly 110 million at risk: http://youtu.be/OW9qV0OCY5Y
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Sorry you were involved, Kathy, but....
Seems to me Target has done as much as it can in the matter. It is paying for all charges a customer gets that are not covered by the credit card or bank and is offerring a year of Lifelock or some other identity theft protection. It's not like Target did anything wrong. They were hacked for god's sake. Someone STOLE the info. Once again, it is the victim... Target... that has become the bad guy. Reminds me of a case where an employee stole everyone's records and leaked them and he became a cultural hero while the place he stole from was the villain.
And as for the US government getting involved, just what is it supposed to do... authorize drone strikes against the Ukraine?
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An intriguing parallel to the Facebook case, especially the reference (later in the report) to the issue of Google having an “unprecedented ability to monitor its users’ tastes and purchasing patterns.”
France fines Google 150,000 euros in data privacy row
The watchdog, the CNIL, also ordered the US Internet giant to publish a statement relating to its decision on its French homepage for at least 48 hours within the next eight days.
France's move follows Google's introduction in 2012 of a new privacy policy which enables it to track user activity across its search engine, Gmail, the Google+ social networking platform and other services it owns, which include YouTube.
The changes make it easier for Google to collect and process data that could be used by advertisers to target individuals with tailored offers, thereby increasing the company's revenue potential.
Read more here (http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/france-fines-google-150-000-072653865.html).
Re: France's data protection watchdog on Wednesday 8 January fined Google 150,000 euros ($205,000) -- the maximum possible -- for failing to comply with its privacy guidelines for personal data.
Some clarification, please. the word "its" refers to whom? Google? or France?
Any idea how much money Google gets by gathering and using this info? Even if they don't sell it to anybody?
Same for Facebook paying out 30 mil in two years for selling info. Duh. A drop in the bucket.
Oh... and why is it a bad thing for these companies to be doing this stuff... revealing secret private information... while it is not only okay for individuals to do the same thing, but the stealer/revealers become folk heroes?
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Tony, is VA one of the states that has not set up its own exchange?
The thing is, whether you go through your state marketplace or the federal website, it's 6 of one and a half dozen of another and the state websites are mostly working better than the federal one.
As far as I know, Sherry, we don't have any state market. And may have, like some states, declined Medicaid expansion, and all the rest. But the Dems swept the top 3 offices in a recent election.
That left the Republican senate. Which, with the 8 vote victory in my district, and Linda's Dad's former county ( :) ), Loudon, likely to go Dem, will leave a 20-20 tie in the senate, which will be broken by the new democratic governor.
So, there's a much better chance of people here having the full benefits of the health care law. It's an imperfect law, of course, but better than what was available, before, IMO.
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Going once, going twice ... sold to Anderson Cooper – for $1.4 million!
Celebrities didn't hold back for the live auction during Sean Penn's Help Haiti Home gala held Saturday night – especially when it came to a coveted customized piece from renowned contemporary artist, Jeff Koons.
The high-priced prize, which will be created using Penn's collection of old firearms, had Cooper reaching deep into his pockets. But, after a fierce bidding battle with Piers Morgan – who bowed out after offering $1.3 million – it was Cooper who finally took home the grand prize.
"During the auction, Gwyneth Paltrow was screaming at Anderson to go for it!" an eyewitness tells PEOPLE.
While the host of the night was thrilled with his winnings, maybe he should have first checked in with his boyfriend, Benjamin Maisani? According to the journalist, his partner was suffering from a case of sticker shock over the promised artwork.
"I texted my boyfriend and told him I spent $1.4 million on a piece of art. He said, 'Are you f------ kidding!?' " Cooper, 46, joked to the crowd later in the night.
:D
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20774863,00.html
Gorgeous and rich, what else could you want?
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As far as I know, Sherry, we don't have any state market. And may have, like some states, declined Medicaid expansion, and all the rest. But the Dems swept the top 3 offices in a recent election.
That left the Republican senate. Which, with the 8 vote victory in my district, and Linda's former county ( :) ), Loudon, likely to go Dem, will leave a 20-20 tie in the senate, which will be broken by the new democratic governor.
So, there's a much better chance of people here having the full benefits of the health care law. It's an imperfect law, of course, but better than what was available, before, IMO.
Tony, since I'm surrounded by VA... stateline 10 miles north and 25 east... I get more than enough VA political ads and results. No VA local stuff... except for the small towns/counties near here... but they are the rural step- and bastard children of VA so don't have much in common with your neck of the woods.
Since VA refused to expand their Medicaid program, they wouldn't have a state health insurance marketplae. Virginians use the .gov website just like Tennesseans. You MAY still buy private insurance and a number of companies are offering better policies at a below government-referred prices.
I wish the US House of Reps would go to a 50-50 tie., but it's not likely.
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Boy, Utah is getting NO love from the legal system...
'Sister Wives' family humbled by polygamy ruling
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — There was no fist-pumping or wild celebrations by the polygamous family that stars in the TLC reality TV show "Sister Wives" when a federal judge in Utah struck down key parts of the state's polygamy laws.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Kody Brown and his four wives said they felt humbled and cried when they heard in mid-December the judge ruled in their favor in a lawsuit they brought against Utah in July 2011 after they fled the state for Las Vegas under the threat of prosecution.
"The first thing I thought about was all those families that for 100 years had lived and loved in obscurity, just in secrecy," said Kody Brown in a phone interview from Las Vegas. "Not being able to claim their family or openly love one another."
Kody and his wives — Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn — said they hope the landmark ruling stands and enables other polygamous families in Utah to live open and free without fearing prosecution.
____________________
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups said in the decision handed down on Dec. 13 that a provision in Utah's bigamy law forbidding cohabitation with another person violated the First Amendment, which guarantees the freedom of religion.
The ruling decriminalizes polygamy, but bigamy — holding marriage licenses with multiple partners — is still illegal. Utah's law was considered stricter than the laws in 49 other states because of the cohabitation clause. If the ruling stands, Utah's law would be identical to most other states that prohibit people from having multiple marriage licenses. In most polygamous families in Utah, the man is legally married to one woman but only "spiritually married" to the others.
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/39-sister-wives-39-family-humbled-polygamy-ruling-151931446.html
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Re: France's data protection watchdog on Wednesday 8 January fined Google 150,000 euros ($205,000) -- the maximum possible -- for failing to comply with its privacy guidelines for personal data.
Some clarification, please. the word "its" refers to whom? Google? or France?
Google was fined for breaching its own privacy guidelines.
Any idea how much money Google gets by gathering and using this info? Even if they don't sell it to anybody?
Have you tried Googling your query? :)
Same for Facebook paying out 30 mil in two years for selling info. Duh. A drop in the bucket.
When the US District Court fined Facebook $20 million in August (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23848323?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews) last year for the “misappropriation of certain Facebook members’ personal information, such as names and profile pictures, that was then used in ads to promote products and services via Facebook’s Sponsored Stories program,” it estimated that Facebook had made about $73m (£47m) in profit from the program.
$20 million was a pretty big drop in this particular case ... but I take your point.
Oh... and why is it a bad thing for these companies to be doing this stuff... revealing secret private information... while it is not only okay for individuals to do the same thing, but the stealer/revealers become folk heroes?
An interesting question, but one I’d be better able to answer when you identified the “individuals” to whom you referred.
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Does the word Snowden clear it up for you?
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Does the word Snowden clear it up for you?
I thought you meant that there was more than one such "folk hero." :D
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Well, there's Manning.
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Also, Paul Revere, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Daniel Ellsberg, Senator Sam Ervin, Woodward & Bernstein, those who exposed the My Lai massacre, and Abu Graib......phew. And those just in a few seconds of thought.
Of course we could always repress those who challenge the prevailing ways or cover-ups. In fact, we usually do. But, over thousands of years we've made a little progress over dragging things about, and finally accepted.....wheels were not subversive :).
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There is a difference between exposing law breaking/wrong doing/usurping/misusing power and breaking existing laws and/or legal contractual agreements.
There ARE steps that can be taken that are legal and effective.
What I see are mentally unstable, socially misfit dissidents and want-to-be anarchists who think the rules do not apply to themselves. They believe THEY and they alone can change things immediately. They are dishonest as well as delusional. And lazy. It is easier to steal info and give (or sell) it to a third party than to take the time and make the effort to follow the rules and make changes legally.
Of the people you listed, only Ellsburg stole classified documents and leaked them. He fits with Snowy and Manning. I have no idea why you listed the others.. did they violate the trust of the US government which translates to MY trust and YOUR trust and the trust of every US citizen?
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Yes, Sherry, they did violate the law. Susan Anthony was a suffragette. You know; those ladies who tormented the system, so that you could vote. MLK engaged in civil disobedience. Woodward and Bernstein accepted confidential and classified information. Those who leaked the stories on My Lai and Abu Graib were considered borderline traitors, for possibly hindering the war efforts. And, of course, for his time, Paul Revere was a traitor, as we had not declared independence and his ratting on British troop movements was illegal.
As for "mentally unstable, socially misfits...", I'm sure that whatever faults they had, those were dwarfed by the grotesque that they confronted or exposed. As for wanting to be anarchists, no, that would be the SDS, and cult members of right or left wing groups. Anarchists want no law. Dissidents want the abuse of law exposed. Huge difference.
I do agree, most changes can and should be done within the system. But sometimes the system is broken. If there IS some personality disorder that causes some to self-appoint, frankly, I would love to see more of it.
The only one that comes to mind that, IMO, crossed the line, was Jane Fonda. She really hurt troop morale, did zero to shorten the Vietnam war, but gets a pass because she's a celebrity.
And as for delusional, that would not apply to Snowden. Those who COULD speak up, without losing their paychecks, were the retired intelligence officers, who voted to award him the Samuel Adams freedom award, and went to Moscow to give it to him. I would think that would be a clue as to what experienced government servants knew of the dangers he exposed, and the character needed to do so.
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Tony, there is a difference between picketting, marching, warning, investigating, and revealing personal experiences and in sneaking top secret documents off the computer where you work and giving them to the press. There is a difference between jay walking when you don't want to walk to the corner to cross and murdering the metermaid because she's giving you a ticket when you're out of time.
As for somebody giving Snowden an award, there were people who applauded Fonda too... but SHE was not breaking any laws when she expressed her opinion.
Snowden did his dirty deed and then ran away proving what a coward he is. And don't give me that "disappeared" crap. It would be a lot easier to get rid of him permanently in Russia than here.
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Oh... and why is it a bad thing for these companies to be doing this stuff... revealing secret private information... while it is not only okay for individuals to do the same thing, but the stealer/revealers become folk heroes?
The issue is the misuse of people’s personal information without their consent or knowledge when they were assured by Google and Facebook that it would remain secure and private.
When Google was fined €900,000 ($1.4 million US) by Spain’s AEPD late December last year and €150,000 ($205,000 US) on 3 January this year by France’s CNIL the illegal nature of Google’s actions became public knowledge (via Reuters and Agence France-Presse (http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/france-fines-google-150-000-072653865.html) respectively).
AEPD (Agencia Española de Protección de Datos), the Spanish Agency for Data Protection, is a governmental privacy watchdog responsible for, inter alia, protecting the personal and family privacy of Spanish citizens, including risks to personal data on the Internet. According to the Reuters (http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/spain-privacy-watchdog-fines-google-for-breaking-data-law-460904) article the Agency said that:
... users were not sufficiently informed that Google filtered the content of their emails and files to display advertising and, when it did it used terminology that was imprecise, unclear and with generic expressions. It also said the company was breaking the law by using data it gathered for purposes that are unspecified and keeping this information for an indefinite time, while sometimes hindering users in their right to erase, access or modify this data.
The Sanctions Committee (http://www.cnil.fr/english/news-and-events/news/article/the-cnils-sanctions-committee-issues-a-150-000-EUR-monetary-penalty-to-google-inc/) of CNIL (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés), an independent French administrative regulatory body whose mission is to ensure that data privacy law is applied to the collection, storage, and use of personal data, judged that French law applied to the processing of personal data relating to Internet users established in France, contrary to Google’s claim. It also stated that:
The company does not sufficiently inform its users of the conditions in which their personal data are processed, nor of the purposes of this processing. They may therefore neither understand the purposes for which their data are collected, which are not specific as the law requires, nor the ambit of the data collected through the different services concerned. Consequently, they are not able to exercise their rights, in particular their right of access, objection or deletion...
A statement was also released by DPA (http://www.dutchdpa.nl/Pages/pb_20131128-google-privacypolicy.aspx) (the Dutch Data Protection Authority) in November 2013 which claimed Google’s privacy policy was in breach of the Dutch data protection act. According to the statement:
Google combines the personal data from Internet users that are collected by all kinds of different Google services, without adequately informing the users in advance and without asking for their consent … On top of that, Google does not offer users any (prior) options to consent to or reject the examined data processing activities. The consent, required by law, for the combining of personal data from different Google services cannot be obtained by accepting general (privacy) terms of service.
Facebook similarly misuses private information, as noted in posts I made a few days ago regarding class action articles on the ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-03/facebook-sued-for-selling-information-in-users-private-messages/5183904) and the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-facebook-sued-scanning-private-messages-20140102,0,3009508.story#axzz2pOlZjA2i) news sites, and reported also in this article in The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2212178/New-privacy-row-Facebook-begins-selling-access-users-boost-ailing-profits.html#ixzz2qFvE0n7w) in which the US Electronic Privacy Information Centre and the Centre for Digital Democracy expressed concern that Facebook allowed other companies to trawl through its 900 million users looking for email addresses and phone numbers so it can better target adverts.
You’ve now explained that by “individuals” you meant Edward Snowden, but I found it odd that you linked him with Google and Facebook (i.e. “these companies”) for “doing the same thing” (i.e. “revealing private information”).
As far as I’m aware the information he released to the press was that people’s privacy was being invaded by a covert NSA program of global mass surveillance* without their knowledge or consent.
When this information was published by The Guardian and The Washington Post (and also by The New York Times, Le Monde in France, Der Spiegel in Germany and other news sites in Brazil, Scandinavia, Europe and Australia) it was released into the public realm—as were the findings of the AEDP, CNIL and DNP (the difference here being that they solely involved the misuse of personal information of registered users of Google and Facebook).
If you have information proving unequivocally that Snowden had misused people’s personal private information without their consent or knowledge (as did Google and Facebook) please provide it.
* Initially, that the NSA employed internet surveillance programs such as PRISM (a clandestine mass electronic surveillance data mining program providing access to Americans’ Google and Yahoo accounts) as well as tapping into the companies’ data centers to collect information of account holders worldwide by tapping undersea cables, followed by information that the NSA was harvesting millions of email and instant messaging contact lists, searching email content, tracking and mapping the location of cell phones, undermining attempts at encryption (and even now developing a computer to crack most privacy codes, as you mentioned in your Reply #999 (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2458632#msg2458632) only a few days ago) and that the agency was using cookies to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance and tracking the online sexual activity of people they termed “radicalizers” in order to discredit them.
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What part of "he broke the law and is a traitor" do you not understand?
What part of "he signed a confidentiality agreement" do you not understand?
My guess is, if you were the recipient of and benefitting from some information google or facebook was providing , you'd have no problem with what they are doing.
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Bond denied for ex-cop who allegedly shot texting dad at movies
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/14/justice/florida-movie-theater-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Not even safe in a movie theatre, sad state of affairs!!
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What part of "he broke the law and is a traitor" do you not understand?.....
Sherry, gosh.....where to begin?
Will start by your hooking together two not necessarily related clauses: he broke the law; he is a traitor. The NSA goon who lied to the Congress, some months before Snowden, broke the law. While brushing aside constitutional obligations might be stretched to treason, it does not follow that that perp, is automatically a traitor (although, IMO, those who undermine the fundamentals of the constitution are traitors, that is pressing the definition very close, and should be decided by courts- although fat chance, there).
Next, you seem unaware of the vagaries of "the law". Non-feasance (doing nothing) and malfeasance (abusing official power or authority), are also crimes. And so, for Snowden to have done nothing could arguably and credibly have been criminal. To say he should have gone up the chain of command sounds great; but the environment of don't-make-waves was clearly there and is a strong defense.
Then again, recently, the government has conceded nobody got hurt; no troops, no spies. In fact, it just caused a phony diplomatic ruckus. Everybody else knows we are spying on them. Snowden revealed the weird and creepy super-spying on US, by the NSA. And it's illegal. And cannot be made legal, because it breaches natural law and God-given rights, and without references to THOSE two, the Declaration of Independence, which was based on them, is invalid, and we owe an awful lot of back taxes to the UK.
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Sherry, gosh.....where to begin?
Will start by your hooking together two not necessarily related clauses: he broke the law; he is a traitor. The NSA goon who lied to the Congress, some months before Snowden, broke the law. While brushing aside constitutional obligations might be stretched to treason, it does not follow that that perp, is automatically a traitor (although, IMO, those who undermine the fundamentals of the constitution are traitors, that is pressing the definition very close, and should be decided by courts- although fat chance, there).
Next, you seem unaware of the vagaries of "the law". Non-feasance (doing nothing) and malfeasance (abusing official power or authority), are also crimes. And so, for Snowden to have done nothing could arguably and credibly have been criminal. To say he should have gone up the chain of command sounds great; but the environment of don't-make-waves was clearly there and is a strong defense.
Then again, recently, the government has conceded nobody got hurt; no troops, no spies. In fact, it just caused a phony diplomatic ruckus. Everybody else knows we are spying on them. Snowden revealed the weird and creepy super-spying on US, by the NSA. And it's illegal. And cannot be made legal, because it breaches natural law and God-given rights, and without references to THOSE two, the Declaration of Independence, which was based on them, is invalid, and we owe an awful lot of back taxes to the UK.
Tony, you can dress it up any way you want. Snowden broke the law by stealing the classified documents (that's one.) He compounded it by releasing those documents to a third party (that's two.) The fact that the third party was a foreigner may or may not be three, but I'm counting it. He violated the agreement he signed when he accepted the "contract" to work for the government (even though he was not on the government's payroll, he WAS working for the government... and that's four... although in most cases, breaching a contract is civil, breaching against the fed just might be a crime.) He is a traitor because of what he stole and what he did with it.
He broke the law... a number of laws... and is a traitor because of the laws he broke.
Nonfeasance, misfeasance and even malfeasance may be applicable to each and every person who works around classified information and doesn't report each and every problem they see or policy they disagree with. When hell freezes over. First off, in the case of Snowden, so far nothing he has revealed has proved to be against US law as it stands today. So because HE, in his infinite wisdom, didn't like what he knew, he took it upon himself to... not report it but... give it to a foreign entity. It is possible I'm wrong, but I doubt Snowden made even one attempt to report the wrongdoings he thought he was discovering to ANYBODY, so saying the chain of command failed him is a stretch, to say the least.
Petty little deluded man who never fit in anywhere his entire life decided to bring the government down to his minute stature... and to move to Russia.
Natural law and God given rights sound great, but they have no legal standing. You may not like it that the NSA and google and Long John Silver's are collecting info about you, but right now it is not illegal. If Snowden lived next door to you and didn't like the way you live/who you see/what you watch on tv/where you spend your money/etc and told the Norfolk Times or the guy across the street or posted on his facebook page every little bit he knew about you, you'd be complaining about it. But because Snowden's whole purpose was to expose government secret operations that you don't like, you're willing to overlook, even applaud it.
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No, Sherry, I don't applaud Snowden just because he exposed government activities I don't happen to like. I really don't get over-excited over all the diverse government irregularities that occur. And I don't automatically think they need to be publically known.
In this case, IMO, the issue was and is, an historic shift against our personal freedom, and even safety. Even our ability to have an identity that is human, and not monitored by super-computers under the easy control of voyeurs and ideological bullies is already nearly irreversibly eroded.
I think we're speaking different languages. Am a history buff, and am always surprised at how often warning signals are ignored. They are sounding off now, and we seem to be in the lethargy of the Weimar Republic before WWII. But instead of cabarets, it's tv and Taco Bell.
Also, if you think ever more advanced technology will be limited to snooping only, you have more confidence in unusual power being safe from abuse, than I do. I guess that is the difference in how we see things.
Oh, well. Maybe global warming will cause flooding that short-circuits the snoops. There's always hope :)......
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I heard on the tv, while eating my Taco Bell combo #5, that the politially correct term is NOT global warming but climate change. FWIW.
I DO have more faith in mankind... especially US mankind... than you apparently do. I know little of history beyond what I got in school and through historial romances and, of course, Reign, but I'm really not interested. There have been more and greater changes to the way we live in the last 100 years than in all the time leading up to the 20th Century. All my life someone somewhere has been crying out warnings about this incursion into our personal freedoms or that one. Every time you turn around someone else is predicting social disaster of an unimaginable degree. And yet, no matter all the warnings and dire predictions, we are still here. Things change. People, like everything else, evolve. If history is going to repeat itself, it had better get started soon or the sun will burn out before it happens.
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Justin Bieber home raid uncovers cocaine
Rapper Lil Za arrested for suspicion of cocaine possession during raid over egg-tossing incident
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/justin-bieber-home-raid-uncovers-cocaine-1.2496097
::)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi275.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fjj282%2FSanFranciscoJohn%2Fbrokeback_Teatro-Real-3-e1389742271252_zps5eb0f7cd.png&hash=9840ea8b58ab826270e3d20624f787987b66df00) (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/SanFranciscoJohn/media/brokeback_Teatro-Real-3-e1389742271252_zps5eb0f7cd.png.html)
more
http://www.ociogay.com/2014/01/15/brokeback-mountain-adelantamos-las-primeras-escenas-de-amor-gay-en-el-teatro-real/ (http://www.ociogay.com/2014/01/15/brokeback-mountain-adelantamos-las-primeras-escenas-de-amor-gay-en-el-teatro-real/)
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Just a note to Paul 029 and Sherry:
Thank you for your notes to me re the Target scam. I was so upset about it and I haven't rec'd. the new card yet. Did you know the hackers also got to Neiman-Marcus? Oh boy, there's big $$$ there. I suppose these "security systems" the stores have are just the cheapest; but I'm just venting.
It doesn't seem like hacking will stop.
Kathy
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi275.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fjj282%2FSanFranciscoJohn%2Fbrokeback_Teatro-Real-3-e1389742271252_zps5eb0f7cd.png&hash=9840ea8b58ab826270e3d20624f787987b66df00) (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/SanFranciscoJohn/media/brokeback_Teatro-Real-3-e1389742271252_zps5eb0f7cd.png.html)
more
http://www.ociogay.com/2014/01/15/brokeback-mountain-adelantamos-las-primeras-escenas-de-amor-gay-en-el-teatro-real/ (http://www.ociogay.com/2014/01/15/brokeback-mountain-adelantamos-las-primeras-escenas-de-amor-gay-en-el-teatro-real/)
Ummm -------- why can't we just have our beautiful memories of Heath and Jake as Ennis and Jack? Sorry, but I just can't help feeling this way.
Heath and Jake. Sure, they showed skin in BBM, but it just didn't seem like this; it was so much more than just showing skin. E&J loved each other.
Well, I'm the type who can't imagine anyone else in certain roles, even if it's called an opera. Forgive me ... I just cannot imagine "singing" it. Or maybe I love it too much.
Kathy
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Just a note to Paul 029 and Sherry:
Thank you for your notes to me re the Target scam. I was so upset about it and I haven't rec'd. the new card yet. Did you know the hackers also got to Neiman-Marcus? Oh boy, there's big $$$ there. I suppose these "security systems" the stores have are just the cheapest; but I'm just venting.
It doesn't seem like hacking will stop.
The article in my link stated that Target is “offering credit monitoring and identity-theft protection free of charge for a year to those who shopped at its US stores,” which is something, at least.
There have been warnings here to be on the lookout for suspicious ATM card slots, such as a magnetic skimming device which captures credit or debit card details from its magnetic strip, as well as pinhole cameras above or to the side of the keypad to record PINs, for instance. Fifteen ATMs were targetted in Sydney last year to siphon about $100,000 from people’s bank accounts.
Take care, Kathy.
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What part of "he broke the law and is a traitor" do you not understand?
What part of "he signed a confidentiality agreement" do you not understand?
My guess is, if you were the recipient of and benefitting from some information google or facebook was providing , you'd have no problem with what they are doing.
Your attempts to divert attention from the point are noted, Sherry.
I posted information regarding class action lawsuits brought against Facebook and fines being imposed on Facebook and Google for surreptitiously monitoring their users’ online activity in order to acquire their personal data.
You responded by asking why it was okay for “individuals” to do the same thing as “these companies.”
When questioned you suggested that Edward Snowden was one of these individuals.
I then demonstrated that Edward Snowden hadn’t done “the same thing” as Google and Facebook.
Perhaps you overlooked the fact that the class action lawsuits filed against Facebook, the fines imposed by two European privacy protection agencies against Google and the actions of Edward Snowden regarding the NSA’s covert global mass surveillance program have something in common.
In each case the internet and/or phone activities of private citizens (as well as, in the NSA’s case, non-US public office holders) were being monitored and scrutinised without their knowledge or consent.
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Perhaps YOU don't understand LEGAL.
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Just a note to Paul 029 and Sherry:
Thank you for your notes to me re the Target scam. I was so upset about it and I haven't rec'd. the new card yet. Did you know the hackers also got to Neiman-Marcus? Oh boy, there's big $$$ there. I suppose these "security systems" the stores have are just the cheapest; but I'm just venting.
It doesn't seem like hacking will stop.
Kathy
Since these hackers have been able to get through government security systems, I don't think commercial systems are any worse. Not only that, but a lot of haking from foreigners are supported/encouraged/sponsored by their governments.
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Perhaps YOU don't understand LEGAL.
It’s clear that you disagee with the points I made regarding your claim that Snowden did the same thing as Google and Facebook.
But it’s also clear that you’re unable to refute them.
Shouting at me, questioning my ability to comprehend issues (that those to which you referred here and in your previous post to me are irrelevant to your claim appears to have been overlooked) and implying that my views would somehow differ had I a vested interest in the information acquired from Google and Facebook, as if I was incapable of being objective, demonstrate that you’re reluctant to engage in civil discussion of points of view dissimilar to yours.
These modes of response, verging on personal attack, also allow you to avoid addressing the issues I raised regarding your claim.
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As a moderator here, I suggest that everyone stop taking shots at each other and get back to the topic at hand, which is current events.
This thread has been locked before, don't make us do it again.
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Public places. It may sound obvious, but you have little to no privacy when you are in public. When you are in a public place — whether walking down the sidewalk, shopping in a store, sitting in a restaurant or in the park — your actions, movements, and conversations are knowingly exposed to the public. That means the police can follow you around in public and observe your activities, see what you are carrying or to whom you are talking, sit next to you or behind you and listen to your conversations — all without a warrant. You cannot necessarily expect Fourth Amendment protection when you’re in a public place, even if you think you are alone. Fourth Amendment challenges have been unsuccessfully brought against police officers using monitoring beepers to track a suspect’s location in a public place, but it is unclear how those cases might apply to more pervasive remote monitoring, like using GPS or other cell phone location information to track a suspect’s physical location.
Much of this very vocal Viewing With Alarm about privacy is coming from people who let everybody within 20 feet or so know about their marital problems, problems with their kids, work schedules and even what they're having for dinner ("OK, I've left cereal and baked goods and I'm in the canned vegetable aisle now; do you want regular, creamed corn or Hotcha Spicy?") whether the rest of us are interested or not. But it's so satisfying to act as if an invisible NSA operative is holding a loaded gun to one's head every minute; everybody who is anybody is being "attacked" one way or another at present. One must keep up.
And this moron, who is your basic introvert, still wants to know what you have to hide in your telephone calls and emails? Maybe I can get a job with the NSA and find out.
Say what you will about we introverts, most of us aren't posting every aspect of our life short of what we look like in the shower (and even then....) on social media and then pretending to be shocked -- SHOCKED, I tell you -- when we discover that we've plumb run out of surprises.
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It’s clear that you disagee with the points I made regarding your claim that Snowden did the same thing as Google and Facebook.
But it’s also clear that you’re unable to refute them.
Shouting at me, questioning my ability to comprehend issues (that those to which you referred here and in your previous post to me are irrelevant to your claim appears to have been overlooked) and implying that my views would somehow differ had I a vested interest in the information acquired from Google and Facebook, as if I was incapable of being objective, demonstrate that you’re reluctant to engage in civil discussion of points of view dissimilar to yours.
These modes of response, verging on personal attack, also allow you to avoid addressing the issues I raised regarding your claim.
According to your posts, google and facebook broke the law by violating their stated confidentiality policies and are bad guys because of it.
According to me, Snowden broke the law by violating his confidentiality contract and is therefore a bad guy.
The only difference is google and facebook are companies and Snowden is an individual.
They all broke the law.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-3.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fsandbox%2Fnews%2F140127%2Fmichelle-obama%2Fmichelle-4-600x450.jpg&hash=c4c528108872f1bfd08cf4ea9616eb94972482b8)
She's 50 and fabulous – and has the ID card to prove it!
First Lady Michelle Obama turned the big 5-0 on Friday, and showed off one of her first birthday gifts, courtesy of the American Association of Retired Persons: a free membership card.
"Excited to join Barack in the 50+ club today… check out my @AARP card!" she wrote on Twitter next to a photo of herself grinning and showing off the card. Some 50-year-olds dread receiving it, but not Michelle!
"I don’t feel that much differently than I did when I was younger," Mrs. Obama told PEOPLE in advance of her big milestone. "What I hear is that age is a number, it’s a state of mind."
As for what President Obama might be wrapping in ribbon for the birthday girl today, "That's top-secret," he tells PEOPLE. "Not even the NSA knows that."
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20777044,00.html
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This is perverse... according to this reasoning, blacks and Hispanics are imprisoned more often than whites and Asians because laws are wrong, not because they break the law more often than whites and Asians.
Obama Administration Mandates Racism in Schools
The Departments of Education and Justice have teamed up to make the lives of students in tough neighborhoods even tougher. Framed as a measure to combat discrimination against black and Hispanic children, the guidelines issued by the Obama administration about school discipline will actually encourage racial discrimination, undermine the learning environments of classrooms and contribute to an unjust race-consciousness in meting out discipline.
Claiming that African-American and Hispanic students are more harshly disciplined than whites for the same infractions, the Obama administration now advises that any disciplinary rule that results in a "disparate impact" on these groups will be challenged by the government.
"Disparate impact" analysis, as we've seen in employment law, does not require any intentional discrimination. It means, for example, that if an employer asks job seekers to take a test, and a larger percentage of one ethnic group fails the test than another, that the test is de facto discriminatory because it has a "disparate impact."
In the school context, the federal government is now arguing that if a disciplinary rule results in more black, Hispanic or special education kids being suspended or otherwise sanctioned, the rule must be suspect. The "Dear Colleague" letter explains that a disciplinary policy can be unlawful discrimination, even if the rule is "neutral on its face ... and is administered in an evenhanded manner," if it has a "disparate impact" on certain ethnic and other groups.
The inclusion of special education students is particularly perverse, as special ed students frequently get that designation because their emotional disturbances cause them to misbehave in various ways. So if a rule against, say, knocking over desks, is found to be violated more frequently by special ed than regular ed students, then the rule must be questioned? That's circular.
As the CATO Institute's Walter Olson notes, the federal guidelines pass over one example of disparate impact with no comment — namely the dramatically more males than females who face disciplinary action nationwide. If we are to judge a rule's lawfulness by the disparate impact on males, no rule would survive the inquiry. Is it possible that more boys misbehave in the classroom than girls? To ask this question is to venture into an area the federal government would have us avoid. Actual infractions by individuals are not the issue. We must have group justice, not individual justice.
We've actually been down this road many times before. Various state and federal agencies have raised concerns about the large numbers of black and Hispanic students facing disciplinary action. Such concerns helped to generate the rigid "zero tolerance" policies the administration now condemns. Zero tolerance is a brainless approach to a subject that requires considerable finesse and deliberation, but the disparate impact rule is even more pernicious.
Under the new dispensation, teachers, principals and other officials will have to pause before they discipline, say, the fourth black student in a month. "How will this look to the feds?" they'll ask themselves. Will the student's family be able to sue us? A variety of solutions to the federally created problem will present themselves. School officials can search out offenses by white and Asian students to make the numbers come out right. Asian students are disciplined at rates far below any other ethnic group. Is this due to pro-Asian bias in our schools, or is it because Asians commit many fewer infractions? Oops, there we go into territory forbidden by the federal guidelines.
Another solution will be to ignore misbehavior by blacks and Hispanics. For classes with large numbers of minority students, this guarantees that the learning environment for the kids who actually want to learn will be impaired as teachers — reluctant to remove troublesome students — expend precious time on kids who are rude, threatening, loud or otherwise disruptive. Every minute of the school day taken up by bad kids is taken away from good kids. It's a true zero-sum game.
So the Obama administration's pursuit of group justice actually leads to injustice to individual students. Whites and Asians will be disciplined more than they merit it by their conduct, and fewer students of all groups will get the kind of classroom atmosphere that is conducive to learning. Even the students who get a pass on their bad conduct are disserved, as they will not have learned that disrespectful language, tardiness and even violence are unacceptable in society.
Everyone loses. Obama strikes again.
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-administration-mandates-racism-schools-080000319.html
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Yes, that "disparate impact" does, on the face of it, make for liberal insanity that would back-fire. These days, however, what with Fox news, and blog writers carefully misquoting, I have to wonder if there is another side to this. My gut reaction is it just might be true, but need to see if it's pimped.
People are doing a lot of that lately. A letter-to-the- editor of my diocesan newspaper ranted on and on about the Pope's condemnation of capitalism. The pope condemned "unfettered capitalism". Big difference. As in between Karl Marx and Theodore Roosevelt.
But if the liberals are, in fact, on drugs, we'll see the appropriate howling (mine included). Because, with the MLK holiday approaching, we should remember that his dream was of judgment based on behavior not on prejudice. He didn't give a free ride for no personal responsibility.
Sheesh. 'Disparate impact" would force the release of many Mafia gangsters, on the grounds of.....too many Italians :P .
It should prove interesting. BTW, Yahoo News often gets Fox-newsy. So, we'll see.
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Caught the tail-end of a crime story on tv tonight, and heard of a legal term I hadn't known of before : depraved indifference. They couldn't get a murder charge easily, on a father who had caused his toddler son's death, and yet abuse charges wouldn't be enough. Apparently, depraved indifference has the full force of murder, even though the internet definitions I looked up seemed to require a more sudden death.
Added to malfeasance and non-feasance, depraved indifference might be another good tool to clean up the slide into zero accountability of the post 9/11 era. Warnings ignored, phony intel to justify the war in Iraq, and even the BP oil spill (a lot of deaths on that oil rig).
In fact, depraved indifference can be used when it's known there is high risk of death, not certainty. The law is more rich than I had thought.
But, back to Snowden :). Someone jaywalking to rescue a toddler that has wandered into traffic HAS broken the law. But the aberrant, indifferent parents are the ones who should be prosecuted, IMO.
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You don't watch L & O? That's their favorite charge.
And in your jaywalking Snowden case, does he then get by with sending the toddler to live with a reporter at The Guardian?
The other night... Monday or Tuesday... all three of our local news programs carried the same story about both our local health "alliances" having to lay off 100-200 employees a piece because of the reduction in reimbursements and decreased in patient numbers caused by Obamacare. Each of these "alliances" has multiple hospitals scattered over northeast TN and southwest VA and they pretty much control health care around here. I would have ignored the story EXCEPT last week I caught another health care story on NPR which explained why all hospitals in the US are experiencing a fairly dramatic reduction in patient numbers because of an ACA policy which took effect in October 2012. Apparently hospitals were seeing as much as 25% of mainly Medicare patients readmitted within 14 to 90 days of being discharged, often over and over and over for the same patients. It is called "the revolving door" policy and a good deal of hospital revenue was coming from this practice. The ACA imposes heavy fines for Medicare patients caught up in the in-out-in-out dance, along with some financial incentives for correcting the problem... which was mainly caused by hospitals sending people home without instructions or without making sure patients understood instructions for aftercare and changes in medicine, and no provisions for following up to make sure patients were continuing to improve or at least not falling back into whatever their problem was or developing new medical issues. (I haven't seen any story that even suggests the revolving door policy was deliberate, but the thought sure occurred to ME.) As a result of ACA, hospitals are experiencing 12-25% reduction in these repeat patients... and that's a lot of money down the drain. The NPR story also suggested there are two many hospitals in most areas for all of them to be profitable and some combining of services needs to happen. I emailed all three of our local tv news stations and suggested their story was either incomplete or politically motivated anti-Obamacare bias. And not one of them has bothered to reply.
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BTW, Yahoo News often gets Fox-newsy. So, we'll see.
Yes, it is, and it also is tracking every "news" article you read. Which is why I get lots and lots of Obama-related stories and fluff pieces like 6 Reasons Your Dog Hates Being On a Lead and Top 10 TV Shows Where the Male Lead Never Takes Off His Shirt, and very little in the way of sports or finance "news."
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Well, I get a lot of Meet Foxy Ladies in the Norfolk area, as my main tracking ad. But also, tv shows. I don't date. I do watch tv. I guess their algorithms on me are still puzzling things out :P.
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I didn't mean ads... I never look at them, so don't know what kind I get. I was talking about the "news" stories that appear on the main page
My current titles are:
10 Messest Dog Breeds
Coverage Expansion Fail: Less than One-Third of Obamacare Enrollees Previously Uninsured
Comcast-time Warner Merge: What's in It for the FCC
10 Foods that Healthy Eaters Love to Love
Beyond Hillary Clinton: Eight Democrats Who might Run if She Doesn't
8 Baby Naming Traditions from Around the World
Will Jennifer Lopez Marry Boy Friend Caspar Smart
5 Things that Make Veterinarians Cry
Health Insurance Companies See Obamacare Medicaid Boom
Christie's Bridge Scandal: From Jokes to Confusion
etc
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-25726694
This is not what you might call "a hot topic" ....but it sure made me see red !
The 16 year old schoolboy Lewis Clark.....is trekking his way to the South Pole. Not sure when he started this....must have been a good few weeks ago.....and he's still at it. Now...I don't know if you know of our Educational Laws in the UK ...but they are very strict about parents taking their children out of school term time for holidays or anything else.Especially at Lewis's age when they would be studying hard for exams.Parents can face very heavy fines.Thousands in fact.
Now.......my grandson is 16 years old too.....and his mom and dad asked if he could have a week off school to go to France in May to do the tour of the beaches where the Americans fought in the war to help us. eg: Utah beach ....Omaha beach etc. Educational you would think ?? The request has been turned down flat.
So.....this leaves the question " How did Lewis manage it ? " I am seething >:(
Re -reading it....he began on December 2nd !
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He's arrived! But I really get your point, Sue. So inconsistent. But the problem comes from the parents who take their children out of school when they feel like it, with no thoughts of whether they might be learning something new in maths that they'll never get the hang of, or exam preparation etc.
Btw, the British landing beaches are there too! :)
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Y'all don't ever home school?
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Ecuador's Correa rebukes 'intrusions' by UN, Americas court
Quito (AFP) - Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Saturday rebuked requests by major international bodies for clarification on his anti-abortion position and decision to extract oil from an Amazon reserve.
The president revealed that his government had received letters from the UN and Inter-American Court of Human Rights pressing him on the matters, which he says are domestic.
Speaking on his weekly radio and television program, Correa said the inter-American court had inquired into the government's controversial plans to extract oil in Yasuni Park.
The move is opposed by environmentalists and indigenous groups hoping to protect the UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Correa also said that a UN rapporteur had sent him a request to explain his anti-abortion position. Last year Correa threatened to leave his majority-holding party if Congress decriminalized abortion in all cases of rape.
"Gentlemen, go mind your business and not the affairs of a sovereign country like Ecuador," Correa said.
He also pointed to what he said was interference by the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in Uruguay's recent decision to regulate the production and sale of marijuana. The body has said Uruguay's move breaks international law.
But, Correa said, there was a lack of international criticism over legalized marijuana use in the United States where the states of Washington and Colorado have permitted citizens to use the drug recreationally.
"It's a terrible double standard; they treat us like colonies," the president, a leftist and economist by training, said. Her urged his countrymen to free themselves from "illegitimate and illegal intrusions by this international bureaucracy."
http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-39-correa-rebukes-39-intrusions-39-un-211332780.html
And what business is this stuff of the USA's OR the UN's?
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Y'all don't ever home school?
Yes, some do. Don't know the percentage.
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Nearly 4 % of US kids are homeschooled, about 2,000,000 schoolage children. And homeschoolded kids consistently outscore other students on standardized tests, including SATs and ACTS.
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Ecuador's Correa rebukes 'intrusions' by UN, Americas court
Quito (AFP) - Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Saturday rebuked requests by major international bodies for clarification on his anti-abortion position and decision to extract oil from an Amazon reserve.
The president revealed that his government had received letters from the UN and Inter-American Court of Human Rights pressing him on the matters, which he says are domestic.
Speaking on his weekly radio and television program, Correa said the inter-American court had inquired into the government's controversial plans to extract oil in Yasuni Park.
The move is opposed by environmentalists and indigenous groups hoping to protect the UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Correa also said that a UN rapporteur had sent him a request to explain his anti-abortion position. Last year Correa threatened to leave his majority-holding party if Congress decriminalized abortion in all cases of rape.
"Gentlemen, go mind your business and not the affairs of a sovereign country like Ecuador," Correa said.
He also pointed to what he said was interference by the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in Uruguay's recent decision to regulate the production and sale of marijuana. The body has said Uruguay's move breaks international law.
But, Correa said, there was a lack of international criticism over legalized marijuana use in the United States where the states of Washington and Colorado have permitted citizens to use the drug recreationally.
"It's a terrible double standard; they treat us like colonies," the president, a leftist and economist by training, said. Her urged his countrymen to free themselves from "illegitimate and illegal intrusions by this international bureaucracy."
http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-39-correa-rebukes-39-intrusions-39-un-211332780.html
And what business is this stuff of the USA's OR the UN's?
He's a leftist?!
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3 gay Republicans trying to make election history
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Dan Innis' husband persuaded him to run for the U.S. House.
It didn't matter that Innis, a former business school dean, faced an aggressive Democratic incumbent, GOP colleagues who oppose his right to marry, and history — no Republican ever has been openly gay when first elected to Congress.
"He said, 'You've got to do this,'" recalls Innis, running in the 1st Congressional District, which covers most of eastern New Hampshire. "He said, 'You need to take this opportunity and see if you can make a difference.'"
Innis plays down his sexuality as a campaign issue, but acknowledges the historic undertones. He is among three openly gay Republicans nationwide expected to run in this year's midterm elections. None has an easy path to Washington.
Each ultimately must unseat a Democratic incumbent, overcome brushes with hate and confront passionate divisions within the GOP about the way they live their lives. The Republican Party is trying to soften its tone on divisive social issues, but many religious conservatives see homosexuality as immoral.
Innis is married to a man, as is former state Sen. Richard Tisei, R-Mass., who is expected to run again for the northeastern Massachusetts congressional seat he narrowly lost in 2012 to Democratic Rep. John Tierney.
In San Diego, former Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio is challenging first-term Democratic Rep. Scott Peters.
"You can't focus on any of the nasty comments or attacks — not just from far right, also from far left," DeMaio says.
"Every once in a while we'll get some hate that is truly over the top — a truly venomous voice mail message. Every time we need a lift-me-up, we play it and chuckle," DeMaio says. "It's just a reminder that what we're fighting for matters."
He is fighting his own party, too.
The GOP's formal platform, as set in its 2012 national convention, declares that "marriage, the union of one man and one woman, must be upheld as the national standard."
Republican opposition to gay marriage has become less visible recently as the GOP works to improve its image and polling suggests that most Americans support same-sex marriage.
Prominent social conservatives such as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Ralph Reed, former leader of the Christian Coalition, declined to be interviewed for this story.
As a senator in 2003, Santorum, a leading candidate in the 2012 presidential primary, compared homosexual acts to child molestation and bestiality.
Boehner traveled to Massachusetts in 2012 to help raise money for Tisei, who notes that more than 70 members of Congress supported his last campaign.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/3-gay-republicans-trying-election-history-132555972--election.html
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The article in my link stated that Target is “offering credit monitoring and identity-theft protection free of charge for a year to those who shopped at its US stores,” which is something, at least.
There have been warnings here to be on the lookout for suspicious ATM card slots, such as a magnetic skimming device which captures credit or debit card details from its magnetic strip, as well as pinhole cameras above or to the side of the keypad to record PINs, for instance. Fifteen ATMs were targetted in Sydney last year to siphon about $100,000 from people’s bank accounts.
Take care, Kathy.
Thank you Paul. It has been a difficult time here re the hacking. I hadn't heard that about Target though. The banks really are trying.
I don't think we will ever stop any of the hackers >:( thousands of miles away. They do awful damage and seem to continue on and on.
kathy
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Since these hackers have been able to get through government security systems, I don't think commercial systems are any worse. Not only that, but a lot of haking from foreigners are supported/encouraged/sponsored by their governments.
Yup.
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...
But, back to Snowden :). Someone jaywalking to rescue a toddler that has wandered into traffic HAS broken the law. But the aberrant, indifferent parents are the ones who should be prosecuted, IMO.
Penalties for “jaywalking” are generally only a fine for breaking a rule regarding pedestrians crossing the road.
It’s not a criminal offence, and if it occurred to save a life it probably wouldn’t even result in a fine.
But there’s no real guarantee that a Good Samaritan would escape litigation if his behaviour caused a traffic accident or pile-up or brought about a charge of assault on a minor.
I guess that’d depend on the type of road, how busy it was, how many lanes it had, the traffic speed limit, whether any vehicles were speeding or driving dangerously and so on; as well as whether the child’s parents (if they were present) were negligent or simply wanted the child to play “chicken;” and whether the jaywalker survived the rescue mission without being run down; if not, his family could probably prosecute the parents (whether present or absent, negligent or malevolent) and/or the child (if it survived) for causing his death, not to mention the vehicle/s which actually killed him. So, too many variables...
Overall, it’d probably be better, and safer, to just dial 911 and otherwise keep out of it altogether.
So while I appreciated your analogy I guess it raised more issues than you intended, Tony. :)
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According to your posts, google and facebook broke the law by violating their stated confidentiality policies and are bad guys because of it.
According to me, Snowden broke the law by violating his confidentiality contract and is therefore a bad guy.
The only difference is google and facebook are companies and Snowden is an individual.
They all broke the law.
Okay. But that wasn’t what you said when you asked me your questions, where no mention is made of “breaking the law” or “confidentiality contracts/policies.”
Oh... and why is it a bad thing for these companies to be doing this stuff... revealing secret private information... while it is not only okay for individuals to do the same thing, but the stealer/revealers become folk heroes?
The link you made between “these companies” and Snowden was that he’d done “the same thing” as Google and Facebook.
Both companies had misappropriated people’s “private information” without their knowledge, but Snowden hadn’t done that.
It would’ve really helped had you been more specific, Sherry.
Our discussion would then have been considerably shorter... :)
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Governor Christie's NJ woes dog Florida fundraising trip
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New Jersey mayor who added to Governor Chris Christie's woes with fresh claims that his office punishes uncooperative local officials stuck to her story on Sunday, overshadowing the governor's fundraising trip in Florida.
Widely seen as a Republican contender for the White House in 2016, Christie avoided mention of his troubles at home while he raises funds on a closely watched trip to Florida this weekend.
His office dismissed as false claims by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer that he sent his deputy to tell her she risked not getting requested funds for Superstorm Sandy relief unless she backed a redevelopment project in her city.
But Zimmer stuck to her story on Sunday that two state officials, including Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, told her Christie would withhold funding if Zimmer did not support a bid by the New York-based Rockefeller Group to build on several blocks in the city.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/christie-39-staff-held-disaster-aid-39-hostage-021932850--finance.html
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Paul, you're right; my toddler-in-traffic analogy was simplistic.
But, gosh, I did not know you had so many variables that could apply. We need you in Homeland Defense :D.
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Paul, you're right; my toddler-in-traffic analogy was simplistic.
I did like it, though. :)
But, gosh, I did not know you had so many variables that could apply.
And I hadn't even started on the possibility of the parents claiming their child's constitutional rights had been violated...
We need you in Homeland Defense :D.
Where would I begin? ::) :D
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Ummmm... just coincidence that another Republican governor with presidential prospects is in trouble? One more and it beomes a pattern.
Former Va. gov, wife indicted for corruption
New York.
The governor-elect obliged and brought along his wife, Maureen, who told Jonnie Williams she needed a dress for the inauguration the following month, according to a federal indictment charging the couple with corruption and lying to investigators.
Williams agreed to buy her an Oscar de la Renta gown, but a Bob McDonnell aide said it would be inappropriate and nixed the idea, according to the indictment.
Peeved, the former Washington Redskins cheerleader and future first lady fired off an email to the staffer.
"I need to talk to you about Inaugural clothing budget," the email said. "I need answers and Bob is screaming about the thousands I'm charging up in credit card debt. We are broke and have an unconscionable amount in credit card debt already and this Inaugural is killing us!! I need answers and I need help, and I need to get this done."
She ultimately told Williams, then the CEO of dietary supplement maker Star Scientific Inc., she could not accept the dress but would take a "rain check."
That scenario played out in December 2009, according to the indictment, and was allegedly the start of a four-year pattern of Virginia's first couple squeezing gifts and loans out of a benefactor who expected them to promote his company's products in return.
The indictment suggested the McDonnells cashed in that first rain check many times over: shopping sprees for designer clothes for Maureen McDonnell, a vacation stay at Williams' multimillion-dollar Smith Mountain Lake retreat, $70,000 in loans for a family real estate venture, $15,000 in catering expenses for a daughter's wedding, golf outings for the governor and family members.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/former-va-gov-wife-indicted-corruption-092408233.html
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The 5 States Most Likely to Legalize Pot Next
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The times, they are a-changin' for marijuana as long-time prohibition laws risk going up in flames. Colorado has lit one up. Washington has its pipe packed but officials still need to sift through 7,000 applications before licenses to produce and sell are issued. And in the rest of the country, grassroots activists fight and campaign, while politicians teeter on whether to relax laws.
Even President Obama weighed in on the debate on Sunday in an interview with The New Yorker, supporting Colorado and Washington's legalization efforts but stopping short of making any statement on whether it could play out on a federal level.
"It's important for it to go forward because it's important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished," he told the publication.
The dominos are stacked but which will be the next to fall? TheStreet investigates the five states likely to embrace marijuana law reform next.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12256836/1/91video93-the-5-states-most-likely-to-legalize-pot-next.html
And the 5 states are:
Alaska
Oregon
California
New Hampshire
Maine
Tennessee is not listed although there is currently a bill on the floor to legalize medical marijuana. A few years back, medical marijuana WAS legal here, but that law was repealed.
This new law is not likely to get very far... for about 5 years, there has been yearly attempts to get wine in grocery stores.
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And the states hosting the teams in the game weekend after next have legalized pot.
The Reefer Bowl? Or if enough is consumed, the Stupor Bowl?
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Nah, it'd have to be the Doobie Bowl. :D
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The article in my link stated that Target is “offering credit monitoring and identity-theft protection free of charge for a year to those who shopped at its US stores,” which is something, at least.
There have been warnings here to be on the lookout for suspicious ATM card slots, such as a magnetic skimming device which captures credit or debit card details from its magnetic strip, as well as pinhole cameras above or to the side of the keypad to record PINs, for instance. Fifteen ATMs were targetted in Sydney last year to siphon about $100,000 from people’s bank accounts.
It turns out that the Target customers' information was compromised at the point of purchase, where the customer scanned the card. Incredibly, Target didn't have the protection at that point that most other stores have.
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Nah, it'd have to be the Doobie Bowl. :D
Doobie Bowl it is! ;D
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It turns out that the Target customers' information was compromised at the point of purchase, where the customer scanned the card. Incredibly, Target didn't have the protection at that point that most other stores have.
Apparently about a dozen other big name stores don't have it either.
Maybe people should look into shopping, at least in person, with that old fashioned thingy called cash.
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Nah, it'd have to be the Doobie Bowl. :D
:D :D :D
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Dinesh D'Souza, former policy analyst during the Reagan Administration and producer of the "documentary" 2016: Obama's America was indicted Thursday for allegedly violating federal campaign finance laws.
D’Souza, an author and the former president of King’s College, is accused of “causing $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions to be made to a candidate for the U.S. Senate in calendar year 2012,” according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. He is also charged with causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission.
“As we have long said, this office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “If, as alleged, the defendant directed others to make contributions to a Senate campaign and reimbursed them, that is a serious violation of federal campaign finance laws.”
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/dinesh-dsouza-federal-charges
more details at http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/January14/DineshDSouzaCharges.php
In 2001, D'Souza joined Pat Robertson in blaming gays for the 9-11 attacks.
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"Buster" Wilson is referred to here as a "former American Family Association talk show host". Apparently, Mr. Wilson's god can't keep the names of those big-box stores straight: he's got the idea that his god engineered Target's security breach in a fit of pique over Kmart's Joe Boxer ad.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/buster-wilson-target-data-breach-gods-wrath-kmart-joe-boxer-ad
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My favorite ad of the Christmas season. Can't wait for the Easter "hide the egg" campaign.
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Can "supervolcano humor" be far behind?
". . .the sad reality of our collective apathy and inaction is only made worse when I see everyone from Twitter users to popular TV people, left and right alike, treating it like it’s just another 'snowpocalypse' or whatever too-clever neologism we’ve invented for hashtag wars this week.
"To repeat: the polar vortex ought to be locked in place over the Arctic. Not in the middle of the United States. The climate situation has become so unglued that the high-speed winds that usually hold the polar vortex in place have dissipated enough due to global warming to allow a massive chunk of atmosphere to slip away from the North Pole and hover over the North American land mass thousands of miles to the south.
"We did this. All of us. And the very least we can do now is it take ownership and responsibility for it instead of turning it into a meme."
Let your freak denial flag fly.....
http://thedailybanter.com/2014/01/the-polar-vortex-is-not-funny/
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My favorite ad of the Christmas season. Can't wait for the Easter "hide the egg" campaign.
Where is the like button when I need it? :D
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"To repeat: the polar vortex ought to be locked in place over the Arctic.
Never a cop around when you need one.
Bet those pre Ice Age cavemen were saying the same thing... "that damned polar vortex ought to be locked up some place."
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Can "supervolcano humor" be far behind?
"To repeat: the polar vortex ought to be locked in place over the Arctic. Not in the middle of the United States. The climate situation has become so unglued that the high-speed winds that usually hold the polar vortex in place have dissipated enough due to global warming to allow a massive chunk of atmosphere to slip away from the North Pole and hover over the North American land mass thousands of miles to the south.
"We did this. All of us. And the very least we can do now is it take ownership and responsibility for it instead of turning it into a meme."
Yeah Bob Cesca has always been my "go to" guy for all things meteorological.
Look, I am certainly not asserting that "we" have not had something to do with this and I am perfectly willing to "take ownership" if it will help Bob sleep better at night but, good lord, even Al Roker came up with a more complete and intelligent explanation. Maybe Bob needs to delete his "tweet" account.
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Sneak Peek- Brokeback opera in Madrid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz-HPPZYr_E&feature=youtu.be
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I find this interesting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/arts/music/charles-wuorinen-adapts-brokeback-mountain-as-opera.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/arts/music/charles-wuorinen-adapts-brokeback-mountain-as-opera.html?_r=0)
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Great read. Makes me want to see the opera.
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I can't believe this is real! Excuse me while I go join the most radical Quebec separatist party.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to massage Netanyahoo's prostate with his lips by singing 'Hey Jew". Must be seen to be believed. I am now officially NOT a Canadian:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FPeople%2FHarper-hey-jew-01_zps8fb3fbcb.jpg&hash=320f4fbabf57fc7273cd685cefcc5eb0caae76b8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltAfEXce7Jk&feature=share
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Never a cop around when you need one.
Bet those pre Ice Age cavemen were saying the same thing... "that damned polar vortex ought to be locked up some place."
"I imagine the French aristocrats thought practically the same thing until the very moment when they climbed into the trumbrils."
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Yeah Bob Cesca has always been my "go to" guy for all things meteorological.
I prefer the NWS myself, but would go to Bob Cesca for info before anybody who's unable to string five words together without sarcasm.
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I expect a lot of people here have already seen this. A richly-deserved sendup of the iconic 1970s commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g11nN5yee7U
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I expect a lot of people here have already seen this. A richly-deserved sendup of the iconic 1970s commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g11nN5yee7U
I haven't seen this before, thanks for sharing it. It's on my FB page now.
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At a dress rehearsal ahead of Tuesday night's world premiere, their voices soared over New York composer Charles Wuorinen's score, the orchestra sounding ominous and frenetic by turns as the doomed romance moved to its climax.
http://news.yahoo.com/gay-cowboy-opera-39-brokeback-mountain-39-staged-095714077.html (http://news.yahoo.com/gay-cowboy-opera-39-brokeback-mountain-39-staged-095714077.html)
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This morning, an 83 year old nun faces probable sentencing of 20-30 years in prison for her having painted protests at a nuclear waste facility. The judge is a Bush-appointed, right wing man of zero conscience.
Curiously, Sister Megan Rice's civil disobedience exposed extremely unsafe security problems that could have been there for an opportunistic terrorist. Although this nun is fine with continuing on, in prison, until she passes on, those who put us at risk, get a free pass.
Halibuton, BP Oil, financial empire law-breaking that brings us near to collapse, forcing prisoners to have degrading sex with each other (Abu Grahib), lying to Congress to get us into a war......no big deal. We get tough on elderly nuns.
IMO, Judge Amul Thapar, will define himself, today. A real tough guy, when it comes to nuns who break the law. A weak, spineless, amoral freak, on the grotesque offenses which will destroy so many of us. Bush/Cheney really stacked the deck, while they could, for enduring collapse of ethics and safety.
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Tony, was this exposure recent? I ask 'cause 60 Minutes, Dateline and any number of other "news" programs have been "exposing" security lacks just about everywhere for years... water plants, nuclear sites, ammo manufacturers, Amtrak, Army posts/Naval-Air Force bases, etc.
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Tony, was this exposure recent? I ask 'cause 60 Minutes, Dateline and any number of other "news" programs have been "exposing" security lacks just about everywhere for years... water plants, nuclear sites, ammo manufacturers, Amtrak, Army posts/Naval-Air Force bases, etc.
Sherry, I think it's been within a year or so. I didn't even hear of this case until today, on CNN, and they said they would track the sentence given today.
The nun and her friends weren't trying to expose risks, of course. They got into the facility, which stores radioactive waste, in order to write slogans against nuclear weapons. But the ease with which they got in exposed severe security risks.
Sister Rice seems to be kind of a pacifist, or at least, against promiscuous WMD's. She was charged under terrorist laws ::), which, IMO, is a little over the top. And I do respect her for being willing to accept the penalties of the law.
I just find it disgusting that she gets clobbered, and the long, long list of serious malefactors have zero accountability.
She's a good woman. I kind of think she's been helping others in prison, and will continue to do so until she dies.
You can follow the story, if you like, by just a google search: Sister Megan Rice.
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I agree.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv157%2Fdandydoodles%2Fothers%2Fwalktheline_zps5acb6ba6.jpg&hash=40c5a118e00ec3fa0f74d733416410cf5675876f)
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It appears that Edward Snowden has been nominated for the Nobel Prize. At the very least, that shows that millions do consider him a defender of our freedoms.
Meanwhile, James Clapper, (he, of unprosecuted perjury to Congress), has just said that any further revelations from Snowden would be helping the terrorists.
It seems to me, Clapper's crap-line, is a further development of the anything-we-don't-like-helps-terrorism line, and further evidence that we are off the cliff, in a free-fall.
The awful fact is that a huge part of the anti-terror super-nova is not focused on our safety, but in the preservation of a multi-trillion dollar industry that provides, for some, a fat paycheck and prestige, while putting our troops and people at risk.
At the same time, Islamic terrorists have mutated from specific ideologies and agendas, into a cult of death, very permanent, and, to them, very satisfying.
IMO, we are now far past the 9/11 era, and are moving into a time when both sides are invested in a permanent state of war. So that, in some ways, we are less safe than before.
Chances of recognizing this and changing course are slim. I guess history will have to see this one go where it will. Needlessly.
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I move to have Judas Iscariot cleared of all charges. He was, after all, merely protecting law abiding citizens from the rable rousing Jesus.
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In a somewhat related area, one of the President's proposed surveillance reforms, allows citizens to see just who has been snooping on them.
This is more powerful than it appears, at first glance. National Security letters, to employers, doctors, telecommunication providers, landlords, and just about everybody else we deal with, used to be at about 10-50,000 a year. In the last decade, it's been over 5 million a year. Most people haven't been upset of that huge jump because they never heard of it, or thought it never would have applied to them.
But, with probably over 50 million intrusions, more people are going to get pissed off, as politicians, journalists, and blog writers, and readers, finding out, and reporting on this, get the attention of the others.
Under the proposed reform, the government can still claim national security interests, and the cable companies and doctors and employers would then deny an answer. Which would, I think, tell the inquiring person: holy bat-shit....am on the serious fed crap-list !
Another interesting consequence would be the likely discovery that the snooping has often been personal feuds, or ideological agendas (keeping lists of people who disagree with the agency snooper).
It's an urgent reform, and the Prez should do this by Executive Order, and let the chips fall where they may.
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I move to have Judas Iscariot cleared of all charges. He was, after all, merely protecting law abiding citizens from the rable rousing Jesus.
Well, we do know that he was an informer. But not to the public; instead to the State, and the Sanhedrin. I suppose there might be a difference to be found there, somewhere.
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Am having trouble understanding the troubles in Atlanta, from the ice storm. How much was government failure, and how much was personal irresponsibility? It looks pretty bad, and I can't seem to get a line on what really happened.
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I move to have Judas Iscariot cleared of all charges. He was, after all, merely protecting law abiding citizens from the rable rousing Jesus.
The candidates eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize are those persons or organizations nominated by qualified individuals, so unless you are a member of a national assembly or the government of a state, a member of an international court, a board member of an organization that has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a University rector, professor of social sciences, history, philosophy, law or theology, a director of a peace research institute or foreign policy institute, an active or former member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee or a person who’s already been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, you would be unable to satisfy the criteria for a Qualifed Nominator.
Judas Iscariot is not an eligible candidate anyway, as the Nobel Prizes are awarded only to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."
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A site I use a lot for the dogs was down most of the month while it was
redesigned. Got a notice yesterday that it was up and I should
reregister. Tried that several times and finally emailed the owner. This is
the reply I got...
> Hi Sherry,
> We are currently having problems with the server. The website has not run
> smoothly since it went live. It has worked intermittently. The guys have
> been working on it ever since. You might want to give it a few days until
> they get things fully up and running and then give it another try.
>
Asked if she was using Obama's guys....
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It looks like Pope Francis is having continuing bird problems, all statistically somewhat rare.
First, having a child release doves from the papal balcony as a symbol of peace, the doves were immediately attacked by a crow and a seagull, sending a plethora of feathers every which way. The doves survived. But, how did the attacking birds get there that quickly? And, since this was the second incident, why weren't the Swiss guards issued BB guns (with suitably non-lethal pellets)?
Now, the pope stops to personally bless and provide his hand as a perch, to a very large parrot, owned, as it happens, to a former male stripper, who has now moved on to erotic movies.
It would seem he can't catch a break :D!
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Polly want a cockatoo.
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Polly want a cockatoo.
Damn this cracked me up, Fritz!!! ;D ;D ;D
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Finally! Something we can all agree on!
Justin Bieber Deportation Petition Gets White House Attention
The White House is gearing up its diplomatic machinery to respond to the latest international issue - a petition to deport bad boy pop star Justin Bieber.
"That response will come I'm sure relatively soon," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today. "I don't have one now."
"On matters related to visas, I'd refer you to DHS," Carney added, referring the Department of Homeland Security.
Earlier this month, a petition was created on the White House's "We the People" site calling for the government to deport Bieber and revoke his green card. As of this afternoon, there are 223,269 signatures on this position.
The White House is required to respond to any petitions which garner more than 100,000 signatures, according to the "We the People" standards.
The petition, which was filed on the day the 19-year-old Canadian pop star was arrested for an alleged DUI and drag racing, says "We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture. We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked."
It continues, "He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nation's youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society."
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/justin-bieber-deportation-petition-gets-white-house-attention-202113140--abc-news-politics.html
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Damn this cracked me up, Fritz!!! ;D ;D ;D
:D :D :D
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What's going on in New York City? Wasn't it in the 50s when their big game started Sunday afternoon? So here's an email I got this morning...
Sherry montana is stuck at my dog walker in bronx she can't get home her
streets r a mess. No cabs or car services up there
Montana lives in Manhattan.
Guess Atlanta isn't the only big city not prepared for emergencies... but, honestly, NYC has NO excuse.
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Finally! Something we can all agree on!
Justin Bieber Deportation Petition Gets White House Attention
Not ALL of us. :P
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Yea no kidding, the people trying to "deport him" need to get a life, honestly is this all they have to worry about? Send him back to Canada for that matter, we will take him.......sheesh!
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Not ALL of us. :P
Yeah, you thought you were well rid of him. ;D
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Yeah, you thought you were well rid of him. ;D
And his crazy evangelical mother.
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And you were wondering how addition could be news.
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And you were wondering how addition could be news.
Sorry I don't get the connection. ???
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Beaver... drugs... news.
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I don't know, Justin Bieber smoking weed really isn't news worthy to me! :-\
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Maybe that's because he's not running around your country drunk and/or high while drag racing and getting into fights in bars and with his neighbors. And, like all celebrities in the US, getting away with it.
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Kicking The Habit: CVS To Stop Selling Tobacco, Sacrificing $2 Billion In Sales For Public Health And Future Growth
CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the United States, will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its 7,600 stores by October 1, its parent company CVS Caremark announced this morning. It is the first time any drugstore has ever dropped this deadly cash cow, and it is part of a major shift in direction for the drugstore giant.
“We’ve got 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners who are helping millions of patients each and every day,” said Larry Merlo, the chief executive of CVS Caremark. “They manage conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes — all conditions that are worsened by smoking. We’ve come to the decision that cigarettes have no place in an environment where healthcare is being delivered.”
[/i]
more
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/02/05/cvs-to-stop-selling-tobacco-sacrificing-2-billion-in-sales-for-public-health-and-future-growth/
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Maybe that's because he's not running around your country drunk and/or high while drag racing and getting into fights in bars and with his neighbors. And, like all celebrities in the US, getting away with it.
But the GPS on Justin's car records speed when the car accelerates quickly. Take a look at the read-out. At 4:07 AM Justin left the club and zoomed away ... reaching a maximum speed of 44 MPH. Two minutes later the GPS registered at a max speed of 27 MPH.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/31/justin-bieber-gps-drag-racing/#ixzz2sU8Wupiq
Yea I am glad he is not in "my country" racing at a speed of 27 mph (or what ever that is in km's). :P
And with the equivalent of one drink in him!
We have now confirmed Justin's actual blood alcohol level ... it was .014 -- next to nothing. Legal intoxication is .08. Law enforcement sources told TMZ Thursday Bieber had a .04 ... but we've now confirmed that is NOT true. He had a .014 -- an enormous difference.
Someone Justin's size would probably have higher than a .014 with a single beer.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/24/justin-bieber-drunk-driving-alcohol-police-report-arrest-dui/#ixzz2sU7nW3vG
OFF WITH HIS HEAD!
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Brokeback Mountain on the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen.
Danish Tv reporter Anders Stegger heads for the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen to have a talk with Dmitry Bukan; Minister-Counsil.
The reporter gets know where as the Minister-Counsil tries to evade or even mumble his way through the questions. He has to tow the Putin party law. When asked about the newly imposed draconian law that is making lives hell for Russian LGBT´s, his response is nonsensical and awkward.
Later on Ang Lee´s Brokeback Mountain is projected onto the wall of the Embassy.
http://amagerica.blogspot.com/2014/01/brokeback-mountain-on-russian-embassy.html
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IF i were a Beaver fan and if I had any knowledge about addiction, I would worry that the lifestyle the young man is pursuing at this point in his life is just a precursor of a Charlie Sheen lifestyle in a few years. Of course, when that turns out to be the case, I'll be happy to publicly state what a shame it is and what a talent we have lost.
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Kicking The Habit: CVS To Stop Selling Tobacco, Sacrificing $2 Billion In Sales For Public Health And Future Growth
CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the United States, will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its 7,600 stores by October 1, its parent company CVS Caremark announced this morning. It is the first time any drugstore has ever dropped this deadly cash cow, and it is part of a major shift in direction for the drugstore giant.
“We’ve got 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners who are helping millions of patients each and every day,” said Larry Merlo, the chief executive of CVS Caremark. “They manage conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes — all conditions that are worsened by smoking. We’ve come to the decision that cigarettes have no place in an environment where healthcare is being delivered.”
[/i]
more
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/02/05/cvs-to-stop-selling-tobacco-sacrificing-2-billion-in-sales-for-public-health-and-future-growth/
Here in Canada pharmacies haven't been able to sell tobacco products for years and they survived.
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20 years at least......it is almost an oxymoron for a drugstore to sell them!
Where can you buy them here?? Just variety stores I think!
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For the US... where tobacco is a real cash crop... about the only place you CAN'T buy cigarettes, cigars, chaw, is in a doctor's office and now, CVS. Pharmacies sell 3% of the tobacky products here. Gas stations account for over 50%.
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Tennessee sets execution dates for 10 men
The state of Tennessee plans to execute 10 death row inmates over the next two years after changing the drug protocol to be used in lethal injections, officials said Wednesday.
The state is scheduled to execute the condemned prisoners between April 22, 2014, and Nov. 17, 2015, the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts confirmed. Three executions are scheduled this year and seven in 2015.
Gov. Bill Haslam, noting that three execution orders were handed down Friday by the state Supreme Court, told The Tennessean Wednesday that the decision to seek the executions didn’t go through him. But he said he agrees with it.
more
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140205/NEWS/302050171/Tennessee-sets-execution-dates-10-men?nclick_check=1
Execution schedule
April 22, 2014 » Nickolus Johnson; murdered a Bristol police officer in 2004
Oct. 7, 2014 » Billy Ray Irick; raped and murdered a 7-year-old Knoxville girl in 1985
Dec. 9, 2014 » Edmond Zagorski; killed two Robertson County men during a robbery in 1983
Feb. 10, 2015 » Stephen West; murdered a Union County mother and daughter in 1986
March 24, 2015 » Donnie Johnson; murdered his wife in Shelby County in 1984
May 12, 2015 » Olen Hutchinson; plotted to drown a Campbell County man in 1988
June 23, 2015 » Charles Wright; shot two people during a Nashville drug deal in 1984
Aug. 18, 2015 » David Miller; killed a disabled Knox County woman in 1981
Oct. 1, 2015 » Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman; stabbed and killed a drug dealer in Davidson County in 1986
Nov. 17, 2015 » Nicholas Sutton; stabbed and killed a fellow inmate in 1985
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Yeah, what he says.
Russell Brand: Philip Seymour Hoffman is another victim of extremely stupid drug laws
In Hoffman's domestic or sex life there is no undiscovered riddle – the man was a drug addict and, thanks to our drug laws, his death inevitable
[...]
Addiction is a mental illness around which there is a great deal of confusion, which is hugely exacerbated by the laws that criminalise drug addicts.
If drugs are illegal people who use drugs are criminals. We have set our moral compass on this erroneous premise, and we have strayed so far off course that the landscape we now inhabit provides us with no solutions and greatly increases the problem.
This is an important moment in history; we know that prohibition does not work. We know that the people who devise drug laws are out of touch and have no idea how to reach a solution. Do they even have the inclination? The fact is their methods are so gallingly ineffective that it is difficult not to deduce that they are deliberately creating the worst imaginable circumstances to maximise the harm caused by substance misuse.
[...]
A good read:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/06/russell-brand-philip-seymour-hoffman-drug-laws
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So Hoffman was a criminal. Was he out on bail? Parole? Was he destitute and couldn't afford treatment? Is there such a stigma on drug addition he couldn't risk his reputation and future on disclosure?
Mental or physical illness... he should have been FORCED into treatment.
But oh no, that would be a violation of his civil rights.
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I am addicted to bagels, I wish someone would force me into treatment! :P
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So Hoffman was a criminal. Was he out on bail? Parole? Was he destitute and couldn't afford treatment? Is there such a stigma on drug addition he couldn't risk his reputation and future on disclosure?
Mental or physical illness... he should have been FORCED into treatment.
But oh no, that would be a violation of his civil rights.
N'importe quoi. ::)
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Some people think you do illegal drugs you are a criminal, isn't that what Russel was saying, quiet sad actually.. :-\
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They are called "illegal" because they are.
People who do illegal activities... like taking drugs that are illegal... are criminals.
It is really not that hard to understand.
il·le·gal [ih-lee-guhl]
ADJECTIVE
1. forbidden by law or statute.
2. contrary to or forbidden by official rules, regulations, etc.:
crim·i·nal [krim-uh-nl]
ADJECTIVE
1. of the nature of or involving crime.
2. guilty of crime.
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Some people think you do illegal drugs you are a criminal, isn't that what Russel was saying, quiet sad actually.. :-\
Yes, from reading the article that is what he is "trying to say". However it is not that simple, at least in the U.S.
There are federal laws and most states have similar laws that consider the "use", possession, and distribution of "illicit' drugs to be illegal and, therefore, criminal.
Here is a section of the U.S. federal statute:
The term “illegal use of drugs” means the use of drugs, the possession or distribution of which is unlawful under the Controlled Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.]. Such term does not include the use of a drug taken under supervision by a licensed health care professional, or other uses authorized by the Controlled Substances Act or other provisions of Federal law.
Furthermore:
Federal lawmakers enacted mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines for drug offenses in 1986 in an attempt to target high-level distributors, although they also impact lower-level drug defendants. Most states have adopted a similar approach to drug sentencing. These fixed sentences are based on the type of drug, the weight of the drug and the number of prior convictions. Kentucky, which has adopted similar mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, has some of the toughest provisions. For simple possession, first offenders in Kentucky get two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. In contrast, California has some of the lightest drug possession sentences: between $30 and $500 in fines and/or 15 to 180 days in jail.
Many states have instituted what are known as drug courts, programs for felony drug defendants overseen by a judge that aim to rehabilitate the defendant (often repeat offenders) instead of taking the case to trial. Judges have substantial control over the operation of drug courts. A drug defendant who agrees to drug court spends roughly 12 to 15 months attending treatment sessions and undergoing random drug tests while appearing before the drug court judge on a regular basis. Those who fail to appear in court or fail drug tests are arrested and often given a brief jail sentence.
So Mr.Hoffman was, it appears, participating in a "criminal activity".
That being said, he also suffered from a serious "disease" (drug addiction) and criminalizing the effects of that disease, (i.e. usage of illicit drugs) does not appear to be an effective treatment for curing or controlling the disease.
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They are called "illegal" because they are.
People who do illegal activities... like taking drugs that are illegal... are criminals.
It is really not that hard to understand.
il·le·gal [ih-lee-guhl]
ADJECTIVE
1. forbidden by law or statute.
2. contrary to or forbidden by official rules, regulations, etc.:
crim·i·nal [krim-uh-nl]
ADJECTIVE
1. of the nature of or involving crime.
2. guilty of crime.
My name is Gil and I'm a criminal and so are pretty much everyone I know and have known.
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Admitting the problem is the first step toward getting help. Here's to a better life in your future.
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Wuorinen's opera Brokeback Mountain will be free to watch for the next 90 days
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/wuorinens-opera-brokeback-mountain-will-be-free-to-watch-for-the-next-90-days (http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/wuorinens-opera-brokeback-mountain-will-be-free-to-watch-for-the-next-90-days)
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Muppets creator Jim Henson's son dies of massive heart attack at age 48
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2560395/Muppets-creator-Jim-Hensons-son-dies-massive-heart-attack-age-48.html#ixzz2tX6p9ids
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Wow, 48.
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Jim Henson, his father, died at age 53, from pneumonia that he let get too serious before he went to the hospital.
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There is a bill before the TN House or Senate to stay on daylight savings time permanently once it changes in a couple weeks.
Works for me... don't care if we stay permanently on or off just so we stop going back and forth.
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I don't see the need for it either, I would be just fine with it going away.
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Works for me too!!
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Works for me too. We don't need it anymore.
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Cue on the Right to call DST "lawless." (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2Fbluescreamieemoticon.gif&hash=70ea33ad6a85652d3a86d268cda6e2af2a7f6a9e)
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Cue on the Right to call DST "lawless." (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2Fbluescreamieemoticon.gif&hash=70ea33ad6a85652d3a86d268cda6e2af2a7f6a9e)
I'd reply but I am busy protecting the "kettle".
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Well carry on, Paw. ::)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi302.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fnn86%2Fgary8194%2Ftweedledumtweedledee_zps0031cc39.jpg&hash=ce68304882765084bd206b354002262d946cc0be)
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There are so many civil wars, and so much violent unrest, all these years, it seems most Americans would not be overly wary of the deaths in Kiev. But it is, I think, different.
Bad enough, the escalation today, with government snipers killing over 100 demonstrators, including men, women, and emergency rescue workers. But, when the Olympics end, Vladimir Putin is sure to feel free to send the orders to the puppet government to use every possible resource. The end of the Olympics signals open season.
Putin is a fool. The EU, and all former Soviet states, will never trust Russia again. The Russian economy will be affected (already, the ruble is crashing), and Russia, herself, is not without internal tensions.
Has nobody reminded him of what Gorbachoff called "the Romanian variation"?
Today, I begin to think there will never be anything but chaos and repression around the world, for decades, until some concept of rule of law re-emerges, in international law.
We have needed stronger enforcement of prosecution of war crimes, all along.
Snipers shooting civilians in an historically stable nation, fits that category.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army itself, must be composed of both Catholic and Orthodox, and collapse there, would be Putin's basis for sending in the tanks.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi302.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fnn86%2Fgary8194%2Ftweedledumtweedledee_zps0031cc39.jpg&hash=ce68304882765084bd206b354002262d946cc0be)
Thanks for the purty drawin', Paw. And only 6 days after Valentine's.
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Snipers shooting civilians in an historically stable nation, fits that category.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army itself, must be composed of both Catholic and Orthodox, and collapse there, would be Putin's basis for sending in the tanks.
SOunds like a pretty strong Second Amendment endorsement.
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I have no weaknesses on the 2nd amendment. Common sense does allow for some limits. My disappointment is that if liberals would uphold the known and established rights with deeds instead of just words, much of the hysterical opposition, with wide defense lines, would not be able to keep preventing common sense usage. In other words, the liberals are, IMO, guilty of creating suspicions that advance the obstructions of the wing-nuts.
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Any possibility you could expand and clarify?
Seems to me, with all the general distrust of government and the people involved, elected/appointed/hired... all the dire warnings that this is the way the Germans/Romans/Neanderthals went... all the support for those who expose possible wrongdoings by doing wrong... we, as a nation, would be passing a law that every family be armed or exported to Canada. Just in case.
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Any possibility you could expand and clarify?
Seems to me, with all the general distrust of government and the people involved, elected/appointed/hired... all the dire warnings that this is the way the Germans/Romans/Neanderthals went... all the support for those who expose possible wrongdoings by doing wrong... we, as a nation, would be passing a law that every family be armed or exported to Canada. Just in case.
s
Sherry, I know my post was short. but I thought it expressed what I thought consistently, even if differently from most others point of view. Expanding would bring me into more of my own thoughts than I would bother others with. Clarifying would be repetitive. And the 2nd amendment issue was not where I started, anyway.
As to the rest of your own post, I did think I saw a civil and gentle spoofing of many of my opinions here, but then a jump to some conclusion of where they led that I really didn't understand.
Besides, there is so much going on, am not sure am understanding anything, lately. I would just restrict myself, then, to Ukraine, and repeat, a government which opens fire on previously peaceful demonstrators is guilty of a war crime.
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I really didn't understand what you said, but that's fine. I'm sure it's me and everyone else will get it.
And my "spoofing" was just observation about any number of opinions that are tossed around here, not just yours.
My point is if the people in Kiev and Egypt and Syria and any number of other places where run of the mill citizens with run of the mill complaints about their government are slaughtered like vermin have no means to fight back except sticks and stones and reliance on the kindness of strangers, they probably wish they had a Second Amendment to THEIR constitutions.
Or was it the exportation to Canada that threw you?
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Seems to me, with all the general distrust of government and the people involved, elected/appointed/hired... all the dire warnings that this is the way the Germans/Romans/Neanderthals went... all the support for those who expose possible wrongdoings by doing wrong... we, as a nation, would be passing a law that every family be armed or exported to Canada. Just in case.
Sorry to insert buk larnin' into this jaw-droppingly erudite discussion, but the last time I checked Canada was a sovereign nation-state that can enact and enforce its own immigration laws. They are not our version of 18th and 19th century Australia.
Must say that rednecks shooting at tanks has a certain kind of Coliseum-style appeal. It would certainly be a welcome change from the usual roster of local crimes and cute videos on the evening "news".
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Sorry to insert buk larnin' into this jaw-droppingly erudite discussion, but the last time I checked Canada was a sovereign nation-state that can enact and enforce its own immigration laws. They are not our version of 18th and 19th century Australia.
Would you like to explain your connection of these two sentences, please?
Not to mention their relevance to your subsequent sentences:
Must say that rednecks shooting at tanks has a certain kind of Coliseum-style appeal. It would certainly be a welcome change from the usual roster of local crimes and cute videos on the evening "news".
???
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Paul, I am also confused by the hopping about. Some people just have a faster mental pulse rate than myself, and I cannot keep up.
Canada, Australia, the 2nd amendment. Where will it all end ?
Doodler started this !!!! She must avoid multi-syllabic words, as they are believed to be unnatural from her geographical habitat.
And Sherry : in the 19th century, the Brits had a saying ---the wogs start at Dover. Is there any chance you have up-dated this to woggery wherever there is no custom of a Taco Bell somewhere nearby? Have you redefined what is of consequence beyond the white cliffs of Tennessee? Am only asking, not saying it is wrong.
And if the redefinition is a reasonable starting point, then our U.S. policies could be more consistent. Let them all die, in some places; invade and de-wog them others?
Monty Python is the influence here, as there was more to be said for that approach, than others we have been studying and using.
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Sor ry for the con fuse yon.
;D
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I have no weaknesses on the 2nd amendment.
California has had legislation on the books for some time that people who want to carry a concealed
weapon have had to operate under. They have to demonstrate a real need to do so, etc. The Supreme
Court has ruled this legislation is too restrictive under the second amendment. So, now that people
don't have to demonstrate any need other than "I want to," applications to carry guns have skyrocketed.
I feel safer.
People ask a theoretical question on occasion about "where would you go or what would you do if you
could go back in time." I would go back in time and have the founding fathers 1.) state explicitly what
they had in mind regarding Amendment #2 and 2.0 show them what it's like now and if it applies to now.
If people want to go around now and carry concealed muskets I'd have no problem with that, for one.
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Tennessee has a VERY liberal carry law, but we don't have a lot of gangs to deal with like some other places do. Oh wait, gangs don't bother with carry laws. Or any laws for that matter.
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Yes, I suppose THE gang experience is just like THE gay experience you mention ed in another thread.
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Seems about right.
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Hi all, I am back from my sojourn in Florida with some members of my family, and I am trying desperately to catch up, which I suspect will take me several days!
My only observation on the foregoing is that not all British people think, or thought back in the past, "that all wogs start at Dover."
Bit of a misconception there.
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Hi all, I am back from my sojourn in Florida with some members of my family, and I am trying desperately to catch up, which I suspect will take me several days!
My only observation on the foregoing is that not all British people think, or thought back in the past, "that all wogs start at Dover."
Bit of a misconception there.
Jess, am glad you had a great trip !
Your observation is certainly correct. However I had phrased it in my post, I had derived it from a history book, where some British soldiers were apparently grumping about the uncivilized (to them) ways of wherever they were being sent to fight, in the 19th century. There was no intent to extrapolate it to how all public opinion went, back then. I just though it was hilarious how it was expressed by a grumpy sub-group.
More to the point, I also did mean to suggest that a much larger part of modern American public opinion considers Arabs, South Americans, Afghans, and many others as having inferior cultures. And it is affecting our attitudes, here, to some degree, in the variations of how the U.S. does or does not meddle in the affairs of others.
The phrase "rag-heads" has replaced "wogs". But it is, again, used by condescending sub-groups.
I think we're on the same page. Either way, am sure there was no woggery in the torridly exotic State of Florida. They have Taco bells, there, which proves some familiar sense of order, to the sensibilities of Americans. We are not likely to bomb them. That would be unconstitutional and must be reserved for others ::).
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Florida is so heavily populated by the unaware that we used to say any country wanting to invade the US undetected should come in there.
And I believe the 9-11 terrorists took their flight training in Florida.
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Jess, am glad you had a great trip !
Your observation is certainly correct. However I had phrased it in my post, I had derived it from a history book, where some British soldiers were apparently grumping about the uncivilized (to them) ways of wherever they were being sent to fight, in the 19th century. There was no intent to extrapolate it to how all public opinion went, back then. I just though it was hilarious how it was expressed by a grumpy sub-group.
More to the point, I also did mean to suggest that a much larger part of modern American public opinion considers Arabs, South Americans, Afghans, and many others as having inferior cultures. And it is affecting our attitudes, here, to some degree, in the variations of how the U.S. does or does not meddle in the affairs of others.
The phrase "rag-heads" has replaced "wogs". But it is, again, used by condescending sub-groups.
I think we're on the same page. Either way, am sure there was no woggery in the torridly exotic State of Florida. They have Taco bells, there, which proves some familiar sense of order, to the sensibilities of Americans. We are not likely to bomb them. That would be unconstitutional and must be reserved for others ::).
Thank you Tony, we had a great time. The Florida community was very multiracial but everyone was friendly and very courteous. Particularly the latter, compared to our part of England. We experienced the sort of courtesy which you only find here in country areas. We probably live too near to London, where it is every man for himself, in Florida people stopped their cars so we could cross the road, and then waved to us!
As regards "wogs starting at France" unfortunately there are still people around who think like that, but I wanted to assure you that it Isn't all of us.
t
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Florida is so heavily populated by the unaware that we used to say any country wanting to invade the US undetected should come in there.
And I believe the 9-11 terrorists took their flight training in Florida.
Invading the U.S. through most of Virginia would not find people unaware. Generally speaking, those in the rural areas consider anyone from outside their county as varmints, which is only a little higher than Yankees, in their view.
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Forget Florida, Arizona is the new batshit-crazy state.
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^^^^ Definitely, Oilgun!!
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But it's a dry heat.
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LOL!! Sherry!!! ;D
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There is a bill before the TN House or Senate to stay on daylight savings time permanently once it changes in a couple weeks.
Works for me... don't care if we stay permanently on or off just so we stop going back and forth.
Absolutely agree! So-called "standard" time is barely longer than 4 months of the year. changing the clocks is nothing but busywork, and we have enough of that already.
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But it needs to be national. If every state or county is on some different time program..?
"Watch the Olympics, 8 pm eastern, except Maine, South Carolina and parts of Georgia,
7 pm central, except most of Illinois, Tennessee, the top of Michigan and Bobby Jindal's
office in Louisiana and Ted Cruz is in another time period altogether. 5pm Pacific except
Nevada and half of Washington isn't aware of what time it is anyway. Mountain time zone is
never mentioned so who cares."
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Lyle I would love it to go national! -- But probably Arizona is dealing pretty well with the TV glitches, I think we all could manage that.
The U.S., with our current schedule, is actually out of sync with the rest of the world-- although they do change from standard to DST, don't do it on our crazy schedule of prolonged DST. The main impact is on airlines.
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Florida is so heavily populated by the unaware that we used to say any country wanting to invade the US undetected should come in there.
And I believe the 9-11 terrorists took their flight training in Florida.
Some of them took it at the Venice airport in Sarasota County. Last time I visited my mom I did some shameless morbid touristing and had breakfast at the airport's coffee shop: the airport is small enough to pretty much see the whole place from there. But it's kind of difficult to imagine terrorists lurking in Venice; sort of like keeping a lookout for illegal gambling at the shuffleboard court.
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Lyle I would love it to go national! -- But probably Arizona is dealing pretty well with the TV glitches,
I think we all could manage that.
The U.S., with our current schedule, is actually out of sync with the rest of the world-- although they do change from standard to DST, don't do it on our crazy schedule of prolonged DST. The main impact is on airlines.
Yes, I know! In my one travel to London/Paris, a friend and I flew from London, where
the time had changed, to Paris, where it had not. Then while we were in Paris, the
time changed there. We flew back to London for a couple days and back to the U.S.
where the U.S. time changed a day later. Talk about trying to keep your schedules
in order!
THE WEST WING did an episode where the time change caused problems because ONE county
in Indiana doesn't follow along with the rest of the state.
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Uganda president: Homosexuals are 'disgusting'
By Elizabeth Landau. Zain Verjee and Antonia Mortensen, CNN
updated 8:13 PM EST, Mon February 24, 2014
Ugandan President: Being gay not a right
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: People who perform same-sex marriages could face up to seven years in prison
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-homosexuality bill Monday
The White House says Museveni took his country a "step backward"
Museveni changed positions on the bill several times before signing it
(CNN) -- President Yoweri Museveni, who made anti-homosexuality laws in Uganda much tougher Monday, told CNN in an exclusive interview that sexual behavior is a matter of choice and gay people are "disgusting."
After signing the bill that made some homosexual acts punishable by life in prison, Museveni told CNN's Zain Verjee that, in his view, being homosexual is "unnatural" and not a human right.
"They're disgusting. What sort of people are they?" he said. "I never knew what they were doing. I've been told recently that what they do is terrible. Disgusting. But I was ready to ignore that if there was proof that that's how he is born, abnormal. But now the proof is not there."
Museveni had commissioned a group of Ugandan government scientists to study whether homosexuality is "learned," concluding that it is a matter of choice.
"I was regarding it as an inborn problem," he said. "Genetic distortion -- that was my argument. But now our scientists have knocked this one out."
Dean Hamer, scientist emeritus at the National Institutes of Health, wrote an open letter to the Ugandan scientists in the New York Times last week urging them to reconsider and revise their report. Among his responses to their conclusions: "There is no scientific evidence that homosexual orientation is a learned behavior any more than is heterosexual orientation."
Museveni, whose public position on the measure changed several times, signed the bill into law at a public event Monday. The bill was introduced in 2009 and originally included a death penalty clause for some homosexual acts.
The nation's Parliament passed the bill in December, replacing the death penalty provision with a proposal of life in prison for "aggravated homosexuality." This includes acts in which one person is infected with HIV, "serial offenders" and sex with minors, according to Amnesty International.
The new law also includes punishment -- up to seven years in prison -- for people and institutions who perform same-sex marriage ceremonies, language that was not in the 2009 version of the bill.
Lawmakers in the conservative nation said the influence of Western lifestyles risked destroying family units.
The bill also proposed prison terms for anyone who counsels or reaches out to gays and lesbians, a provision that could ensnare rights groups and others providing services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people......
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/24/world/africa/uganda-homosexuality-interview/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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The question of whether a leader is good for his or her country, is usually resolved by whether they disregard risks. IMO, George Bush and Dick Cheney were the worst leaders ever to be suffered by the U.S. And the cost of their egos will continue for decades.
Vladimir Putin seems to be hoping to do as much damage to Russia. There are very legitimate Russian interests in Crimea. They were not threatened. The present crisis, which has a very high risk, is no more than a personal reckless mind-set, on Putin's part.
Speeches by the President will not do much. There was no follow-up, by staff, of possible consequences.
Those should include the end of co-operation with their military, their being removed from the G-8, and economic sanctions. Meanwhile, Western businesses should think twice before any further investment.
It is one thing to be a tough leader. It is another to do decades of damage to one's country.
Putin is directly at the beginning of 2 roads. If he has been on the road, covertly, to restore the Soviet-era empire, he needs to discreetly review and turn back. Or go, before he learns the consequences of risk. Unlike the U.S., failed leaders elsewhere, soaked in blood, do not end up on the golf course.
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Gerard Mortier, who spearheaded an operatic production of Brokeback Mountain at Madrid's Teatro Real (Theatre Royal), has died aged 70.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26504344 (http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26504344)
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Oh well. After over 10 years of misguided, knee-jerk, political/military decisions by U.S. leaders, and the imposition of a soft police state to maintain those failed policies, it looks much like the power elite want a change. And with the overt aggression in Ukraine, we have a change. We now are huffing and puffing into being a Quisling state.
I guess once we decided never to turn back and confront our past mistakes, we lost the moral high ground, and now it's all PR, and no rattling of the stock market.
Thank-you, Bush/Cheney/Tennant, and now, thank-you, Obama/Biden/Boehner.
Am very surprised that the only American leader to call the aggression what it is, a re-play of the 1930's, has been Hillary Clinton. Who knew?
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Gerard Mortier, who spearheaded an operatic production of Brokeback Mountain at Madrid's Teatro Real (Theatre Royal), has died aged 70.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26504344 (http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26504344)
He did live to see a harvest of his efforts; not a bad conclusion.
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Missing Malaysia plane: The passengers on board MH370
Among the 239 people on board flight MH370, which vanished six days ago, was a party of feted Chinese calligraphers, a couple returning to their young sons after a beach getaway and a construction worker making his first trip home in a year. There were 14 different nationalities represented in the 227 passengers and 12 crew travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, but the majority - 153 people - were Chinese.
Here are some of their stories...
Of the nine stories in the article I thought this one rather stood out...
Another passenger on the way to a new job was mechanical engineer Paul Weeks from New Zealand.
The former soldier moved his family to Perth, Australia, after the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch, reports say.
Before he left home, he took off his wedding ring and watch and gave them to his wife for his two young sons.
"If something should happen to me then the wedding ring should go to the first son that gets married and the watch to the second," wife Danica Weeks was quoted by media as saying.
It's probably nothing but its tone, unlike that of the other stories, is ominous.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26503469
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Then, a short time later I came across this:
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 deliberately flown off course, systems switched off: PM
Malaysia's prime minister says investigators have not confirmed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was hijacked, but says the plane's movements are consistent with the "deliberate action" of someone on board. Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Najib Razak confirmed that the plane's systems were gradually switched off and the plane deviated far to the west of its flight path.
Mr Razak revealed data from the plane's last known satellite contact means the plane could have ended up in a corridor as far north as Kazakhstan or as far south as the southern Indian Ocean.
"These movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-15/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-deliberately-off-course/5323338
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I am just posting "thank yous" and "dittos" to tony's recent posts. It is so gratifying to see truth for a change.
Ditto, ditto, ditto, my friend!!
Kathy :)
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And, from the BBC:
Mr Razak told a news conference that new satellite evidence shows "with a high degree of certainty" that the one of the aircraft's communications systems - ACARS, the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System* - was disabled just before it had reached the east coast of Malaysia.
Shortly afterwards, near the cross-over point between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic controllers, the plane's transponder - which emits an identifying signal - was switched off, he said.
According to military radar, the aircraft then turned and flew back over Malaysia before heading in a north-west direction. A satellite was able to pick up a signal from the plane until 08:11 local time - more than seven hours after it lost radar contact - although it was unable to give a precise location, Mr Razak said.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2F73602232_china_malaysia_plane9_624_zpsf014c80f.jpg&hash=3674ace80aa00301c3b8bd1437fac05967f8ac8a)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26591056
* ACARS is a service that allows computers aboard the plane to "talk" to computers on the ground, relaying in-flight information about the health of its systems.
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The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Kuala Lumpur says investigators will now focus on trying to obtain the radar data from any of the countries in the northern corridor the Boeing 777 may have passed over.
This could include Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Pakistan.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2F73602229_possible_plane_area3_6243_zpsbaa16371.jpg&hash=79001577b2a1269ec5b2be12df8c9138c208cdae)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26591056
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Thanks for these updates, Paul.
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Thanks for these updates, Paul.
I thought it was an enough of an interesting issue to warrant being posted as an item of “News and Current Events,” Sara. :)
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was described in the London Evening Standard (http://www.standard.co.uk/panewsfeeds/missing-plane-without-precedent-9194910.html) as “one of the most puzzling mysteries in modern aviation history.”
It’s a fair enough description, considering that nobody knows what happened to other planes which similarly disappeared without a trace.
Usually some evidence is found, even years later, which shows how they met their respective ends, but that's not always the case—some missing planes' disappearances have never been resolved.
This ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-12/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh3703a-aviation-mysteries/5314870) article lists several instances in which the fate of missing planes is still unknown.
I thought its introduction was worth quoting:
The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has confounded aviation experts and spawned a raft of theories about the fate of the missing plane.
Dozens of aircraft and ships from 10 countries are hunting for any sign of the Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER passenger jet, which went missing on Saturday with 239 people - including six Australians - on board.
The search zone has been expanded several times in the days since the flight vanished from radar, and now encompasses parts of the Strait of Malacca, west of Malaysia's main island, and the South China Sea to the east.
The Boeing 777 is the plane maker's most popular wide-body aircraft, and has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft in service.
But until the aircraft is found, the flight joins a list of other aviation mysteries.
I wonder, though, whether what could be described as an apparent disinterest here isn’t due to the 227 passengers’ nationalities: China 152 (plus one infant), Malaysia 38, Indonesia 12, Australia 6, France 3, the US 3 (plus one infant); 2 each from New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada and 1 each from Russia, Italy, Taiwan, The Netherlands and Austria.
I sincerely hope not. :)
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I wonder, though, whether what could be described as an apparent disinterest here isn’t due to the 227 passengers’ nationalities: China 152 (plus one infant), Malaysia 38, Indonesia 12, Australia 6, France 3, the US 3 (plus one infant); 2 each from New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada and 1 each from Russia, Italy, Taiwan, The Netherlands and Austria.
I sincerely hope not. :)
I sincerely think your hope is fulfilled.
The event is of intense interest in the U.S. and it leads the news of electronic and print media.
The fact that it is not being discussed here may be do to the fact that we have few, if any, facts. Any discussion here, therefore, would only be a further discussion of theories and perhaps devolve into a series of confusing and unproductive discussion of conspiracy theories.
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Of course, the fact that this story has been #1 on just about every news outlet in the US that you can name for the past week might have something to do with it not being extensively rehashed here. But people are going to believe what they want to believe.
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I am just posting "thank yous" and "dittos" to tony's recent posts. ........
Kathy :)
Thank-you, Kathy ! I've said very little, relatively speaking, as the news from Ukraine has done me some damage. It's like watching a slow-motion replay of every error of the 20th century ......
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You are welcome, Tony!
Kathy
p.s. I know what you mean in your ongoing statements. Another replay.
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What is it ol' Will said..." All the world's a stage...."
Guess we're in reruns.
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PILOTS, CREW UNDER SUSPICION IN MISSING FLIGHT Authorities are taking a closer look at Malaysia Airlines 370's pilots and crew after learning the pilot radioed after the communications system was deliberately turned off. Relatives are holding out hope that maybe, just maybe the plane landed somewhere safely. And The Washington Post maps out where the plane could be. [Reuters]
http://tinyurl.com/nnhztth
This is an informative overall look at the whole incident up to date.
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I've thought all along... since there was no debris... that the plane was taken somewhere. But it's hard to continue thinking that when no one is asking for anything for it's return. What would the point be? More likely, the pilot flew it out to the Indian Ocean and nose dived it. Doesn't sound like a fun trip.
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Definitely not, Sherry. One of my many thoughts on it has been the same as yours, but as you say it has been too long.
But then I have a lot of other scenarios that have played out in my head.
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I sincerely think your hope is fulfilled.
The event is of intense interest in the U.S. and it leads the news of electronic and print media.
I’d seen the issue mentioned in the few online US news sites I visit, but I was unaware that it was the leading news item in the States, so thank you for that clarification, Gary. :)
The fact that it is not being discussed here may be [due] to the fact that we have few, if any, facts.
Any discussion here, therefore, would only be a further discussion of theories ...
A paucity of known facts hasn’t affected discussion here in the past.
All I was wondering was, if the disappearance of the jetliner is as unprecedented an event as it’s been described, why there hadn’t been even a peep about it on the thread prior to my posts.
On the other hand, I’m also aware of a comment made by Linda some time ago that “not everything is of interest to everybody.”
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Any discussion here, therefore, would only be a further discussion of theories and perhaps devolve into a series of confusing and unproductive discussion of conspiracy theories.
It shouldn’t be difficult to stick to the facts (a Boeing 777-200ER with 239 people on board has disappeared, and attempts have been and continue to be made in order to determine its course and/or destination) and leave "theories" out of it.
Some news sites have taken the plane’s disappearance as an opportunity to present hypothetical scenarios for its disappearance but, as you say, such an approach is essentially unproductive.
Others have mentioned previous mystery disappearances to put this one in perspective.
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Of course, the fact that this story has been #1 on just about every news outlet in the US that you can name for the past week might have something to do with it not being extensively rehashed here.
Perhaps, but that hasn’t previously been a drawback to “extensively rehashing” things in the past.
Topics such as, for instance, gun control laws, Obamacare, Medicaid, Edward Snowden and same-sex marriage spring to mind.
But people are going to believe what they want to believe.
That sounds like a non sequitor. :D
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I sincerely think your hope is fulfilled.
The event is of intense interest in the U.S. and it leads the news of electronic and print media.
The fact that it is not being discussed here may be do to the fact that we have few, if any, facts. Any discussion here, therefore, would only be a further discussion of theories and perhaps devolve into a series of confusing and unproductive discussion of conspiracy theories.
Paul, I think it's more what Gary said.
It's constantly talked about here (UK) but it's still all so baffling that perhaps we don't on the whole want to put tentative theories into writing. Nothing wrong with airing thoughts though.
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PILOTS, CREW UNDER SUSPICION IN MISSING FLIGHT Authorities are taking a closer look at Malaysia Airlines 370's pilots and crew after learning the pilot radioed after the communications system was deliberately turned off. Relatives are holding out hope that maybe, just maybe the plane landed somewhere safely. And The Washington Post maps out where the plane could be. [Reuters]
http://tinyurl.com/nnhztth
This is an informative overall look at the whole incident up to date.
Informative is right, Linda. Thank you.
All the maps are excellent, and put some others to shame.
Here’s one in yesterday’s report (by Chris Buckley and Keith Bradsher in Sepang, Malaysia) in The New York Times which is quite detailed, but not a patch on those in The Washington Post.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fsatellitecontactmap_zps0baef680.jpg&hash=91fa684957d271d861b9afc03218c5e09a6c763e)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp
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Australia will lead a new search for the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in an area 3,000 kilometres south-west of Perth, authorities announced today.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) says the search zone covers 600,000 square kilometres of ocean and has been plotted using data based on the last satellite relay signals sent by the plane.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2F5329100-4x3-940x705_zps2c0cf820.jpg&hash=2c575e0b60394f534575909127039a902209cee6)
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-18/australia-takes-charge-of-multinational-search/5328904
I apologise for the somewhat boastful claim in the URL. :">
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Wow, right down there...
Don't worry, you are not responsible for the boasting. ;D
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Paul, I think it's more what Gary said.
It's constantly talked about here (UK) but it's still all so baffling that perhaps we don't on the whole want to put tentative theories into writing. Nothing wrong with airing thoughts though.
If the aired thoughts start drifting into the Bermuda Triangle or refer to alien abductions I'm outta here. :D
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If the aired thoughts start drifting into the Bermuda Triangle or refer to alien abductions I'm outta here. :D
believe it or not, I've seen people make those claims. ::)
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believe it or not, I've seen people make those claims. ::)
Surely not on a Forum thread, Chuck. ;D
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Wow, right down there...
Don't worry, you are not responsible for the boasting. ;D
It was just plain embarrassing, Sara. >:(
But, okay, here’s another image from the ABC News site for which I’m not responsible. :D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2F5329102-4x3-940x705_zpsb58e2ce0.jpg&hash=bff596f8fb90304bc2dbacf2eb8ccc3b916ef417)
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MH370 search area is now 2.24 million square nautical miles
The search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has now been expanded to a massive 2.24 million square nautical miles, said Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
He said both the northern and southern corridors have been divided into seven quadrants each.
“In the northern and southern corridors, each quadrant is 160,000 square nautical miles in total,” he told a packed auditorium at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
He said Australia and Indonesia have agreed to take the lead of their respective parts of the southern search corridor.* [My emphases.]
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fgraphic_MH370_northcorridor_search_180314_540_591_100_zpsecc666a5.jpg&hash=150a1e57dab9ef6d749f7bb3ed2f9332d6fa8d13)
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/search-area-is-now-2.24-million-square-nautical-miles-says-hishammuddin
* It's interesting that this point wasn't mentioned in the article for which I'm not responsible....
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A new report indicates that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was diverted from its scheduled path
due to programming through the aircraft's computer system rather than via manual control
Quoting senior American officials, The New York Times reinforced the belief that someone in the cockpit was responsible for the plane’s disappearance 11 days ago.
It said the the person who altered the flight path “typed seven or eight keystrokes into a computer on a knee-high pedestal between the captain and the first officer.”
The Flight Management System directs the plane from point to point as noted in the flight plan, which is submitted before a flight.
According to The Malaysian Insider, it is not known if the plane's path was reprogrammed before or after takeoff.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/22031001/mh370-flight-path-programmed-not-done-by-manual-control-report/
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US military base, South Asian airports in MH370 pilot’s simulator
The Malaysian daily newspaper Berita Harian reports that investigations into a homemade flight simulator, seized from the home of one of MH370's missing pilots, included software for five practice runways around the Indian Ocean, where the desperate search for the plane is continuing.
The simulator was reassembled at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, where experts conducted the checks.
“Among the software we checked so far is the Male International Airport in the Maldives, three airports in India and Sri Lanka, and one belonging to the US military base in Diego Garcia.
All have a runway length of 1,000 metres,” a source told the Malay daily. Investigators are looking into the possibility that the plane could have landed at an airport where control might have been lax, or that it landed on sea, hills or an open space.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/22042969/us-military-base-south-asian-airports-in-mh370-pilots-simulator-reports/
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I’d seen the issue mentioned in the few online US news sites I visit, but I was unaware that it was the leading news item in the States, so thank you for that clarification, Gary. :
You're welcome.
We do have several things on our mind over here of course. There is our " do as I say, not as I do" foreign policy and the "Dancing with the Stars" season premiere.
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You're welcome.
We do have several things on our mind over here of course. There is our " do as I say, not as I do" foreign policy and the "Dancing with the Stars" season premiere.
;) ;) ;D
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Please, somebody explain to me exactly why Crimea voting to break away from Ukraine and become a part of Russia is "against international law."
According to news reports, 12% of Crimea's population is against returning to Russia. Eighty oercent of Crimea's populkation voted Sunday and 95% of the vote was to leave Ukraine.
Sounds pretty cut and dried to me.
I'm pretty tired of the cold-war-era-the-premier-of-Russia-is-the-devil-incarnate attitude espoused by the media. Once again, US foreign policy is being decided by... people other than those elected to do so.
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You're welcome.
Thank you, Gary.
We do have several things on our mind over here of course. There is our " do as I say, not as I do" foreign policy and the "Dancing with the Stars" season premiere.
... and the Oscars... :)
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Please, somebody explain to me exactly why Crimea voting to break away from Ukraine and become a part of Russia is "against international law."
According to news reports, 12% of Crimea's population is against returning to Russia. Eighty oercent of Crimea's populkation voted Sunday and 95% of the vote was to leave Ukraine.
Sounds pretty cut and dried to me.
To paraphrase Annie Proulx, it’s “nobody’s business but Russia’s and Crimea’s.”
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With still no resolution in sight, here is an article on Gawker:
The Four Least Insane-Sounding Theories
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is now in its tenth day, and as authorities attempt to make sense of the plane's disappearance, and family members grapple with the likely loss of its 239 passengers, the internet is hard at work trying to figure out what happened. Some theories are obviously wrong (aliens?). Some are just probably wrong—but their plausibility has led to widespread dissemination online. Here are four of the least crazy-sounding:
http://gawker.com/the-four-least-insane-sounding-theories-about-flight-37-1546495028
And the fourth one is put in there for a bit of levity. :)
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Please, somebody explain to me exactly why Crimea voting to break away from Ukraine and become a part of Russia is "against international law."
According to news reports, 12% of Crimea's population is against returning to Russia. Eighty oercent of Crimea's populkation voted Sunday and 95% of the vote was to leave Ukraine.
Sounds pretty cut and dried to me.
I'm pretty tired of the cold-war-era-the-premier-of-Russia-is-the-devil-incarnate attitude espoused by the media. Once again, US foreign policy is being decided by... people other than those elected to do so.
Sherry, Ukraine and Crimea were never part of Russia. They were part of an empire governed by the Romanov dynasty. Which included...Alaska. The Soviet Union had no legitimacy as the communist revolution hid its agenda of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and state-enforced atheism. The Red army would have been crushed, in the civil war, had those agendas been known.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had somewhat recognized the divisions of the empire, many states agreed to a federation. Many did not.
We should have had a clue that some of their elite want the old empire restored. That clue was the usage of the dynastic heraldry and emblem of the Romanovs. It isn't theirs. They need a new flag, rather than scamming legitimacy from a dynasty.
As for the 95% vote, give me a break. The election was boycotted. And the vote, itself, illegal.
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Paul, as an "isolationist," I agree.
And Tony, I am somewhat aware of the background. What I want to know is what international law are the US and "Western" Europe claiming prohibits an area... especially one with all the supposed autonomy Crimea has in the Ukraine... from plotting their own future and realigning with another country... or not... as it chooses?
For instance, what if Alaska decided it would be better off as part of Canada (who wouldn't?) to which it is attached physically, if not intellectually? I understand the US might object... but if the state had 80% of its voting populace vote 95% in favor of pledging allegiance to the Queen or Bobby Ford instead of John McCain, what LAW would be broken?
Or let's say all of Ireland or even just the north wants to leave GB and go with, say Spain, or New Zealand wants to give up sovereignty and become an Australian state... provided Spain and Australia are willing?
And Tony, please
As for the 95% vote, give me a break. The election was boycotted. And the vote, itself, illegal.
The opposition is 12%, even if every one of those against the proposition showed up and voted twice, they wouldn't carry enough weight to win.
"Boycotting"... is that what we call it in the US when just 10 or 20% of registered voters actually take the time to do so?
WHY was the vote illegal? THAT is what I want to know.
I think it was because "we" don't agree with it. It would have been legal enough if the vote had gone the other way.
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Another really good article about what may have happened to Flight 370. It is worth the read.
How Flight 370 Could Have Become a Zombie
Damage to the electronic nerve center might have left the airplane brain-dead but physically capable of flying for hours on autopilot until it ran out of fuel.
Consider this one statement about Flight MH370: It flew until it ran out of gas.
On its own that’s a pretty remarkable image. The whole story of this flight begins to look different if you begin at the end, not the beginning.
The end is alarmingly simple and final. It is not surrounded by disputes about who did what and when. There is only one source for it, the “pings” indicating that the airplane was still “alive” in the air, and (roughly) for how long. If we reverse-engineer the progress of the Boeing 777 from this single moment of clarity, where does it begin to get complicated?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/19/how-flight-370-could-have-become-a-zombie.html
In 2014 we have suddenly lurched backward to 1937 and the world of Amelia Earhart. When she disappeared over the Pacific there were said to have been radio transmissions three hours after her last voice contact. People are still hunting for her and her Lockheed Electra today.
I don't have sufficient knowledge about any of this stuff to figure our what happened, but it is interesting to read the many different scenarios that are sane.
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WHY was the vote illegal? THAT is what I want to know
i dunno, Sherry but this article attempts to address the question.
I imagine there are several others requiring a minimum of research.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-vote-legality/ (http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-vote-legality/)
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I'm so confused right now just by the maps, I don't know what to think anymore.
Kathy ???
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I'm so confused right now just by the maps, I don't know what to think anymore.
Kathy ???
The Crimea is a peninsula just below the Ukraine.
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The Crimea is a peninsula just below the Ukraine.
Where that famous river is located.
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Sherry, Gary's link gave some insight. But I would try to add, I hope, some more.
Yes, all people should have the right of seceding and forming their own country (although that didn't hold up so well, in our own civil war). But, there are a lot of variables.
One variable, for, is if provision is there from the original source of legitimacy (in our case, the Constitution). Another is by mutual consent. For instance, Scotland will be voting, this fall, whether to leave the United Kingdom. Then, whether to keep the Queen as head of state (like Canada), or become a republic.
In other cases, if a significant minority feel threatened, the majority have less right to secede. It's all messy.
Back to that vote. The Ukrainian government did not give its approval. And the international community considered it a fraudulent pretext for aggression. Further, 20% there are Tatars, and they feel very threatened. There, Putin may have unleashed yet another force for terrorism. He's stupid. The vote was always going to be 60% for. With the boycott, and intimidation, they got the phony 95%.
Again, Crimea was never part of Russia; they were part of an empire. Russians now make a majority, but that is fairly recent. Under that precedent, when L.A. has a majority Hispanic population, they could secede. It is a precedent for chaos.
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The Crimea is a peninsula just below the Ukraine.
I am aware of this.
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Where that famous river is located.
"Old Man"?
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"Old Man"?
;D
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Sherry, Gary's link gave some insight. But I would try to add, I hope, some more.
Yes, all people should have the right of seceding and forming their own country (although that didn't hold up so well, in our own civil war). But, there are a lot of variables.
One variable, for, is if provision is there from the original source of legitimacy (in our case, the Constitution). Another is by mutual consent. For instance, Scotland will be voting, this fall, whether to leave the United Kingdom. Then, whether to keep the Queen as head of state (like Canada), or become a republic.
In other cases, if a significant minority feel threatened, the majority have less right to secede. It's all messy.
Back to that vote. The Ukrainian government did not give its approval. And the international community considered it a fraudulent pretext for aggression. Further, 20% there are Tatars, and they feel very threatened. There, Putin may have unleashed yet another force for terrorism. He's stupid. The vote was always going to be 60% for. With the boycott, and intimidation, they got the phony 95%.
Again, Crimea was never part of Russia; they were part of an empire. Russians now make a majority, but that is fairly recent. Under that precedent, when L.A. has a majority Hispanic population, they could secede. It is a precedent for chaos.
I just do not agree that some antiquated law... like our Constitution... should prevent southern CA, AZ and Texas from joining with northern Mexico and forming their own country IF the majority of those citizens want to do that regardless of what the rest of the US and the rest of Mejico want. If people feel threatened, they can move.
Same for ithe stepchildren of the US and Canada... if Alaska and YT want their own nation. To quote some cartoon character, "Let it go."
As for our Civil War, not all of the South... although probably a majority since the slaves didn't have a vote (but from what I've heard slaves weren't overwhelmingly in favor of emancipation...) wanted to leave the Union. And since the Union didn't want to lose all the South provided, they went to war to keep things together. If Ukraine doesn't want to let Crimea go... although they have voted to recognise it as a sovereign nation... they could have gone to war or at least put up some resistance. Look how long Syrians have been fighting to change things in their country. Yes, Russia complicated the situation but could have been checked if the US and Europe really wanted to.
I don't think it is a stretch that 95% of the votes CAST were in favor. If 12% plus your 20% didn't vote....
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i dunno, Sherry but this article attempts to address the question.
I imagine there are several others requiring a minimum of research.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-vote-legality/ (http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-vote-legality/)
Thanks, G, but that article basically says it depends on how one looks at it.
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To quote some cartoon character, "Let it go."
Adele Dazeem
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Thanks, G, but that article basically says it depends on how one looks at it.
Yeah, that's kinda the way these things go.
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Adele Dazeem
Gesundheit.
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Gesundheit.
;D ;D
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Or let's say all of Ireland or even just the north wants to leave GB and go with, say Spain, or New Zealand wants to give up sovereignty and become an Australian state... provided Spain and Australia are willing?
I see what you're getting at, Sherry, but I have to say that the Republic of Ireland is a sovereign state and no longer anything to do with GB or even the UK. Just sayin. (Northern Ireland is part of the UK but not GB, though I have great difficulty in remembering which is which of GB and UK.)
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Missing plane 'spotted in Maldives'
A university student from Taiwan claims to have found an image of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by searching satellite images on a map service assisting in the investigation.
The Taiwan China Times reports that the image sourced from Tomnod, a map search website being used by hundreds and thousands in the search for the missing Boeing 777-200 passenger jet, had not yet been verified by authorities.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fflight_mh370_spotted_satellite_zpsc5ab731a.jpg&hash=865564a87baf0dd7450b4d8e2a278ba71cd4cede)
The satellite image appears to show a plane in the skies above a jungle,
which is claimed to be the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.
Witnesses in the Maldives said that they saw a low-flying plane on the day it disappeared in what could be the latest possible sighting of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Residents saw a jet with markings similar to a Malaysia Airlines plane flying around Kuda Huvadhoo, a remote Maldives island in Dhaal Atoll, local news site Haveeru Online reported. This coincides with reports that several airport runways were found programmed on the flight simulator at Zaharie Ahmad Shah's home. One of those runways was Male International Airport in the Maldives.
According to the report, several locals saw a plane at 6.15am local time on March 8:
“I've never seen a jet flying so low over our island before. We've seen seaplanes, but I'm sure that this was not one of those. I could even make out the doors on the plane clearly,” a resident said.
“It's not just me either, several other residents have reported seeing the exact same thing. Some people got out of their houses to see what was causing the tremendous noise too.”
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/22048564/student-claims-to-have-spotted-missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-on-satellite/
It was only until I got to the ungrammatical phrase I’ve bolded that I started to question the veracity of the resident’s comment.
While the speaker and the “several locals” to whom he/she refers might have seen exactly the same thing it’s not only redundant to say that they all saw the exact same thing as the resident (what’s seen was either the same thing or it wasn’t), but suggests that all these other people were viewing what he/she saw from inside his/her head.
:D
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Paul, as an "isolationist," I agree.
One of the things I appreciate is your consistency, Sherri:
And exactly why does the US and a couple other countries get to tell Iran... or any country... whether or not it can have a nuclear program...
:)
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Where that famous river is located.
"Old Man"?
No, possibly “Old Father Thames,” or even “Arrivaderci Roma.”
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Possible Debris From Malaysia Airlines 777 Found In Southern Indian Ocean
Bruce Dorminey
Australian authorities announced Thursday afternoon local time that new satellite imagery had located two potentially interesting 24-meter-sized (78.7 ft.) “blobs” some 1500 miles southwest of Perth in a particularly deep and remote area of the southern Indian Ocean.
Speaking at a news conference, John Young, General Manager of Australia’s emergency maritime response division, announced that at least four search aircraft were either at the scene or en route and that although the weather was not cooperating with search efforts at the moment, search teams were hoping to have more definitive data possibly linking this imagery to the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing BA -1.45% 777.
Young said that it was too soon to say whether the satellite blobs could be debris from MH370, which disappeared nearly two weeks ago, or simply debris from a passing freighter. When pressed, Young said the satellite imagery wasn’t detailed enough to provide a direct link with the aircraft, in the form of the aircraft’s livery; or other structural identifiers.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2014/03/20/possible-debris-from-malaysia-airlines-777-found-in-southern-indian-ocean/
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(You beat me to it, Chuck!)
RAAF scours Indian Ocean for possible ‘debris’ field from MH370
Australian search planes are scouring the southern Indian Ocean after satellites spotted objects “possibly related” to the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) says it has received an expert assessment of commercial satellite imagery of objects it suspects may indicate a “debris field” from the flight, floating in the ocean 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth.
At a press conference earlier today, AMSA’s General Manager, John Young, said the images indicated that the objects measured around 24 metres and five metres in length.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fobjects_zps4ee57382.png&hash=cd1fb538f90f7671d53998f77df9d985e2a62a46)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/
Missing plane: On board debris search plane
A US P-8 Poseidon aircraft will be the first to reach floating objects which may have come from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
ABC News reporter David Wright is travelling on board.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26661420
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Where that famous river is located.
Fritz, sometimes someone gets it so perfectly right everyone else is stunned silent. (On the other hand, maybe you and I are the only two old enough to remember, despite the recent covers).
For any who don't get it (the silence makes me suspect many), try just saying it out loud. Go on, try it.
And if you still don't get it,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOLGv3WPnVQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOLGv3WPnVQ)
~~~fia
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I see what you're getting at, Sherry, but I have to say that the Republic of Ireland is a sovereign state and no longer anything to do with GB or even the UK. Just sayin. (Northern Ireland is part of the UK but not GB, though I have great difficulty in remembering which is which of GB and UK.)
That's why I said ALL of Ireland
Or let's say all of Ireland or even just the north wants to leave GB
As for the rest...
The United Kingdom is a country that consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In fact, the official name of the country is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."
Great Britain is the name of the island northwest of France and east of Ireland that consists of three somewhat autonomous regions: England, Wales and Scotland.
Therefore, England is part of Great Britain, which is part of the United Kingdom. The U.K. includes England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are not independent countries but the United Kingdom is. The remaining portion of the island of Ireland (that which is not the U.K.'s Northern Ireland) is an independent country called the Republic of Ireland (Eire).
So, let's say Northern Ireland wanted to reunite with the rest of Ireland. Why shouldn't they?
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One of the things I appreciate is your consistency, Sherri:
:)
I am a member of the "mind your own business" party here in the US.
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i dunno, Sherry but this article attempts to address the question.
I imagine there are several others requiring a minimum of research.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-vote-legality/ (http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-vote-legality/)
This "Fact Checker" piece from The Washington Post goes into detail about Putin's speech on Monday and assigns it a rating of Four Pinnochios (liar, liar!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/03/19/fact-checking-vladimir-putins-speech-on-crimea/?tid=up_next
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"Old Man"?
Nope. Crimea River.
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He's a politician, isn't he?
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Fritz, sometimes someone gets it so perfectly right everyone else is stunned silent. (On the other hand, maybe you and I are the only two old enough to remember, despite the recent covers).
For any who don't get it (the silence makes me suspect many), try just saying it out loud. Go on, try it.
And if you still don't get it,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOLGv3WPnVQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOLGv3WPnVQ)
~~~fia
;D ;D ;D
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Nope. Crimea River.
;D ;D ;D
Brilliant!
I must admit it went right over my head until fia's post this morning.
Thanks for the chuckle.
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Is it wrong to go out for a few beers to celebrate the death of Fred Phelps, or do I have to have sex, too?
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Fred Phelps, anti-gay Westboro Baptist founder, dies
Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
Fred Phelps Sr., a fierce opponent of homosexuality whose protests at military funerals prompted two federal laws, died early Thursday, his daughter Margie Phelps says. She didn't give the cause of death or the condition that recently put him in hospice care. He was 84.
Phelps headed the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and was occasionally involved in politics. He gained national prominence for organizing protests against gays and Jews, including at military funerals.
He led protesters outside the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was killed in October 1998 for what a later trial determined was because he was gay. President Obama signed a law in October 2009 making crimes against perceived sexual orientation a hate crime.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/20/phelps-obit/6494627/
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The farther his demise is in the past, the better.
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Is it wrong to go out for a few beers to celebrate the death of Fred Phelps, or do I have to have sex, too?
Or both.
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On Andrew Sullivan's blog:
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/03/21/ask-dave-cullen-anything/
There's a place to ask him questions.
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[quote author=doodler link=topic=47165.msg2473835#msg2473835 date=139534103
Therefore, England is part of Great Britain, which is part of the United Kingdom. The U.K. includes England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are not independent countries but the United Kingdom is. The remaining portion of the island of Ireland (that which is not the U.K.'s Northern Ireland) is an independent country called the Republic of Ireland (Eire).[/i]
So, let's say Northern Ireland wanted to reunite with the rest of Ireland. Why shouldn't they?
[/quote]
Try asking that of the Ulster protestants, Doodler.
You would get a very dusty answer.
Unfortunately.
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Missing Malaysia Airlines MH370: Five air safety lessons to be learnt
Date
March 22, 2014 - 6:04AM
Tom Allard
National Affairs Editor
http://www.smh.com.au/world/missing-malaysia-airlines-mh370-five-air-safety-lessons-to-be-learnt-20140321-hvlab.html#ixzz2wdcy6S3n (http://www.smh.com.au/world/missing-malaysia-airlines-mh370-five-air-safety-lessons-to-be-learnt-20140321-hvlab.html#ixzz2wdcy6S3n)
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My vet and discussed this missing airliner business yesterday and we decided that, considering the disarray of Malaysian Air Traffic Control and the government itself, flight MH370 is sitting on the tarmack in Kuala Lumpur waiting for clearance to take off.
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Nate Phelps said he knows there are plenty of others who share those sentiments, and while he sympathizes, he wishes they could move past hatred and focus on something or someone to love.
There’s nothing stronger, he said, than to respond to hatred with love.
“Ultimately, we’re better when people respond with love, but I’m not going to judge them.”
Nate Phelps said he finds himself totally in agreement with a position put out by Star Trek actor George Takei on Twitter immediately after his father’s death.
“I take no solace or joy in this man’s passing,” Takei wrote. “We will not dance upon his grave, nor stand vigil at his funeral holding ‘God Hates Freds’ signs, tempting as it may be.”
“He was a tormented soul, who tormented so many,” Takei wrote. “Hate never wins out in the end. It instead goes always to its lonely, dusty end.”
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/03/21/fred_phelps_son_i_understand_why_people_are_happy_my_father_died.html
Boy isn't that the truth!
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Hate is the dish best served cold because by the time it gets cold - and we can push it that way fast if we choose - the hated thing has become irrelevant. So make love not hate and drink to the world where the Fred Phelpses have proven hate doesn't work by becoming neutral toward us, if not allies. Hate is a mean hitch that keeps dragging us to a place that made us unhappy the first time through: it is effort without benefit, time not well spent. Poor Fred, impoverished Fred, a sorry excuse for a Christian who was never much more than dead, spiritually, at least, anyway.
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A brokie friend of mine posted about this on a FB wall. She stated that she had no desire to express any anger or hate towards Fred Phelps, however, she would not judge anyone who did.
Fred and his family put a lot of hurt and caused a lot of emotional wounds. I am fortunate enough that I was not directly affected by it. I'm sure that there were people who had to attend funerals that Westboro picketed that are more than ready to celebrate, and I would not begrudge them that.
And that's not meant to mean that those are posting about being peaceful are wrong. I'm just saying I see both sides.
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Fred Phelps started very early on his path.
Fred Phelps: The Early Years
This from the June 11, 1951 edition of Time magazine:
Five-year-old John Muir College at Pasadena (enrollment: 2,000) has no more than the average quota of campus sin. But to Fred Phelps, 21, a tall (6 ft. 3 in.), craggy-faced engineering student from Meridian, Miss., John Muir is a weed-grown vineyard. Day after day this spring he has called upon his fellow students to repent. His method: to walk up to groups of boys & girls munching their lunchtime sandwiches in the quadrangle, ask "May I say a few words?" and launch into a talk.
Continued here:
http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/05/fred_phelps_the.html
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Phelps was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, receiving the Eagle Scout Award.[14] In May 1946, at the age of 16, Phelps graduated from high school and was admitted to United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.[12] Phelps however claims that after attending a Methodist revival meeting decided to become a minister and chose not to attend West Point.[12] In August 1947, Phelps enrolled as a student at Bob Jones University, but dropped out after only three semesters.[15] He then attended the Prairie Bible Institute for the remaining two semesters of his freshman year.[15] In 1951, he earned a two-year degree from John Muir College. While at John Muir, Phelps was profiled in Time magazine for preaching against "sins committed on campus by students and teachers ... promiscuous petting ... evil language ... profanity ... cheating ... teachers' filthy jokes in classrooms ... [and] pandering to the lusts of the flesh".[16] In October 1951, while attending the Arizona Bible Institute, Phelps met Margie M. Simms and married her in May 1952.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps
I was reading something similar, trying to see where it all went wrong, seems to have went wrong from the beginning, and then this:
Phelps married Margie M. Simms in May 1952, a year after the couple met at the Arizona Bible Institute. They had 13 children, 54 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.[26]
Nathan Phelps, Fred Phelps' estranged son, claims he never had a relationship with his abusive father when he was growing up, and that the Westboro Baptist Church is an organization for his father to "vent his rage and anger."[27] He alleges that, in addition to hurting others, his father used to physically abuse his wife and children by beating them with his fists and with the handle of a mattock to the point of bleeding.[27][28] Phelps' brother Mark has supported and repeated Nathan's claims of physical abuse by their father.
Imagine being his child? And he had 13 of them!
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For a guy who people either hated or think should be ignored, he's getting a lot of attention.
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Guess he beat his children because they showed that he yielded to pandering to the lusts of the flesh.
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US citizens are advised to not judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a
few lunatics,
but are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions
of a few lunatics.
Funny how that works.
[/b]
Comment: Don't know where you found this tagline, but it seems to me just a tool by
gun advocates to play victim. Just as we try to safeguard our country from the acts of
a few lunatic Muslims by stricter security measures, which mean a lot of inconvenience
for the averrage American at airports, sporting events and other high profile gatherings,
what is wrong with similar measures to protect people from the actions of a few gun
toting lunatics which might involve the average law abiding citizen to experience a little
inconvenience. Sounds okay to me.
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http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/24/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
'ALL LIVES ARE LOST'
Jet crashed in ocean, families told
A new analysis of satellite data shows the plane was lost in the southern Indian Ocean, Malaysia's PM says.
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Well, we expected as much, but that is no consolation to the poor people who have lost their loved ones. Very sad.
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Well, we expected as much, but that is no consolation to the poor people who have lost their loved ones. Very sad.
I guess there was always just that little bit of hope! :'(
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Ron Stafford had a hunch that this past Sunday's church service would be different, but he certainly didn’t think he’d take home an AR-15.
Stafford, 42, of upstate Schenectady, N.Y., won the assault rifle during a pre-announced raffle at the March 23 service at Grace Baptist Church in Troy, where pastor John Koletas preaches that the constitutional right to bear arms shall not be abridged.
On Monday, Stafford was on his way to pick up the gun -- valued up to $1,200 -- after a federal background check.
"I’ll plead the Fifth on that,” Stafford joked when asked if the AR-15 was his first gun. “I’m on my way to pick it up right now, and to meet the pastor.”
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/03/24/peacemaker-be-with-ny-church-raffles-ar-15-plans-next-giveaway-tonight/
Not sure if this a joke or what??
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http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/24/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
'ALL LIVES ARE LOST'
Jet crashed in ocean, families told
A new analysis of satellite data shows the plane was lost in the southern Indian Ocean, Malaysia's PM says.
Yeah, and tomorrow when Iran says they have satellite images of a plane being beamed aboard a UFO, the Malaysians will say THAT is what happened.
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Ron Stafford had a hunch that this past Sunday's church service would be different, but he certainly didn’t think he’d take home an AR-15.
Stafford, 42, of upstate Schenectady, N.Y., won the assault rifle during a pre-announced raffle at the March 23 service at Grace Baptist Church in Troy, where pastor John Koletas preaches that the constitutional right to bear arms shall not be abridged.
On Monday, Stafford was on his way to pick up the gun -- valued up to $1,200 -- after a federal background check.
"I’ll plead the Fifth on that,” Stafford joked when asked if the AR-15 was his first gun. “I’m on my way to pick it up right now, and to meet the pastor.”
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/03/24/peacemaker-be-with-ny-church-raffles-ar-15-plans-next-giveaway-tonight/
Not sure if this a joke or what??
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God helps those who help themselves.
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Yeah, and tomorrow when Iran says they have satellite images of a plane being beamed aboard a UFO, the Malaysians will say THAT is what happened.
I do hope you are not doubting the quality of British scientific technology, Dood.
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Malaysia Airlines defends text message to families as China demands satellite data
Malaysia Airlines officials on Tuesday defended their decision to notify relatives of missing passengers of Flight 370's presumed fate via text message, as China demanded that Malaysia turn over satellite data it used to conclude the jet was lost with no survivors.
Malaysian Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a press conference that the company's "sole motivation" for informing passengers' family members of their findings through text message was to ensure "the families heard the tragic news before the world did."
"My heart breaks to think of the unimaginable pain suffered by all the families," Yahya told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. "There are no words which can ease that pain."
Nearly 100 Chinese relatives of the missing marched Tuesday to the Malaysia Embassy, wearing white T-shirts that read "Let's pray for MH370" as they held banners and chanted, "Liars!"
"Tell the truth! Return our relatives!" they shouted. There was a heavy police presence at the embassy when the group arrived, and journalists were being kept away.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/25/malaysia-airlines-defends-text-message-to-families-as-china-demands-data/
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Well, we expected as much, but that is no consolation to the poor people who have lost their loved ones. Very sad.
But what a terrible thing it is to have someone dear in your life who just vanishes and you never know what happened to them. The news here wouldn't make it better -- just less worse.
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I just do not agree that some antiquated law... like our Constitution... should prevent southern CA, AZ and Texas from joining with northern Mexico and forming their own country IF the majority of those citizens want to do that regardless of what the rest of the US and the rest of Mejico want. If people feel threatened, they can move.
Delete CA and add MS, AL and GA and you've got a deal. It would likely raise the US' average IQ by more than a few points.
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Delete CA and add MS, AL and GA and you've got a deal. It would likely raise the US' average IQ by more than a few points.
Actually, let CA go as well. We here in CA believe that a very small minority are responsible for funding the entire experiment. Let Mexico attempt to pay for all this for a change. They must have a few rich jerks who aren't paying their fair share.
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Delete CA and add MS, AL and GA and you've got a deal. It would likely raise the US' average IQ by more than a few points.
I assume adding GA is contingent on Atlanta becoming a state in its own right.
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The state line isn't far away; that's where that increase in national average IQ thingy comes in. Let the Reel Amurrrcns left deal with Atlanta's horrible traffic; bad luck with that.
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The first same-sex marriages in England will be celebrated at midnight tonight. :) :) :)
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Actually, let CA go as well. We here in CA believe that a very small minority are responsible for funding the entire experiment. Let Mexico attempt to pay for all this for a change. They must have a few rich jerks who aren't paying their fair share.
You mean the heads of the drug cartels?
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The state line isn't far away; that's where that increase in national average IQ thingy comes in. Let the Reel Amurrrcns left deal with Atlanta's horrible traffic; bad luck with that.
Say what you will about the South, you never hear about anyone retiring and moving north.
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Say what you will about the South, you never hear about anyone retiring and moving north.
Got a buddy whose parents retired to Florida, but when his father died, his mother moved back to Ohio. Does that count? ;D
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The first same-sex marriages in England will be celebrated at midnight tonight. :) :) :)
Isn't wonderful Sara !!
Saw some interviews on TV where they asked lots of people if they had any objections or any negative feelings about
gay marriages....and not one person said they had.
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Got a buddy whose parents retired to Florida, but when his father died, his mother moved back to Ohio. Does that count? ;D
No. She "retired" to FL and only moved back home because family was in Ohio... or maybe it was her lover who lived in Ohio, who had made a secret trip to FL to off the hubby, in which case she is now living in some other southern area... like Venezuela.
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Yeah, and tomorrow when Iran says they have satellite images of a plane being beamed aboard a UFO, the Malaysians will say THAT is what happened.
The final destination of MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean was determined by British global satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat’s analysis of electronic signals sent by the plane to its geostationary satellite, and checked by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) before the information was released to investigators in Malaysia.
The identification of possible debris by Chinese, French and US satellites in the Southern Ocean southwest of Perth in an area at or very near the end of the southern corridor for the plane’s trajectory supports Inmarsat’s analysis of its probable course and fate.
This has recently been borne out by the discovery of 300 floating objects by Thailand’s Geo-Informatics Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) scattered over an area about 1,850 km slightly north-west of Perth and most recently of objects spotted on 28 March by a NZ Airforce plane 1,100 km north-east of the original sightings, indicating that, while MH370 did not travel as far south into the Indian Ocean as was at first thought the debris is still located within the southern arc proposed by Inmarsat. The Australian and Malaysian governments have said that the focus on these new search areas was based on further analysis of radar data, which showed that the plane had been travelling faster then first thought, and was thus burning more fuel.
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Revised search area for Malaysia Airline flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean on March 28, 2014.
While the reliability of the Inmarsat analysis had been questioned (China, for instance, has “demanded to examine all of the data” for itself) the information and Inmarsat’s conclusions have been checked by other satellite industry specialists, with contributions from Boeing, and found to be “robust.”
The method used by Inmarsat in analysing electronic data to determine the plane’s course is groundbreaking and has enabled its engineers to confirm that the southerly arc intersected the path taken by flight MH370.
That you appear to believe that “the Malaysians” would give equal credence to Iran simply “saying” it had “satellite images of a plane” (let alone one “being beamed aboard a UFO”) is extraordinary.
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Did I say equal?
No, when Iran comes out with the UFO story, the Malaysian government will drop every other theory and break out the lightsabers.
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Did I say equal?
You didn’t say that, no—but I was giving you the benefit of the doubt.
No, when Iran comes out with the UFO story, the Malaysian government will drop every other theory and break out the lightsabers.
I see now that my doing so was a grave error.
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http://news.uk.msn.com/gay-couples-finally-say-i-do-as-same-sex-marriage-is-legalised-in-england-and-wales
Are we lucky....or are we lucky ?? :) :) :)
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We are! :D
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Rule Britannia!
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No. She "retired" to FL and only moved back home because family was in Ohio... or maybe it was her lover who lived in Ohio, who had made a secret trip to FL to off the hubby, in which case she is now living in some other southern area... like Venezuela.
No, as a matter of fact she's dead and buried in Ohio. ... ;)
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My husband retired and moved to Northern Ontario (God's country) if anyone cares! :D And yes I went with him! I can't see us in Florida, maybe for a holiday.
I see us more like the couple in the Swiffer commercial.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/swiffer-couple_n_3795192.html
Maybe I should move that link down to the humour thread!
As for that plane, I don't think there is any doubt it is at the bottom of the ocean, but where is the question?
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Japan's whaling program not for scientific purposes, rules International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Japan's whaling program in the Antarctic is not for scientific purposes and has forbidden the granting of further whaling permits.
The finding by a 16-judge panel at the ICJ is in favour of Australia's argument that Japan's whaling program is carried out for commercial purposes.
Japan has used the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which permits killing for research, to justify killing whales in the Antarctic.
But the court's judges agreed with Australia that the Japanese research - two peer-reviewed papers since 2005, based on results obtained from just nine killed whales - was not proportionate to the number of animals killed.
"In light of the fact the Jarpa II [research program] has been going on since 2005, and has involved the killing of about 3,600 minke whales, the scientific output to date appears limited," said presiding judge Peter Tomka of Slovakia.
"Japan shall revoke any existent authorisation, permit or licence granted in relation to Jarpa II and refrain from granting any further permits in pursuance to the program."
Japan signed a 1986 moratorium on whaling, but has continued to hunt up to 850 minke whales in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean each year.
The ICJ's ruling is final and there will be no appeal.
This is excellent news! :)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-31/ijc-japan-whaling-southern-ocean-scientific-research/5357416
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Yes it is. :)
(I heard this on the radio news this morning as "Japan hunting for Wales in the Antarctic".)
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Yes it is. :)
(I heard this on the radio news this morning as "Japan hunting for Wales in the Antarctic".)
A better map was clearly needed. :D
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It will be interesting to hear what other News thread posters think about this report:
Rosie Batty blasts TV host Joe Hildebrand over family violence
Ms Batty has led an extraordinary push to challenge family violence since her son's death at the hands of his father Greg Anderson at a cricket oval in Tyabb, south-east of Melbourne, in February this year.*
Hildebrand, while expressing sympathy for women in an abusive relationship, had said there was no excuse for not reporting child abuse.
He said family violence victims needed to be empowered to leave their partners and they "absolutely had to get out", but that women who stayed had no excuse for not reporting abuse against their children.
“Frankly to say that you're going to not report a case of child abuse or child sex abuse by your partner because you are scared for your own safety, I'm sorry it's not an excuse,” he said.
Ms Batty then appeared on the show and said she felt "outraged".
She told the panel that she had hoped her son's tragic death would raise awareness about family violence.
The new Victorian laws are designed to ensure that child sex abuse never goes unreported. The morning show's discussion was prompted by a recent article in The Age which reported the fears of family violence support groups that victims of abuse too scared to report what was happening to their children might be punished.
The Federation of Community Legal Centres, Domestic Violence Victoria, the Women's Legal Service and the Domestic Violence Resource Centre have all raised concerns at the new laws, which carry a maximum three-year jail sentence.
Hildebrand's three female co-hosts had disagreed with him, including Jessica Rowe who told him he was being a "bit harsh" and that women in violent situations should be supported not punished.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/rosie-batty-blasts-tv-host-joe-hildebrand-over-family-violence-20140402-35xq7.html#ixzz2xjfuGbsr
* 11-year-old Luke Batty was killed by his father in front of horrified onlookers after a cricket training session at the oval in Tyabb, south-east of Melbourne.
His father, who witnesses say used a cricket bat to beat the boy to death, was shot by police at the scene and died in hospital.
Homicide detectives have spoken to several children who saw Luke die and watched as police then shot his father...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-13/tyabb-boy-dead-father-shot-by-police/5256444
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A Sydney resident who fought to be legally recognised as being of non-specific sex has hailed a High Court ruling that New South Wales laws do permit the registration of a category of sex other than male or female.
The case began in 2010 when Norrie applied for a name change and to be registered as being of non-specific sex.
The registrar at first agreed, but that recognition was revoked, with the registrar arguing it was beyond the power of the law to recognise options other than male or female.
Norrie May Welby went on to challenge the decision and last year the NSW Court of Appeal found the existing law could recognise additional options.
The registrar turned to the High Court in an attempt to have that decision overturned, but today the court dismissed the appeal.
It reached the unanimous decision that the law does recognise that a person may be neither male nor female.
Read more here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-02/high-court-recognises-gender-neutral/5361362
The attached video is worth watching, but I admit I'm a little unsure about whether Norrie May presents as a "gender-neutral" person.
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Malaysian police confirm they have interviewed farm workers who handled fruit cargo aboard missing MH370 in case they were used to smuggle a bomb onto the jet.
Malaysia’s police chief confirmed today that detectives probing the disappearance of flight MH370 have been to a farm to interview everyone who handled a cargo of mangosteens, an exotic fruit.
Supporting an exclusive report in the Daily Mail last month which raised the question of whether an explosive device could have been planted in the cargo of four tons of mangosteens, Inspector-General Tan Sir Khalid Abu Bakar said the cargo was under investigation.
Revealing that police ‘have clues’ to the disappearance of the aircraft - without saying what they were - he did reveal that one aspect of the widespread investigation involved the purple-coloured fruit, about the size of a tangerine.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2595096/Malaysian-police-confirm-interviewed-farm-workers-handled-fruit-cargo-aboard-missing-MH370-case-used-smuggle-bomb-jet.html#ixzz2xk2x2gLs
I await doodler's response...
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Say what you will about the South, you never hear about anyone retiring and moving north.
Ha! A Dave Gardner fan, I see! ;D
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Ha! A Dave Gardner fan, I see! ;D
How about letting the rest of the world in on the joke, Marcia — or is this a private conversation?
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More on Rosie Batty’s outburst against Joe Hildebrand:
Furious British* mother whose son, 11, was murdered by his father savages Australian TV host for 'outrageous' remarks about domestic violence.
A distraught Rosie Batty, the mother of murdered 11-year-old Luke Batty, has torn into Studio 10 host Joe Hildebrand during an interview on the show.
Ms Batty blasted Hildebrand for comments he made on the program about domestic violence, calling him ‘misguided’ and saying he needed to ‘step up and get informed’.
She has led a campaign against family violence since her son was killed after cricket practice in February by her ex-husband, Greg Anderson, who had a history of mental illness and physical abuse.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2594845/Rosie-Batty-blasts-Joe-Hildebrand-comments-domestic-violence.html#ixzz2xk6w5MN2
The Comments on this Daily Mail article are worth a look, if only to consider what would have been said had the situation involved a child of same-sex parents being murdered by a parent.**
* British? News to me.
** No diminishing of Ms. Batty's situation implied or intended.
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The civilized world controls which nations have access to nuclear weapons. The Malaysian government should not be allowed access to airplanes or the media.
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How about letting the rest of the world in on the joke, Marcia — or is this a private conversation?
A mainstay of Southern humor in the 50's and 60's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Dave_Gardner
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A mainstay of Southern humor in the 50's and 60's.
Thank you, Fritz. :)
I was thinking of asking Marcia, "Can anyone join in?" :D
But I realise now, sadly, that some background research would've been required.
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Well, we certainly wouldn't want THAT.
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Well, we certainly wouldn't want THAT.
That’d depend on whether the issue was worth the trouble....
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It wasn't much in the news, but there was also a military base shooting here in Norfolk, not long before the tragedy in Fort Hood.
On March 23, a civilian contractor passed multiple checkpoints on Naval Station Norfolk, and, near to midnight, went up the gangplank of the USS Mahan. The guard at the top was his first target, after he got her gun, but she lived because an heroic Master at Arms, Mark Mayo, opened fire, and both he and the shooter died.
This was a massive breach of security and common sense. No unknown civilian, with a cheapo pass should have been roaming the base at that hour, nor allowed to go up onto a ship.
Massive cover-up, of course, and zero accountability for those who train the sailors. And who would the trainers be ? The Navy, and more particularly the NCIS crowd at Bellinger St., experienced in political and military cover-ups, and wildly immersed in the self-induced mystique of whatever tv shows flatter them.
Whatever danger there is, to the military or the city, it is accelerated by this local (I hope), personality disease.
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I had heard about this, Tony, but only online. No where was it reported on in the local news shows out here.
I actually didn't hear the original story, but how the Master at Arms was a hero and his story, not the news story. It was linked in the article about the Master at Arms.
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He really was a hero, Linda. Why the networks and cable news never reported the story, I just don't know.
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... the NCIS crowd at Bellinger St., experienced in political and military cover-ups, and wildly immersed in the self-induced mystique of whatever tv shows flatter them. ...
An intriguing thought, Tony.
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I had heard about this, Tony, but only online. No where was it reported on in the local news shows out here.
I'm sure it made the NBC network news, but it dropped off the radar very quickly.
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That’d depend on whether the issue was worth the trouble....
Apparently you thought it was.
Gardner was a contemporary of Lenny Bruce, though when he indulged in satire it was more folksy and subtle.
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Well, he was no Jeff Foxworthy....
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Thanks, Jeff, and Paul, for your adding a little to my post about the shooting in Norfolk.
On the related subject, of news coverage, I have never in my life seen the networks and to a non-stop level, cable news, so constant, and prolonged, over the Flight 370 mystery. I get it, that it's a story that is worth continuing. But panels of experts dissecting every theory, ping, or possible, 70% of their running news, even this long after, is just not in my experience. It's getting more air time than many historical events of our lives.
I've had to blank it out. I like Paul's posts on the subject because I can choose to read them, and they are in line with a current events story. But cable news is relentless, not condensed, and intrusive. I don't get it.
I did see Sherry's post about it still being on the runway, most likely. Some stress release there, and a certainty that these off-the-wall airlines are always a running risk.
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Thanks, Jeff, and Paul, for your adding a little to my post about the shooting in Norfolk.
'Welcome. :)
On the related subject, of news coverage, I have never in my life seen the networks and to a non-stop level, cable news, so constant, and prolonged, over the Flight 370 mystery. I get it, that it's a story that is worth continuing. But panels of experts dissecting every theory, ping, or possible, 70% of their running news, even this long after, is just not in my experience. It's getting more air time than many historical events of our lives.
I've had to blank it out.
I guess I have, too. Maybe it's just the mystery of it, and how long it's taking to find the plane. ???
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Well, maybe if someone who spoke Malaysian besides Malaysians had access to stuff like the recorded conversations between TC and the plane and all the various cooperating countries were actually cooperating instead of covering up the locations of their spy satellites and asses, it might have been possible to find the plane. As it is, we can only hope Robert Ballard has a grandchild with lots of money and the same general interests as he. t least, our local news has moved on to more important subjects like the bison fleeing Yellowstone.
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Apparently you thought it was.
Not at all, Marcia. ???
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Thanks, Jeff, and Paul, for your adding a little to my post about the shooting in Norfolk.
You’re welcome, Tony.
The issue of official bodies being influenced by flattering parallels in tv shows was fair comment.
On the related subject, of news coverage, I have never in my life seen the networks and to a non-stop level, cable news, so constant, and prolonged, over the Flight 370 mystery. I get it, that it's a story that is worth continuing. But panels of experts dissecting every theory, ping, or possible, 70% of their running news, even this long after, is just not in my experience. It's getting more air time than many historical events of our lives.
And not only panels of experts, either...
I like Paul's posts on the subject because I can choose to read them, and they are in line with a current events story.
Thanks, Tony; they’re just reports of progress, to be either taken or left.
But until some clear evidence of the plane's fate is discovered further “updates,” in my opinion, are rather pointless.
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Yahoo news has a story about Nancy Pelosi blaming the climate of torture in the CIA, on Dick Cheney. She was referring to a Senate Intelligence report soon to come out, on how many lies were told to congress. About a widespread network of detention and torture centers, shut down by President Obama in 2009.
Which brings back memories, for me, of strangeness in Norfolk, appearing in those years. Before I lost my family home, in 2007, that little blue collar neighborhood, totally surrounded by the sprawling Naval complex, was, for me, a natural, familiar home, as well.
But when I heard of cameras in the back of the neighborhood, I went back to look. They were there, as well as barbed wire on the fence that had marked where the Base property began. I had no problem with that, as I had considered the Navy lax, after the new waves of danger from terrorists.
But I saw something else. Behind the trees on the other side, new cinder block buildings, with no windows. They did not fit the many other types of military buildings. And, since there was some question of torture locations, even then, I had a sinking feeling, there were no windows, so no screams could be heard. Later, when I had internet, I noticed those and other areas were kind of blurred or browned over, on Google maps.
Given the story today, I don't think my wondering was wrong. There were torture centers everywhere. And more likely than not, there was one only 5 blocks from my home. Back where, when we all were kids, we would hop the fence and gorge ourselves on stolen plums from some trees further away.
It's one thing to read a news story. It's another to consider the grotesque, very likely, having been that near. I doubt the full truth will come out for decades.
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Signals consistent with those emitted by aircraft black box flight recorders detected on 6 April.
Two separate pulse signals, with a frequency of 37.5 kilohertz—the same as those emitted by flight recorders, have been detected by the US device being towed by Australia’s Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the northern part of the Indian Ocean search area, about 1700km north-west of Perth.
“The first detection was held for approximately two hours and 20 minutes. The ship then lost contact before conducting a turn and attempting to reacquire the signal. The second detection on the return leg was held for approximately 13 minutes,” said Air Chief Marshal (ret) Angus Houston, the head of the search’s Joint Agency Coordination centre.
While China’s Haixun 01 had earlier picked up pulse signals on two separate occasions on 5 April he had urged caution about jumping to conclusions about their nature:
“What we have got here are fleeting, fleeting acoustic events. The one the night before last lasted just a very short period of time. The one yesterday (Saturday) afternoon ... was for 90 seconds. It’s not a continuous transmission... We should be receiving it for a longer period of time than just a fleeting encounter [when closer to the source],” he said.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fdetectedsignals_zps23e96c70.jpg&hash=a082d94a81777ac9740eade820cf4a4d5c1bb866)
Sources:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-angus-houston-reveals-most-promising-lead-20140407-368gm.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-07/ocean-shield-detects-possible-mh370-black-box-signal/5372616
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mh37o-angus-houston-confirms-signal-detected-by-ocean-shield-are-consistent-with-black-box/story-fni0fiyv-1226876424791
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fsignal_tract638_zps739d6819.jpg&hash=131b24699c27a54328dac5481b8e668f5cc6eefb)
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Oh, good grief. After weeks of the missing flight 370, where I have tuned out cable news.......am getting into the zone where there are more interesting theories.
Am actually listening to some of it, rather than relying on Paul's occasional posts.
Am ruined. But the tv show Big Brother returns soon. So, if I develop into a 370 groupie over the next month, there is that tv show, mocked by all, which will return me to a more familiar obsession :).
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Well, now that am catching up on flight 370, most everything seems to point to the sinister. And maybe wildly sinister.
Meanwhile, just what I was afraid of, in Crimea. A Ukrainian naval officer, leaving for Ukraine, shot to death by a Russian soldier. All deaths are miserable and a source of grief. But the death of an ethnic by a brother ethnic group, is in its own category. I wonder what the support from the Russian people will be, when they see Slavs killing Slavs, in cold blood. And finally understand what Putin has unleashed, which was not there before.
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Oh, good grief. After weeks of the missing flight 370, where I have tuned out cable news.......am getting into the zone where there are more interesting theories.
Am actually listening to some of it, rather than relying on Paul's occasional posts.
Am ruined. But the tv show Big Brother returns soon. So, if I develop into a 370 groupie over the next month, there is that tv show, mocked by all, which will return me to a more familiar obsession :).
I have a reply but it really belongs on the TV thread:
http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=46523.msg2476853#new
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Oh, good grief. After weeks of the missing flight 370, where I have tuned out cable news.......am getting into the zone where there are more interesting theories.
Am actually listening to some of it, rather than relying on Paul's occasional posts.
Well, now that am catching up on flight 370, most everything seems to point to the sinister. And maybe wildly sinister.
You seem to be implying that that my “occasional” posts should not only be more regular, but that they should be about more “interesting theories,” or even more “wildly sinister” issues. ;D
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I have been a little out of touch with the forum recently, Paul, (unwell grandchild, fine now, long story), but I have very much appreciated your updates on the lost airplane, particularly as it is in your neck of the woods, and I have no time whatsoever for conspiracy theories!
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Well, even conspiracy theories can be true, Jess, or at least stretch an observation, to some value :).
Paul, you are my best resource on flight 370, but, I do not ever, here, suppose I know what is better, more, or less. I refuse to say: more porridge, if you please, sir.
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I'm sure CNN is all over this ;). The PQ (Parti Québecois), who had a minority governement, sufferred a crushing defeat in yesterday's Québec elections. Even the leader, Pauline Marois, lost her seat. I think the party turned off a lot of people with their proposed and very divisive secular charter that would have banned public employees from wearing so-called ostentatious religious symbols such has chadors, kippas and turbans. It also took a turn to the right with their surprise star candidate, Pierre-Karl Péladeau, a notorious anti-union media mogul. I'm sure that alienated a good portion of their usual leftist base. On a personal note, in my riding the person I voted for actually got elected! Manon Massé, who proudly wears a mustache (photo below), is only the third candidate to be elected from the very left-leaning Québec Solidaire party. It's so left that it has co-spokespersons, one male,one female, instead of a leader. Also in my riding, 47 people voted for the Marxist-Leninist candidate and 164 voted for the Bloc Pot candidate.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fmanon-masse-01_zps85ba65bc.jpg&hash=9e12e7a38123ad4a7e64dae483e6f93a374728fe)
Of course, the sad part of all this is that the Liberals are back in power, lol!
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Yahoo news has a story about Nancy Pelosi blaming the climate of torture in the CIA, on Dick Cheney. She was referring to a Senate Intelligence report soon to come out, on how many lies were told to congress. About a widespread network of detention and torture centers, shut down by President Obama in 2009.
Which brings back memories, for me, of strangeness in Norfolk, appearing in those years. Before I lost my family home, in 2007, that little blue collar neighborhood, totally surrounded by the sprawling Naval complex, was, for me, a natural, familiar home, as well.
But when I heard of cameras in the back of the neighborhood, I went back to look. They were there, as well as barbed wire on the fence that had marked where the Base property began. I had no problem with that, as I had considered the Navy lax, after the new waves of danger from terrorists.
But I saw something else. Behind the trees on the other side, new cinder block buildings, with no windows. They did not fit the many other types of military buildings. And, since there was some question of torture locations, even then, I had a sinking feeling, there were no windows, so no screams could be heard. Later, when I had internet, I noticed those and other areas were kind of blurred or browned over, on Google maps.
Given the story today, I don't think my wondering was wrong. There were torture centers everywhere. And more likely than not, there was one only 5 blocks from my home. Back where, when we all were kids, we would hop the fence and gorge ourselves on stolen plums from some trees further away.
It's one thing to read a news story. It's another to consider the grotesque, very likely, having been that near. I doubt the full truth will come out for decades.
True. Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Alvarez >: >: ( and all of their kind instituted/started that terrible torture and all of the destruction. They are true war criminals.
And today we see that stupid dummy bush sitting next to Clinton eating popcorn at a game. Well, bush has come out of his bunker to lie again while trying to play the regular guy, (ha!) but he'll go back in at the right time and then cheney will climb out of his bunker with all of his lies. Unbelievable.
Kathy
p.s. Another thing: they broke the U.S. Constitution into pieces w/o a look back. Oh - I can't forget this: They "allowed" the damned CIA and cheney's Blackwater mercenaries; XE now) carte blanche to do anything in the world they wanted and boy did they do this.
The Military-Industrial complex wins again. They always do anyway.
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Yes, Kathy, it does seem like the bad guys win, and even through history, where they have lost, they have always made the rest of us pay a terrible price.
Another base shooting - a guard at Camp Lejeune killed the other sentry at the base entrance.
And breaking news that is really bad. At least 20 children stabbed at a school in Pennsylvania. Children. No news if it was an adult or child who did it. More destabilizing for me, as I had just been to an Episcopalian Mass, and was finding more comfort than from Catholic services, which I rarely attend. And then, this.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2600608/At-six-people-injured-high-school-stabbing-spree.html
It was a student, a kid, unbelievable. A mass stabbing, now that is a new one!
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Bubba, you're right......the weapons used for a massive attack were, as far as I know, a first, in this country. Not so much so, in 3rd world countries.
19 students.
The first I heard, on a very busy day, was children, as in, an elementary school. That it happened to teen-agers is also a trauma (or to anybody, for that matter).
Still, the image of small children, so assaulted, was what I carried with me, until I got more news. And it made it, for me, a lot worse.
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Meanwhile, some really strange goin-ons in dem trailer parks down dere in the redneck South
Babies born with two mamas and no papas.
Two moms, a baby and a legal first for U.S. gay marriage
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Last month a baby in Tennessee made history: Emilia Maria Jesty was the first child born in the state to have a woman listed on the birth certificate as her "father."
The marital status of the baby's parents was the subject of a flurry of court filings up to a few days before her birth. Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty were wed in New York, a state that recognizes gay marriage, and moved to Tennessee, which does not.
They are among scores of same-sex couples who, working with advocacy groups, have filed lawsuits to expand gay-marriage rights following a major U.S. Supreme Court decision last June allowing federal tax and other benefits for same-sex married couples.
Depending on the pace of rulings, as early as next year Tanco and Jesty's case or a similar challenge could reach the Supreme Court. Since the court's June decision in U.S. v. Windsor, about 50 such cases have beenfiled, in nearly all 33 states that prohibit gay marriage.
So far, the eight federal judges who have ruled citing Windsor have sided with the same-sex couples, saying the states may not treat same-sex couples differently from opposite-sex ones. All of those cases are on appeal.
On Thursday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will begin hearing cases involving Utah and Oklahoma. In May, the 4th Circuit will hear a dispute from Virginia.
As Tanco approached her due date, a Nashville federal judge in mid-March issued a preliminary injunction forcing Tennessee to honor their marriage. The state appealed to the 6th Circuit.
It is possible a ruling against the couple could void Emilia's birth certificate and require that it be reissued with only Tanco listed. A spokeswoman for Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the state Health Department, which oversees birth certificates.
But for now, says Jesty, "It gives me strength."
http://news.yahoo.com/two-moms-baby-legal-first-u-gay-marriage-124540293--finance.html
Now wouldn't an easy fix to the paperwork connundrum be to have two spots on the birth certificate for "Parent" instead of "Mother" and "Father"?
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http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/bank-worker-guilty-of-wife-murder-1
And all because he knew he would have been shunned by his family if they found out he was gay.
Now they have more misery than they ever could have imagined.
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Two moms, a baby and a legal first for U.S. gay marriage
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Last month a baby in Tennessee made history: Emilia Maria Jesty was the first child born in the state to have a woman listed on the birth certificate as her "father."
The marital status of the baby's parents was the subject of a flurry of court filings up to a few days before her birth. Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty were wed in New York, a state that recognizes gay marriage, and moved to Tennessee, which does not.
They are among scores of same-sex couples who, working with advocacy groups, have filed lawsuits to expand gay-marriage rights following a major U.S. Supreme Court decision last June allowing federal tax and other benefits for same-sex married couples.
Depending on the pace of rulings, as early as next year Tanco and Jesty's case or a similar challenge could reach the Supreme Court. Since the court's June decision in U.S. v. Windsor, about 50 such cases have beenfiled, in nearly all 33 states that prohibit gay marriage.
So far, the eight federal judges who have ruled citing Windsor have sided with the same-sex couples, saying the states may not treat same-sex couples differently from opposite-sex ones. All of those cases are on appeal.
On Thursday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will begin hearing cases involving Utah and Oklahoma. In May, the 4th Circuit will hear a dispute from Virginia.
As Tanco approached her due date, a Nashville federal judge in mid-March issued a preliminary injunction forcing Tennessee to honor their marriage. The state appealed to the 6th Circuit.
It is possible a ruling against the couple could void Emilia's birth certificate and require that it be reissued with only Tanco listed. A spokeswoman for Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the state Health Department, which oversees birth certificates.
But for now, says Jesty, "It gives me strength."
http://news.yahoo.com/two-moms-baby-legal-first-u-gay-marriage-124540293--finance.html
Now wouldn't an easy fix to the paperwork connundrum be to have two spots on the birth certificate for "Parent" instead of "Mother" and "Father"?
Now, there's a sensible suggestion! "Parent (1)" and "Parent (2)." :)
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Just one more thing for the Religious Right to rail against! :D
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Here is an important and interesting article on a place in the U.S. where HIV is maintaining its grip:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/04/hivs-grip-on-the-american-south.html
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Why am I not surprised by the location?
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Michael, I am wondering if the fact that the "Southern Macho" mindset has anything to do with this issue?
Maybe the fact that I don't have to use a condom? Just wondering.
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An interesting, and rather depressing article, Michael.
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http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/bank-worker-guilty-of-wife-murder-1
And all because he knew he would have been shunned by his family if they found out he was gay.
Now they have more misery than they ever could have imagined.
Probably not the first person who thought it was OK to kill someone, but not OK to be gay!
Not exactly logical.
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Michael, I am wondering if the fact that the "Southern Macho" mindset has anything to do with this issue?
Maybe the fact that I don't have to use a condom? Just wondering.
Actually I don't think that has as much to do with it as religious upbringing, Linda. There is a real crossover between the African-American Christian experience and this denial of sexuality. After all, if you are carrying a condom, you are planning on committing a sin (at least by this logic). The epidemic is increasingly becoming an epidemic of racial minorities in the U.S., and particularly in the south I think you get this sort of self defeating behavior. Plus there is the notion that if you've sinned you will be punished, so there's a bit of the self-fulfilling prophecy here too.
If 'Southern Macho' were the driving factor you'd expect that it would have a greater impact on Latino men, and Black men are seroconverting at approximately twice the rate of Latinos (and whites). See here:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/basics/
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Why am I not surprised by the location?
It's no surprise that in the part of the U.S. where sex education is the most repressed that this would happen.
Here's an example:
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117290/mississippi-sex-ed-curriculum-homosexual-activity-illegal
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Isn't it illegal to describe a legal activity as illegal?
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Technically they are correct as the law still remains on the books in Mississippi even though it has been overturned by the Supremes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/mississippi-sex-ed_n_5110538.html
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Michael, I am wondering if the fact that the "Southern Macho" mindset has anything to do with this issue?
Maybe the fact that I don't have to use a condom? Just wondering.
Linda, the other thing that occurs to me is that a lot of these people don't have health care, and so don't know they have HIV when they first get infected and are not taking anti-retrovirals (which, when taken, cut down on the viral load and therefore makes people less infective). After all, if you're going to a family clinic which is church sponsored, you probably won't be getting an HIV test.
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Some of these shootings, which seem to be occurring with accelerating frequency, seem to be weighed on the number of casualties. I do understand that, but each one of them is a jolt. The hate crime in Kansas City yesterday, had 3 deaths. Thank God, there weren't more. Although the focus was on Jews, one of the victims may not have been. And the families were Jewish, Catholic, and Methodist. At least in that, we all share with the principal targets, some further bond. Not much to comfort, but it's still there.
Meanwhile, it does seem like the soft police state is giving no real protection. The focus there is power, voyeurism, and political cover-up. In other words, we aren't even getting safer, from the loss of freedom and privacy. They are just adding another layer: abuse.
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The crisis in Ukraine just keeps getting closer to the brink. Saturday, a Russian jet repeatedly threatened a U.S. ship, the first time that has happened since the Cold War.
Very likely, the worst is happening with submarines tracking each other too closely and challenging. And there is the formula for war. Putin thinks he's playing a chess game. And it isn't chess, it's standing dominos. One falls, and then it is extremely hard to prevent a chain reaction.
My own guess is that there is now a 20% chance of a limited military conflict with Russia, caused by a mistake in playing chicken. And though that is low, it is a huge jump from last year, when the chances were near zero.
I do believe the War Crimes tribunals are in a coma, and powerless. But were they not, I think Putin should be added to the long list of those subject to prosecution (including some Americans). In short, I would very much like to see Putin hang.
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Birmingham probes Muslim takeover of schools 'plot'
London (AFP) - Birmingham launched a probe Monday into an alleged hardline Muslim plot to take control of schools.
The city council said it had appointed a chief adviser to examine at least 200 complaints as the investigation widened to 25 schools from an initial four.
Concerns about how some of the 430 schools in the city were being run first emerged last year in a leaked anonymous letter which outlined how to implement what it called Operation Trojan Horse.
The letter, which credited the alleged plot with forcing a change of leadership at four schools, gave instructions on ousting and replacing uncooperative headteachers and school governors.
"We have an obligation to our children to fulfil our roles and ensure these schools are run on Islamic principles," the letter says.
"We... are on our way to getting rid of more headteachers and taking over their schools."
The letter continued: "You must remember this is a 'jihad' and as such all means possible to win the war is acceptable."
Birmingham has a large Muslim population. Some 22 percent of the city's residents identified themselves as such in the 2011 census.
Since the letter emerged, whistleblowers including former staff have come forward, making claims that boys and girls were segregated in classrooms and assemblies, sex education was banned and non-Muslim staff were bullied.
In one case, it was alleged that the teachings of the firebrand Al-Qaeda-linked Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki -- who was killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011 -- were praised in an assembly.
- Self-governing academies -
"As more schools have come forward than the ones named in the Trojan Horse document, issues have arisen about behaviour in schools, the way in which schools are run," city council leader Albert Bore told BBC television.
"It is about, generally speaking, the behaviour of the schools, what happens within the schools, the school day, the school assembly, the way in which children in schools are organised."
The allegations focus on a category of schools known as academies. Established from 2000 onwards, they are state-funded but are self-governing and independent of local authority control.
Bore said it was "part of the frustration" that the city council had no remit in the schools, which answer to the national Department for Education.
"We do not know who's on the governing body (of the schools)," he said.
The council will publish its findings before mid-June.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has sent inspectors to 15 Birmingham schools in recent weeks.
On a visit to Birmingham earlier this month, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the issue, saying: "We will not accept any school begin run by extremists or promoting extremist views."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Monday that schools should not be allowed to become "silos of segregation".
"I am very concerned whenever I hear allegations that schools, funded by the taxpayer, become vehicles for the propagation of particular ideologies which divide young children and pupils off from other people in society," he said.
"The Department for Education is taking this very seriously."
http://news.yahoo.com/birmingham-probes-muslim-takeover-schools-plot-140038655.html
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Some of these shootings, which seem to be occurring with accelerating frequency, seem to be weighed on the number of casualties. I do understand that, but each one of them is a jolt. The hate crime in Kansas City yesterday, had 3 deaths. Thank God, there weren't more. Although the focus was on Jews, one of the victims may not have been. And the families were Jewish, Catholic, and Methodist. At least in that, we all share with the principal targets, some further bond. Not much to comfort, but it's still there.
Meanwhile, it does seem like the soft police state is giving no real protection. The focus there is power, voyeurism, and political cover-up. In other words, we aren't even getting safer, from the loss of freedom and privacy. They are just adding another layer: abuse.
Tony, they said on the news tonight that none of the victims who died were Jewish.
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Linda, I hadn't heard that, but am not too surprised. Jewish community centers are usually open to everyone, and most of the people who go to the one in Norfolk are not Jewish. Same for the assisted living home victim. Those are run by many denominations and faiths.
But I had heard the families were a mixture of Jewish, Catholic, and Methodist.
What, angers me is that the killer was a known extremist, Ku Klux Klan & other, just like the Tsarnaev brothers were on a hot list, and all of the freedoms and privacy taken from us by a soft police state, supposedly to protect us, and they couldn't even track these guys?
All of it hurts. Minorities being targeted, even unsuccessfully, makes us all sick.
But, thanks, Linda, for the additional news.......
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Tony, exactly what do you think the police should have done?
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I'm watching the total lunar eclipse - only possible online here in UK.
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I'm watching the total lunar eclipse - only possible online here in UK.
I saw it outside my house tonight. In RL! :)
Well, it wasn't really on the footpath, just up in the sky... it looked as if the sun was shining from the southeast, rather than from the west...
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Tony, exactly what do you think the police should have done?
Sherry, the local police do their job. Which, all too often is cleaning up the aftermath of the failures of the federal soft police state.
Am not saying all the feds aren't getting it right, and aren't doing their job. Am saying that a lot of their new capabilities are used for voyeuristic power trips, political cover-ups, and covering their own asses. As it happens, a significant number of the intel community, are privately saying the same, only much more strongly. The only ones who can speak up easily are the retired pros (like those who gave Snowden their Samuel Adams freedom award; and these dudes are not liberals).
The police are doing their job, and are often casualties themselves. It's that soft police state, feds, that aren't doing their job. They've got an illness, Sherry, and so, we lose privacy and freedom, and don't even get the proposed trade-off....safety.
In the 2 instances I mentioned, Kansas City, and the Boston Bombing, the failure to use all those resources to track KNOWN hate-crime or terrorist creeps, is obvious.
Sherry, cut me some slack. The many volumes of the 9/11 commission could have been reduced to a few sentences. 2 FBI field agents gave urgent warnings. Which were ignored because the D.C. office was following the Bush agenda of ignoring Clinton's parting warnings about Al-Qaida. And afterwards, the new policy of ZERO accountability.
The police and first responders took the hit in casualties. The feds got their technology, their freedom to torture, zero accountability, and the self-induced delusion that they are tough guys and patriots. They aren't. You can't do your job if you are a freak.
Our local cops are not yet suborned. they do their job.
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I saw it outside my house tonight. In RL! :)
Well, it wasn't really on the footpath, just up in the sky... it looked as if the sun was shining from the southeast, rather than from the west...
Wow, did you? I wish I had. My daughter didn't seem to find it.....
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We had a brilliant view of that in Los Angeles. The sky was completely clear. The whole evening the moon was huge and
as bright as I've ever seen it! So many people went up to the Griffith Park Observatory that they had to announce on TV that
it was being closed for that reason!
Shortly before 11:00 p.m. the moon began to "disappear." 12:07 a.m. was the official time for it to be completely in shadow.
Was eerie. Or magical! It remained that way for nearly two hours and then began to re-appear!
I understand that this is the first of 4 various times this will happen in the coming months and then not for a very long time.
The next time is in October. At that time, though it will be around 4 a.m. here, so other parts of the globe will get a better
view of that one! (If we hadn't had that darned Daylight Savings Time change, I coulda stayed up to see it fully reappear!
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Sherry, the local police do their job. Which, all too often is cleaning up the aftermath of the failures of the federal soft police state.
Am not saying all the feds aren't getting it right, and aren't doing their job. Am saying that a lot of their new capabilities are used for voyeuristic power trips, political cover-ups, and covering their own asses. As it happens, a significant number of the intel community, are privately saying the same, only much more strongly. The only ones who can speak up easily are the retired pros (like those who gave Snowden their Samuel Adams freedom award; and these dudes are not liberals).
The police are doing their job, and are often casualties themselves. It's that soft police state, feds, that aren't doing their job. They've got an illness, Sherry, and so, we lose privacy and freedom, and don't even get the proposed trade-off....safety.
In the 2 instances I mentioned, Kansas City, and the Boston Bombing, the failure to use all those resources to track KNOWN hate-crime or terrorist creeps, is obvious.
Sherry, cut me some slack. The many volumes of the 9/11 commission could have been reduced to a few sentences. 2 FBI field agents gave urgent warnings. Which were ignored because the D.C. office was following the Bush agenda of ignoring Clinton's parting warnings about Al-Qaida. And afterwards, the new policy of ZERO accountability.
The police and first responders took the hit in casualties. The feds got their technology, their freedom to torture, zero accountability, and the self-induced delusion that they are tough guys and patriots. They aren't. You can't do your job if you are a freak.
Our local cops are not yet suborned. they do their job.
Tony, you have no idea how much slack I am already cutting you. : )
I still do not know WHAT you want law enforcement... including the feds... to do. On one hand people are railing against all the oversight and surveillance and on the other they don't want people arrested until after a crime has been committed. There is no way to stop an evil doer BEFORE he does evil without violating his rights... well, there's entrapment but then that's a violation too. You can't have it both ways. Did you see Tom Cruise's Minority Report? There's no way to know how much crime is stopped before it happens by use of all the info collected... we only know what ISN'T stopped.
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Tony, you have no idea how much slack I am already cutting you. : )
.......
Hmmmm, well, Sherry, you have no idea how much slack I've been cutting you and others on the tv thread, by not teasing you guys for recent eruptions of inordinate and unexpected .....well, libidinous tendencies :). It's bordered on the outskirts of an orgy, there. Or prelude to same. Not that I didn't laugh my ass off. Just that I resisted any post that might have caused a blush.
As for your still not getting an answer to your question on safety, it's either because you didn't get the full balance of my answer, or, we're just wired differently on information. It's the best I could do, Sherry. Anything else would just be repetitive.
Ok. You could hit my profile, go to recent posts, read the one about the base shooting in Norfolk. Might help, but, otherwise, there's not much more that might answer.
I know you respect cops. So do I. But, as I've posted, maybe too many times, over these years, I've seen the disease debilitating the feds, up close. And again, the feds themselves see and know the problem even more than people like me. And they are worried.
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T,
people everywhere are worried about everything, including what global warming climate change is doing to this year's spaghetti harvest. It's more a sign of the times (paranoia) than any real increase in crime/danger/hate/temperature. When the "news" is broadcast 24/7 and people's fantasies and speculations are given the same credence as fact, it's no wonder things look so damn bad. I suggest a grain of salt. A big grain.
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T,
people everywhere are worried about everything, including what global warming climate change is doing to this year's spaghetti harvest. It's more a sign of the times (paranoia) than any real increase in crime/danger/hate/temperature. When the "news" is broadcast 24/7 and people's fantasies and speculations are given the same credence as fact, it's no wonder things look so damn bad. I suggest a grain of salt. A big grain.
S,
(Gee, we're getting into code names, now :D ?).
Yeah, am on to the cable and other news hype of danger everywhere, and the chicken little syndrome does boost ratings.
But, I also was a History major, besides Slavic languages, and have continued as a history buff for decades, even to my, now, senior years. And, factoring in any susceptibilities I might have developed from relentless hype, I still see extreme danger and acceleration.
Ebola, weather change, and even the endless variations of mass shootings, are those I keep an eye on, but with the belief that they aren't immediately catastrophic.
Am always ok with your seeing things differently, but right now, Ukraine is patterning far to closely to the miscalculations that led to WWI. It's like none of these bozos ever read Barbara Tuchman's deconstruction, "The Guns of August".
Along with that, I've been aware of massive leaps in science and technology, including super-computers, that could or will, or already have, altered every known foundation of life as we have known it. I wish some of the tech buffs who read, here, would jump in on the many historic dangers there, and back me up.
But some dangers are subtle and yet deadly. And the one I'm seeing is zero accountability. That creates a huge petri dish for no possible remedies, and every possible acceleration of abuse and.....stupid.
If you have a casual supposing we aren't on the verge of anything worse than whatever we have faced before, fine. I hope you are right. As for me, my own sense is that we are, and there's nothing I can do about it, as am not of any influence or consequence.
We both end up at the same place, Taco Bell :), but for very different reasons. Mine is, live life as best I can, even believing there is a coming storm.
Damn I love burritos !!!!
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So, has everyone else stopped hearing about flight 370? I guess they finally realized that if they don't have anything to report, constant coverage is not warranted.
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So, has everyone else stopped hearing about flight 370? I guess they finally realized that if they don't have anything to report, constant coverage is not warranted.
Yeah, Chuck, they pretty much have stopped any coverage out here as well. There are still plenty of reports on the internet though.
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S,
(Gee, we're getting into code names, now :D ?).
Yeah, am on to the cable and other news hype of danger everywhere, and the chicken little syndrome does boost ratings.
But, I also was a History major, besides Slavic languages, and have continued as a history buff for decades, even to my, now, senior years. And, factoring in any susceptibilities I might have developed from relentless hype, I still see extreme danger and acceleration.
Ebola, weather change, and even the endless variations of mass shootings, are those I keep an eye on, but with the belief that they aren't immediately catastrophic.
Am always ok with your seeing things differently, but right now, Ukraine is patterning far to closely to the miscalculations that led to WWI. It's like none of these bozos ever read Barbara Tuchman's deconstruction, "The Guns of August".
Along with that, I've been aware of massive leaps in science and technology, including super-computers, that could or will, or already have, altered every known foundation of life as we have known it. I wish some of the tech buffs who read, here, would jump in on the many historic dangers there, and back me up.
But some dangers are subtle and yet deadly. And the one I'm seeing is zero accountability. That creates a huge petri dish for no possible remedies, and every possible acceleration of abuse and.....stupid.
If you have a casual supposing we aren't on the verge of anything worse than whatever we have faced before, fine. I hope you are right. As for me, my own sense is that we are, and there's nothing I can do about it, as am not of any influence or consequence.
We both end up at the same place, Taco Bell :), but for very different reasons. Mine is, live life as best I can, even believing there is a coming storm.
Damn I love burritos !!!!
And exactly why do I end up at Taco Bell?
Being a history buff is great. Except a whole lot of history never made it to the evening news. Or the once-a-month newspaper. Or the town crier. Or the wandering minstrels. Proportionally, the bad news is the same as it has always been compared to the number of people in the world and the state of weaponry. And ebola... smallpox. All living things evolve including viruses. A war right now might be worse than any we experienced before... but our technology is that much better so it will balance out.
Have you tried the grilled breakfast taco? And how's the coffee... I usually get my food and then go to McD's for coffee.
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So, has everyone else stopped hearing about flight 370? I guess they finally realized that if they don't have anything to report, constant coverage is not warranted.
It was on the evening news here Monday... don't remember which network I had on. I DO remember wondering who the hell was paying for this search.
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Have you tried the grilled breakfast taco? And how's the coffee... I usually get my food and then go to McD's for coffee.
Sorry to focus on the trivial among your many items of interest, Tony, but unless it's improved since my previous visit year or so, McDonald's is the last place I'd go to for coffee!
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Sorry to focus on the trivial among your many items of interest, Tony, but unless it's improved since my previous visit year or so, McDonald's is the last place I'd go to for coffee!
I have only been to a McD's once. Can't remember where.....can't remember when. It was that forgettable !
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It was on the evening news here Monday... don't remember which network I had on. I DO remember wondering who the hell was paying for this search.
I assume the governments that are helping with the search are paying, which means the taxpayers are paying.
http://time.com/#53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/
I do remember reading a comment somewhere online (It may be in the article posted) that a lot of the people leading the searches are saying that while there is a price tag to this, it is also practical experience that the armed forces are getting, instead of running drills or fake missions, they are getting experience on a real life mission.
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Have you tried the grilled breakfast taco? And how's the coffee... I usually get my food and then go to McD's for coffee.
Sorry to focus on the trivial among your many items of interest, Tony, but unless it's improved since my previous visit year or so, McDonald's is the last place I'd go to for coffee!
Dunkin Donuts has the best coffee around here. ;D
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Am always ok with your seeing things differently, but right now, Ukraine is patterning far to closely to the miscalculations that led to WWI. It's like none of these bozos ever read Barbara Tuchman's deconstruction, "The Guns of August".
I doubt very much the West would go to war with Russia over Ukraine, or over the Baltic States, either, and if I lived in one of them, I'd be very, very worried.
Even though I think 1938 or thereabouts might be a better analogy than 1914, but "current events" recent history wasn't my area of concentration.
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Sorry to focus on the trivial among your many items of interest, Tony, but unless it's improved since my previous visit year or so, McDonald's is the last place I'd go to for coffee!
Don't know when that was, but a couple years back McD's coffee got good. Sonic has the second best. However, I am not a big coffee drinker... a cup every couple days. Not into flavors and all that stuff you can get at Starbucks... never been to a Starbucks. And if a cup of coffee cools off to warm, I'm done with it
The only Dunkin Donuts in this area is about 45 minutes away when I'm IN town, but I have heard they have good coffee. Except it was someone who likes Starbucks who said it.
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I assume the governments that are helping with the search are paying, which means the taxpayers are paying.
http://time.com/#53414/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-cost/
I do remember reading a comment somewhere online (It may be in the article posted) that a lot of the people leading the searches are saying that while there is a price tag to this, it is also practical experience that the armed forces are getting, instead of running drills or fake missions, they are getting experience on a real life mission.
It was on CBS's "What's Up America" late night/early morning this morning. Don't know what experience these troops are getting since they are using an unmanned sub to run around 3 miles down. It is SO unmanned it went below it's authorized depth two days ago and immediately pulled itself out of the game and surfaced for a time out. Latest report was it would take two months of daily 12-15 hour days to cover the small area where they are searching.
We don't put that much time into "recovery" efforts on land when we know where the bodies are buried....
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Don't know when that was, but a couple years back McD's coffee got good. Sonic has the second best. However, I am not a big coffee drinker... a cup every couple days. Not into flavors and all that stuff you can get at Starbucks... never been to a Starbucks. And if a cup of coffee cools off to warm, I'm done with it
The only Dunkin Donuts in this area is about 45 minutes away when I'm IN town, but I have heard they have good coffee. Except it was someone who likes Starbucks who said it.
Definitely not flavours! :o Starbucks is fine though. And I couldn't begin my day without 2 big cups of homebrewed coffee. (It has to start off hot, but if I forget to drink it all I'm quite happy to finish it off lukewarm or cold :))
Most cafes have good Italian coffee machines nowadays luckily. Perhaps McDs has got better since my last visit.
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Sara, trivial is cool. Makes the world more bearable :) . Thanks for lightening up this thread. I was getting a little tedious.
Jeff, the 1938 reference was a bulls-eye. Somebody, then, had an agenda.
Sherry, YOU are at Taco Bell......because it's there.
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Sara, trivial is cool. Makes the world more bearable :) . Thanks for lightening up this thread. I was getting a little tedious.
You weren't at all, Tony! I'm just rubbish at having coherent political thoughts....
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The only Dunkin Donuts in this area is about 45 minutes away when I'm IN town, but I have heard they have good coffee. Except it was someone who likes Starbucks who said it.
I don't like Starbucks and I do think Dunkin Donuts has good coffee, so you can take my word for it. ;D
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Jeff, the 1938 reference was a bulls-eye. Somebody, then, had an agenda.
Why, thank you, sir. And I think somebody has an agenda today, you betcha!
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Sara, trivial is cool. Makes the world more bearable :) . Thanks for lightening up this thread. I was getting a little tedious.
Jeff, the 1938 reference was a bulls-eye. Somebody, then, had an agenda.
Sherry, YOU are at Taco Bell......because it's there.
There are a number of places to get tacos and burritos a lot closer to me than Taco Bell and I admit I've tried them all. Once each. I will drive in to town late night to Taco Bell, and I don't drive at night. Every time my daughter sends me an update on her house hunting for me the first thing she puts is the distance to Taco Bell. So don't give me any of your I-love-TB-more-than-you-do crap.
:P
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....... So don't give me any of your I-love-TB-more-than-you-do crap.
:P
I will if I want to :). I am immune to matriarchies, and those predisposed to them.
And, I could also start up Jamie what's-his-name again, and his food revolution. Am sure you wouldn't want that 8).
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I will drive in to town late night to Taco Bell, and I don't drive at night. Every time my daughter sends me an update on her house hunting for me the first thing she puts is the distance to Taco Bell.
Oi, I guess you really love Taco Bell.
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I will if I want to :). I am immune to matriarchies, and those predisposed to them.
And, I could also start up Jamie what's-his-name again, and his food revolution. Am sure you wouldn't want that 8).
As I sit here munching on my 7-Layer, I am inclined to suggest you pay attention to Jeff's post... /\
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(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1.0-9/10157263_10152327740124255_5631387127985213520_n.jpg)
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5 fatally stabbed at party near Calgary college
Michael Winter, USA TODAY 9:05 p.m. EDT April 15, 2014
The son of a veteran police officer is facing murder charges after he allegedly stabbed to death five people at a party near the University of Calgary early Tuesday
It is the worst mass killing in the Canadian city's history.
Matthew de Grood, 22, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder. The CBC reported that he attended the university and had planned to go to law school.
The victims — four men and a woman — were "good kids" between 22 and 27, said Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson. Three men died at the scene and the others died at a local hospital. A sixth person suffered minor injuries.
Two victims were members of a local band that held a party Saturday to celebrate the release of its debut album, the Calgary Herald reported.
"This is the worst mass murder in Calgary's history," Hanson said at a news conference. "We have never seen five people killed by an individual at one scene. The scene was horrific."
De Grood arrived at the house party about 1:20 a.m. MT after leaving his job at a grocery store. He was carrying a weapon that police described only as "an instrument" that apparently came from work. He then grabbed a large kitchen knife and "targeted" his victims, repeatedly stabbing them one by one, Hanson said. No possible motive was disclosed
About 20 students were at the party in the Brentwood neighborhood, just north of the university. Neighbors said they were celebrating the last day of classes, the CBC reported.
We understand the party was for friends and people of the university and the suspect was an invited guest," Hanson said.
The victims "did nothing wrong and nothing that they did contributed to what happened to them."
The suspect fled after the stabbings but was found about 40 minutes later with help from a police K-9. He was treated at the hospital for a dog bite.
The suspect's father, Inspector Douglas de Grood, a 33-year veteran of the police service, is "absolutely devastated," Hanson said. "He wanted me to pass on condolences to all the family of the victims."
Hundreds turned out for a memorial vigil on campus that began in late afternoon.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/15/calgary-univeristy-stabbings-5-dead/7746711/
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5 fatally stabbed at party near Calgary college
Michael Winter, USA TODAY 9:05 p.m. EDT April 15, 2014
The son of a veteran police officer is facing murder charges after he allegedly stabbed to death five people at a party near the University of Calgary early Tuesday
It is the worst mass killing in the Canadian city's history.
Matthew de Grood, 22, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder. The CBC reported that he attended the university and had planned to go to law school.
The victims — four men and a woman — were "good kids" between 22 and 27, said Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson. Three men died at the scene and the others died at a local hospital. A sixth person suffered minor injuries.
Two victims were members of a local band that held a party Saturday to celebrate the release of its debut album, the Calgary Herald reported.
"This is the worst mass murder in Calgary's history," Hanson said at a news conference. "We have never seen five people killed by an individual at one scene. The scene was horrific."
De Grood arrived at the house party about 1:20 a.m. MT after leaving his job at a grocery store. He was carrying a weapon that police described only as "an instrument" that apparently came from work. He then grabbed a large kitchen knife and "targeted" his victims, repeatedly stabbing them one by one, Hanson said. No possible motive was disclosed
About 20 students were at the party in the Brentwood neighborhood, just north of the university. Neighbors said they were celebrating the last day of classes, the CBC reported.
We understand the party was for friends and people of the university and the suspect was an invited guest," Hanson said.
The victims "did nothing wrong and nothing that they did contributed to what happened to them."
The suspect fled after the stabbings but was found about 40 minutes later with help from a police K-9. He was treated at the hospital for a dog bite.
The suspect's father, Inspector Douglas de Grood, a 33-year veteran of the police service, is "absolutely devastated," Hanson said. "He wanted me to pass on condolences to all the family of the victims."
Hundreds turned out for a memorial vigil on campus that began in late afternoon.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/15/calgary-univeristy-stabbings-5-dead/7746711/
Yeah, yeah, yeah, what about knife control legislation, we get it. But how many would be dead if he had an AK 47, or whatever... ::)
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My, my, my. You didn't wish an Ak-whatever for the teenager who stabbed 20 kids here last week.
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Bloomberg Plans a $50 Million Challenge to the N.R.A.
Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association.
Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said gun control advocates need to learn from the N.R.A. and punish those politicians who fail to support their agenda — even Democrats whose positions otherwise align with his own.
“They say, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to go after you,’ ” he said of the N.R.A. “ ‘If you don’t vote with us we’re going to go after your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids. And we’re never going to stop.’ ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/us/bloomberg-plans-a-50-million-challenge-to-the-nra.html
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It was on the evening news here Monday... don't remember which network I had on. I DO remember wondering who the hell was paying for this search.
Yeah, I have been wondering the same thing, Sherry. From what's been said in the media so far, we are talking in the millions of dollars so far.
Out here, a couple of weeks ago a family with two small girls was two weeks into sailing around the world. The boat lost power and was taking on water, about 900 miles off the coast of California, and the infant daughter took ill.
A four-man rescue team from the California Air National Guard was dispatched by military plane to the scene, about 1,000 miles out in the Pacific off Mexico, to render medical assistance. The team parachuted into the ocean and boarded the family's vessel late on Thursday to treat the child.
They were then picked up by the Navy and the boat scuttled..
They were not charged for any of the rescue as the CANG said that they used this as a training mission. I don't know about the Navy warship that rescued them.
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Not to put too fine a point on it... they were ours and they were alive. We didn't ask Mexico to run out and rescue them.
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True, but I question parents taking a 4 yo and a 1 yo on a round the world cruise in a sailboat.
But that is just me.
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I doubt very much the West would go to war with Russia over Ukraine, or over the Baltic States, either, and if I lived in one of them, I'd be very, very worried.
Even though I think 1938 or thereabouts might be a better analogy than 1914, but "current events" recent history wasn't my area of concentration.
With every new development I hear about on the situation in the Ukraine, I can't help but think that Putin is crazy like a fox. He started all of this, knowing if he started the dominoes falling with Crimea, the rest of the country would follow, and come back under the Russian fold. If this country falls, I bet more will follow.
Just my thoughts about it.
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True, but I question parents taking a 4 yo and a 1 yo on a round the world cruise in a sailboat.
But that is just me.
It's not just you. I heard on the NBC news that they caught a lot of hell on Twitter, etc., for doing that.
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Well, if the Twits don't like it, the parents should probably be jailed for child endangerment.
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It's not just you. I heard on the NBC news that they caught a lot of hell on Twitter, etc., for doing that.
Yes, Jeff, there has been a huge amount of backlash for them regarding this.
From the media reports I have read, it's almost as if the writers feel sorry for them by putting statements in that when the boat was scuttled, it was added that this was their home.
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Well, if the Twits don't like it, the parents should probably be jailed for child endangerment.
Well, I was wondering if the authorities thought they could charge them for this. I guess not.
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I know you are serious. I just don't understand it.
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Preteen Parents: Mother, 12 and Father, 13 Welcome 7-Pound Baby
UK has a new set of preteen parents. A 12-year-old girl has given birth this week to a 7-pound baby, according to a report by the Daily Mail. She is joined by the 13-year-old father, making the two of them the youngest parents in the country today.
The baby’s official birth was registered Tuesday by the mother and the 27-year-old grandma at the government registry in North London. The preteen parent, whose name could not be revealed due to legal issues, was reportedly excited to raise the baby with the barely-teenage father.
According to the parents of both children, the preteen parents first met each other during Christmas day of 2012, when the mother was 10 and the father was 12, and have been “totally in love” with each other ever since.
The grandparents of the baby defended the preteen parents who have been on the receiving end of harsh criticisms from netizens since the news of the mother giving birth to the 7-pound baby broke out. They say that they believe the love between the preteen parents is genuine and that they are confident that they will be able to raise their daughter well.
http://www.inquisitr.com/1213809/preteen-parents-mother-12-and-father-13-welcome-7-pound-baby/
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Preteen Parents: Mother, 12 and Father, 13 Welcome 7-Pound Baby
Oi. :-\
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Geez, that's just crazy.
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Mother of Missing Boy Found in Claw Machine Will Not Face Charges
The mother of the 3-year-old Nebraska boy who was reported missing before being found safe inside a claw machine at a nearby bowling alley will not face charges.
The mother, who was not identified, called 911 Monday evening to report she could not find her son in the family's Lincoln, Neb., home, according to police officials.
At nearly the same time, at a bowling alley and billiards business across a one-lane side street from the family's home, a patron reported seeing a young boy stuck inside a claw machine.
"A patron went inside the bar and asked if anyone was missing a little boy," Randy Lee, a front counter worker at Madsen's Bowling and Billiards told GoodMorningAmerica.com. "No one said anything and she said, 'There's a boy stuck in the machine.'"
"They thought maybe his arm was stuck and the bar maid went out and saw him actually stuck inside," Lee said.
Employees called police, who, by that time, had also received the missing persons call from the boy's mother.
Madsen employees called Value Vendor Services (VVS), which owns and operates the claw machine, to come and unlock the machine.
Nearly half an hour after he was found inside the machine, the young boy was safely removed and returned to his family.
"He was oblivious to everybody standing outside the machine watching him," Lee said. "You could just see him in there playing with the stuffed animals and not paying attention to what's going on outside at all, and that was even after the police officers got there too."
Lee says the claw machine is located against a wall inside Madsen that is not visible from the front counter. Lee did not know how long the boy was inside the machine before he was found around 5:30 p.m. Monday.
"If you look at the machine, it's crazy," Lee said of how the boy could have entered. "He had to have squeezed himself in through the door, waited until the door closed and then climbed over a glass shielding to get in where the animals are."
The owner of the claw machine gave the boy a stuffed animal after he was rescued, according to Lee.
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/mother-missing-boy-found-claw-machine-not-face-183847796--abc-news-topstories.html
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Doodler, you're killing me, lol!
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Preteen Parents: Mother, 12 and Father, 13 Welcome 7-Pound Baby
Jeez!!! :P
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Doodler, you're killing me, lol!
I love it when a plan comes together, to coin a phrase.
:D
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TONY! Are you feeling better? I heard on the CBS Evening News that Russia and Ukraine, with a little help from their friends, have reached an agreement.
Both sides will refrain from:
violence
extremism
antisemitism
The Jews must have been behind the unrest. As usual.
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Kate Middleton Looks on While Prince William Stands Dangerously Close to a 328-Foot Cliff
If Kate Middleton has been nearly overshadowed by the uncannily photogenic Prince George during this tour of New Zealand and Australia, then Prince William has been basically forgotten completely. Sure, he has sparred with Kate on the water, and reminded us of his presence via snippy comments about Kate's outfits ("too bright," you "look like a banana"). But today, like a petulant teenager crying out for attention, William raised eyebrows and heart rates around the world by standing very, very close to the edge of a cliff in Australia. As you can see here, the jeans-clad prince stood about 18 inches from the edge, peering down from the lookout, while Kate held her ground several yards behind him.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv157%2Fdandydoodles%2Fothers%2Fprincewillcliff_zps941687b9.jpg&hash=f4656762aad0418dc39c2563d2e7486130aca1eb)
The manager of the Mountain Youth Services Team said that even he, as a supervisor of sorts, felt a bit fearful about William's actions: "He took a bit of a lunge and a few people held their breath, gasped and readied their hands to grab him," he said. "He was fine of course, he knew what he was doing. I think his military background prepared him well for it. . . . [but] I had a brief moment there. He did not seem intimidated by the edge or the height at all."
https://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/kate-middleton-looks-while-prince-william-stands-dangerously-145400592.html
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TONY! Are you feeling better? I heard on the CBS Evening News that Russia and Ukraine, with a little help from their friends, have reached an agreement.
Both sides will refrain from:
violence
extremism
antisemitism
The Jews must have been behind the unrest. As usual.
Strangely enough, I am feeling better. But it is only because the long stress campaign of Adolph Putin will bring the war or the peace, soon enough. It's been the waiting, Sherry. As for the alleged agreement you refer to, it is flimsy, especially when casualties are beginning, under deliberate incitement.
As far as the anti-Semitism: Ukrainians and Russians have had a long history of that. The Ukrainian tendencies have burned themselves out as Ukrainians have wanted more of a tolerant, west European culture. The Russians, particularly those with blue-collar and rural backgrounds continue to have a dislike for Jews, Chechens (who are everywhere, there), Catholics, and Germans. Blacks are especially disliked.
Putin played the Jewish card, subtly reminding those in the diaspora of troubles 80-200 years ago. But Ukrainian Jews have not complained of anything, to my knowledge. And both Ukrainian ethnic and Russian ethnic Jews have been a significant part of trying to avoid a war.
The biggest divide, in religion, is that Western Ukrainians are Catholic (although their priests can marry), and the Russian ethnic are Orthodox. Even so, Orthodox priests have been, at times, against these divisions.
I know your last sentence was your usual waggery. Putin is behind these troubles. He is the author of collapse. He is their George Bush, except he has had a cunning disdain for risk, far past Bush/Cheney.
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Preteen Parents: Mother, 12 and Father, 13 Welcome 7-Pound Baby
UK has a new set of preteen parents. A 12-year-old girl has given birth this week to a 7-pound baby, according to a report by the Daily Mail. She is joined by the 13-year-old father, making the two of them the youngest parents in the country today.
The baby’s official birth was registered Tuesday by the mother and the 27-year-old grandma at the government registry in North London. The preteen parent, whose name could not be revealed due to legal issues, was reportedly excited to raise the baby with the barely-teenage father.
According to the parents of both children, the preteen parents first met each other during Christmas day of 2012, when the mother was 10 and the father was 12, and have been “totally in love” with each other ever since.
The grandparents of the baby defended the preteen parents who have been on the receiving end of harsh criticisms from netizens since the news of the mother giving birth to the 7-pound baby broke out. They say that they believe the love between the preteen parents is genuine and that they are confident that they will be able to raise their daughter well.
http://www.inquisitr.com/1213809/preteen-parents-mother-12-and-father-13-welcome-7-pound-baby/
Nice to think this happened because we are all going to he'll in a handcart in Britain, but I was reading a history of the Wars of the Roses this
afternoon, and Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings was born when his mother Margaret Beaufort was 12 years old. So actually I suppose there is nothing new under the sun.
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When Michael Egan filed a lawsuit accusing director Bryan Singer of sexual abuse, the allegations got all of Hollywood talking – and some scrambling to figure out the next steps for his upcoming movies and TV shows.
The lawsuit – in which Egan, 31, alleges the director forced him into sex when Egan was an aspiring teen actor lured into a drug-fueled party scene notorious within Hollywood's entertainment industry – has cast an intense spotlight on Singer, 48, whose film X-Men: Days of Future Past is set for release on May 23.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20809051,00.html
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With so much in the news that is painful, it was heart-warming to see the network coverage of the husband and wife who passed on, after 72 years of marriage, within 15 hours of each other. In Ohio, I think.
Throughout their lives, they held each others hands, every day, living a life of love, and also of service, to their community. They were survived by children, grandchildren, and, if I remember correctly, great grandchildren.
Those were lives that ended well. And a reminder, at least to me, that our savageries, though they seem to be the norm, are really not.
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And speaking of savageries...
NBC Adding Weir and Lipinski to Derby Broadcast Team
They made a big splash covering figure skating at the Sochi Winter Olympics, and now the broadcast duo of Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are set to make their Kentucky Derby debuts.
NBC announced today that the former figure skaters “will comment on the fashionable outfits worn by members of the rich and celebrity-filled audience.”
The duo were the breakout stars of NBC’s broadcast team in Sochi, and have since teamed to cover the Academy Award arrivals for Access Hollywood. NBC felt it was only fitting that Weir and Lipinski cover Kentucky Derby fashion.
Both Weir and Lipinski are no strangers to the equestrian world. Lipinski rode horses as a youngster, and Weir competed in equestrian events, until he decided to focus solely on figure skating.
“I’m not such a sports guy, aside from what people may think,” Weir said in a statement. “I love figure skating, I love my job, but aside from that, I prefer to run in meadows and chase butterflies.”
Read more at ABC News
And you think you have stuff to worry about.
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NBC Adding Weir and Lipinski to Derby Broadcast Team
They made a big splash covering figure skating at the Sochi Winter Olympics, and now the broadcast duo of Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are set to make their Kentucky Derby debuts.
NBC announced today that the former figure skaters “will comment on the fashionable outfits worn by members of the rich and celebrity-filled audience.”
:o Where are my smelling salts?
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South Carolina's Legislators Punish Colleges for Allowing Students to Read/View Gay-themed Presentations
CHARLESTON, S.C. — More than 750 people packed into a city auditorium here this week for a sold-out production of “Fun Home,” a musical by a New York-based troupe about a woman coming to terms with her closeted gay father’s suicide. The crowd rose in a standing ovation before the show even began.
The emotional reaction was part of a worsening political battle between South Carolina’s public universities and conservative Republican lawmakers, who argue that campus culture should reflect the socially conservative views of the state.
The state’s House of Representatives recently voted to cut $52,000 in funding for the College of Charleston as punishment for assigning students to read “Fun Home,” the graphic novel that formed the basis for the play. House lawmakers endorsed a similar budget cut for the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg for using a different book with gay themes in its reading program.
Republican lawmakers also helped pave the way for the appointment of a controversial GOP state official as the College of Charleston’s next president, sparking campus protests.
...“We’ve got to start moving the debate,” said state Sen. Lee Bright (R-Spartanburg), one of several conservatives challenging U.S. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R) as he runs for reelection this year. “For too long, conservatives have just said, ‘O.K., these institutions are liberal.’ Why would you cede that?”
“As long as I’m in office,” he said, “I will stand in the gap for those who feel like traditional family values ought to matter.” ...
...In recent weeks, the legislature urged the appointment of Republican Lieutenant Gov. Glenn McConnell as the College of Charleston’s next president, two lawmakers said.
A 30-year veteran of the South Carolina Senate, McConnell is an avid Civil War reenactor who once co-owned a gift shop that sold Confederate memorabilia. Because of that past, he will take over the college in July amid student protests and a faculty vote of no confidence...
Rest of story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sc-colleges-production-highlights-political-battle-between-lawmakers-public-universities/2014/04/22/d2f357f6-ca0e-11e3-93eb-6c0037dde2ad_story.html?wpisrc=nl_eve
Where will this censorship/brainwashing of intelligent students stop?
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Where will this censorship/brainwashing of intelligent students stop?
When and where more things like this occur.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/190103-Controversy-Inspires-Original-Cast-and-Creators-of-Fun-Home-to-Stage-Concert-Production-at-College-of-Charleston (http://www.playbill.com/news/article/190103-Controversy-Inspires-Original-Cast-and-Creators-of-Fun-Home-to-Stage-Concert-Production-at-College-of-Charleston)
"Fun Home" is one of the finest pieces of musical theatre in a very long time. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer this year and really should have received it. The entire New York cast, with one exception, went to Charleston to perform in this concert version of the musical. It will, more than likely, transfer to a Broadway venue next season. (It premiered this season at the Public).
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New Gun Bill Signed into Law in Georgia
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed into law Wednesday a pro-gun package that groups on both sides of the gun control debate describe as exceptional.
The National Rifle Association calls it ”the most comprehensive pro-gun bill in state history.” Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun control group founded by shooting victim and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), calls it ”the most extreme gun bill in America.”
Here’s (some of) what it does, according to an end-of-session analysis by the nonpartisan state Senate Research Office, obtained by the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
First, broadly speaking, the new law expands where people with a license can carry a gun, including:
Bars and associated parking facilities
Government buildings (except where entry is typically screened during business hours by security personnel)
Places of worship (only with express approval)
School grounds (again, only with approval)
The bill expands the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, a version of which rose to prominence in the legal debate over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Before, you couldn’t invoke that defense — which provides immunity from prosecution — if you used a banned firearm in self-defense. Now, you can: “this bill provides that a person will be immune from prosecution in using deadly force in self-defense or defense of others or property even if the person utilizes a weapon in violation of [the Georgia Firearms and Weapons Act],” the report finds.
Firearms dealers no longer need to maintain records of sales and purchases.
The governor loses his authority to suspend or limit the carrying or sale of guns.
Banning or restricting lawful firearm possession in public housing is now illegal.
As the AJC reported, the new law expands the pre-emption of local laws. Before, cities could not regulate “gun shows and dealers through zoning or by ordinance,” AJC’s Kristina Torres reported. Now, that applies to all weapons.
Lamar Norton, head of the Georgia Municipal Association, said the package “would impose unnecessary costs on Georgia’s cities and opens them and other local governments up to frivolous litigation.”
The fingerprinting requirement for licenses is now removed.
No one is allowed to maintain a database of information on license holders that spans multiple jurisdictions.
Article link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/04/23/what-georgias-expansive-new-pro-gun-law-does/?wpisrc=nl_eve
What is America coming to?!!!
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New Gun Bill Signed into Law in Georgia
Article link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/04/23/what-georgias-expansive-new-pro-gun-law-does/?wpisrc=nl_eve
What is America coming to?!!!
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Makes me proud to be British!
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Me too.
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:D
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Hilary Clinton is now dead to me. She is "puzzled" as to why Snowden would seek refuge in Russia, ignoring the fact that he was stuck there because his passport was revoked and he couldn't go to his intended destination. Oh and I love that line about whistleblowers being protected in the U.S.. She's a liar and a fraud like the rest of them.
Clinton questioned Snowden's intentions in fleeing the country before offerring his information to the public. "When he emerged and when he absconded with all that material, I was puzzled, because we have all these protections for whistleblowers," Clinton said, when the moderator asked if there had been any positive effects for security policy following the NSA leaks. "If he were concerned and wanted to be part of the American debate, he could have been. But it struck me as—I just have to be honest with you—as sort of odd that he would flee to China, because Hong Kong is controlled by China, and that he would then go to Russia, two countries with which we have very difficult cyber-relationships, to put it mildly."
Clinton also suggested that Snowden had inadvertently helped terrorists. "I think turning over a lot of that material—intentionally or unintentionally, because of the way it can be drained—gave all kinds of information, not only to big countries, but to networks and terrorist groups and the like," she said.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/hillary-clinton-snowden-nsa-russia-china
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Hillary 2016!
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Hillary 2016!
Agree!
For GRANDMOTHER IN CHIEF !
(she will, of course, also be busy sprucing up her "village".)
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For any job she has in mind. Maybe she can spruce up the global village. Not that it needs it.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FElizabeth-Warren-2016-01_zps6f193793.jpg&hash=741d0e6db9c77092689a2634a62df744e1476920)
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Yes, but it will NOT happen.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FElizabeth-Warren-2016-01_zps6f193793.jpg&hash=741d0e6db9c77092689a2634a62df744e1476920)
Rob Ford, Premier
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South Carolina town rallies 'round fired gay police chief
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - A one-square-mile South Carolina town with four traffic lights is challenging the mayor's power to strip its lesbian police chief of her badge in what supporters are calling a case of workplace discrimination.
The controversy surrounding the firing of Crystal Moore, 42, has rallied the town of Latta and drawn the interest of national gay rights groups who argue that her case highlights the need to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Moore, a 20-year veteran of the police force and chief for two years, said her job record was clean until Mayor Earl Bullard issued seven reprimands in one day and fired her on April 15.
The town council responded this week with a unanimous vote of confidence in Moore and blocked the mayor from hiring a new chief for 60 days. Residents rallied outside the town hall to show their support and set up a "Stand With Chief Moore" fund.
Bullard, whose reprimands of the police chief included accusing her of running background checks without proper authorization and questioning the authority of a supervisor, said he could not discuss why he let Moore go, but that it was not because she is a lesbian.
"Absolutely not... and if you do investigating, you will find that that is not the case, I assure you," Bullard said in a phone interview.
After Moore's firing, a recording surfaced in which the mayor talked about "a questionable lifestyle."
"I'm not going to let two women stand up there and hold hands and let my child be aware," Bullard said on the recording, which was posted on the website of WBTW-TV, a local station. "I don't have to look at it, and I don't want my child around it."
Bullard defended the remarks as a general statement of his belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman, adding that "I never said I had an objection to gay people."
Though the South lags the rest of the country in backing gay rights, the reaction in Latta shows that such support extends beyond urban and liberal areas, said Ryan Wilson, executive director of South Carolina Equality, an advocacy group.
"Here's an example of an entire town where people don't care about who she is or who she loves, they care about how she does her job," Wilson said.
The case in Latta, a town of 1,400 residents near the North Carolina border, has also drawn the attention of groups pushing for federal and state laws to prevent workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act has been considered by Congress for 20 years but never passed. South Carolina lawmakers will not vote on a measure to prevent workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity until next year at the earliest.
Moore said she felt encouraged by support from residents and council members. In 2011, the then-mayor attended her commitment ceremony with her partner, Moore said.
She wants her job back, and the town council could vote to reinstate her after they decide in June whether to switch from a strong-mayor to a strong-council form of government.
"People are upset about this," said council member Brian Mason. "After she was fired, people whose family members had been arrested at some point came up and hugged her."
http://news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-town-rallies-round-fired-gay-police-120215851.html
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Kate Middleton Says She Missed Dog Lupo During New Zealand, Australia Royal Tour
Kate Middleton Says She Missed Dog Lupo During New Zealand, Australia Royal TourAs she heads home to London after almost three weeks away in New Zealand and Australia, it's more than just the comforts of home Kate Middleton will embrace.
The Duchess of Cambridge has also sorely missed her faithful pup Lupo, who recently posed with the royals back home in their official portrait. The black cocker spaniel was adopted by William and Kate in early 2012 and has been a beloved member of their family ever since.
While greeting well-wishers outside of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia on April 24, a young girl presented Middleton with a plush dog toy, causing the Duchess to grin with excitement.
“Oh, thank you so much!" she exclaimed. "Everyone is giving me presents for George but this is the first present I’ve received for Lupo. Nobody knows how much I’m missing my own dog… I really miss him. He’ll be so happy to have it to play with."
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/kate-middleton-says-she-missed-dog-lupo-during-203500667-us-weekly.html
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I suppose everyone who uses IE (6-11) is offline until Microsoft comes up with a fix. Seems strange to me that a security glitch can go a undetected... except by the bad guys... for almost 15 years. Talk about a conspiracy AND a cover up.
Not to mention a way to get 25% of the computer world to dump XP.
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Rob Ford, Premier
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If she runs, we'll be treated to a lot of hostility and contempt for women, elders and both -- all "humorous" uv cawss. Probably even worse than in 2008, though the mind biggle-boggles at that prospect.
It's hard to imagine the contempt for women getting any worse.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sheldonsfans.com%2Fthumbs%2F630.jpg&hash=d076b3510f23f3286e8f6ff8a35267aafa784ae5)
:D
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The results from the toxicology on Peaches Geldolf is....she died from a heroin overdose. This was the young woman who said she loved being a mother and there was nothing better. Apparently one more shot of heroin was.
I'm sorry if this seems harsh....but I felt sorry for her when I first heard of her death....now I feel more sorrow for her young children.... her husband and her father Bob...who must be reliving the heartache from years ago. Such a waste.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sheldonsfans.com%2Fthumbs%2F630.jpg&hash=d076b3510f23f3286e8f6ff8a35267aafa784ae5)
:D
Really? I thought they were born that way. ;)
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Everyone has one
and IS one from time to time.
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Darn, Rob Ford seeking treatment.
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The results from the toxicology on Peaches Geldolf is....she died from a heroin overdose. This was the young woman who said she loved being a mother and there was nothing better. Apparently one more shot of heroin was.
I'm sorry if this seems harsh....but I felt sorry for her when I first heard of her death....now I feel more sorrow for her young children.... her husband and her father Bob...who must be reliving the heartache from years ago. Such a waste.
Shocking, I have been following the story since her death - thinking all along, surely it can't have been illegal drugs. Just saw your post, went and checked the news stories.......
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2618350/Peaches-tragic-lesson-fools-want-legalise-drugs.html
This article about says it all. I just don't know what to say. My heart breaks for her boys, they have to go through exactly what she went through.
What a waste!
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The results from the toxicology on Peaches Geldolf is....she died from a heroin overdose. This was the young woman who said she loved being a mother and there was nothing better. Apparently one more shot of heroin was.
I'm sorry if this seems harsh....but I felt sorry for her when I first heard of her death....now I feel more sorrow for her young children.... her husband and her father Bob...who must be reliving the heartache from years ago. Such a waste.
I felt the exact same way when Philip Seymor whatever his name is kicked the bucket, but never said anything because everyone was so "sad" that it happened. Fuck that shit. It was an intentional act on his part. He didn't give a rats ass about his kids, but it sure must have been a great high. All he cared about. so glad to be back.....
ETA: heroin IS a great high........
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Hey Nancy, good to see you!
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Drug addiction, addiction to anything actually, is "sad". Moreover it is a god-awful disease.
I have to believe at least some of these people loved their children, or spouses, or family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths)
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Drug addiction, addiction to anything actually, is "sad". Moreover it is a god-awful disease.
I have to believe at least some of these people loved their children, or spouses, or family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths)
Of course they loved their families and you are right addiction is a terrible thing. That is some list and it hurts seeing our one and only Heath Ledger on there!
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Oh, I agree they love their families... just not as much as they love their drugs.
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Sinn Féin's Adams Released After Four-Day Detention -- Update
By Eamon Quinn and Nicholas Winning
Gerry Adams, a key figure of Northern Ireland's peace process and president of the Sinn Féin party, was released without charge by police on Sunday evening after spending four days under arrest in connection with one of the most notorious unsolved Irish Republican Army murders of the Troubles.
The 65-year-old Mr. Adams was detained after he voluntarily presented himself at Antrim police station on Wednesday. He has repeatedly denied any role in the 1972 killing of Jean McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother of 10. He has also consistently denied that he was ever a member of the IRA.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20140504-700690.html (http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20140504-700690.html)
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1st openly gay Episcopal bishop to divorce husband
NEW YORK (AP) — The first openly gay Episcopal bishop, who became a symbol for gay rights far beyond the church while deeply dividing the world's Anglicans, plans to divorce his husband.
Bishop Gene Robinson has never been fully accepted within the more than 70 million-member Anglican Communion, which is rooted in the Church of England and represented in the United States by the Episcopal Church.
Robinson announced the end of his marriage to Mark Andrew in an email sent to the Diocese of New Hampshire, where he served for nine years before retiring in 2012.
Robinson would not disclose details about the end of their 25-year relationship but wrote Sunday in The Daily Beast he owed a debt to Andrew "for standing by me through the challenges of the last decade."
"It is at least a small comfort to me, as a gay rights and marriage equality advocate, to know that like any marriage, gay and lesbian couples are subject to the same complications and hardships that afflict marriages between heterosexual couples," Robinson wrote. "All of us sincerely intend, when we take our wedding vows, to live up to the ideal of 'til death do us part. But not all of us are able to see this through until death indeed parts us."
Robinson declined to comment further Sunday to The Associated Press.
The bishop endured death threats during his 2003 consecration and intense scrutiny of his personal life, and in 2006, he sought treatment for alcoholism. His election prompted some Episcopal dioceses and parishes to break away and establish the Anglican Church in North America with other theological conservatives overseas. Robinson was barred in 2008 by then-Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams from the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade global meeting of all Anglican bishops, as Williams struggled to find a way to keep Anglicans united.
But Robinson was also widely celebrated as a pioneer for gay rights, became an advocate for gay marriage and was the subject of several books and a documentary about Christianity, the Bible and same-sex relationships. He delivered the benediction at the opening 2009 inaugural event for President Barack Obama and, after retirement, became a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank with close ties to the White House.
Robinson, 66, had been married to a woman and had two children before he and his wife divorced. He and Andrew had been partners for more than a decade when Robinson was elected to lead the New Hampshire Diocese. The two men were joined in a 2008 civil union in New Hampshire, which became a legal marriage when the state recognized gay marriage two years later.
"My belief in marriage is undiminished by the reality of divorcing someone I have loved for a very long time, and will continue to love even as we separate," Robinson wrote. "Love can endure, even if a marriage cannot."
A spokeswoman for Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori referred requests for comment to the Diocese of New Hampshire. A spokeswoman for current New Hampshire Bishop Rob Hirschfeld cited an email he sent to local clergy and wardens urging prayer for Robinson and Andrew.
Robert Lundy, a spokesman for the American Anglican Council, a fellowship for theological conservatives, said the argument against gay marriage is based on the Bible and will not be helped or hurt by the dissolution of any one marriage.
"The teaching of the Bible and the Anglican Communion is very clear that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life," Lundy said in a phone interview.
The Rev. Susan Russell, an Episcopal gay rights leader in the Diocese of Los Angeles who preached at Robinson and Andrew's union, said the end of the men's marriage was tragic, but Robinson would remain an "icon of a faithful Christian man living out his vocation, not by his choice, but by his placement in history."
"Of course, he'll get some slings and arrows," Russell said in a phone interview. "But the paradigm has shifted so dramatically that people more and more get that our marriages are no different than anyone else's marriages, and that includes the reality that some of them fail, no matter our dreams and hopes."
http://news.yahoo.com/1st-openly-gay-episcopal-bishop-divorce-husband-134027661.html
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Anti-gay North Carolina Republican candidate worked as drag queen at gay bar: report
Steve Wiles, a conservative candidate for North Carolina state Senate who has campaigned primarily on his support for the state’s gay marriage ban, worked for years as a cross-dressing emcee known as ‘Miss Mona Sinclair’ at a Winston-Salem gay bar, according to a local newspaper.
What a drag.
An anti-gay Republican candidate in North Carolina worked as a drag queen performer and emcee known as 'Miss Mona Sinclair,' according to a bombshell report.
Steve Wiles, a conservative North Carolina state Senate candidate who has been outspoken in his support of the state's same-sex marriage ban, worked as a female impersonator and drag-show emcee earlier in his life, the Winston-Salem Journal reported over the weekend.
Wiles, 34, worked at a gay-friendly Winston-Salem lounge called Club Odyssey from 2002 to 2010, where he directed a weekly drag show, the club's former owner Randy Duggins told the Journal.
Prior to his directorial debut, Wiles had been a frequent attendee at the weekly soirée which featured men dressed as women. He later starred as the show's emcee under the stage name, 'Miss Mona Sinclair,' Duggins said.
Wiles, who has campaigned primarily on his support of the state's ban on gay marriage, confirmed to Business Insider that he used to perform as "Miss Mona Sinclair" at the now-defunct bar but later decided that the role "just was not something that I wanted to continue."
"I think that everyone has their own choices to make and I'm fine with everyone making their own," he said. "For me, from a religious standpoint, just for my life, for me, it just was not something that I wanted to continue."
He has previously denied his affiliation with the club.
When Business Insider asked if he was gay, Wiles responded, "no, I really won't make any comments on that."
Wiles also worked as a promoter for the 2011 Miss Gay America pageant, but was dismissed for "conduct unbecoming to" the organization, according to the Journal.
Wiles, who now works as a real estate agent, is competing against two other GOP candidates in a competitive primary scheduled for May 6
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/anti-gay-north-carolina-republican-candidate-worked-drag-queen-gay-bar-report-article-1.1779271
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Men's testosterone levels determined in mother's womb
(NaturalNews) If you are a man, the odds are stacked against you. Today's world is a literal toxic minefield of feminizing chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and fluoride that overload men's systems with estrogen, potentially leading to low testosterone. And a new study has revealed that men's exposure to such chemicals while in the womb can permanently alter their baseline testosterone levels as adults, leading to a lifetime of hormone-induced health problems.
A team of scientists from the Medical Research Council Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland made the discovery after undertaking an investigation into why some men have much higher testosterone levels than other men, even when living relatively similar lifestyles as adults. Recognizing that high testosterone is essential for men's physical and mental health, the researchers decided to take a closer look at how this hormone is affected during pregnancy.
They looked specifically at Leydig cells, which live in men's testes and begin generating the testosterone hormone at puberty. The only way these cells are able to function properly is if the stem cells from which they are derived -- these stem cells are imparted by the mother during pregnancy -- are exposed to the proper amounts of testosterone in her womb.
Men's Leydig cells don't work as well when mother is exposed to too much estrogen
As it turns out, men whose mothers do not have proper testosterone levels during pregnancy tend to inherit lower-functioning Leydig cells later, resulting in reduced production of this necessary hormone throughout their lives. Consequently, many of these men end up suffering from perpetual hormonal imbalance, which makes them more prone to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even mental illness.
"There is increasing evidence that a mother's diet, lifestyle and exposure to drugs and chemicals can have a significant impact on testosterone levels in the womb," stated Professor Richard Sharpe, one of the study's lead authors. "We need a better grasp of these factors so that we can give reliable advice to pregnant women to protect the health of her unborn child."
more...
http://www.naturalnews.com/044972_testosterone_levels_fetal_development_pregnancy.html
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High School Girl Fed "Semen-Filled" Cupcakes to Kids Who Picked on Her
jay hathaway
Living well is the best revenge, but feeding your enemies semen-filled cupcakes is a close second.
A bullied high school girl in Bakersfield, Calif., reportedly put pubic hair, semen, expired food, and pills into the cupcakes she handed out last Thursday to kids who picked on her. Another student asked the girl why her cupcakes tasted so bad, and she said it was because she'd filled them with bodily fluids.
Police were able to confirm that the cupcakes were made with a gross combination of condiments including mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, and soy sauce, but the food was destroyed before it could actually be tested for semen. The health department has been called off of the investigation.
http://gawker.com/high-school-girl-fed-semen-filled-cupcakes-to-kids-wh-1571816318
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High School Girl Fed "Semen-Filled" Cupcakes to Kids Who Picked on Her
jay hathaway
Living well is the best revenge, but feeding your enemies semen-filled cupcakes is a close second.
A bullied high school girl in Bakersfield, Calif., reportedly put pubic hair, semen, expired food, and pills into the cupcakes she handed out last Thursday to kids who picked on her. Another student asked the girl why her cupcakes tasted so bad, and she said it was because she'd filled them with bodily fluids.
Police were able to confirm that the cupcakes were made with a gross combination of condiments including mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, and soy sauce, but the food was destroyed before it could actually be tested for semen. The health department has been called off of the investigation.
http://gawker.com/high-school-girl-fed-semen-filled-cupcakes-to-kids-wh-1571816318
One student is the source of the report that the cupcakes contained semen and that they were passed out to kids who bullied the cupcake-baking girl, according to ABC 10, so take the whole story with a grain of salt.
I certainly hope it isn't true, the bad condiments I could maybe see, but the rest......if she did that then she is sicker than the bullies!
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(CNN) -- Texas Rangers are investigating why police in a small central Texas town fatally shot a 93-year-old woman at her home.
Pearlie Golden, a longtime resident of Hearne, a town of approximately 4,600 people situated about 150 miles south of Dallas, was shot multiple times Tuesday.
"What I understand is (Hearne police) were called out because a woman was brandishing a firearm," Robertson County District Attorney Coty Siegert said.
"An officer asked her to put the handgun down, and when she would not, shots were fired."
Hearne City Attorney Bryan Russ Jr. said Officer Stephen Stem told Golden to drop her weapon at least three times.
Stem fired three times, and Golden was hit at least twice, he said.
She was transported to a local hospital, where she died....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/07/us/texas-police-shoot-elderly-woman-93/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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The point? /\
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The point? /\
HUH?? ???
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She said "WHAT'S YOUR POINT?"
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She said "WHAT'S YOUR POINT?"
and I repeat HUH?? ???
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Big News, I'm not bashing the U.S. for a change!
A rising tide: the case against Canada as a world citizen
A generation ago, Canada was perceived to be an exemplary global citizen by the rest of the world: it took the lead on a host of international issues, including the Convention of Child Rights, freedom of information, acid rain, world peacekeeping, sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime, and humanitarian and development assistance—much of this under conservative leadership.
During recent years, Canada's reputation as a global citizen has slipped, in recent months more precipitously than ever before, and in new directions. The Climate Action Network1 recently ranked Canada 55th of 58 countries in tackling of greenhouse emissions. Results of other analyses2 show a government systematically removing obstacles to resource extraction initiatives by gutting existing legislation, cutting budgets of relevant departments, and eliminating independent policy and arms-length monitoring bodies.
Canada's reputation is further undercut by its silencing of government scientists on environmental and public health issues: scientists are required to receive approval before they speak with the media; they are prevented from publishing; and, remarkably, their activities are individually monitored at international conferences.3 These actions have outraged local and international scientific communities. A survey done in December, 2013, of 4000 Canadian federal government scientists showed that 90% felt they are not allowed to speak freely to the media about their work, and that, faced with a departmental decision that could harm public health, safety, or the environment, 86% felt they would encounter censure or retaliation for doing so.4 These trends are affected by the Canadian leadership's view that multilateralism is a “weak-nation policy”, and by its embrace of what it calls “sovereign self-interest”,5 perceived as the conspicuous pursuit of economic goals and goals of resource-extraction industries. This world view is reflected in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's response to demands for him to end asbestos mining when he promised that “this government will not put Canadian [asbestos] industry in a position where it is discriminated against in a market where it is permitted”6—a response that cast a pall over all Canadian environmental issues.
[...]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(14)70199-8/fulltext
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Doesn't posting that story make you a whistleblower?
Will you be moving in with Snowy?
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Now here's some interesting news:
Frequent Arguments Might Be the Death of You
"Conflicts with family, friends and neighbors posed the greatest risk. Those most at risk are men and people out of work, the researchers noted.
"Stressful social relations in private life are associated with a two- to three-times increased risk of dying," said lead researcher Dr. Rikke Lund, an associate professor in the department of public health at the University of Copenhagen."
http://www.philly.com/philly/health/HealthDay687666_20140508_Frequent_Arguments_Might_Be_the_Death_of_You.html
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Now here's some interesting news:
Frequent Arguments Might Be the Death of You
"Conflicts with family, friends and neighbors posed the greatest risk. Those most at risk are men and people out of work, the researchers noted.
"Stressful social relations in private life are associated with a two- to three-times increased risk of dying," said lead researcher Dr. Rikke Lund, an associate professor in the department of public health at the University of Copenhagen."
http://www.philly.com/philly/health/HealthDay687666_20140508_Frequent_Arguments_Might_Be_the_Death_of_You.html
No argument. :D
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Agreed.
However, I think this
"Stressful social relations in private life are associated with a two- to three-times increased risk of dying needs clarification
needs clarification....
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Now here's some interesting news:
Frequent Arguments Might Be the Death of You
"Conflicts with family, friends and neighbors posed the greatest risk. Those most at risk are men and people out of work, the researchers noted.
"Stressful social relations in private life are associated with a two- to three-times increased risk of dying," said lead researcher Dr. Rikke Lund, an associate professor in the department of public health at the University of Copenhagen."
http://www.philly.com/philly/health/HealthDay687666_20140508_Frequent_Arguments_Might_Be_the_Death_of_You.html
One of the reasons I moved away from family.
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One of the reasons I moved away from family.
Live long and prosper. ;)
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Of course they loved their families and you are right addiction is a terrible thing. That is some list and it hurts seeing our one and only Heath Ledger on there!
------------------------------------------------------
Heath's death was caused not by what we think of as "addiction", as so many other actors had died of. He was so ill with walking pneumonia, the weather was continuously bad in London, jet lagged, and had previously been prescribed - yes, prescribed - double doses of some of the most terribly potent drugs, drug for muscle pain as well as over the counter products - he was feeling so badly. But Gilliam kept him working for a lousy film. Other members of the cast of that lousy film noticed how bad he looked.
His awful death was officially deemed a "toxic cocktail" by this combination of such terribly potent drugs, and his death was completely avoidable - completely.
The way he was treated in London and NYC is so sad and a rotten shame.
The two dummies in NY, instead of immediately calling 911: The "masseuse" called that damned Olsen (!) times before calling 911 and before this she actually checked on him and left him lying on his bedroom floor, with the feeling that "nothing was wrong". Are they nuts or something? The precious time of close to 15 minutes (when 911 was not called but Olsen was) that went by made all the difference in the world between life and death.
What medical doctors said on TV interviews is correct. It was a toxic cocktail. If someone else knew this he would have been taken to hospital in London at once, or in NYC immediately gone to one and/or sought help medically. I know men never want to even see a hospital but as these M.D.'s said "What makes me so angry is the secrecy of it. So what if he had been taken to the hospital or sought medical help? His condition was also effected by personal problems and this made him feel worse. He would be here today if medical help had been sought at once. I don't understand it".
Heath was not an addict and it makes my blood boil when this is indicated. He was probably so tired he didn't know what meds he had taken or had not taken, probably because he was seeking sleep and rest.
This happened to me after my dad passed and it led to a breakdown. I wish something that would have made Heath go to the hospital had happened to him; he would still be with us.
Heath's father was terribly upset about this "addiction" story and I agree with him. There is a huge difference between what happened to Heath versus a person going to a room with 50 bags of heroin.
I feel terrible and so sad for Heath and what happened. I love and miss him. He should be here.
p.s. Over and above this, his death was always deemed "accidental".
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It seems, from a biography that I read that there was also bi-polar disorder in the family, so he may even have been self medicating for symptoms of that.
Either way I feel sure he wasn't an addict.
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I can't speak to whether Heath was "addicted" to prescription drugs or not, but I can say that apparently more people are addicted to prescription drugs these days than illegal drugs.
Just because they are prescribed my a Doctor doesn't make them safe, in fact when misused they are deadly. As that list shows!
Two weeks later on 6 February 2008, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York released its conclusions, based on an initial autopsy of 23 January 2008 and a subsequent complete toxicological analysis.[7][79][80] The report concludes, in part, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine."[7][9] It states definitively: "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications."[7][9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Ledger
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#GIRL POWER
Anne Hathaway and husband Adam Shulman join a #BringBackOurGirls rally in L.A. on Thursday to raise awareness for the nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.
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Oakland Diocese requiring educators to conform to church teachings
Educators at East Bay Catholic schools must sign a new contract Friday with the Diocese of Oakland pledging to conform to church teachings outside the workplace - leaving some, particularly non-Catholics, wrestling with a professional and moral dilemma.
In contention is an updated clause specifically outlining what teachers of the diocese's 54 schools do in their personal lives.
"In both the employee's personal and professional life, the employee is expected to model and promote behavior in conformity with the teaching of the Roman Catholic faith in matters of faith and morals, and to do nothing that tends to bring discredit to the school or to the Diocese of Oakland," the new contract says.
The previous contract did not delineate between a teacher's personal and professional life.
...Legally, such contracts would be protected by the First Amendment, said David Rosenfeld, who teaches at the UC Berkeley School of Law and has represented teachers unions.
"A private school like this has the right to impose any religious restrictions it wants," he says. "If they got wind that somebody was buying contraceptives, they could fire them."
Still, Rosenfeld said, the change is "a bizarre, bizarre thing," given that Catholic schools have shown no hesitation in hiring non-Catholics for years. "They've tolerated that, if not encouraged it, as long as you don't preach your religion in the classroom."
Followup Story today (Saturday 5/10/14)
After his spokesman said he would not meet with teachers, Oakland Bishop Michael Barber agreed to sit down with teachers from at least three high schools — St. Joseph Notre Dame and St. Elizabeth and Bishop O’Dowd — to explain the intent of the new contract language.
Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, called a press conference Friday morning in reaction to our story, calling the new clause in the contract “hateful.” As a Catholic, former Catholic school student and the mother of a gay child, the issue hit Skinner personally.
She worried about teachers who face an ethical dilemma: Don’t sign the contract and risk losing their job or be less than truthful and sign it. She wrote a letter to Barber Friday expressing her concerns.
“I feel for these teachers who are facing a sort of double jeopardy,” Skinner said. “I hope the bishop reconsiders what he is asking them to do.”
What about the First Amendment Rights of non-Catholic lay teachers?!!! This is outrageous!
Full Stories:
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Oakland-Diocese-requiring-educators-to-conform-to-5464492.php
http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/05/09/oakland-bishop-to-meet-with-teachers-upset-about-morality-clause/
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The First Lady has joined President Obama in taking a stand against the kidnapping of almost 300 girls in Nigeria.
Mrs. Obama tweeted a photo yesterday holding up a sign that read #BringBackOurGirls.
She captioned the photo, "Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It's time to #BringBackOur Girls. -mo" The tweet symbolized the First Lady's joining of the social media push to bring the abducted girls back from Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram.
The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag has become the catchphrase for women and men who are calling for everything possible to be done to rescue the victims of this crime. In less than a month, the hashtag has been shared over a million times.
President Barack Obama spoke out Tuesday about the issue, calling it "heartbreaking" and sympathizing with affected parents saying "...as the father of two girls, I can't imagine what their parents are going through."
POTUS revealed that the United States will do everything possible to recover the young women, sending U.S. government officials to Nigeria to try to pacify the situation. The President says that he hopes this situation will "...mobilize the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organization that's perpetrated such a terrible crime."
Concerned citizens can get involved and make sure that the kidnapping of the Nigerian girls stays relevant by using the #bringourgirlsback hashtag, checking local events to see if your town is holding a rally or visiting change.org to sign the petition calling for the rescue of the girls.
http://www.essence.com/2014/05/08/michelle-obama-joins-bringbackourgirls-campaign?xid=jt_footer
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------------------------------------------------------
Heath's death was caused not by what we think of as "addiction", as so many other actors had died of. He was so ill with walking pneumonia, the weather was continuously bad in London, jet lagged, and had previously been prescribed - yes, prescribed - double doses of some of the most terribly potent drugs, drug for muscle pain as well as over the counter products - he was feeling so badly. But Gilliam kept him working for a lousy film. Other members of the cast of that lousy film noticed how bad he looked.
His awful death was officially deemed a "toxic cocktail" by this combination of such terribly potent drugs, and his death was completely avoidable - completely.
The way he was treated in London and NYC is so sad and a rotten shame.
The two dummies in NY, instead of immediately calling 911: The "masseuse" called that damned Olsen (!) times before calling 911 and before this she actually checked on him and left him lying on his bedroom floor, with the feeling that "nothing was wrong". Are they nuts or something? The precious time of close to 15 minutes (when 911 was not called but Olsen was) that went by made all the difference in the world between life and death.
What medical doctors said on TV interviews is correct. It was a toxic cocktail. If someone else knew this he would have been taken to hospital in London at once, or in NYC immediately gone to one and/or sought help medically. I know men never want to even see a hospital but as these M.D.'s said "What makes me so angry is the secrecy of it. So what if he had been taken to the hospital or sought medical help? His condition was also effected by personal problems and this made him feel worse. He would be here today if medical help had been sought at once. I don't understand it".
Heath was not an addict and it makes my blood boil when this is indicated. He was probably so tired he didn't know what meds he had taken or had not taken, probably because he was seeking sleep and rest.
This happened to me after my dad passed and it led to a breakdown. I wish something that would have made Heath go to the hospital had happened to him; he would still be with us.
Heath's father was terribly upset about this "addiction" story and I agree with him. There is a huge difference between what happened to Heath versus a person going to a room with 50 bags of heroin.
I feel terrible and so sad for Heath and what happened. I love and miss him. He should be here.
p.s. Over and above this, his death was always deemed "accidental".
You don't have to be addicted to legal drugs or even use them incorrectly to die from them.
This July 4th will mark the 6th anniversary of the death of a friend of mine who was given, by the pharmacist, a different brand of pain patch than what he usually used. That night, he put the first one on and was found dead in the morning.
Some months ago, his wife was told by the same pharmacist that that particular brand had been taken off the market and there was a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer because so many people had died.
Of course, the manufacturer is not CRIMINALLY responsible just as GM is not criminally responsible for the deaths caused by them ignoring their ignition problem for over 10 years.
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Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst wins Eurovision song contest
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Austrian bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst won the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with a James Bond-inspired entry that had unleashed a wave of protests in eastern Europe before the competition.
The power ballad, “Rise Like a Phoenix,” helped Wurst — the alter ego of 25-year-old Thomas Neuwirth — secure Austria’s second victory in the competition with 290 points. The country also won in 1966.
Singer Conchita Wurst representing Austria performs the song 'Rise Like a Phoenix' after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in the B&W Halls in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, May 10, 2014. Frank Augstein, AP
Singer Conchita Wurst representing Austria performs the song ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’ after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in the B&W Halls in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, May 10, 2014.
“This is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom,” a tearful Wurst said as she accepted the trophy from Denmark’s Emmelie de Forrest, who won the contest last year. “We are unity.”
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/05/austrian-drag-queen-conchita-wurst-wins-eurovision-song-contest/
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The marriages in Arkansas, Conchita winning the ESC, and Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend after being drafted by the Rams, what a great news day!
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Yes it is, Fritz!!
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Since you brought up "news" on the News and Current Events Thread...
tonight's CBS Evening News had a story about California Chrome with so much misinformation and outright untruths in the 2-3 minute report it makes me SERIOUSLY wonder about the accuracy of any story from any news source. And it is interesting that they call themselves news "sources" rather than news "reporters."
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Since today is Mother's Day in the U.S. I guess this post fits into "current events" best. The images of the roses are a collection of postings in the "Through the Lens" thread over the past 8 years as well as some of my own which I never posted. I offer it as a Study in Roses for all of the mothers celebrating their special day today...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2F2014MothersDayCard-small_zpsaa034b13.jpg&hash=436722ab45cb8d70133817230924c0f4e1a6af72)
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How beautiful, Rich!!! As a mother, thank you very much!!! :-*
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Thanks, I was wondering if there was any Mothers Day posts!
:)
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In the Diner and in Le Bar, Bubba.
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I knew there was going to be back lash from this, I was hoping not, but when I saw the pics....
About that kiss ...
NFL draft: Reactions heat up after Michael Sam kisses boyfriend on TV
(CNN) -- Not long after Michael Sam became the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, some made clear his reaction was not welcome.
Shortly after learning of his selection by phone, a visibly emotional Sam turned to his boyfriend and kissed him.
"I'm sorry but that Michael Sam is no bueno for doing that on national tv," former Super Bowl champion Derrick Ward tweeted.
"Man U got little kids lookin at the draft. I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen," Ward added.
Ward, who played for the New York Giants and the Houston Texans, said he has received death threats against him and his children after the comments.
Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones also expressed his disapproval, tweeting "horrible" and "OMG" after the kiss was aired. He has since deleted those comments.....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/12/us/michael-sam-nfl-kiss-reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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#GIRL POWER
Anne Hathaway and husband Adam Shulman join a #BringBackOurGirls rally in L.A. on Thursday to raise awareness for the nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.
I keep wondering if, since the group had said they were going to sell the girls, a group effort to rescue them by buying them would be possible. Maybe someone here could clarify?
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I knew there was going to be back lash from this, I was hoping not, but when I saw the pics....
About that kiss ...
NFL draft: Reactions heat up after Michael Sam kisses boyfriend on TV
(CNN) -- Not long after Michael Sam became the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL, some made clear his reaction was not welcome.
Shortly after learning of his selection by phone, a visibly emotional Sam turned to his boyfriend and kissed him.
"I'm sorry but that Michael Sam is no bueno for doing that on national tv," former Super Bowl champion Derrick Ward tweeted.
"Man U got little kids lookin at the draft. I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen," Ward added.
Ward, who played for the New York Giants and the Houston Texans, said he has received death threats against him and his children after the comments.
Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones also expressed his disapproval, tweeting "horrible" and "OMG" after the kiss was aired. He has since deleted those comments.....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/12/us/michael-sam-nfl-kiss-reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Dolphins fine safety Don Jones for Michael Sam comments
Apparently, pro football is FINALLY moving into the 21st century!
"...As The Washington Post’s Cindy Boren reported: ”Michael Sam, the first openly gay player taken in the NFL draft, celebrated the moment the way other football players have celebrated: by kissing the person he is in a relationship with. The NFL’s historic moment was filmed by ESPN and, as St. Louis Rams Coach Jeff Fisher told him the news over the telephone, Sam broke into tears and sobbed. Then he embraced and kissed his boyfriend as they shared cake.”
But that didn’t go over well with some other NFL players.
CNN reports that Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones expressed his disapproval, tweeting “horrible” and “OMG” after the kiss was aired. He has since deleted those comments.
The Dolphins responded by disciplining Jones:
Don Jones has been fined an undisclosed amount and excused from all team activities until such time that he undergoes and completes educational training for his recent comments made on social media during the NFL Draft.
Coach Joe Philbin issued a statement:
We were disappointed to read Don’s tweets during the NFL Draft. They were inappropriate and unacceptable, and we regret the negative impact these comments had on such an important weekend for the NFL. We met with Don today about respect, discrimination and judgment. These comments are not consistent with the values and standards of our program. We will continue to emphasize and educate our players that these statements will not be tolerated.
It was accompanied by a statement from Jones:
I want to apologize to Michael Sam for the inappropriate comments that I made last night on social media. I take full responsibility for them and I regret that these tweets took away from his draft moment. I remember last year when I was drafted in the seventh round and all of the emotions and happiness I felt when I received the call that gave me an opportunity to play for an NFL team and I wish him all the best in his NFL career. I sincerely apologize to Mr. Ross, my teammates, coaches, staff and fans for these tweets. I am committed to represent the values of the Miami Dolphins organization and appreciate the opportunity I have been given to do so going forward..."
Full story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/12/dolphins-fine-safety-don-jones-for-michael-sam-comments/?wpisrc=nl_headlines
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How beautiful, Rich!!! As a mother, thank you very much!!! :-*
My pleasure, Linda! I'm glad you liked it. Incidentally, did you ever download those pdf presentations in the Recipe thread? I gave a friend a sample of the Vols au Vent filling and he later said he wanted to marry me! [...not going to happen, though...]
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"Man U got little kids lookin at the draft. I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen," Ward added.
With some luck, the little kids can explain it to him.
And yeah, the people who are using their official position within the football organization to denigrate Michael and Vito are getting their comeuppance.
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Which is as it should be.
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Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst has last laugh over Russian critics
Russia may be considering launching its own Eurovision contest in protest at Conchita Wurst's win, but that didn't stop the drag queen's song racing to the top of the iTunes singles chart in Russia.
Less than a year after Russian politicians introduced anti-gay propaganda laws, Wurst's Austrian Eurovision entry has become the nation's most downloaded song.
Wurst - the creation of Austrian performer Tom Neuwirth - won the contest with her song Rise Like the Phoenix and her success in Russia has disgusted many anti-gay ministers.
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/eurovision-winner-conchita-wurst-has-last-laugh-over-russian-critics-20140514-zrcso.html
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Waking in the rubble, Walking over glass
Neighbors say we’re trouble, Well that time has passed
Peering from the mirror, No, that isn’t me
Stranger getting nearer, Who can this person be
You wouldnt know me at all today
From the fading light I fly
Rise like a phoenix, Out of the ashes
Seeking rather than vengeance, Retribution
You were warned, Once I'm transformed, Once I’m reborn
You know I will rise like a phoenix, But you're my flame
Go about your business, Act as if you’re free
Noone could have witnessed, What you did to me
Cause you wouldn’t know me today, And you have got to see
To believe, From the fading light I fly
Rise like a phoenix, Out of the ashes
Seeking rather than vengeance, Retribution
You were warned, Once I'm transformed, Once I’m reborn
I rise up to the sky, You threw me down but I'm gonna fly
And rise like a phoenix, Out of the ashes
Seeking rather than vengeance, Retribution
You were warned, Once I'm transformed, Once I’m reborn
You know I will rise like a phoenix, But you’re my flame
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Vladimir Putin signs ban on 'foul language' in films, books and performances
Russian president signs Soviet-era style legislation which will impose fines for swearing and requires books containing banned terms to carry cover warnings.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10810862/Vladimir-Putin-signs-ban-on-foul-language-in-films-books-and-performances.html
What's surprising is that most of the commentors agree with Putin. Is the Telegraph a right-wing rag read by reactionaries?
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Actually the comments seem fairly evenly balanced now. The Telegraph isn't a rag, but it is a right-wing 'quality' paper, though recently I would say much less extremely so - I did read some good, humane articles during the Same Sex Marriage debate. However it would almost certainly be THE paper read by the right-wing reactionary middle/upper classes!
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Actually the comments seem fairly evenly balanced now. The Telegraph isn't a rag, but it is a right-wing 'quality' paper, though recently I would say much less extremely so - I did read some good, humane articles during the Same Sex Marriage debate. However it would almost certainly be THE paper read by the right-wing reactionary middle/upper classes!
Wow! Who would have thought: upper class right wing!!!
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Stereotyping? Most perhaps but not all. :)
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Actually the comments seem fairly evenly balanced now. The Telegraph isn't a rag, but it is a right-wing 'quality' paper, though recently I would say much less extremely so - I did read some good, humane articles during the Same Sex Marriage debate. However it would almost certainly be THE paper read by the right-wing reactionary middle/upper classes!
Thanks Cally. I'm more familiar with The Guardian. :)
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Has anyone watched PBS's FRONTLINE program:
The United States of Secrets?
Part One was on this week and Part Two will start airing this coming week.
(It's probably online at PBS or other places, too, if one wanted to view it.)
When Edward Snowden leaked all the documents in the way he did it, I admit that I was one of the
people who thought he should've done it "through the system" whatever that entailed and not the
way he did do it, which I ascribed other additional motives to, at least partially, and other such scenarios.
After watching the first two hours of this program, I have a greater understanding of why he had to
do it the way he did, if he wished to do it at all.
It was good to watch this program to see that there were actually a lot of people who had problems
with the NSA's spying program and actually DID try to do things about it. Sending up red flags,
vehemently disagreeing, clandestinely going to various press outlets to nudge open information
about it, not signing off on questionable legalities (including John Ashcroft of all people) and in
other cases, even resigning their long held positions.
It was also disheartening to see other people in the Government using the power of their offices to
do questionable legal activities (or illegal if you prefer) under the guise of "it's legal if we say it's
legal" and distorting or outright lying about what they're doing and then using the power of their
offices to harm (in big & small ways) those who only want to do the right thing.
There's no doubt in my mind that the NSA operation put in practice after 9/11 by Bush and Cheney
was illegal. (When those in power were implementing this, the ones who questioned it which includes
others at NSA, politicians and the press) were all assured it was legal or they wouldn't be doing it, but
that position was never allowed to be questioned, either. If you questioned the motive you were most
likely accused of being unpatriotic and that you yourself would have blood on your hands in the event
of "the next terror attack" that the Bush administration used as a bogeyman all the time.
In the fall of 2004, the New York Times dropped a story about all of this due to enormous pressures
and uncertainty, that may very well have cost Bush the election that year.
People wonder why the "trust in government" percentages are so low all the time. All you have to do
is watch this program and see Bush blatantly lying, fabricating or distorting the truth to the American
people and you know why. (Of course, Dick Cheney's essence is all over everything here.)
And then Obama comes along in 2008 and promises to change things at the NSA, but does not.
There are those who will read all the above and say "duh" and "of course, I told you so."
What this program does, though, is to provide those who don't automatically ascribe good or bad
motives to either side or to particular individuals, or those who don't feel the need to immediately
have an opinion on something in the news, to have reasoned arguments to discuss and insights to
be had, while learning some things along the way.
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Good post, Lyle. Just being able to reconsider an issue, based on later information, is admirable.
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I keep wondering if, since the group had said they were going to sell the girls, a group effort to rescue them by buying them would be possible. Maybe someone here could clarify?
Don't be naïve. They don't want money.
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Don't be naïve. They don't want money.
It's a question of their intent, not what they want. If money could be used in that kind of covert operation to rescue the girls it should be used; if not, that route would be a blind alley. But at this point, given the extent and efficiency of human trafficking worldwide, it might actually be difficult to trace some of the victims.
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Good post, Lyle. Just being able to reconsider an issue, based on later information, is admirable.
Thanks, Tony. Are you going to watch this program? In this world of instant analysis and immediate
opinion rendering, I don't always feel a need to have an opinion right away. I mean, I don't see how
a lot of people know everything immediately to have a reasoned opinion. Much of the journalism, or
what passes for it nowadays, is so geared toward specific audiences, it's hard to find reasoned neutral
looks of issues to base one's opinions on and most of us are way to busy to research every detail and
nuance. And when something like the Snowden event happens you get one side trumpeting he's a hero
and all government is bad and the other side who wants to capture the traitor who ruined American
intelligence gathering. I shy away from both sides because life is messy and complicated. Absolutes
are easier to grasp, but neither side of them are the truth or ultimately satisfying when you're trying
to discover the why of things. So I'm patient, or try to be, in making up my mind about things.
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Lyle, thanks for pointing out the program. But I probably won't watch, as Snowden isn't at the top of my interests right now. But, they usually do repeats, so, maybe then.
Besides, I kind of think the full story is much bigger, and when that breaks, I'll be able to catch up.
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Actually the comments seem fairly evenly balanced now. The Telegraph isn't a rag, but it is a right-wing 'quality' paper, though recently I would say much less extremely so - I did read some good, humane articles during the Same Sex Marriage debate. However it would almost certainly be THE paper read by the right-wing reactionary middle/upper classes!
I would agree with this.
The Telegraph, or as a friend of mine would call it, The Torygraph, is at least, although right wing, well written and thoughtful.
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The Daily Caller is not amused.....
Howard Dean Tells Republicans: Leave America, Go Back To Russia
"Howard Dean, who is still alive, told attendees at a fundraiser for a Democratic congressional hopeful that Republicans 'are not American' and would 'be more comfortable in the Ukraine or Russia.' ”
http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/21/howard-dean-tells-republicans-leave-america-go-back-to-russia-video/
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Just goes to prove the GOP hasn't cornered the dumb-dumb market.
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Yesterday afternoon a federal judge struck down Pennsylvania's DOMA. Immediately a long line of gay and lesbian couples formed outside City Hall in Philadelphia to apply for marriage licenses.
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Yay!!
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Just goes to prove the GOP hasn't cornered the dumb-dumb market.
Which is always a bull market; the prevalence of people converted to the idea that "both parties are the same" as one of the examples.
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Just goes to prove the GOP hasn't cornered the dumb-dumb market.
At least they seem to have stopped listening to Tea Party. BTW, didn't they used to be called the John Birch Society? Or was that the 'Moral' Majority?
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Just goes to prove the GOP hasn't cornered the dumb-dumb market.
He has a point though, taking away the right to vote is kind of un-democratic and down-right un-murrican.
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America, love it or leave it
to coin a phrase.
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America, love it or leave it
to coin a phrase.
Exactly his point, Republicans should leave it.
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Thanks for the laugh.
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Thanks for the laugh.
You laugh?!
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I have been up half the night at the local election count, and I am feeling depressed:
For our posters in the USA and the rest of the world, UKIP are a kind of a UK "Tea Party," apart from the fact that their leader's greatest claim to fame is that he is "a man you would enjoy a pint with in the pub."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27531094
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I just cannot understand it after all the bad press they've been getting. How anyone could vote for that clown....
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Thank you for your support, Sara. :-*
The local candidate I supported has been a councillor for eight years and worked hard for the ward.
We canvassed together and delivered hundreds of leaflets.
The UKIP candidate who won has no council experience and told me he hadn't knocked on any doors.
He told me he was half Italian and half Irish.
So I said to him "Then why are you in UKIP?"
Actually he was quite personable, I just couldn't stand his politics, which were both racist and homophobic.
A win for the undeserving by the exploitation of fear and ignorance.
Still smarting I am afraid........
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http://news.uk.msn.com/in-pictures/elliot-rodgers-retribution-video-linked-to-isla-vista-murder-spree293884
Sorry to have to say....this is becoming such " old hat " news these days.
How many more times has this got to happen before the "penny drops" ?
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I do so completely agree, Sue.
I suppose the defence will be that his flatmates and the people that he shot in the street should have all been armed and ready to shoot him down in self defence, but that can only be seen for the nonsense that it is.
I also worry that in a society where healthcare has to be paid for at point of use, that the mental health services are not catering for the needs of young people.
Perhaps these extreme cases are just the tip of the iceberg?
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And this is after his parents reported him to the police after they saw the YouTube videos.
The police interviewed him and reported him to be a very polite young man.
Why the hell didn't they run a check on him and find the many guns he had bought.
It is supposed to be public record. Seems as if the people that knew about him did the right thing by reporting him, and the police dropped the ball.
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I do so completely agree, Sue.
I suppose the defence will be that his flatmates and the people that he shot in the street should have all been armed and ready to shoot him down in self defence, but that can only be seen for the nonsense that it is.
To some folk Jess.... this could sound like a "great idea". :(
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I am afraid you are right, Sue. :'(
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Of course you're both one hundred percent right. His parents were one hundred percent right. The cops were one hundred percent right.
The poor boy was just a victim of our poor mental health system and his civil rights being protected.
No way someone in that apartment or on the street with a legal... or illegal... weapon could have put a stop to the acting out before so many people died.
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I heard one of the victim's Fathers speaking out today, it was gut wrenching to listen to.
Richard Martinez, the father of 20-year-old student Christopher Martinez, told reporters on Saturday: “Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA.”
“They talk about gun rights, what about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop?” asked Mr Martinez, who said that his family was “lost and broken” before he broke down while showing pictures of his son smiling in a baseball outfit as a child.
He said: “When will enough people say, ‘Stop this madness.’ We do not have to live like this. Too many people have died. We should say to ourselves, ‘not one more’.”
The NRA said that it supports the right to own and carry firearms, and that responsible gun owners should not be punished for mass shootings, according to Reuters.
Mr Martinez’s son was one of seven killed in Santa Barbara on Friday night, including the death of Rodger, the 22-year-old who went on a shooting spree in the town of Isla-Vista in “retribution” against women on Friday night.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2638771/Distraught-father-blames-craven-irresponsible-politicians-NRA-sons-death-hand-deranged-mass-shooter-killers-aunt-makes-impassioned-appeal-Obama-Stop-slaughter.html
‘He was a sick kid – somebody who was seriously mentally disturbed – and yet he was able to get hold of guns.’
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Once again, it is not about guns... and in this case, three men, the killer's roommates, were stabbed to death... it's about crazy people.
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Once again, it is not about guns... and in this case, three men, the killer's roommates, were stabbed to death... it's about crazy people.
Not about crazy people and guns, then, Dood?
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Once again, it is not about guns... and in this case, three men, the killer's roommates, were stabbed to death... it's about crazy people.
So....some were stabbed to death ? That still doesn't excuse the fact he was allowed..."by law|" to own guns. Several if the reports are correct.
So.....why should "crazy people " be allowed to acquire and keep guns ? Not just one .....but an arsenal ??
Don't pull out that old chestnut " it's not guns that kill.....it's people". I think that got worn out years ago.
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Way to go Great Britain! Hope you can sleep at night.
'Britain's Tea Party' UKIP Storms To Outright Victory in Euro Elections
Nigel Farage's radical right wing party topped the poll in the UK European elections, representing the first time neither Conservatives nor Labour have come first in over a hundred years
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/26/britain-s-tea-party-ukip-storms-to-outright-victory-in-euro-elections.html
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Crazy people kill... guns, knives, running cars through crowds, drowinng their own children. What does the method matter? People who are fixated on guns as the evil in the world are looking for a quick fix rather than a real solution to the violence. But, by all means, lets not do anything to violate some nutjob's civil rights.
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Way to go Great Britain! Hope you can sleep at night.
'Britain's Tea Party' UKIP Storms To Outright Victory in Euro Elections
Nigel Farage's radical right wing party topped the poll in the UK European elections, representing the first time neither Conservatives nor Labour have come first in over a hundred years
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/26/britain-s-tea-party-ukip-storms-to-outright-victory-in-euro-elections.html
It's pretty worrying.
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Crazy people kill... guns, knives, running cars through crowds, drowinng their own children. What does the method matter? People who are fixated on guns as the evil in the world are looking for a quick fix rather than a real solution to the violence. But, by all means, lets not do anything to violate some nutjob's civil rights.
But just by eliminating the one thing that was made specifically for killing....... a gun.....is a start ?
Leave them for Armed Forces and ..... in the US case....the Police Force.
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In the latest US atrocity, three people were shot dead, three were stabbed dead and a number were run over, but the only thing that matters is a gun was used to kill half the dead people? How narrow minded.
That father that was weeping on tv about his dead son was weeping because his son had been stabbed to death by a madman. Maybe he would have cried harder if he had been shot.
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It's pretty worrying.
I can't stop worrying about it.
Is this kind, tolerant nation not what I thought it was?
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In the latest US atrocity, three people were shot dead, three were stabbed dead and a number were run over, but the only thing that matters is a gun was used to kill half the dead people? How narrow minded.
That father that was weeping on tv about his dead son was weeping because his son had been stabbed to death by a madman. Maybe he would have cried harder if he had been shot.
Does that give absolution to those who should be providing health care to the mentally unwell and preventing them from building an arsenal of firearms?
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Absolution?!
What about the knife used in three of the murders? What about the car that was driven over people? Oh wait. We all have knives and cars. Can't mess with those.
This mentally disturbed person was receiving care.
But nothing was done to prevent what happened because you can't force someone... in THIS country, anyway... into confinement. You can't even force people to take their medications.
You can, however, force them to sell a privately owned basketball team if they are non politically correct in their private conversations. At least, THAT priority is one we can all agree on. Right?
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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/canadian-among-those-killed-california-spree-shocked-anymore-162224275.html
Over the weekend, filmmaker Michael Moore, who 12 years ago made the documentary Bowling for Columbine after the Colorado mass school shooting, released a statement saying mass shootings no longer shock him.
"I no longer have anything to say about what is now part of normal American life," Moore said in a Facebook post.
"Everything I have to say about this, I said it 12 years ago: We are a people easily manipulated by fear which causes us to arm ourselves with a quarter BILLION guns in our homes that are often easily accessible to young people, burglars, the mentally ill and anyone who momentarily snaps. We are a nation founded in violence, grew our borders through violence, and allow men in power to use violence around the world to further our so-called American (corporate) 'interests.' The gun, not the eagle, is our true national symbol."
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And it's even in OUR Constitution.
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In the latest US atrocity, three people were shot dead, three were stabbed dead and a number were run over, but the only thing that matters is a gun was used to kill half the dead people? How narrow minded.
That father that was weeping on tv about his dead son was weeping because his son had been stabbed to death by a madman. Maybe he would have cried harder if he had been shot.
Oh ! He was stabbed ? That's OK then.
That lets off all the "nutjobs" who own guns then. Till next time. And there WILL be a next tiime....won't there ?
Just "accident" waiting to happen. They know it will happen all over again....but nobody wants to do anything about it.
Lets just keep schtum ....and perhaps it will all go away.
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You see no difference between posting comments about a guy with a gun who killed six people and injured several others
and posting comments about a guy who shot three people, stabbed three people and ran over several others?
Of course... the GUN must have made him do it. BAD gun!
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If.............you are right Dood, why do these mass murders keep happening time and time again?
What is your solution?
Do we arm babies in their beds, just in case a mentally ill person goes on the rampage?
What a counsel of despair.
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That father that was weeping on tv about his dead son was weeping because his son had been stabbed to death by a madman. Maybe he would have cried harder if he had been shot.
Not sure what weeping Father you are referring to, the link I provided with the distraught Father, his son was shot in a hail of bullets - he was in the Deli.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia4.s-nbcnews.com%2Fj%2Fnewscms%2F2014_21%2F465301%2F140524-christopher-martinez-jms-1958_07b94ef32a57494f07be95bb3ee043d8.nbcnews-ux-560-520.jpg&hash=8c8ee7b0f41b47bb632ec2389803bc3ec48cca2e)
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One must sit in a deli with a sandwich in one hand and a gun in the other, just in case, Bubba.
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One must sit in a deli with a sandwich in one hand and a gun in the other, just in case, Bubba.
Apparently!
Reminds me of a joke I saw on Facebook the other day, maybe it has already been posted.......I will take it over to the joke/funny thread. Although in light of recent events, it is more eery than funny.
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You see no difference between posting comments about a guy with a gun who killed six people and injured several others
and posting comments about a guy who shot three people, stabbed three people and ran over several others?
Of course... the GUN must have made him do it. BAD gun!
Glad you said it doodler... *BAD GUN*.
Lets get the nations title back as a " God fearing people" instead of " Gun fearing people".
A country is only as good and as safe as the people living in it.
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http://www.people.com/article/santa-babara-victim-father-wants-to-meet-shooter-father
His son's murder left him with a raw anger and outrage that, over the weekend, turned to a search for answers and action.
Richard Martinez, who tearfully lashed out at "craven, irresponsible politicians" and the National Rifle Association the day after his son Christopher was gunned down in the Isla Vista massacre, now wants to meet with the father of the shooter.
"I lost my son. He lost his son. We have that in common," Martinez tells the Los Angeles Times. "We want, if possible, that the deaths of our son and his son should mean something."
Elliot Rodger, 22, the son of Hollywood movie director Peter Rodger, was suspected of stabbing three men to death in his apartment before going on a shooting spree through the neighborhood near the University of California, Santa Barbara, on Friday night, killing three more, including Christopher Martinez, at a deli. All six victims were UCBS students.
Simon Astaire, a writer and a close friend of the Rodger family, tells PEOPLE that Elliot's parents want to meet the families of the victims.
"It will be done," he says, adding, "They're grieving ... even more for the victims than for their son. ... They want to meet them. It is an important part for them."
Looks like the Parents are reaching out to each other, that is amazing! :'(
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Unlike all the really positive and inventive solutions that have been posted here, I don't have one. Any idea I come up with would be met with a hail of "You can't do that! People have RIGHTS!"
Here's something to consider, for all you folks who visit the lawless gun infested burgs in the US... and many of you who live in them...
unlike you, I actually know real people who own real guns. I have HELD one in my own hands. I can clean and load one and usually hit what I shoot at, although with old age and failing eyesight, I may now hit something in the general area rather than the chest.
I haven't gotten MY gun info from tv and newspapers who, with their 24 hours a day quest for something to report, make everything of utmost importance and dire consequence. I do not think we have any more violent crime, per capita, than we ever did. And, although I've lived in this god forsaken gun worshipping country all my life, in large cities from New York to LA and several deep South rural locations and the fiercely independent Pacific NW, I've never had a gun pointed at me. Not once. Ever. And don't remember that anyone I know who isn't in the military or law enforcement ever has either. The sky is falling and it is raining bullets.
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It is indeed raining bullets, 20 children died and that passed, this too will pass, until it is one of our own and even then, what ya gonna do? Nothing not with the NRA in charge, even the Presidents hands are tied.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members. Prior to driving to the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the scene, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
The incident was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school or grade school in U.S. history and the second-deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.
The victims, police said, were shot up close, multiple times.
- Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female
- Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male
- Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female.
- Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female
- Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female
- Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06, male
- Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female
- Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06, female
- Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06, female
- Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male
- Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06, male
- James Mattioli , 3/22/06, male
- Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05, female
- Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female
- Emilie Parker, 5/12/06, female
- Jack Pinto, 5/06/06, male
- Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male
- Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06, female
- Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06, female
- Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female
- Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982, female (full date of birth not specified)
- Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56, female
- Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female
- Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male
- Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06, female
:'(
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^^^
Oh America....... you are such a beautiful land...what happened to your country ?? :'(
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It is indeed raining bullets, 20 children died and that passed, this too will pass, until it is one of our own and even then, what ya gonna do? Nothing not with the NRA in charge, even the Presidents hands are tied.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members. Prior to driving to the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the scene, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
The incident was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school or grade school in U.S. history and the second-deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.
The victims, police said, were shot up close, multiple times.
Posting this again and bringing up that painful episode was very helpful, very healing.
Thanks
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^^^
Oh America....... you are such a beautiful land...what happened to your country ?? :'(
what a horrible thing to say
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Posting this again and bringing up that painful episode was very helpful, very healing.
Thanks
Lest we forget...
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Lest we forget...
I was being sarcastic
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what a horrible thing to say
I wished I didn't need to say it :(
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Before things go any farther and get too far out of hand, lets go no farther with the personal opinions about other's posts.
I am not going to delete any posts, but going forward it will be posters THOUGHTS about news and current events. Not everyone is going to agree with everyone else, but respect that everyone has the right to their thoughts on current subjects. Please keep it respectful.
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Since this is Memorial Day (US)
Lest we forget...
Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Torch, Battle of the Kasserine Pass
Battle of El Guettar, Battle of Sicily, Battle of Salerno
Battle of Monte Cassino, Battle of Anzio, Battle of Normandy
Battle for Brest, Operation Dragoon, Battle of Metz
Battle of Nancy, Operation Market Garden, Battle of Hürtgen Forest
Battle of Aachen, Battle of the Bulge, Operation Nordwind
Colmar Pocket, Ruhr Pocket, Operation Varsity
Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, Attack on Pearl Harbor, Battle of Wake Island
Battle of Bataan, Doolittle Raid, Battle of Midway
Battle of Guadalcanal, Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, Battle of Tarawa
Battle of Kwajalein, Battle of Saipan, Battle of Guam (1944)
Battle of Peleliu, Battle of Angaur, Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Luzon, Battle of Manila, Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Okinawa
US casualties: 418,500
in a fight that was not ours.
But don't worry... our guns will be ready to save Europe again
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Is America Starting To Target Thought Crime?
Last week, Michelle Obama made headlines when she exhorted graduating high schoolers in a commencement address to monitor their families for politically incorrect thoughts and behaviors.
To one journalist, this was more than an off-hand comment made by the first lady. In the opinion of Cheryl Chumley, a reporter for The Washington Times and the author of “Police State USA,” Michelle Obama’s remark reflects a growing trend in America to target and attack individuals for committing “thought crime.”
“Michelle Obama’s push for kids around the nation to monitor their family members for perceived racist comments is just another way the government seeks to inject itself into an area it doesn’t really belong — the American home,” Chumley told The Daily Caller Monday.
“Having the first lady wag her finger at us and send America’s youth on some sort of quest to scour the homes and backyards of our nation’s families for any mention of a racist joke, slur or slight is nanny-governance run amok — something that belongs in a George Orwell novel, not the White House, Chumley said.”
Chumley sees a troubling growth of America’s most powerful political figures now singling out private individuals for their beliefs, and using government agencies and public denunciations to intimidate opponents into silence.
“Harry Reid attacking the Koch brothers for the crime of giving money to conservative causes is just as bad. President Obama, Joe Biden and the entire cast of the White House, for slamming lawful gun owners for exercising their Second Amendment rights, and for trying to drum up emotional-fueled support to ram through gun control,” Chumley listed off. “The IRS targeting of tea party and patriotic non-profits and our nation’s highest law enforcement official, Eric Holder stonewalling on a special prosecutor appointment — does it get any more police state than that?”
The Washington Times reporter sees the creation of hate crime laws as one of the first steps in our country’s history in the direction of attacking unpopular and politically incorrect thoughts in America.
“What comes to mind when I think of the genesis for this growing trend of government to control Americans’ speech, and by extension, thoughts, is when the notion of hate crime was brought into our criminal prosecution system — as if acts of violence that are committed because of racial divides deserve a different category of ‘extra-special bad,’” Chumley stated.
“Political correctness and pandering politicians have fueled this narrative in recent years. Anybody who throws the race card on a regular basis — think Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, Harry Reid — is guilty to a certain degree of clamping down on free speech, and in turn, making Americans even wary of what they think.”
And it’s not just the government enforcing this new speech code, in Chumley’s opinion — private companies are just as complicit in regulating speech that’s deemed offensive by the government and media.
“Private companies, like A&E with the “Duck Dynasty” debacle, are getting just as bad as government when it comes to clamping down on free speech, especially when religious views are involved — or, of late, the gay rights movement,” Chumley stated. “I’m all for businesses reacting to free market pressures from their customer base — but really, they need to show a little more spine.”
In Chumley’s opinion, Americans growing a backbone and holding firm to their beliefs would be enough to resist this apparent infringement on individual rights.
“When Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A, stood strong in the face of gay rights activists, you didn’t see his business crumble and fold. Rather, you saw those who believe in freedom of speech rise up and stand in Chick-fil-A lines across the nation to support him,” the “Police State USA” author stated. “The only answer is to refuse to be cowed. We’re a nation that’s founded on the belief that rights come from God, not government.”
http://news.yahoo.com/america-starting-target-thought-crime-015023317.html
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good grief! ::)
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^^^
Oh America....... you are such a beautiful land...what happened to your country ?? :'(
I so agree, Sue. Such a beautiful land, with lovely, kind, courteous, thoughtful people, and at the moment so troubled.
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The Shield's Michael Jace Charged With Murder After Fatally Shooting His Wife.
The Los Angeles District Attorney's office released a statement today, saying that Jace has been charged with one count of murder with a gun allegation after he fatally shot his wife, April Jace, inside their Hyde Park home on Monday.
Prosecutors are asking that bail be set at $2 million. The actor, who was booked on suspicion of murder around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, is scheduled to be arraigned sometime today at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Police Department responded to neighbors' calls who heard gunshots outside Jace's home. After arriving on the scene, they discovered April, 40, dead inside the house. The cops immediately detained Michael, 51.
The LAPD also said on Tuesday that the motive of the murder is believed to be domestic violence.
The Jaces were married for nine years. Their children, two boys under the age of 10, were in the home at the time of the shooting. The LAPD has not confirmed whether they witnessed their mom's murder.
Michael is best known for his role as police officer Julien Lowe in FX's The Shield. He also appeared in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump and starred in the 1999 Fox TV movie Michael Jordan: An American Hero.
Jace has often played a law enforcement or military officer on TV. He is credited with roles in Burn Notice, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Mentalist, NYPD Blue, Private Practice and Southland.
http://ca.eonline.com/news/544522/the-shield-s-michael-jace-charged-with-murder-after-fatally-shooting-his-wife
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I so agree, Sue. Such a beautiful land, with lovely, kind, courteous, thoughtful people, and at the moment so troubled.
Well, I think many of us could say the same about our own countries :)
Not really newsworthy, but I'm going on a touring holiday to SF and the SW National Parks etc in September - my first visit to the US since I was 6! Very excited about it.
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Well. our country certainly has its troubles at the moment, but at least no one has died yet.
Your trip will be wonderful, I can guarantee that.
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Yes have fun!!
Well I am on the verge of becoming a Snow Bird, I thought it may even happen as soon as this winter. Spend the winter months in Florida. But lately I have to admit I am unsure. The gun issue scares me.
I think it was five people shot in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina the other day, in a very popular tourist spot. I just don't like the idea of knowing people are walking around carrying guns!!
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Have a wonderful time Sara. I'm sure you will. :)
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The solutions are there Nancy....but nobody listens. Nobody wants to listen. :'(
I have been to the US .....Dallas and several other places ....and I loved it ....and the people.
But even the family I stayed with...when they took us a tour around Dallas. Several times they pointed out "this is a bad area"...."that is a bad area". The wife in the family says she rarely walked anywhere. How sad.
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Don't get me wrong. I have no first hand knowledge of England or London. But I can't believe you are saying you can walk anywhere you choose, that there are no high crime areas, no places a white woman would not feel safe. If that IS what you are saying, I want some of what you're smoking.
I haven't seen a single solution posted. Just wishful thinking and tsk tsk tsking
Then there's
no one has died yet
Must be tough living forever. Especially in England.
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Cheryl Chumley
This "article" is typical of right-wing Christian Conservatives. They need some kind of "enemy" in their lives to make sense of things.
Anyone that they perceive is trying to do them harm, attack them, or even offer them another point of view they might consider.
You know, like the devil, Liberals, GLBT people, religions not their own, the black President and his wife, "the media," ad infinitum.
Since it's more and more uncomfortable to spout their "opinions" and get agreement for them "government" has become the enemy.
You know, Reagan's "the government IS the problem," line.
“Michelle Obama’s push for kids around the nation to monitor their family members for perceived racist comments is just another way the government seeks to inject itself into an area it doesn’t really belong — the American home,” Chumley told The Daily Caller Monday.
Yeah, that's exactly what Michelle was doing. It's some conspiracy for the government to take over the minds of children.
Never mind that President George H. W. Bush (1989-93) advocated the same thing in his 1,000 points of light and
"kinder gentler nation" speech.
“Having the first lady wag her finger at us and send America’s youth on some sort of quest to scour the homes and backyards of our nation’s families for any mention of a racist joke, slur or slight is nanny-governance run amok — something that belongs in a George Orwell novel, not the White House, Chumley said.”
Yeah, no kinder gentler crap for us. If we want to spout racism, that's our business.
I wonder how she felt about Nancy Reagan wagging her finger at kids and admonishing
them to "just say no?"
Chumley sees a troubling growth of America’s most powerful political figures now singling out private individuals for their beliefs, and using government agencies and public denunciations to intimidate opponents into silence. “Harry Reid attacking the Koch brothers for the crime of giving money to conservative causes is just as bad."
Hmmmm...Chumley is doing the same thing she's accusing others of doing, singling out people for their beliefs.
If Harry Reid or Michelle Obama believes these things, who is she to say they shouldn't have their say. Or, she might
just look at the issue that's really what Reid is talking about. That people of enormous wealth are now practically able
to use it for their own self-interests and unlimited influence, thereby imposing their beliefs on others with access others
don't have. You'd think she might be worried about that, too.
President Obama, Joe Biden and the entire cast of the White House, for slamming lawful gun owners for exercising
their Second Amendment rights, and for trying to drum up emotional-fueled support to ram through gun control,” Chumley
listed off.
I don't think we should have speed limits for law abiding automobile drivers, either. And why do I need to be 18 to get a
license and take a test first? If I want to drive drunk that's my business. (By the way, Ms. Chumley is one of those people
that believes the government in most all it's agencies is buying up ammunition for some theoretical future plot to attack
it's own citizens.)
“The IRS targeting of tea party and patriotic non-profits and our nation’s highest law enforcement official, Eric Holder
stonewalling on a special prosecutor appointment — does it get any more police state than that?”
Targeting--if you mean doing their job, then targeting it is.
The Washington Times reporter sees the creation of hate crime laws as one of the first steps in our country’s history in the
direction of attacking unpopular and politically incorrect thoughts in America.
“What comes to mind when I think of the genesis for this growing trend of government to control Americans’ speech, and by
extension, thoughts, is when the notion of hate crime was brought into our criminal prosecution system — as if acts of violence
that are committed because of racial divides deserve a different category of ‘extra-special bad,’” Chumley stated.
I look at it differently. It's not that these crimes are "extra-special bad" it's that those committing them didn't
think they were bad in the first place. In most cases these people have thought their crimes weren't even crimes,
they were justified. You know, like a gay man looks at a straight man and the straight man perceives he's being
(or going to be) attacked so he reacts in a violent manner. The proverbial homosexual panic. That's natural isn't
it. Not hate.
“Political correctness and pandering politicians have fueled this narrative in recent years. Anybody who throws the race card on a regular basis — think Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, Harry Reid — is guilty to a certain degree of clamping down on free speech, and in turn, making Americans even wary of what they think.”
Yes, because thinking is bad?
Is Chumley really advocating that people be free to express their racist views and rants without opposition from those who don't like it?
(She doesn't seem to care about misogyny or homophobia or the like.)
And it’s not just the government enforcing this new speech code, in Chumley’s opinion — private companies are just as complicit in regulating
speech that’s deemed offensive by the government and media.
“Private companies, like A&E with the “Duck Dynasty” debacle, are getting just as bad as government when it comes to clamping down on free speech,
especially when religious views are involved — or, of late, the gay rights movement,” Chumley stated. “I’m all for businesses reacting to free market pressures
from their customer base — but really, they need to show a little more spine.”
I believe she views the "debacle" in the "Duck Dynasty debacle" entirely opposite from what I do.
Isn't it interesting that "free speech" types like Chumley are the ones who despise half the shows on television
and came up with the inane tv and movie ratings systems and the like. They proably came up with the idea of
the "like" and dislike" buttons on the web, too, because things can't just exist without an opinion attached to them.
In Chumley’s opinion, Americans growing a backbone and holding firm to their beliefs would be enough to resist this apparent
infringement on individual rights.
Notice that those who have opposite opinions are "infringing on someone else's individual rights."
If you disagree with my opinions you are infringing on them. What these people really want is to spout
beliefs and not be called on them by those who disagree or don't like them.
Persecution complex at work.
“When Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A, stood strong in the face of gay rights activists, you didn’t see his business crumble and fold.
Rather, you saw those who believe in freedom of speech rise up and stand in Chick-fil-A lines across the nation to support him,” the “Police State
USA” author stated.
That's what Chumley and her ilk like to say about this. That it was a free speech issue. What happened was, because it was pointed out (and it doesn't
matter by whom) that Dan Cathy was giving money and supporting some virulently anti-gay groups, in other countries no less, that cost gay people
their lives, the conservative Christians felt they were being attacked and promoted it as a religious freedom and freedom of speech issue. And it
worked. They got these people who don't think about issues and just feel threatened when told to do so, to show their ignorance by making wealthy
people wealthier. I'll show them. As a gay person, it was a "show your hate and/or ignorance" day.
“The only answer is to refuse to be cowed. We’re a nation that’s founded on the belief that rights come from God, not government.”
In other words, cling to your guns and religion at all costs.
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I haven't seen a single solution posted. Just wishful thinking and tsk tsk tsking
You HAVE seen solutions posted when this topic has come up from time to time, but you always
dismiss them all with the notion of "that won't help or work."
Earlier you wanted to correlate the knife stabbings and car mayhem with people's feelings about guns.
Surely you see the difference. You asked why people focus on the guns. Seriously, you do not know why?
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Methinks the pot is calling the kettle black.
(Is it still PC to call a kettle "black?")
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in a fight that was not ours.
How so?
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Methinks the pot is calling the kettle black.
(Is it still PC to call a kettle "black?")
That isn't an answer to my query.
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Don't get me wrong. I have no first hand knowledge of England or London. But I can't believe you are saying you can walk anywhere you choose, that there are no high crime areas, no places a white woman would not feel safe. If that IS what you are saying, I want some of what you're smoking.
I haven't seen a single solution posted. Just wishful thinking and tsk tsk tsking
Then there's
Must be tough living forever. Especially in England.
I think you know that I was referring to our political lurch to the right, and people being shot.
As for living a long life in England, don't knock it until you've tried it!
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Honestly? That's YOUR answer?
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Just re-posting what the mod of this thread (KillersMom) posted earlier.
Before things go any farther and get too far out of hand, lets go no farther with the personal opinions about other's posts.
I am not going to delete any posts, but going forward it will be posters THOUGHTS about news and current events. Not everyone is going to agree with everyone else, but respect that everyone has the right to their thoughts on current subjects. Please keep it respectful.
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The NRA is trotting out their "law abiding gun owners shouldn't be penalized
for the acts of crazy or disturbed people." And by penalized, of course, they
mean absolutley no restrictions whatsoever.
And I repeat, this person was quite law abiding...until he wasn't.
I don't know the exact question, but there was a survey question posed to gun owners
basically asking them if the policies (and there's many and varied ones) that they feel are
restrictive to them were put into effect and actually saved the lives of those in these mass
shooting instances, would they support them. Interestingly, most of the respondents did
not answer yes or no, they answered that "they wouldn't work."
Which is basically "no", but since a majority of the respondents chose to answer it that
way, sounds like a mass talking point that someone (NRA?) has put out there for people
to answer questions like this one that way. In other words, it doesn't matter if you did it
or not "it won't work" (so why try) and we all know when something is repeated often
enough it seems to become a fact.
Like "the mainstream media."
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Doodler will love this one ;)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FSweets-on-the-shelves_zpsa0faac56.jpg&hash=d23ef85f8b5610faf6d00ec18f394d6ea25c19a8)
Tesco bans sweets from checkouts in all stores
Move by retailer welcomed by health and parenting groups and backed, according to survey, by two-thirds of customers
The UK's largest retailer, Tesco, is to ban sweets and chocolates from its checkouts after a survey of customers showed overwhelming support for the move.
Research for Tesco found that 65% of shoppers wanted confectionery removed from checkouts to help them make healthier choices when shopping. Even more (67%) said it would help them choose healthier options for their children.
Tesco removed sweets and chocolates from checkouts at its 740 larger Tesco stores 20 years ago, but they will now be removed from checkouts at all stores, including 1,800 Tesco Metro and Express convenience stores in Britain and Ireland. The retailer committed to removing them by the end of December 2014, but has brought forward the move after surveying its customers.
[...]
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/22/tesco-bans-sweets-from-checkouts-all-stores
I wonder what will replace the sweets, probably more expensive stuff. I'm always amazed at the different high-end cholocate bars available at my local grocery store, I swear there must be a hundred. And that's on top of the standard candy bars.
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I wonder what will replace the sweets, probably more expensive stuff. I'm always amazed at the different high-end cholocate bars available at my local grocery store, I swear there must be a hundred. And that's on top of the standard candy bars.
There have been some stores here in the US that have done that, but not for health reasons. Some stores have selected cash registers set up as 'candy free aisles' (as they're labeled) and they're most often used by parents with small kids in tow. They can take them through the checkout and not have to deal with a screaming child by saying "no" to candy.
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I think you know that I was referring to our political lurch to the right, and people being shot.
As for living a long life in England, don't knock it until you've tried it!
It's the same thing here in Canada, with our right-wing tea-party-ish "Harper Government" that we've had to endure for years now chipping away at democracy. It's pretty much like UKIP but they were unelectable until Harper issued a gag order to his racist, homophobic & christian fundamentalist wack-job ministers. No one in the government, and much of the public service, are allowed to speak to the press without getting their statements approved by the PMO. I no longer wear a canadian flag pin when I travel. Very sad.
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Some people's 15 minutes of fame are really overstaying their welcome.
Joe The Plumber: 'Your Dead Kids Don’t Trump My Constitutional Rights'
- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/joe-plumber-your-dead-kids-don-t-trump-my-constitutional-rights#sthash.wJ5HFJ2v.dpuf
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fshoebomb-01_zps3850af21.jpg&hash=eafe46a2dbd5658dd84d520949a650edb123da03)
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Ah yes Columbine!
On April 20, Harris was equipped with a 12-gauge Savage-Springfield 67H pump-action shotgun, (which he discharged a total of 25 times) and a Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm carbine with thirteen 10-round magazines, which he fired a total of 96 times.
Klebold was equipped with a 9 mm Intratec TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun with one 52-, one 32-, and one 28-round magazine and a 12-gauge Stevens 311D double-barreled sawed-off shotgun. Klebold primarily fired the TEC-9 handgun, for a total of 55 times.
THAT is what you want in your children's High School??
I remember it like it was yesterday, the whole world seem to be in shock, but look what's happened since.
:'(
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I've had a gun pulled on me twice in my life. Both were on trips to the US.
The first was in Newport Rhode Island. The crime? Pulling over into a lay-by on Ocean Drive to retrieve something from the car boot. Almost immediately a police car pulled up, a cop got out with a megaphone and a gun and demanded that I get in the car immediately and go. I suspect I was opposite a millionaire's house and spoiling their sea view.
The second time was in Virginia. We spotted a parked police car and pulled over to ask if there was a motel nearby. Again the gun came out and we were gazing down the barrel while trying to explain.
On both occasions we were deeply shocked by the reaction. I have to emphasise that we found the American people friendly and generous on all our trips. On our travels around Europe nothing remotely like this has happened to us and we have to ask "why?"
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Yea I have to say the police scare me in some states, the state troopers, I wouldn't talk back to one that's for sure! Not that I make a point of talking back to police! :D
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I would really love to make more comments.....but pm's have warned me off.(not the Mods !) Perhaps I will have a gun put to my head next time. ;D
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I would really love to make more comments.....but pm's have warned me off.(not the Mods !) Perhaps I will have a gun put to my head next time. ;D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn04.cdn.socialitelife.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F08%2Fjake-gyllenhaal-end-of-watch-gun-08032011-lead.jpg&hash=8f697284436e9b74a9cb70ef48b13fe90c124e22)
Lady I need you to get down on the ground!
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Bubba, I know you didn't see it in your post, above. But. These days, some women can get sexed up, and their response just might be a grin and very sensual compliance. And that poor cop might end up with more compliance than he could handle :D.
Women can get rowdy, too, you know. And snark a goofy, over-dominant male. To where he's all confused :) ......
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn04.cdn.socialitelife.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F08%2Fjake-gyllenhaal-end-of-watch-gun-08032011-lead.jpg&hash=8f697284436e9b74a9cb70ef48b13fe90c124e22)
Lady I need you to get down on the ground!
:D :D :D
Yes sir !!
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Yea that did read kind of funny didn't it? :D
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OK, we are veering off subject matter here, News and Current Events to discuss.
Please keep the personal comments at a minimum.
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Just trying to inject a smidge of humour into what is a serious thread lately, but won't do it again!
CNN) -- Myrtle Beach authorities responded to six separate shootings Saturday that left three people dead and five people wounded in the popular South Carolina resort city, police Capt. David Knipes said Sunday.
The deadly incident occurred at the beachfront Bermuda Sands motel, where three men were killed and one person was wounded. Knipes said no one has been arrested.
A witness told CNN affiliate WPDE that one of the victims ran after the shooting but eventually collapsed.
"It was like to the point where he had a lot of blood everywhere and he was just trying to breathe" and he died, Jamont Samuel told the station.
At the time of the shooting, people lined the sidewalks of Ocean Boulevard, which was jammed with Memorial Day vacationers and people who came to the area for Atlantic Beach BikeFest.....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/25/us/myrtle-beach-shootings/
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^^^
This is the first I have heard of this incident.
So sad this happened on Memorial Day. :(
" Oh to be in England........."
Robert Browning.
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Just trying to inject a smidge of humour into what is a serious thread lately, but won't do it again!
[...]
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/25/us/myrtle-beach-shootings/
God forbid, lol!
Meanwhile in Quebec, a stolen newborn is found unharmed thanks to social media.
Social media shines in saving baby Victoria
BY PEGGY CURRAN, THE GAZETTMeanwhile in Quebec, a kidnapped newborn was found safe and sound thanks to social media!:
Let’s all say a prayer that baby Victoria’s first day on Earth was the most terrifying excitement she and her poor parents will ever know.
While we’re at it, let’s raise a glass to the unexpected wonders of social media, which got it so right in those harrowing hours between 7 and 10 Monday night when Mélissa McMahon and Simon Boisclair needed help most.
For it was the power of the Internet, the kindness of strangers who formed a cyber posse and made the welfare of a missing newborn their improbable business on Facebook and Twitter, which were crucial in ensuring the Trois-Rivières baby snatching would have a happy ending.
[...]
From the moment the Sûreté du Québec issued the Amber Alert — about two hours after a woman in burgundy scrubs took the baby from McMahon’s hospital room at 7:08 p.m. — thousands of people across the province and the country watched the ordeal play out in cyberspace.
[...]
Among those who checked into Facebook were four young people from Trois-Rivières. With time on their hands for sleuthing, Charlène Plante, Mélizanne Bergeron, Sharelle Bergeron and Marc-André Côté drove around looking for the suspect’s car. Along the way, Plante caught a glimpse of the suspect’s picture on Facebook and recognized a former neighbour. When they spied the red Yaris outside her house a few blocks from the hospital, they dialed 911.
[...]
“Four marvellous people whom we met identified the woman, thanks to Facebook. It is the only reason why Victoria is in our arms right now. Our thanks to all the Quebecers who did something to help.
[...]
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Peggy+Curran+Social+media+shines+saving+baby+Victoria/9882493/story.html
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I would really love to make more comments.....but pm's have warned me off.(not the Mods !) Perhaps I will have a gun put to my head next time. ;D
I've been there more than once, so I know how you feel. I just can't figure out which of your posts could've caused such controversy. I didn't see any personal attacks, and I went back several pages. Oh well I guess heated discussions are verbotten. Very sad because they are the most interesting ones (when there are no personal insults of course). On Bettermost the only active thread is the one about weather, and it's not even a Canadian forum, lol! Oh, sorry, I injected some humour. ;)
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I've been there more than once, so I know how you feel. I just can't figure out which of your posts could've caused such controversy. I didn't see any personal attacks, and I went back several pages. Oh well I guess heated discussions are verbotten. Very sad because they are the most interesting ones (when there are no personal insults of course). On Bettermost the only active thread is the one about weather, and it's not even a Canadian forum, lol! Oh, sorry, I injected some humour. ;)
:D
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what a horrible thing to say
Asking what happened to the U.S is not a horrible thing to say. And actually, the answer is simple: Unfettered capitalism and christian fundamentalism/evangelicalism (is that a word?).
Does this comment contravene anything? I'm actually afraid to post anything other than sports and movie items, now. And even those can be iffy, lol!
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You know, I don't mind the heated discussions and the humor, and any intelligent conversation if it weren't for the fact that 99.9% of the time it spirals down into people insulting one another, one's country, one's religion, hair color, questioning everyone's intelligence, and anything else that would make someone get angry.
I have learned in the past, the hard way, that when the heated discussions are allowed, for the sake of discussion, it falls into a pit of name calling and people's insults to other people, countries and someone's dog. And just plain nasty comments.
So now I end it before it gets so disagreeable and a free for all name calling. So, instead of poster's snarking about how I moderate, just grow up and discuss and disagree intelligently without the name calling and insulting each other.
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You know, I don't mind the heated discussions and the humor, and any intelligent conversation if it weren't for the fact that 99.9% of the time it spirals down into people insulting one another, one's country, one's religion, hair color, questioning everyone's intelligence, and anything else that would make someone get angry.
I have learned in the past, the hard way, that when the heated discussions are allowed, for the sake of discussion, it falls into a pit of name calling and people's insults to other people, countries and someone's dog. And just plain nasty comments.
So now I end it before it gets so disagreeable and a free for all name calling. So, instead of poster's snarking about how I moderate, just grow up and discuss and disagree intelligently without the name calling and insulting each other.
Well, at least now it's clear. It's not just personal attacks/insults that are not allowed. We must also stay away from criticising their country's government, their religion, culture, political leanings and TV viewing habits. Fine. So, how's the weather where you're at? Here, it's been lousy the last couple of, cold, lots of rain, but tomorrow looks promising. Was that snark? Was that snark, I can't tell anymore. *goes back to facebook*
As far as personal attacks go. I was personally attacked, an actual personal insult without provocation, just recently in the TV thread and there was no mod intervention. Of course that may be because I didn't flag it, I'm not the type to do that, but still, consistency would be nice. Threads are not THAT active that one can't keep pace by visiting a few times a week.
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I can't honestly say I have never insulted someones hair colour or their dog! Is "just grow up" an insult?
Seriously though I did just get some news in here, there is another forum, BetterMost?? How did that come about and is anyone free to join?
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Well, at least now it's clear. It's not just personal attacks/insults that are not allowed. We must also stay away from criticising their country's government, their religion, culture, political leanings and TV viewing habits. Fine. So, how's the weather where you're at? Here, it's been lousy the last couple of, cold, lots of rain, but tomorrow looks promising. Was that snark? Was that snark, I can't tell anymore. *goes back to facebook*
As far as personal attacks go. I was personally attacked, an actual personal insult without provocation, just recently in the TV thread and there was no mod intervention. Of course that may be because I didn't flag it, I'm not the type to do that, but still, consistency would be nice. Threads are not THAT active that one can't keep pace by visiting a few times a week.
I have never been insulted when someone says something derogatory about the US, I don't get angry, I don't insult the person or people who do. Mostly I agree with what they are saying. I don't take it as a personal insult. But there are those individuals who do. There is nothing I can do about how someone takes or views the intent of another's post. But when it devolves into a personal attack, then I intervene.
I am sorry you were personally attacked in the TV thread and since that is my thread too, I apologize for not picking up on it.
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I can't honestly say I have never insulted someones hair colour or their dog! Is "just grow up" an insult?
Seriously though I did just get some news in here, there is another forum, BetterMost?? How did that come about and is anyone free to join?
You didn't know about Bettermost?! It's another Brokeback Mountain fan site. I kind of see it a sister site to this one. It's more tolerant of homophobia though, so be warned. There are members who call themselves androsexuals whoreally have a problem with homosexuals who identify as gay. I'm pretty sure they were banned from this forum years ago but they thrive over at Bettermost. I don't really mind it though it makes for some interesting psycho-drama.
OMG, I'm sure I'm off topic! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
BTW, "Just grow up" IS an insult however mild.
And to Killersmom, I do realize that I was snarky in a couple of posts. But come one, what did Suelyblue say that was so controversial?! We don't all have the same sensitivy levels, so maybe it would be a good idea to actually identify the offending post(s) and explain why they are offensive. For example , why is criticism of a country's government viewed as a personal insult? That's just beyond me. You are welcome (welcomed?) to hate on Stephen Harper, believe me I won't take it personally.
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I can't honestly say I have never insulted someones hair colour or their dog! Is "just grow up" an insult?
Seriously though I did just get some news in here, there is another forum, BetterMost?? How did that come about and is anyone free to join?
That was an attempt to be humorous, Bubba.
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I can't honestly say I have never insulted someones hair colour or their dog! Is "just grow up" an insult?
Seriously though I did just get some news in here, there is another forum, BetterMost?? How did that come about and is anyone free to join?
And "just grow up" is not an insult, despite what Oilgun says. A lot of the derogatory comments have the air of someone in middle school, and all of us here are adults. So I am asking people to post like adults.
But this points out how the written word can be misinterpreted, without a tone of voice or face to accompany it.
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And "just grow up" is not an insult, despite what Oilgun says. A lot of the derogatory comments have the air of someone in middle school, and all of us here are adults. So I am asking people to post like adults.
But this points out how the written word can be misinterpreted, without a tone of voice or face to accompany it.
Now I'm really confused. I would consider it an insult if someone told me "to just grow up". I can't believe being called immature would not be considered insulting. Just like when I got called a philistine by that grumpy old dancing-with-the-stars fan. Being called a philistine is pretty damn insulting, look it up. So, yeah, I'm confused.
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No different than redneck. NO one considers that an insult.
Now, yankee, with or without damned...
or Californian....
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Methinks the pot is calling the kettle black.
(Is it still PC to call a kettle "black?")
Actually I've seen that debate elsewhere, and it's not surprising that it surfaces regularly; but it's just an antiquated kitchen metaphor: hearth cooking turns just about every utensil black. Unfortunately, Wilde's witty exchange about "spades" (the card suite) has undergone a complete sea change.
To clarify things, anyone who likes can insult the color of my hair; at present I'm not too wild about it myself. My dog, on the other hand......
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When I was a kid... a few centuries ago... my aunt lived in a neighborhood that had once been upperclass but over the years had changed for the worse. As property values dropped, more and more less affluent folks moved in. My aunt raised Boxers and had one named Jiggs. Which was a problem every time he went over the fence and wandered off.
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Did anyone watch Brian Williams' Snowden interview last night?
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Edward Snowden's interview: 10 things we learned
Slammed by top U.S. government officials and facing espionage charges in the United States, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden described how he sees himself during an interview with NBC "Nightly News" broadcast Wednesday. And he defended his decision to leak documents about classified U.S. government surveillance programs.
We've heard from Snowden a few times before, but the NBC interview with anchor Brian Williams inside a Moscow hotel was his first on an American television network.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/29/us/edward-snowden-interview-10-things/index.html
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chilcot-inquiry-conversations-between-george-bush-and-tony-blair-will-never-be-made-public-9456326.html
So....it seems we will never know exactly what Mr Bush and Mr Blair wrote and spoke to each other about with regards to the Iraq war. We will only get quotes and gists of why both these "leaders"...... deemed it necessary for our British and American young soldiers shed their blood.
Not so much a breach of"National security".....more of a blatant cover up.
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As a veteran and a retired VA worker I do feel qualified to add two cents worth to the brouhaha: what most people don't know is that Congress directly appropriates the funds that support - actually that should be, don't support - the rules and regulations that Congress lays down. That's right folks, the very same people who are calling for the VA chief's head on a platter are the same people who have under funded the VA for the last ten years, at least. These elected clowns will do and say anything to get elected - we' spending too much money? Hell, we can defund the VA, not with Doctors and clinical staff, where it would show, but where it won't: clerks, janitors, hourlies. Can you say unnecessary delays, nationwide, caused directly by congressional actions? Then of course there is there is Phoenix, with its influx of retired veterans and the newly returned vets - who, again by congressional mandate, MUST be seen before everybody else -given mandates to have patients seen within mandatory times, but not enough staffing on the managerial side or the clinical side to actually be able to physically deal with the numbers of troops coming home from the middle east and those coming from the rest of the country. So, of course, politicians being politicians, none of them, not even John McCain, himself a veteran, will support the system they - Congress - directly control! Of course, the other wrinkle to the congressional crime is that because they have absolute control over the money the VA receives, they can tell VA employees to sit down and shut up - most often by implication - or their funds will be cut on a hospital by hospital basis. Of course errors occur, but they do in every corporate entity, anywhere. And of course there are lousy employees, but there are everywhere. The fact is that out of 85,000,000 visits, the VA's patient satisfaction surveys give the VA a rating that varies anywhere from 83% to 87%, and average of 10% higher than non-VA facilities. Mr. Shinseiki (sp?) took over a system that was improving, but not fast enough. He sped things up and presided over great improvements. He does not deserve the public horsewhipping the irresponsible congressmen want - and probably will give him, the cowards!
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Did anyone watch Brian Williams' Snowden interview last night?
I saw the last 3/4 of it, Lyle.
My own feelings about the entire subject have been changing, these last months, and in areas that make me uneasy.
It is way more serious when the Secretary of State has a formal, address-the-nation film shot, ready the same day. Really? That has never happened before with reference to a spy, or traitor.
I was also interested in Snowden's speech patterns, body language, and other. It was unusual that his body language was constant. legs apart, torso leaning forward. That is not a dominant, sexual or sensual aggressive pose. My best understanding was that it was a warrior stance, sitting down.
His speech was quickly informative, and reasoned. Prepared.
I believe his pupils were widely dilated, which could mean he is on anxiety meds, or, he's been drugged and compromised by the Russians.
His warning about something near to a new ability for analysts to read thoughts, is not only not preposterous, it was very well explained. Analysts watching the construction of an e-mail, or blog, can see pauses, deletions, re-phrasing, and from repeated usage, reconstruct interior patterns of thoughts, and extrapolate.
Am waiting for Grunwald's next story, which is supposed to be larger than the first.
IMO, it is no longer a central issue whether Snowden is a patriot or traitor. I think the technology has taken on a life of its own, and we've entered a new phase of history.
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Now I think I truly heard it all, I had heard about this woman being stoned, but just caught this latest bit on the car radio today, this man killed his first wife!!
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The husband of Farzana Parveen, the Pakistani woman stoned to death for refusing to participate in an arranged marriage, told CNN he killed his first wife so he could marry Parveen.
Authorities said the first wife was killed six years ago.
"I wanted to send a proposal to Farzana, so I killed my wife," Mohammad Iqbal said Thursday in an interview with CNN.
Zulfiqar Hameed, district inspector general for the Punjab police, said Iqbal's son from the first marriage alerted police to the slaying six years ago.
Iqbal was arrested but later released on bail because his son forgave him, Hameed said.
The son, Aurengzeb, who is in his 20s, confirmed his father's statements to CNN. He said his father served a year in jail.
Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was beaten to death with bricks Tuesday in the eastern city of Lahore by a group of about 20 people, including her brothers, father and cousin, police said. Police have arrested Parveen's father and are searching for the other killers in this all-too-common crime.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has requested that Punjab's chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, submit a report on the incident.
The United Nations estimates 5,000 women are murdered worldwide by family members each year in "honor killings," so named because the woman's actions are considered to have brought shame on her family. But women's advocacy groups say the crime is underreported and the figure could be around 20,000 a year...
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/29/world/meast/pakistani-honor-killing/
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As a veteran and a retired VA worker I do feel qualified to add two cents worth to the brouhaha: what most people don't know is that Congress directly appropriates the funds that support - actually that should be, don't support - the rules and regulations that Congress lays down. That's right folks, the very same people who are calling for the VA chief's head on a platter are the same people who have under funded the VA for the last ten years, at least. These elected clowns will do and say anything to get elected - we' spending too much money? Hell, we can defund the VA, not with Doctors and clinical staff, where it would show, but where it won't: clerks, janitors, hourlies. Can you say unnecessary delays, nationwide, caused directly by congressional actions? Then of course there is there is Phoenix, with its influx of retired veterans and the newly returned vets - who, again by congressional mandate, MUST be seen before everybody else -given mandates to have patients seen within mandatory times, but not enough staffing on the managerial side or the clinical side to actually be able to physically deal with the numbers of troops coming home from the middle east and those coming from the rest of the country. So, of course, politicians being politicians, none of them, not even John McCain, himself a veteran, will support the system they - Congress - directly control! Of course, the other wrinkle to the congressional crime is that because they have absolute control over the money the VA receives, they can tell VA employees to sit down and shut up - most often by implication - or their funds will be cut on a hospital by hospital basis. Of course errors occur, but they do in every corporate entity, anywhere. And of course there are lousy employees, but there are everywhere. The fact is that out of 85,000,000 visits, the VA's patient satisfaction surveys give the VA a rating that varies anywhere from 83% to 87%, and average of 10% higher than non-VA facilities. Mr. Shinseiki (sp?) took over a system that was improving, but not fast enough. He sped things up and presided over great improvements. He does not deserve the public horsewhipping the irresponsible congressmen want - and probably will give him, the cowards!
What he said and said very well.
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No different than redneck. NO one considers that an insult.
Now, yankee, with or without damned...
or Californian....
Is it true that livng in the south is like being in a church, like all the time?
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Is it true that livng in the south is like being in a church, like all the time?
Not that I've ever noticed, but I've been here less than 30 years and it takes Southerners a while to cotton to outsiders. In the almost 15 years I've been in TN, I don't think I've been invited to a church service more than once. In GA, it was maybe 5-6 times in 12 years, but always by people I was well acquainted with. (On the other hand, in OR, NY and OH invitations are fairly commonplace.)
It IS like being in a history book, only the history is reported from a different viewpoint than what is taught in schools.
Invites to join people at gun shows happen often everywhere.
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Interesting TED talk on violence.
Let's treat violence like a contagious disease
Physician Gary Slutkin spent a decade fighting tuberculosis, cholera and AIDS epidemics in Africa. When he returned to the United States, he thought he'd escape brutal epidemic deaths. But then he began to look more carefully at gun violence, noting that its spread followed the patterns of infectious diseases. A mind-flipping look at a problem that too many communities have accepted as a given. We've reversed the impact of so many diseases, says Slutkin, and we can do the same with violence.
http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_slutkin_let_s_treat_violence_like_a_contagious_disease?utm_medium=on.ted.com-facebook-share&utm_campaign=&awesm=on.ted.com_i0G8L&utm_source=l.facebook.com&utm_content=awesm-publisher
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Gil, the South is widely variegated, and much misunderstood. Racist? We have a higher rate of inter-racial dating and marriage, in some areas, than anywhere else in the country.
The most obvious commonality is that people are friendly, and there is a tendency to be more food crazy.
It really goes by sub-groups of Southern states. And cities, as everywhere, are different from rural areas.
IMO, though, most of Florida is not qualified to be included in the South.
As for the bat-crazy politics, here, people vote one way, and act and live the opposite. Why, I do not know.
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Not that I've ever noticed, but I've been here less than 30 years and it takes Southerners a while to cotton to outsiders. In the almost 15 years I've been in TN, I don't think I've been invited to a church service more than once. In GA, it was maybe 5-6 times in 12 years, but always by people I was well acquainted with. (On the other hand, in OR, NY and OH invitations are fairly commonplace.)
It IS like being in a history book, only the history is reported from a different viewpoint than what is taught in schools.
Invites to join people at gun shows happen often everywhere.
So this guy's assertions might be misleading? He's a humanist living in Mississppi ( I think) and he's the one who said that living there was like being in a church, all the time. He's a good speaker and he's not confrontational:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDZQFwN_sQs
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No different than redneck. NO one considers that an insult.
Now, yankee, with or without damned...
or Californian....
I guess it depends where you're from because being called a redneck (aka a conservative from Alberta) is definitely an insult in these parts of the great white north. ;)
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Talk about misnomers. Calling someone in Canada a redneck is like calling a panda a bear.
I never thought of Canadians as being easily insulted, but I'm starting to rethink that.
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As a veteran and a retired VA worker I do feel qualified to add two cents worth to the brouhaha: what most people don't know is that Congress directly appropriates the funds that support - actually that should be, don't support - the rules and regulations that Congress lays down. That's right folks, the very same people who are calling for the VA chief's head on a platter are the same people who have under funded the VA for the last ten years, at least. These elected clowns will do and say anything to get elected - we' spending too much money? Hell, we can defund the VA, not with Doctors and clinical staff, where it would show, but where it won't: clerks, janitors, hourlies. Can you say unnecessary delays, nationwide, caused directly by congressional actions? Then of course there is there is Phoenix, with its influx of retired veterans and the newly returned vets - who, again by congressional mandate, MUST be seen before everybody else -given mandates to have patients seen within mandatory times, but not enough staffing on the managerial side or the clinical side to actually be able to physically deal with the numbers of troops coming home from the middle east and those coming from the rest of the country. So, of course, politicians being politicians, none of them, not even John McCain, himself a veteran, will support the system they - Congress - directly control! Of course, the other wrinkle to the congressional crime is that because they have absolute control over the money the VA receives, they can tell VA employees to sit down and shut up - most often by implication - or their funds will be cut on a hospital by hospital basis. Of course errors occur, but they do in every corporate entity, anywhere. And of course there are lousy employees, but there are everywhere. The fact is that out of 85,000,000 visits, the VA's patient satisfaction surveys give the VA a rating that varies anywhere from 83% to 87%, and average of 10% higher than non-VA facilities. Mr. Shinseiki (sp?) took over a system that was improving, but not fast enough. He sped things up and presided over great improvements. He does not deserve the public horsewhipping the irresponsible congressmen want - and probably will give him, the cowards!
Your paragraph above should be required reading on the national news programs.
Thanks for clarifying what I've been suspecting. The problems with the VA are systemic and those kinds of issues aren't solved easily.
And when one tries to solve them often things get worse before they proceed to get better. The politicians are already trying to lay
the blame for this on the President and Democrats, so look for the rhetoric to escalate during the election season and Republicans to
use the issue to blame it all on Democrats. The real issue won't be looked at and voters will just want to blame those in office for it
and not bother to undertand the issue, nor be told how to understand it by news sources because all they're interested in is the word
"scandal" and not what's behind it. Because the politicans reposnsible for the state of affairs with the VA will command news attention
they won't reveal anything of the sort in fofol's paragraph above and we know the news media isn't about to call them on it or do the
work necessary to shed light on what's really going on.
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Now I'm really confused. I would consider it an insult if someone told me "to just grow up". I can't believe being called immature would not be considered insulting. Just like when I got called a philistine by that grumpy old dancing-with-the-stars fan. Being called a philistine is pretty damn insulting, look it up.
At the risk of causing more trouble, I agree with you on both points.
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I'm not sure what people expected from a system that was already overloaded when thousands of damaged Iraqui and Afghani veterans started to seek their rightful and promised medical care.
I can hardly wait for a few of these ancient interstate bridges fall down and people start bitching about whose fault it is that they weren't replaced when it was known for years and years that they were in bad shape.
Whatever is needed for war and not one damn cent for infrastructure.
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The problems with the VA are systemic and those kinds of issues aren't solved easily.
Sure enough. It's a lot easier to make someone a scapegoat than it is to solve a problem.
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Shinseki resigned
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Sure enough. It's a lot easier to make someone a scapegoat than it is to solve a problem.
Could you say that very loudly to the UKIP political party here in Britain, please Jeff?
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Could you say that very loudly to the UKIP political party here in Britain, please Jeff?
I doubt they'd listen to a Yank.
What party is UKIP? I only know Labour and the Tories. ???
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Shinseki resigned
So I guess they put all the sins of the VA system on him and drove him out into the wilderness. ...
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I doubt they'd listen to a Yank.
What party is UKIP? I only know Labour and the Tories. ???
UKIP is kinda like a watered down version of the Nazi Party. They want an Aryan Race. All blonde hair and blue eyes....and if an Englishman should ever get cut in half....he should have the letters "British Made" running all the way through him .....like a stick of seaside candy. Problem being .....or perhaps thats where he got the idea from....the leader of the party is married to a German woman :-\
I could say more ....but can't be bothered. I'm not even sure what the initials UKIP even stand for !
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UKIP is kinda like a watered down version of the Nazi Party. They want an Aryan Race. All blonde hair and blue eyes....and if an Englishman should ever get cut in half....he should have the letters "British Made" running all the way through him .....like a stick of seaside candy. Problem being .....or perhaps thats where he got the idea from....the leader of the party is married to a German woman :-\
I could say more ....but can't be bothered. I'm not even sure what the initials UKIP even stand for !
Eeew.
But thanks for explaining. :)
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United Kingdom Independent Party
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^^
Is that so ?? :-\
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United Kingdom Independence Party.
What is an interesting thought is what they might call themselves if Scotland chooses to be an independent country when they have their referendum in September, because they want to stay in the EU.
The United Kingdom can't be independent if there is no longer a United Kingdom! :D
This ultra British, foreigner hating, party, is led by a man with a French name and a German wife.
As they say, you couldn't make it up!
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How does that make him different from other Brits?
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He won an enormous vote by decrying "foreigners," promising to cut immigration, and being both racist and homophobic.
However, you are completely right, we are a nation of immigrants.
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He won an enormous vote by decrying "foreigners," promising to cut immigration, and being both racist and homophobic.
However, you are completely right, we are a nation of immigrants.
As are most of the countries in the world.
However...... there are a few...like the leader of the UKIP party who some times
conveniently forget their "roots" !
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In an earlier post, I had mentioned that Edward Snowden's body language, in his NBC interview, was extremely unusual. Dr. Nick Morgan seems to have the same conclusion. I couldn't copy a link, but a search for Morgan's article on that subject comes up very easily, for anyone interested.
Morgan's summary, (he wouldn't trust anything Snowden said), is not supported easily by the details he, himself, provided. It's a good read, either way. And he did see things I didn't, and I disagree greatly, on the body stance, but he certainly studied the over-all very well.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FCannabis-01_zps696a9099.jpg&hash=6ae1785d21898f621fb7e10cf9ed219f8758b2a4)
New Ruling Finds Cannabis To Be The Most Medicinal Plant In The World
http://earthweareone.com/new-ruling-finds-cannabis-to-be-the-most-medicinal-plant-in-the-world/
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In an earlier post, I had mentioned that Edward Snowden's body language, in his NBC interview, was extremely unusual. Dr. Nick Morgan seems to have the same conclusion. I couldn't copy a link, but a search for Morgan's article on that subject comes up very easily, for anyone interested.
Morgan's summary, (he wouldn't trust anything Snowden said), is not supported easily by the details he, himself, provided. It's a good read, either way. And he did see things I didn't, and I disagree greatly, on the body stance, but he certainly studied the over-all very well.
http://www.businessinsider.com/body-language-expert-analyzes-snowdens-nbc-interview-2014-5 (http://www.businessinsider.com/body-language-expert-analyzes-snowdens-nbc-interview-2014-5)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FCannabis-01_zps696a9099.jpg&hash=6ae1785d21898f621fb7e10cf9ed219f8758b2a4)
New Ruling Finds Cannabis To Be The Most Medicinal Plant In The World
http://earthweareone.com/new-ruling-finds-cannabis-to-be-the-most-medicinal-plant-in-the-world/
I knew that......just can't remember it !!! :D :D :D
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FCannabis-01_zps696a9099.jpg&hash=6ae1785d21898f621fb7e10cf9ed219f8758b2a4)
New Ruling Finds Cannabis To Be The Most Medicinal Plant In The World
http://earthweareone.com/new-ruling-finds-cannabis-to-be-the-most-medicinal-plant-in-the-world/
I'm fortunate enough that I don't need medical cannabis. With all the benefits it has, I never understood why it's illegal. I also wonder about those arrested for possession, if cannabis were made legal nationwide, would they be able to appeal their sentences and be released?
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another domino officially toppled
Illinois same-sex marriage law goes into effect
"June 1 marked the first day all of Illinois' 102 counties could begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after a piecemeal start where some county officials began granting licenses months ago following a federal court ruling.
Gay couples and civil rights advocates across the state are planning to mark the date with blessing ceremonies and group weddings, and several county clerks are opening briefly to issue licenses for those who don't want to wait for Monday morning.
" 'June 1 will be a history-making day in Illinois,' said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of the gay rights group Equality Illinois. 'At long last, the state will recognize their families for what they are: which is equal in love, equal in commitment and equal in marriages.' "
http://abc7chicago.com/news/illinois-same-sex-marriage-law-goes-into-effect/87890/
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FCannabis-01_zps696a9099.jpg&hash=6ae1785d21898f621fb7e10cf9ed219f8758b2a4)
New Ruling Finds Cannabis To Be The Most Medicinal Plant In The World
http://earthweareone.com/new-ruling-finds-cannabis-to-be-the-most-medicinal-plant-in-the-world/
I've could have been confirmed this bit of news...;D
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Cocaine used to be considered a medical wonder as well....
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In an earlier post, I had mentioned that Edward Snowden's body language, in his NBC interview, was extremely unusual. Dr. Nick Morgan seems to have the same conclusion. I couldn't copy a link, but a search for Morgan's article on that subject comes up very easily, for anyone interested.
Morgan's summary, (he wouldn't trust anything Snowden said), is not supported easily by the details he, himself, provided. It's a good read, either way. And he did see things I didn't, and I disagree greatly, on the body stance, but he certainly studied the over-all very well.
I wanted to say first that I didn't find anything unusual about Snowden's body language when
I watched that NBC interview. I wasn't "looking" for anything unusual either, maybe that's why.
Are "body language experts" testimony allowed in a courtroom? I've always found these people to be like
a lot of palm readers and fortune tellers. How do you become a body language expert? This means this and
that means that? Does it? How does it? Could two experts watch the same thing and come up with two
entirely different reasonings?
The only article I read is the one Gary linked, but if you read that what does all this say about Glenn Greenwald
who was also there and also interviewed. Is he "lying about something" as well and we shouldn't "believe a word
of what he said?"
Glenn Greenwald on Snowden's Latest Revelations:
http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/greenwald (http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/glenn-greenwald-edward-snowdens-latest-revelations/?utm_content=buffer06e82&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)
As much as I know about "body language experts" I feel they're more like horoscopes, something for
entertainment purposes only and not to be talken so seriously. Akin to conspiracy theorists.
And who is Dr. Nick Morgan anyway? Does he have an agenda?*
*The first google I did of Dr. Nick Morgan came up with this:
Dr. Nicholas Morgan is Head of Whisky Outreach at Diageo plc, and is a leading
global authority on the Scotch Whisky industry and the marketing of Scotch Whisky.
Though this info is probably the Morgan in question:
Dr. Nicholas Morgan is an American speaking coach, author and one of America's top
communication theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, Nick is committed to helping
people find clarity in their thinking and ideas—and then delivering them with panache.
In the little bio on that page I found it says something interesting...or odd:
Morgan has said his particular interest in body language was fueled by three life events
at age 17, one of which was having read a book about the Dalai Lama, another was that
he learned his father was gay and the third is that he says he expired.
You'd think that would require at least a little explanation, but there wasn't one and I'm not
quite sure I want to pursue it.
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With all the benefits it has, I never understood why it's illegal.
My biggest problem with it is the same reason as cigarettes. I just don't like being around
the smoke from anything. I was talking to a couple people recently who were talking about
a neighbor of theirs who got in trouble over smoking marijuana and they were talking about
it being ridiculous and such, but what I found out a day later is that it wasn't the marijuana
that was the complaint, it was that they live in a non-smoking apartment building and, duh,
someone complained. Somehow people for marijuana legalization don't seem to think that
smoking laws would apply to that, too. Same as with those fake "vapor" cigarette things in
the news lately.
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Cocaine used to be considered a medical wonder as well....
It kind of went down hill once it started being free based.
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Gary, many thanks for the link you provided, above !!!
Lyle, I do not think body language is used in courts. However, it is used by the intelligence community with great results, and by the news media. It is not a fad. As for different interpretations, that is true in conclusions from scientific experiments.
The basics are usually in sync, (leaning to or away from someone), whereas others are subject to the context. You may be missing the point that a minor skill of mine told me Snowden's was extremely unusual, and that a more experienced person, Morgan, said the same. I wasn't alone.
Ok, to give you another area for, ahem, your friends, and love life, pupil dilation IS agreed upon, although in a different category. The Navy used it to weed out dormant gays from assignments on submarines.
If your friend or lover has unusual pupil dilation, they are very tuned in to you. Try it, surreptitiously, and see what shows up :).
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My biggest problem with it is the same reason as cigarettes. I just don't like being around
the smoke from anything. I was talking to a couple people recently who were talking about
a neighbor of theirs who got in trouble over smoking marijuana and they were talking about
it being ridiculous and such, but what I found out a day later is that it wasn't the marijuana
that was the complaint, it was that they live in a non-smoking apartment building and, duh,
someone complained. Somehow people for marijuana legalization don't seem to think that
smoking laws would apply to that, too. Same as with those fake "vapor" cigarette things in
the news lately.
You don't have to smoke it. You can use a vaporizer which doesn't produce smoke and of course you can eat it. There is a famous recipe for cannabis brownies that comes from a cook book written/edited by Alice B. Toklas.
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Cocaine used to be considered a medical wonder as well....
Marijuana certainly worked wonders on a dear friend of mine. She was battling ovarian cancer and not doing well. I spent a week with her a few weeks before she died and I brought along some pot, at her request. After one joint the changes were like night and day. She was able to eat and keep it down and she was like her old healthy self again for the first time in months. Of course it didn't heal the cancer but it made her last days way more bareable than any other prescribed drug could have.
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You don't have to smoke it. You can use a vaporizer which doesn't produce smoke and of course you can eat it. There is a famous recipe for cannabis brownies that comes from a cook book written/edited by Alice B. Toklas.
This is my vaporizer, cost about $260, magnetic top cover, decoys well as a cell phone..I started looking into vaporizers because after 13 yrs, smoking had taken its toll on my body, plus the fact that you get a much higher percent of why anyone does it in the first place, THC, I truly feel a health attribute in using marijuana now, grated also that I get way more baked than I normally ever would from one bowl...;D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1285.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa586%2FDejeur%2FIMG_20140304_182315_zps6a2006e9.jpg&hash=0444e6e7de16a780f6399373ab2ae92153fe9f62) (http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/Dejeur/media/IMG_20140304_182315_zps6a2006e9.jpg.html)
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You don't have to smoke it.
This is what I almost wrote:
My biggest problem with it is the same reason as cigarettes. I just don't like being around
the smoke from anything. (And yes, I know you don't have to smoke it.)
But i figured it was kind of a given people know that.
As for vaporizers, those blue whatever cigarette things are smokeless, but they are banned.
All the talk of medicinal value aside, I have a slight hunch that most marijuana use is not for medicinal purposes.
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You may be missing the point that a minor skill of mine told me Snowden's was extremely unusual,
and that a more experienced person, Morgan, said the same. I wasn't alone.
What this sounds like is -- I just didn't know it was unusual, but it was unusual because
experts say so. So, I'm supposed to believe it. But wouldn't you have to have data on how a
person "usually" acts to base this on? You didn't comment about how this relates to Greenwald.
What about Greenwald's body language? Because we shouldn't believe anything Snowden says
we can't believe him, either?
My experience in reading your posts on this thread is that you can be suspicious of a lot
of things. So did you watch the Snowden interview with an eye toward something being
suspicious about it?
In that article Morgan refers to Snowden as "a kid." Snowden's thirty years old, hardly "a kid," and
that sounds more like a judgment than any related body language skill set.
Ok, to give you another area for, ahem, your friends, and love life, pupil dilation IS agreed upon, although in a different category.
The Navy used it to weed out dormant gays from assignments on submarines.
Beside the point, but under DADT wouldn't all gays have to be dormant?
And, didn't they have anything better to do? And was there any recourse to
those who were being weeded out because of their dilated pupils? Because
that means you're gay?
Alot of people believe in astrology, too, and gaydar and lie detector tests and any number of religious things.
If your friend or lover has unusual pupil dilation, they are very tuned in to you.
Try it, surreptitiously, and see what shows up :).
Because I wouldn't know someone is tuned in to me without body language instruction?
The thing with me is, I just don't believe people because they say so. The only place I usually
see "body language experts" is on tv shows like Insider, Ent. Tonight, or the like, where they
are interested in dubious celebrities like the Kardashians or Lindsay Lohan and when they talk
about "body language" it's always in a new-agey loony way.
I don't know anything much about "body language experts" and the science, if there is any,
behind it. If it was legitimate enough, wouldn't it be allowed in courts?
Gary, many thanks for the link you provided, above !!!
Did you read the link I provided about Greenwald's statements about the interview.
Listening to you and the Morgan article, do I conclude that Morgan thinks Greenwald
should not trust anything Snowden says, or do I trust Greenwald's judgment who's been
communicating with Snowden for some time now? If you're judging one person's body
language in the interview, wouldn't it be appropriate to analyze the others in the same setting,
too.
And as someone who just doesn't cotton to absolutist statements without reason, when Morgan says,
"I would not trust anything Snowden said To NBC," I just have to throw some caution to the wind.
It just seems logical to me that you cannot have body language norms without adjusting for
any number of personal variables. In Freud's terms, sometimes a banana is just a banana.
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My experience in reading your posts on this thread is that you can be suspicious of a lot
of things
The thing with me is, I just don't believe people because they say so.
Lyle, the connotations of the word "suspicious" can be various. In fact, most of those that post here are conveying suspicions, or doubts that something may not be true. As in, the second part of your post that I have quoted. That is a healthy doubt/suspicion, leading to your own conclusion. But if you mean I am unusually suspicious, well, no. Were I that way, I would not have been rolled so many times in my life, by events and people. I have not been suspicious enough. Here on this thread, I try to do better, and if that conveys to you that I have a suspicious nature, it is out of life context.
And, no, I did not approach the Snowden interview with suspicions, and even put my prejudices in his favor aside. The body language, however, jolted me.
If I did not answer all your questions, it is because you have a vigorous mind, and, I can't keep up with you :D .
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Tony, when I read your post I thought "Tony is so much nicer in his response than anyone else would be." I appreciate that about you.
But, obviously, if Lyle says it's nonsense, it's nonsense. Just another of those hocus pocus things people believe. Like subliminal suggestion and the benefits of psychriatric counseling and accupuncture. (That actually sounds like a pretty good treatment regiment.)
And by the way, vapor "cigarettes" are banned where? L.A.? All of California? Everywhere west of the Mississippi?
And, Oilgun, what does my comment that cocaine use was thought of as no big deal have to do with your friend and marijuana?
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Where is Paul when I need him :P ?
Hmmm....Doodler came to the rescue :).
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Will wonders never cease? :D
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Nobody got nuthin' to say about the prisoner exchange?
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Will wonders never cease? :D
I hope not :).
As to the prisoner exchange, it was, IMO, a tough call, but the right call. And my heart goes out to Bowe and his family.
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Dear ol' dad looks like he should have been part of the exchange.
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This is my vaporizer, cost about $260, magnetic top cover, decoys well as a cell phone..I started looking into vaporizers because after 13 yrs, smoking had taken its toll on my body, plus the fact that you get a much higher percent of why anyone does it in the first place, THC, I truly feel a health attribute in using marijuana now, grated also that I get way more baked than I normally ever would from one bowl...;D
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Willie Nelson says he has been using one since about 2010. Better for his health, I have someone close to me (not my husband) who smokes weed pretty regularly, I wish he would consider one. Or quit, but something tells me quitting is not an option.
I should go find a "weed in the news" topic, to keep this on topic! ;) Strange thing is I would rather be around second hand weed smoke, than second hand cigarette smoke, if that makes sense.
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Willie Nelson says he has been using one since about 2010. Better for his health, I have someone close to me (not my husband) who smokes weed pretty regularly, I wish he would consider one. Or quit, but something tells me quitting is not an option.
I should go find a "weed in the news" topic, to keep this on topic! ;) Strange thing is I would rather be around second hand weed smoke, than second hand cigarette smoke, if that makes sense.
Second hand cigarette smoke is just awful, and keeping in the context of current events, I'm pretty sure second hand cigarette smoke is currently offending someone somewhere...:D
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This is what I almost wrote:
My biggest problem with it is the same reason as cigarettes. I just don't like being around
the smoke from anything. (And yes, I know you don't have to smoke it.)
But i figured it was kind of a given people know that.
As for vaporizers, those blue whatever cigarette things are smokeless, but they are banned.
All the talk of medicinal value aside, I have a slight hunch that most marijuana use is not for medicinal purposes.
And that is a problem?
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Dear ol' dad looks like he should have been part of the exchange.
EXACTLY what I thought!
And his son has to come home to this look. I hope his dad has always looked like he does.
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Bowe's father looks scraggly, because he swore not to shave until his son came home. But, as can happen, maybe he now likes it :D.
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Oops! The plot thickens.
Lot's of stuff hitting the light of day... again... about Bowe-baby. It's beginning to look like Obama and crew should have been a little more careful about giving back 5 terrorists. Unless the plan was to get a traitor, possibly now a terrorist, back when he could be "debriefed."
Yeah, yeah, I can hear it now... jumping to conclusions, yada yada yada.
But Bowe's disappearance was though of as an AWOL/desertion from the beginning. Even the French Foreign Legion didn't want him which is how he ended up in the US Army.
Guess his daddy looks like that for a reason.
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Tony, when I read your post I thought "Tony is so much nicer in his response than anyone else would be." I appreciate that about you.
But, obviously, if Lyle says it's nonsense, it's nonsense. Just another of those hocus pocus things people believe. Like subliminal suggestion and the benefits of psychriatric counseling and accupuncture. (That actually sounds like a pretty good treatment regiment.)
And by the way, vapor "cigarettes" are banned where? L.A.? All of California? Everywhere west of the Mississippi?
This is why I've stayed away from the news thread for a long time.
In my post I readily admit I don't know the whys and wherefores behind the science of body language and I am skeptical of
it for some reasons I stated. So that is NOT a conclusion that I think it IS nonsense. That's why I asked the questions I did
about that and the relation to Greenwald and how you're supposed to look at the information Morgan states in light of it.
You know, to discuss the issue? So I can learn something. Learning is a good thing. Thanks for your helpful insights.
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And that is a problem?
No, but a lot of people use the medicinal angle to justify it when they should
just be more like Seth Rogen and simply state that they like smoking weed!
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Oops! The plot thickens.
Lot's of stuff hitting the light of day... again... about Bowe-baby. It's beginning to look like Obama and crew should have been a little more careful about giving back 5 terrorists. Unless the plan was to get a traitor, possibly now a terrorist, back when he could be "debriefed."
Yeah, yeah, I can hear it now... jumping to conclusions, yada yada yada.
But Bowe's disappearance was though of as an AWOL/desertion from the beginning. Even the French Foreign Legion didn't want him which is how he ended up in the US Army.
Guess his daddy looks like that for a reason.
Can someone please produce a link showing that the detainees that were exchanged were charged and/or convicted of terrorism? I read that out of the remaining 155(?) detainees only 6 face formal charges.
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Irony (hypocrisy), anyone?:
NRA slams ‘downright scary’ Open Carry Texas gun lovers: They ‘crossed the line’
The nation’s staunchest defender of the Second Amendment has told gun activists in Texas who insist on carrying assault-style rifles in public places to knock it off.
In a statement issued late last week, the National Rifle Association (NRA) called out so-called “open carry” groups in Texas that have been frightening restaurant customers and motorists by approaching them while carrying AK-47s and AR-15s.
The NRA applauded Texas for a “robust gun culture,” but noted that a number of activists had “crossed the line from enthusiasm to downright foolishness.”
Continues:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/02/nra-slams-downright-scary-open-carry-texas-gun-lovers-they-crossed-the-line/
Admit it Doodler, you are fondling a semiautomatic rifle as we speak. ;-)
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Maybe Obama is radical muslim, (although even GWB released a captive terrorist. ) But I think if you leave your base without orders, you're AWOL, not a POW. Something about this guy and this deal is fucked up.
In exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl, the U.S. has released five senior Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison. They are considered some of the worst of the worst.
The five Guantanamo detainees released by the Obama administration in exchange for America’s last prisoner of war in Afghanistan, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, are bad guys. They are top Taliban commanders the group has tried to free for more than a decade.
According to a 2008 Pentagon dossier on Guantanamo Bay inmates, all five men released were considered to be a high risk to launch attacks against the United States and its allies if they were liberated. The exchange shows that the Obama administration was willing to pay a steep price, indeed, for Bergdahl’s freedom. The administration says they will be transferred to Qatar, which played a key role in the negotiations.
In the initial statements released about the deal, the White House declined to name the detainees who would be leaving the Cuba based prison Obama has been trying to close since his first day in office.
A senior U.S. defense official confirmed Saturday that the prisoners to be released include Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Noori, Abdul Haq Wasiq, Khairullah Khairkhwa and Mohammed Nabi Omari.
While not as well known as Guantanamo inmates like 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Taliban 5 were some of the worst outlaws in the U.S. war on terror. And their release will end up replenishing the diminished leadership ranks of the Afghan Taliban at a moment when the United States is winding down the war there.
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Irony (hypocrisy), anyone?:
NRA slams ‘downright scary’ Open Carry Texas gun lovers: They ‘crossed the line’
The nation’s staunchest defender of the Second Amendment has told gun activists in Texas who insist on carrying assault-style rifles in public places to knock it off.
In a statement issued late last week, the National Rifle Association (NRA) called out so-called “open carry” groups in Texas that have been frightening restaurant customers and motorists by approaching them while carrying AK-47s and AR-15s.
The NRA applauded Texas for a “robust gun culture,” but noted that a number of activists had “crossed the line from enthusiasm to downright foolishness.”
Continues:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/02/nra-slams-downright-scary-open-carry-texas-gun-lovers-they-crossed-the-line/
Admit it Doodler, you are fondling a semiautomatic rifle as we speak. ;-)
I have a solution that will cut 99% of stupid out of gun control.
Make it illegal for men to own firearms. Period.
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NRA slams ‘downright scary’ Open Carry Texas gun lovers: They ‘crossed the line’
The nation’s staunchest defender of the Second Amendment has told gun activists in Texas who insist on carrying assault-style rifles in public places to knock it off.
In a statement issued late last week, the National Rifle Association (NRA) called out so-called “open carry” groups in Texas that have been frightening restaurant customers and motorists by approaching them while carrying AK-47s and AR-15s.
The NRA applauded Texas for a “robust gun culture,” but noted that a number of activists had “crossed the line from enthusiasm to downright foolishness.”
If it's legal to carry guns in public places, why is the NRA trying to take their rights away?
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Bowe Bergdahl is returned and immediately attacked by the right wing.
Bergdahl was promoted twice while he was in captivity.
Does the army regularly promote those who might have been AWOL?
In any case, no one can make definitive judgements on the circumstances of Bergdahl's
capture because we do not know them.
When he was first reported captured, Fox News military analyst Ralph Peters actually said without
substantiated facts that Bergdahl was a liar, a deserter, and that “the Taliban can save us a lot of
legal hassles and legal bills,” presumably by killing him. Veterans in congress called for an apology
that they never got. And Fox News still features Peters on ts programs. In fact, a couple days ago
Bill O'Reilly suggested him as the successor to outgoing Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.
The military has never listed Bergdahl as AWOL.
Yet the right wingers are now in the process of petitioning the White House to punish the soldier.
We should all be judged in this manner.
And I just love all these immediate anti-Bergdahl release people attacking his father in various ways,
especially the way he looks.
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And then they all go home, secure in their hypocrisy, to watch Duck Dynasty.
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Pentagon concluded Bergdahl left his unit
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon investigation concluded in 2010 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his unit, and after an initial flurry of searching the military decided not to exert extraordinary efforts to rescue him, according to a former senior defense official who was involved in the matter.
<><><><><>
Questions persisted, too, about the circumstances of Bergdahl's 2009 capture. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel declined to comment on earlier reports that the sergeant had walked away from his unit, disillusioned with the war. Such matters "will be dealt with later," Hagel said.
But the former Pentagon official said it was "incontrovertible" that he walked away from his unit.
The military investigation was broader than a criminal inquiry, this official said, and it didn't formally accuse Bergdahl of desertion. In interviews, members of his unit portrayed him as a naive, "delusional" person who thought he could help the Afghan people by leaving his army post, the official said.
U.S. military and intelligence agencies had made every effort to monitor Bergdahl's location and his health, the official said, through both signals intelligence and a network of spies.
Nathan Bradley Bethea, who served as an officer in Bergdahl's unit, said in an article Monday on the Daily Beast website that Bergdahl was not on patrol, as some reports have suggested.
"There was no patrol that night," he wrote. "Bergdahl was relieved from guard duty, and instead of going to sleep, he fled the outpost on foot. He deserted. I've talked to members of Bergdahl's platoon_including the last Americans to see him before his capture. I've reviewed the relevant documents. That's what happened."
http://news.msn.com/us/pentagon-concluded-bergdahl-left-his-unit?ocid=ansnews11
AP/June 8, 2012, 2:51 AM/
Bowe Bergdahl, U.S. soldier held by Taliban, was "ashamed to be American," emails show
More + (AP) WASHINGTON - Emails an American soldier reportedly sent to his parents before he was captured by the Taliban three years ago suggest he was disillusioned and considering deserting.
Bowe Bergdahl told his parents he was "ashamed to even be American" and was disgusted with the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and with the Army, according to emails quoted in Rolling Stone magazine.
Bergdahl, a 26-year-old Army sergeant from Hailey, Idaho, was taken prisoner on June 30, 2009, in Afghanistan.
The military has never detailed circumstances of his disappearance or capture, and he is not classified as a deserter. He was initially listed as "duty status unknown" and is now considered "missing-captured." He is the only U.S. prisoner of war from the Afghanistan conflict, and U.S. officials say they are actively trying to free him.
The White House declined comment on the emails or Bergdahl's possible motivation for leaving his base in eastern Afghanistan in 2009.
Bergdahl is the subject of a proposed prisoner swap in which he would be traded for five Taliban adherents imprisoned by the United States at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Taliban have walked away from the deal and larger negotiations with the United States, but the Obama administration is still pushing a negotiated settlement between the Taliban and the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan.
The Rolling Stone article, to be published Friday, also quotes other soldiers and associates of Bergdahl's as saying that he had talked about walking to Pakistan if his deployment was "lame" and that shortly before his disappearance he had asked whether he should take his weapon if he left the base. Friends and other soldiers describe a survivalist mentality, and Bergdahl's father, Bob, told the magazine that his son was "living in a novel."
"The future is too good to waste on lies," one email reads. "And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong."
The emails were provided to the magazine by Bergdahl's family in Idaho, which has gone public with its own discontent with U.S. efforts to free their son. There is no way to authenticate the emails.
Some of Bergdahl's reported words read like a suicide note.
"I am sorry for everything," he wrote. "The horror that is America is disgusting."
He mailed home boxes containing his uniform and books.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bowe-bergdahl-us-soldier-held-by-taliban-was-ashamed-to-be-american-emails-show/
.
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NBC has a full section of coverage of this news from all points of view.
There's 41 stories/articles and video links as well. As you might expect,
not everyone agrees on what we do know and there's a lot of speculation
and political posturing on what we don't know.
With all that's been floating about, I think a pertinent question might be,
do we judge the situation before all the facts are known or do we presume
a man innocent until proven guilty?
For all the accusations made out there the Defense Department has "never
confirmed such a narrative," Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday.
"There have been several looks into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance,
but we've never publicly said anything..." Warren said.
Link:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bowe-bergdahl-released/what-we-know-n120731 (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bowe-bergdahl-released/bowe-bergdahl-what-we-know-about-soldier-captured-taliban-n120731)
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Got it... he and his parents are actually CIA operatives.
-
NBC has a full section of coverage of this news from all points of view.
There's 41 stories/articles and video links as well. As you might expect,
not everyone agrees on what we do know and there's a lot of speculation
and political posturing on what we don't know.
With all that's been floating about, I think a pertinent question might be,
do we judge the situation before all the facts are known or do we presume
a man innocent until proven guilty?
For all the accusations made out there the Defense Department has "never
confirmed such a narrative," Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday.
"There have been several looks into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance,
but we've never publicly said anything..." Warren said.
Link:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bowe-bergdahl-released/what-we-know-n120731 (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bowe-bergdahl-released/bowe-bergdahl-what-we-know-about-soldier-captured-taliban-n120731)
At the end of any day, Lyle, there is only one conclusion -- if it happened under Obama, it's no damn good and probably a Kenyan/Muslim/liberal/anti-American scandal and it should be considered probable cause for impeachment.
You know, even when Osama bin Laden was killed, it was no damn good under Obama!
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I have never in my life heard of anyone denigrating the return of a US soldier. He left the base, we don't know why, and that means he should be left for dead?
Meanwhile, Obama's critics harp on how he hasn't closed Guantanamo. They don't even TRY to make sense. They abandoned that long ago.
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Got it... he and his parents are actually CIA operatives.
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I have never in my life heard of anyone denigrating the return of a US soldier.
Hi Ellen. (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.skyscraperpage.com%2Fimages%2Fsmilies%2Fhi.gif&hash=352fb61d51a303a3fa02160518c52afc2063f253)
I thought that a lot the last couple of days.
Almost wrote it in my post this morning, but didn't.
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He stopped being a US soldier in 2009 when he deserted in a war zone in war time.
Once again people have problems accepting crime as crime.
Guess if he had taken his gun with him when he walked away, it would be different.
And so much for the US not negotiating with terrorists, even if the parents were the ones doing the negotiation. The US... Obama... agreed to the terms.
Of course, the five terrorists were not really high ranking terrorists. They were not terrorists at all, just unwitting businessmen, hired to perform jobs for a terrorist outfit.
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IMO, it speaks well for the U.S. military, that, despite a soldier's reservations, and conscience issues, he was still respected as a brother, even if, by their terms, wayward.
No one left behind should apply to all who had courage and tried to serve. Bowe had courage. He was there. There have been far worse mistakes by soldiers. The sudden rush to trash him and his family, seems to me to be a failure of caution, in an extremely painful area. I am glad he is coming home, however battered.
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I'm glad he's coming home, too, as I wouldn't want anybody to be left in the hands of the Taliban. At the same time, I'm not opposed to a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to his capture (did he, or did he not, desert?), because I'm also deeply troubled by the reports I'm hearing that six other Americans died trying to find him, including his own platoon leader.
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Tony, it is not trashing him to tell the truth about what happened. And the truth has been reported for years.
I agree with Jeff. I'm glad he's coming back to the US, but I'm glad because he... and his family... need to face up to the cost of his "conscience" and his actions, including the deaths of the men he served with.
I am troubled by his parents' stated attitude of "frustration" with the government for not doing more to get him released. Maybe if they had done LESS in encouraging him to "follow his heart," he might have had the guts to stick out his deployment and walk away after he got back home.
Bowe Bergdahl is not the only pampered kid in the US. They're everywhere, being told they can do anything, playing upward bound nobody loses sports, having their parents step in to protect them from the consequences of their behavior... the illegal as well as the stupid and mean spirited.
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I have a solution that will cut 99% of stupid out of gun control.
Make it illegal for men to own firearms. Period.
FWIT, there were several women among that group of militant Ammosexuals.
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Phew! Now the world is upside up again ;D :
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NRA Apologizes For Calling Open Carry Protests "Downright Weird," Says Statement Was "A Mistake"
The National Rifle Association is walking back its statement criticizing gun activists who carry loaded assault weapons in public as a form of protest, with the NRA's top lobbyist apologizing and calling the statement "a mistake."
In recent months Open Carry Texas and several other gun activist groups have made headlines for openly carrying loaded assault weapons in public and into restaurants in the Dallas area. This tactic of attempting to "normalize" open carry of rifles has spectacularly backfired, as gun violence group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has persuaded several restaurant chains where open carry rallies were staged to ask customers not to bring firearms into their businesses.
On June 2, Mother Jones reported on a statement on the NRA's website that criticized the open carry protests as "downright weird" and suggested that the practice was "downright scary" to onlookers and "counterproductive for the gun owning community." The Mother Jones report was widely circulated in media as it was an aberration from the NRA's typical absolutist position on firearm issues. Open Carry Texas called the NRA's statement "disgusting and disrespectful" and some gun activists cut up their NRA membership cards.
[...]
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/06/03/nra-apologizes-for-calling-open-carry-protests/199577
I wonder what happened to the guy would issued the original statement. (Taken to the back of the outhouse and shot like the dog that he was, I recken.)
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Jeff, I agree that it's going to be a huge factor in the moral dilemma, that 6 soldiers died trying to rescue him.
Sherry, I do get it, that people can suffer from the conscience choices of others.
But my gut instinct is that there's more in the over-all reality, and we won't know much more of that until later.
As for right and wrong, who would be the worst, soldiers who covered up the My Lai massacre, or some wayward soul that said in his last e-mail that his fellow soldiers were casually trashing Afghan civilians and that he was so broken that he felt like just walking off, to a certain death, alone?
In all of the gore and chaos of any war, my final fall-back is.....bring home the wounded, however they were wounded.
At some point, I would rather go with the title of Thomas Wolfe's book, rather than the message within, that you can never go home again.
Look homeward, angels, is my own wish for them. The good, the bad, the heroes, the cowards. At some point we must accept our variegated humanity, and looking homeward, there, is possible.
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That is probably the scariest picture I have ever seen!
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^^^ I know, it looks like she's holding a really huge baby, lol!
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Tony, it is not trashing him to tell the truth about what happened. And the truth has been reported for years.
I agree with Jeff. I'm glad he's coming back to the US, but I'm glad because he... and his family... need to face up to the cost of his "conscience" and his actions, including the deaths of the men he served with.
I am troubled by his parents' stated attitude of "frustration" with the government for not doing more to get him released. Maybe if they had done LESS in encouraging him to "follow his heart," he might have had the guts to stick out his deployment and walk away after he got back home.
Bowe Bergdahl is not the only pampered kid in the US. They're everywhere, being told they can do anything, playing upward bound nobody loses sports, having their parents step in to protect them from the consequences of their behavior... the illegal as well as the stupid and mean spirited.
Some of the kids we send there are just that, kids. Poor, uneducated kids. PTSD is real. Give the guy a fucking break.
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^^^ I know, it looks like she's holding a really huge baby, lol!
I think her baby is on her back! :D
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Some of the kids we send there are just that, kids. Poor, uneducated kids. PTSD is real. Give the guy a fucking break.
HE wasn't. Not poor, not uneducated, not a kid.
I am quite familiar with PTSD. My ex-military granddaughter has it.
Bergdahl deserted. It is no different now than it was in Vietnam or WWII or the Civil War (ours.) It is turning your back on the people who depend on you. There is NO excuse.
And that is exactly what the soldiers who were serving with him have said.
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HE wasn't. Not poor, not uneducated, not a kid.
I am quite familiar with PTSD. My ex-military granddaughter has it.
Bergdahl deserted. It is no different now than it was in Vietnam or WWII or the Civil War (ours.) It is turning your back on the people who depend on you. There is NO excuse.
And that is exactly what the soldiers who were serving with him have said.
Sorry, I saw a picture of his father and i guess i setereotyped. Regardless, how do you know he isn't suffering from some PTSD type condition. You just seem really fast to condemn. I just think it's obscene to send kids to fight corporate wars. It makes me literally ill to my stomach.
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Bergdahl was born on March 28, 1986, in Sun Valley, Idaho, to Jani (née Larson) and Robert "Bob" Bergdahl, a commercial truck driver.[1][6][7] Bergdahl has an older sister, Sky Albrecht,[1][8][9] and was home schooled by his mother Jani in Hailey, Idaho.
He received a GED certificate through the College of Southern Idaho by the time he was in his early 20s.[6][10][11][12] As an adult, Bergdahl studied and practiced fencing and martial arts before switching to ballet classes at the Sun Valley Ballet School in Ketchum, Idaho.[6][10] He never owned a car, riding his bicycle everywhere.[12]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowe_Bergdahl
Doesn't sound too educated to me and born in 86 is a kid to me!
And if he did walk away from his unit (if he did) so what, he still deserves to be rescued from the enemy does he not?
I am for any soldier being returned to family! If he has done something wrong, that can be deal with later.
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How much later?
If he hadn't walked away, which is well documented, he would not have needed to be rescued... or prosecuited.
Maybe in foreign countries things are different, but here home schooled kids tend to get a better education than public schooled kids. At least, that's what test scores seem to indicate.
And hell, Bubba, YOU're a kid to me, but that doesn't make you a kid.
Bergdahl was not 18 or even 20 when he joined the Army... after being turned down by the Foreign Legion... for psychological reasons.
And it doesn't matter if it is a corporate war (on our part) or a holy one (on the Taliban's,) All war is hell.
Bergdahl joined up. He signed a contract. Things got tough and he didn't like it, so he walked away. People died trying to save him. More may die now that the deal's been made.
PTSD or not, I think he should be made to stand trial and if that's all that comes out of the swap, I'm glad he's back to do it.
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But my gut instinct is that there's more in the over-all reality, and we won't know much more of that until later.
I don't disagree, but my gut instinct is that we--meaning the general public--may well never learn the full story.
Fencing, martial arts, ballet, the Foregin Legion--sounds like one strange dude to me. Or maybe somebody without a particularly firm grasp on reality. :-\
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Original posting from a facebook friend:
You
Should be
outraged over the
senseless deaths of those
American soldiers who were killed while searching for
the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq...
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I am for any soldier being returned to family! If he has done something wrong, that can be deal with later.
This week my son is graduating from high school. He will go on to college. But some of the kids are going into the military.
At the celebrations and honors for the kids, we clap mightily for those going into the military.
*****
At the same time, stories are in the news about multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, questionable reasons for going into the war (don't blame the media, the reasons were questionable to the naked eye back when the wars began) -- and now this soldier is being dragged through the mud upon being brought home.
Shame on everyone who is exploiting this to criticize every move made by our administration. I feel for the young men and women who go off to do this dangerous work at the behest of -- let's face it, George Bush -- mostly for some small iota of political gain.
Or maybe it's just that there is no place else to go with Benghazi.
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Breaking News: Edward Snowden may find asylum in France according to this collumn in Le Monde by historian and political scientist PATRICK WEIL:
I couldn't find a link in English, sorry:
« Edward Snowden a droit d'asile en France »
http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2014/06/03/edward-snowden-a-droit-d-asile-en-france_4431241_3232.html
The writer says the Snowden has the right of asylum because of the following clause in France's constitution:
"Every man persecuted for his action in favor of liberty has the right to asylum on the territory of the Republic"
More google translation of the article:
If the Council of State decides that this is the way to interpret the Constitution and the law, François Hollande and his government will then bow before a court as would Barack Obama before a decision of the Supreme Court. If the judges decide Edward Snowden is a freedom fighter because he has a better understanding of the massive collection of information on democratic governments and citizens of the world beyond the scope of the necessary fight against terrorism and they required safeguards , the Embassy of France in Moscow will grant Edward Snowden passes with a visa to allow him to leave Russia and go in our country.
I guess the U.S. will revert back to Freedom Fries if he gets it. ;)
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Bergdahl was born on March 28, 1986, in Sun Valley, Idaho, to Jani (née Larson) and Robert "Bob" Bergdahl, a commercial truck driver.[1][6][7] Bergdahl has an older sister, Sky Albrecht,[1][8][9] and was home schooled by his mother Jani in Hailey, Idaho.
He received a GED certificate through the College of Southern Idaho by the time he was in his early 20s.[6][10][11][12] As an adult, Bergdahl studied and practiced fencing and martial arts before switching to ballet classes at the Sun Valley Ballet School in Ketchum, Idaho.[6][10] He never owned a car, riding his bicycle everywhere.[12]
Yesterday I heard someone on Progressive Radio remark that he sounds a bit like the subject of "Into the Wild": a guy who wanted to chuck everything and live in the wilderness of Alaska -- but neglected to develop any survival skills, a lethal mistake in that case. If Bergdahl did actually just walk off in Afghanistan, carrying little but a limited water supply, there could be something to that.
-
Today, on NPR, someone who doesn't know him and wasn't there, said it was possible he was trying to help the village school. He hung out there for 3 days before the Taliban took him into custody.
On the same program, a guy who said he and BB were friends as well as comrades in arms... same platoon, socialized off post... said he had said he wanted to walk all the way to India.
-
Breaking News: Edward Snowden may find asylum in France according to this collumn in Le Monde by historian and political scientist PATRICK WEIL:
I couldn't find a link in English, sorry:
« Edward Snowden a droit d'asile en France »
http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2014/06/03/edward-snowden-a-droit-d-asile-en-france_4431241_3232.html
The writer says the Snowden has the right of asylum because of the following clause in France's constitution:
"Every man persecuted for his action in favor of liberty has the right to asylum on the territory of the Republic"
More google translation of the article:
If the Council of State decides that this is the way to interpret the Constitution and the law, François Hollande and his government will then bow before a court as would Barack Obama before a decision of the Supreme Court. If the judges decide Edward Snowden is a freedom fighter because he has a better understanding of the massive collection of information on democratic governments and citizens of the world beyond the scope of the necessary fight against terrorism and they required safeguards , the Embassy of France in Moscow will grant Edward Snowden passes with a visa to allow him to leave Russia and go in our country.
I guess the U.S. will revert back to Freedom Fries if he gets it. ;)
I'm sure we'd be happy to exchange 5 terrorists Gitmo detainees for him.
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This week my son is graduating from high school. He will go on to college.
Congrats to you and your son, Ellen!
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The Republicans have been obvious for a long time, but watching this faux outrage and concern is so obnoxious when it’s so calculating and deliberate.
Because it’s an election year they want to create so much turmoil in the public sphere so voters will react like parents with an annoying two-year old
child and just give in and let them take over.
We know that actual “facts” need not apply and it’s better when one can deal in presumptive fear (“those released prisoners are gonna harm us”) or
projections based on unknown accusations (“if they see they can get five terrorists for one American traitor, what will they do next?”) and, yes, ABC
aired that “judge and jury” statement on their news last night from someone labeled “a former Pentagon spokesman.”
The Republicans wasted no time in turning something that’s usually applauded into a matter of outrage and national concern.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), among others, condemned the White House for having “negotiated with terrorists.”
The Michigan Republican added that the move marked a “fundamental shift in U.S. policy.”
That’s a nice soundbite, but it’s also wrong.
In principle, the United States does not negotiate with terrorists, which is a sensible policy intended to discourage terrorism. In practice, the United
States has negotiated with terrorists plenty of times.
For example, when terrorists hijacked TWA Flight 847 in 1985, the Reagan administration negotiated with the hostage takers, despite the U.S. policy,
and despite fears that it might create an incentive for future hijackings.
Read about it here:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,142099,00.html
More recently, and more to the point, military leaders appointed by the Bush/Cheney administration, at David Petraeus’ behest, endorsed negotiations
with the Taliban years ago in the hopes of improving national security conditions in Afghanistan.
Read about it here:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015328.php
The politics surrounding negotiations to free Bergdahl have been ugly for a long while,
Read about it here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-p-o-w-20120607 (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607?print=true)
…so this weekend’s rhetoric hardly came as a surprise. What’s more, many of the questions that have been raised about the move deserve answers.
But let’s not pretend that talking to the Taliban represents some kind of shocking twist.
And then there’s the parade of people saying things like the “furious” search for Sergeant Bergdahl, led to the killing of at least two soldiers and possibly
six others in the area even though Pentagon officials say those charges are unsubstantiated and are not supported by a review of a database of casualties
in the Afghan war.
And this caught my eye:
“Yes, I’m angry,” Joshua Cornelison, a former medic in Sergeant Bergdahl’s platoon,
said in an interview on Monday arranged by Republican strategists.
? ? ? The release of an American POW from his Taliban captors in Afghanistan has become
a political operation in which Republican strategists direct reporters to specific sources?
Later I read this:
BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray and Kate Nocera reported a former Bush Administration official who was hired, and then resigned, as Mitt Romney’s foreign
policy spokesman played a key role in publicizing critics of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the released prisoner of war.
The involvement of Richard Grenell, who once served as a key aide to Bush-era U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton and later worked for Romney’s
2012 campaign, comes as the Bergdahl release has turned into an increasingly vicious partisan issue. The piece added that similar interviews were arranged
with a variety of conservative media outlets, including The Weekly Standard, the Daily Mail, the Wall Street Journal, and Fox News.
If one searches through media reports from five years ago to as recently as last fall, one finds many a soldier and veteran lamenting that Bergdahl had been
"left to rot" in Afghanistan.
Obama Leaves American POW Sgt. Bowe Robert Bergdahl to Rot in Afghanistan; Obama Provides Excuses
Read about it here:
http://freedomoutpost.com/excuses (http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/10/obama-leaves-american-pow-sgt-bowe-robert-bergdahl-rot-afghanistan-provides-excuses)
Now the tune has changed?
And regarding the individual soldiers in his platoon coming out with statements about Bergdahl and his actions, here’s an interesting comment from
a former soldier:
We all know this will be investigated by His CoC. Statements will be taken. That We know. Members of His Platoon are speaking and again some have made
claims of strange behavior or questionable doings. IF certain behaviors and questions were noticed and brought up by Members of his Platoon, What did they
exactly do about it? Were concerns by some brought to anyone's attention? What did His immediate COC do Prior? Did they overlook it? Did they Counsel him?
Did they ignore the warning signs? Let me explain, I had roles as a Fire team Leader, Squad Leader and Section Leader Plt. Sgt. Troops TALK, Nothing goes
unnoticed…behavior, how they are acting, withdrawing from friendships, morale. Signs and symptoms of a Problem get noticed really quick. Troops Talk,
So my number 1 question I raise, What did His Immediate COC do, And Could His Immediate COC have prevented this from even happening in the 1st place?
Or maybe it's just that there is no place else to go with Benghazi.
I’ve already seen this bumper sticker online: Bergdahl is the new Benghazi.
The Republicans are falling all over themselves flinging fresh meat to their base. Desertion, treason, negotiations with terrorists, release of dangerous
high-level Taliban prisoners, not getting Congressional approval, impending doom. OMG!!! The GOP sees an opportunity to create a Benghazi-like tragedy,
before the facts come out. They know that premature accusations are more powerful than the truth, and they realize the power of heated emotions. This
is their standard operating procedure.
-
Bowepourri:
Don't worry Republicans, the freed prisoners can be located immediately by our NSA spying programs.
Heck, they probably have some kind of chips implanted in them so we know where they are and what
they're doing and we can eliminate them with our drone missles. That was probably the plan.
*******
Bowe Bergdahl is not the only pampered kid in the US.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1000thriftythings.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2Fpampers-sensitive-baby-wipes.jpg&hash=98e8a76ccd6dd03b4ccd3d81932e6db37b3d5c59)
Lot's of stuff hitting the light of day... again... about Bowe-baby.
Or hitting the fan?
*******
Of course, Dick Cheney trots out his fear mongering: “U.S. Will Pay a Price for GITMO Release!”
Hey, Dick, what about the price we already paid because of YOU. I’m sending you a bill.
*******
I almost fell off my chair when I heard Charles Krauthammer say: “Obama did not have to notify Congress.”
*******
I’ve often thought (or wondered) if much of the animosity engendered by Bergdahl is because he was a dancer. Or, as England’s Daily Mail calls him:
Ballerina Bowe…
edited because one pic per post...
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2014%2F06%2F02%2Farticle-2646192-1E656F7200000578-902_634x831.jpg&hash=c81b478d61d455964289c92a699e4175cb67b535)
I don't know why the Daily Mail pixilated the girls face, no one else has, any guesses?
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Or as Fox news sees it:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffoxnewsinsider.com%2Fsites%2Ffoxnewsinsider.com%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2F780%2Fpublic%2F060314_bergdahl_3.jpg&hash=790c9460c5d9f594b3de157f57a3bd2f37d4d2cf)
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Come on Lyle, your prejudices are showing.
There are as many Democrats and undecideds on this bandwagon as Republicans.
And most are not so much pissed about negociating with terrorists (since it's always been done) as with BO taking it upon himself to use his CONSTITUTIONAL powers in this case while bypassing Congress and the War Powers Act which, according to NPR (spent a lot of time in my gas guzzling vehicle today,) is UNconstitutional and has been ignored by every president for the last 40 years.
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HE wasn't. Not poor, not uneducated, not a kid.
I am quite familiar with PTSD. My ex-military granddaughter has it.
Bergdahl deserted. It is no different now than it was in Vietnam or WWII or the Civil War (ours.) It is turning your back on the people who depend on you. There is NO excuse.
And that is exactly what the soldiers who were serving with him have said.
Hey, to me a 22 year old is a kid. Also, I think deserting because of a crisis of conscious is better than shooting unarmed civilians from a helicopter, torturing people & urinating on corpses.
Here's an excerpt of one of his emails to his parents;
In the US army you are cut down for being honest... but if you are a conceited brown nosing shit bag you will be allowed to do what ever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank... The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an american. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools...I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live. We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks... We make fun of them in front of their faces, and laugh at them for not understanding we are insulting them...I am sorry for everything. The horror that is america is disgusting...There are a few more boxes coming to you guys. Feel free to open them, and use them.
I wonder what was in those boxes.
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I don't know why the Daily Mail pixilated the girls face, no one else has, any guesses?[/center]
Maybe because it adds a salacious touch?
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Forensics in Madeleine McCann probe focus on 'hole in the ground' which was covered by corrugated iron
Forensic tents erected at spot of interest in Praia da Luz on the Algarve
Search concentrated on area where mystery man was seen carrying a child
Site is near apartment where Madeleine disappeared in May 2007
Detectives discovered hole in ground covered with iron sheet
Used radar and diggers to examine plot in middle of search area
Police will also 'put cameras on fibre-optic cables into Ocean Club sewers'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2648396/Police-hunting-Madeleine-McCann-resort-disappeared-search-sewers.html#ixzz33iNucMTe
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
I actually do hope they find her remains. Her Parents need closure and the chances that she is still alive someplace (and God knows where that would be) are just too slim.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2648396/Police-hunting-Madeleine-McCann-resort-disappeared-search-sewers.html
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Hey, to me a 22 year old is a kid. Also, I think deserting because of a crisis of conscious is better than shooting unarmed civilians from a helicopter, torturing people & urinating on corpses.
Here's an excerpt of one of his emails to his parents;
In the US army you are cut down for being honest... but if you are a conceited brown nosing shit bag you will be allowed to do what ever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank... The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an american. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools...I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live. We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks... We make fun of them in front of their faces, and laugh at them for not understanding we are insulting them...I am sorry for everything. The horror that is america is disgusting...There are a few more boxes coming to you guys. Feel free to open them, and use them.
I wonder what was in those boxes.
Hell, OG, 52 is a kid to me. But 22 is an adult... well, it would be if people were allowed to mature normally and were not protected from life while they grew up.
And you cannot tell me he... or any body going into the military, even at 18... doesn't know what it's about. Especially since 9-11. He sounds like a spoiled little brat who never thought more than 5 minutes ahead until he landed himself in the middle of a war. And like a spoiled little brat, he decided he didn't want to play any more.
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Congrats to you and your son, Ellen!
Thanks Lyle --
And also for this link about how Republicans criticized Obama and H. Clinton and Kerry for leaving Bowe B. in Afghanastan -- the article is dated October
(reposting the link to refresh from last page)
http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/10/obama-leaves-american-pow-sgt-bowe-robert-bergdahl-rot-afghanistan-provides-excuses/
It indicates the yammering damned if he does, damned if he doesn't that Obama's critics never, ever cease-- and never, ever worry if they are contradicting themselves. They just don't seem to need to make sense, even to themselves.
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Hell, OG, 52 is a kid to me.
And you cannot tell me he... or any body going into the military, even at 18... doesn't know what it's about.
I would say at 18 they don't know, couldn't possibly know! I don't think you know much about anything at 18! So strange they can go to war, but can't drink legally in the U.S.
I am all for kids growing up, but that isn't the way to do it. Am I the only one who saw Platoon??
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The whole family, from what I've read of them, strikes me as a little ... strange.
What on earth did he think he was doing, walking off that way? Since he'd shipped his personal possessions home (or that's what I heard was in the boxes), was he deliberatly trying to get himself killed? Was it an attempt at "suicide by Taliban"?
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...... Am I the only one who saw Platoon??
Darn good movie. Other movies have also shown the tensions of being young, and going into war, or even trained. Maybe the title was "An Officer and a Gentleman", (I can't remember), but, there, we saw some of that, including the poor guy who killed himself over a girlfriend.
Maybe Sherry is right, that they are not kids, but they have so much put upon them, it's close enough. It's not pizza delivery.
Meanwhile, just assuming he was not on board with the mission. Especially as he saw it playing out. Do we only rescue those who are?
And, as for the loss of 6 lives in the effort to retrieve him, and the anger of their parents, on CNN today, one military guy said those missions had other objectives as well. Rescuing Bowe was an add-on, to some degree.
Then, the charge of desertion. If that holds up, with no mental issues to alter the charge, it was not under fire, which should be taken into account. But, for those who say it's settled, he was a deserter, well then, he still was a U.S. citizen. Do we only rescue some citizens? Those we approve of? And, who does the approving?
Obviously, I like the guy. But am willing to accept whatever facts come out in a complex case.
Meanwhile, the negatives are stupefying. Gee, he was into ballet, as well as martial arts. Football players often do ballet, or once did, for flexibility. And the talk about his father's beard. His Dad said he would not shave until his son came home. The horse crap just keeps on and on, making it difficult to sort through the real issues.
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The whole family, from what I've read of them, strikes me as a little ... strange.
What on earth did he think he was doing, walking off that way? Since he'd shipped his personal possessions home (or that's what I heard was in the boxes), was he deliberatly trying to get himself killed? Was it an attempt at "suicide by Taliban"?
Jeff, yeah, they are a little different. But most of us have seen families that were not average. Gosh, Anderson Cooper has an exotic background, and he turned out ok.
Interesting, your wondering about "suicide by Taliban". You may be on to something. Maybe he wanted some atonement for what he saw, in that outpost, as evil? We'll get a better handle on this as it plays out. Including, maybe that all of this was part of the diplomatic shift to engaging the Taliban, which is also an extremely controversial subject. Some say our biggest mistake was equating them with Al-Qaida. Ongoing revisions, there.
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Hell, OG, 52 is a kid to me. But 22 is an adult... well, it would be if people were allowed to mature normally and were not protected from life while they grew up.
And you cannot tell me he... or any body going into the military, even at 18... doesn't know what it's about. Especially since 9-11. He sounds like a spoiled little brat who never thought more than 5 minutes ahead until he landed himself in the middle of a war. And like a spoiled little brat, he decided he didn't want to play any more.
No one can know what it's about until they get there. That's a fact.
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I would say at 18 they don't know, couldn't possibly know! I don't think you know much about anything at 18! So strange they can go to war, but can't drink legally in the U.S.
I am all for kids growing up, but that isn't the way to do it. Am I the only one who saw Platoon??
Yeah, we absolutely need to lower the legal drinking age.
-
Darn good movie. Other movies have also shown the tensions of being young, and going into war, or even trained. Maybe the title was "An Officer and a Gentleman", (I can't remember), but, there, we saw some of that, including the poor guy who killed himself over a girlfriend.
Maybe Sherry is right, that they are not kids, but they have so much put upon them, it's close enough. It's not pizza delivery.
Meanwhile, just assuming he was not on board with the mission. Especially as he saw it playing out. Do we only rescue those who are?
And, as for the loss of 6 lives in the effort to retrieve him, and the anger of their parents, on CNN today, one military guy said those missions had other objectives as well. Rescuing Bowe was an add-on, to some degree.
Then, the charge of desertion. If that holds up, with no mental issues to alter the charge, it was not under fire, which should be taken into account. But, for those who say it's settled, he was a deserter, well then, he still was a U.S. citizen. Do we only rescue some citizens? Those we approve of? And, who does the approving?
Obviously, I like the guy. But am willing to accept whatever facts come out in a complex case.
Meanwhile, the negatives are stupefying. Gee, he was into ballet, as well as martial arts. Football players often do ballet, or once did, for flexibility. And the talk about his father's beard. His Dad said he would not shave until his son came home. The horse crap just keeps on and on, making it difficult to sort through the real issues.
Tony, he wasn't "rescued." He was part of a prisoner exchange. Two completely different situations.
I don't think anybody objects to him being brought back to the US.
But he sure doesn't deserve a hero's welcome.
All those "kids" were in the same situation and saw the same things. No doubt 50% of them didn't like the way things were being handled and the other 50% were doing the handling.
However... there are lots of ways to get sent home before your deployment is over and lots of ways to get out of the military before your enlistment is up.
And I don't like the guy's beard. I don't like facial hair on any man... on women, it depends.
Come on, T, you have to admit he looks like he should be on Gitmo.
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Let the sporting event & concert firefights begin! Because your dead kids don't trump.....
“Georgia’s new gun law, which allows guns to be carried guns to be carried in more public places, (http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/04/23/nathan-deal-stresses-positive-changes-in-gun-bill-hell-sign-today/) takes effect July 1, but the thought of guns being in the audience has caused one performer to consider canceling a Macon show, reports Georgia Public Broadcasting. (http://www.gpb.org/news/2014/06/04/macon-officials-say-new-gun-law-is-driving-performers-away-from-public-venues)
“Crystal Jones, senior assistant attorney for the Macon-Bibb County government, says the new law allows guns in any government-owned buildings that do not have security checkpoints at entrances, including the Macon Centreplex and Macon City Auditorium.
“Because there are no 'government meetings taking place in those facilities, they don’t constitute a government building which is able to have security personnel screening,' says Jones, who says Philips Arena in Atlanta can’t screen for weapons either since it is owned by the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.
http://newstome.blog.ajc.com/2014/06/04/philips-arena-may-not-be-able-to-ban-guns/
-
The Guardian's take on Maureen Dowd's excruciatingly earnest Reefer Madness Redux.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/04/new-york-times-columnists-harsh-our-mellow
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Today, on NPR, someone who doesn't know him and wasn't there, said it was possible he was trying to help the village school. He hung out there for 3 days before the Taliban took him into custody.
On the same program, a guy who said he and BB were friends as well as comrades in arms... same platoon, socialized off post... said he had said he wanted to walk all the way to India.
There might be more to it than Chuckie Cabbagemallet, the folks who saw Platoon, et al. assume:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bergdahl-chronicles-060414
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And I don't like the guy's beard. I don't like facial hair on any man... on women, it depends.
Come on, T, you have to admit he looks like he should be on Gitmo.
Well, yes. It is a bad beard. But, Gitmo? Nah. Maybe the Jerry Springer show.
-
Let the sporting event & concert firefights begin! Because your dead kids don't trump.....
“Georgia’s new gun law, which allows guns to be carried guns to be carried in more public places, (http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/04/23/nathan-deal-stresses-positive-changes-in-gun-bill-hell-sign-today/) takes effect July 1, but the thought of guns being in the audience has caused one performer to consider canceling a Macon show, reports Georgia Public Broadcasting. (http://www.gpb.org/news/2014/06/04/macon-officials-say-new-gun-law-is-driving-performers-away-from-public-venues)
“Crystal Jones, senior assistant attorney for the Macon-Bibb County government, says the new law allows guns in any government-owned buildings that do not have security checkpoints at entrances, including the Macon Centreplex and Macon City Auditorium.
“Because there are no 'government meetings taking place in those facilities, they don’t constitute a government building which is able to have security personnel screening,' says Jones, who says Philips Arena in Atlanta can’t screen for weapons either since it is owned by the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.
http://newstome.blog.ajc.com/2014/06/04/philips-arena-may-not-be-able-to-ban-guns/
Yeah, we heard the same thing here in TN when the law changed so guns could be carried in parks, sporting events, bars, restaurants, churches, etc. Of course there is a rule that you can't consume alcohol and carry, but....
We have OPEN carry... not constitutional carry... and any person with a gun permit can OPENLY caryy any firearm legally owned by him/her pretty much any place. CONCEALED carry has restrictions.
So far there hasn't been a single gunfight on the main street of Nashville. Go figure.
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I've been trying not to enter into this well-worn debate, but can't hold my tongue. I just want to know what anyone thinks is GOOD about walking around with a gun, concealed or otherwise. And why people are not prepared just to see what life might be like without them. Would the sky fall? Go on, just give it a try.
Murders and tragic accidents would still happen of course, but I surely believe it would be to a lesser degree.
(And this is not a 'my own country is wonderful' post - plenty of horrible things happen over here, but....)
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Tony, he wasn't "rescued." He was part of a prisoner exchange. Two completely different situations.
No, he wasn't, but I believe the point was that those missions where six other Americans got killed included rescuing Bergdahl as part of their objectives. Obviously, they failed to rescue him and he was freed now in a prisoner exchange.
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I just want to know what anyone thinks is GOOD about walking around with a gun, concealed or otherwise. And why people are not prepared just to see what life might be like without them. Would the sky fall?
I realize, Sara, these are a series of rhetorical questions. However, if they were direct,I would have no real idea how to answer them. Basically, I agree with your thoughts. A certain segment/ percentage of our population does appear to posses a sort of "Rambo" mentality when it comes to guns. I do not share that mentality and I do not understand it but I know it exists.
Murders and tragic accidents would still happen of course, but I surely believe would be to a lesser degree.
I agree but have no concrete statistics to support this. It, of course, certainly seems logical.
(And this is not a 'my own country is wonderful' post - plenty of horrible things happen over here, but....)
Yes, plenty of horrible things happen everywhere. I do not know the percentage of the U.S. population that harbors this gun mentality and I do not know if it is a greater percentage of our population than that of other countries.
I do know that many of us are weary of the perception that we are a civilization of "wild west' gun toting anarchists. In this case, perception is simply not reality.
I am also confident that during your visit to the U.S. this Fall, you will be hard pressed to encounter anyone carrying a gun.
(Well, you never know about Linda and Michael, they may have been radicalized by then. :D)
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Jeff, yeah, they are a little different. But most of us have seen families that were not average. Gosh, Anderson Cooper has an exotic background, and he turned out ok.
Interesting, your wondering about "suicide by Taliban". You may be on to something. Maybe he wanted some atonement for what he saw, in that outpost, as evil? We'll get a better handle on this as it plays out. Including, maybe that all of this was part of the diplomatic shift to engaging the Taliban, which is also an extremely controversial subject. Some say our biggest mistake was equating them with Al-Qaida. Ongoing revisions, there.
I'm not meaning to suggest that you're among the "some say," but let's also not forget that the Taliban, or some of the Taliban, shoot girls for wanting to go to school and get an education. :(
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Come on Lyle, your prejudices are showing.
There are as many Democrats and undecideds on this bandwagon as Republicans.
Maybe that's your perception, but you'll have to persuade with more than a statement.
Google this story and what mostly comes up is right-wing articles and stories and Fox news items.
After a meeting yesterday Patrick Leahy was the "ONLY" Democrat who made any statement about
it while scores of Republicans wanted to parade before the news media they despise so much and
proclaim how wrong it all is.
Plus, show me where Democrats are doing this:
? ? ? The release of an American POW from his Taliban captors in Afghanistan has become
a political operation in which Republican strategists direct reporters to specific sources?
They've shamefully got anyone they can find with a relative lost in the war to come forth and share
their pain and grievances and trash or blame Bergdahl, the military, the Presidient or anyone else.
It's the kind of story that can be made to appear more significant because there are things we
don't know and boogeyman things to speculate about, like Cheney's oft-repeated fear based mantras.
It seems that most of us greeted this story as something positive. Someone in captivity for five years
was released into U.S. custody without any bloodshed and we traded five prisoners from a place that
most of the country wanted closed in 2009 like Obama pledged to do when he first took office. The prisoners
that were there who could be brought up on charges for trial have been. Something has to be done with them
eventually. People are released under the law from U.S. prisons all the time that others think should stay there,
but just because it makes some people feel artificially comfortable, like carrying a gun does, it doesn't mean it
should happen.
When this first broke on the news I don't recall anyone ever saying that the circumstances surrounding
Bergdahl's capture should not be looked into, nor subsequently dealt with at some point, nor that anyone
called him a hero. (The military thought he served honorably enough to be promoted twice while in captivity.)
Yet suddenly there was a parade of people stirring up any and all of that across the news media.
I ask why? Why couldn't this play out (as it will anyway) without all the brouhaha? And looking over all of
your posts, what is it EXACTLY that you are objecting to in this whole matter?
1.) Regardless of the circumstances of the capture, I have no problem that the U.S. got a soldier
back from five years in captivity.
2.) I have no problem with the prisoner exchange from Guantanamo.
3.) As for the brouhaha about Obama not notifying Congress in advance, I obviously don't know the
legalities of that and what, if anything, could be done about it after the fact, but when a far right
conservative like Charles Krauthammer, whom I never remember on any occasion having sided with
Obama, goes on Fox News Insider and defends it, I have to wonder if there's method to the madness
of the uproar.
For clarification, what Krauthammer said was:
Charles Krauthammer defended President Obama’s power to release the detainees without telling Congress. He said the spirit of the law was to prevent the president from emptying Guantanamo. Krauthammer said, “The one area where the president holds the upper hand in those disputes is in matters of war and peace, he’s commander in chief. And I think a prisoner exchange is in the province of the presidency.” Krauthammer said a country has two “iron clad” obligations. The first is if there’s a soldier being held prisoner, you get him back. The second obligation he outlined is, “If you desert your unit, you are subject to military discipline. I would say you free him, and then you try him.” Krauthammer said the mistake President Obama made was to celebrate the prisoner exchange. He said that the president’s press conference was part of his “arrogance” and “ignorance.” In any hostage exchange, Krauthammer said the other side always gets the better deal. “We put a premium on individual lives the way the other guys don't. That’s the difference between a civilized society and a barbarous society. And we pay a high price for being civilized,” he said.
It indicates the yammering damned if he does, damned if he doesn't that Obama's critics never, ever cease-- and never, ever worry if they are contradicting themselves. They just don't seem to need to make sense, even to themselves.
I read a whole article yesterday just about one person's (John McCain) statements over the last few years concerning
Gitmo, any prisoner exchange and Bergdahl. (Wholly representative of the Rep. party.) You'd think he was entirely
schizophrenic.
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So far there hasn't been a single gunfight on the main street of Nashville. Go figure.
"So far" perhaps being the operative words there. Don't know what you envisioned when you
wrote that, but if you Google "gunfight on the main street of Nashville" you will come up with
a few items.
In the interest of understanding, would you care to answer Cally's questions?
I just want to know what anyone thinks is GOOD about walking around with a gun, concealed or otherwise.
And why people are not prepared just to see what life might be like without them. Would the sky fall?
-
I am also confident that during your visit to the U.S. this Fall, you will be hard pressed to encounter anyone carrying a gun.
Although another poster from Britain recently stated she had had a gun pointed at her on two separate visits to the U.S. !
(By policemen.)
I do not know the percentage of the U.S. population that harbors this gun mentality and I do not know if it is a greater percentage of our population than that of other countries.
If it isn't a huge percentage, the NRA is a megaphone that certainly seems to enlarge the perception.
And this issue is absolutely nothing new. People might remember some notorious instances of gun
violence the U.S. experienced in the 60's and 70's?
There was much debate about it then. The Smothers Brothers have a dvd collection of "best of" shows.
In one episode they did a series of sketches about guns and gun control and they got more mail about that
than anything else they did on the show. People were furious and writing letters condemning the show for
their anti-gun stance and trying to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens and the like. The same
old tropes being bandied about today. There is a special feature on the dvd where you can read a selection of
the angry letters they received about it.
I was watching another variety show from that time this week and they did a blackout sketch where a news
reporter comes up to a guy with a blue NRA shirt on and he's decked out in guns of all sorts and bullets and
the like and the reporter asks him about all this and why he wants all these guns and such and lastly he asks
the guy, "What are you so afraid of?" The guy points off to someone behind the reporter and says "Him!"
The camera pans over to a guy that looks identical to him--blue NRA shirt, loads of guns and bullets...
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As you would expect, I am in complete support of both Sara and Gary on the gun question.
I know too, that Sara will be met in the USA with kindness, courtesy and enthusiasm.
However, when we were in Florida we went into an "Outdoor" shop which sold fishing rods, hiking equipment and clothing, etc, when I walked around a stand of hats and came face to face with the gun department, a huge range of every type of guns one could imagine, including what looked to me like semi-automatic machine guns, I felt as if i had been brought face to face with a stand of hard core porn.
I felt so affronted and unsettled by it that I went to the other side of the shop as fast as I could.
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In those states that allow you to carry guns everywhere, are you allowed to carry them in amusement
parks and on the rides? You never know when you might need to pull it out on a rollercoaster.
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I realize, Sara, these are a series of rhetorical questions. However, if they were direct,I would have no real idea how to answer them. Basically, I agree with your thoughts. A certain segment/ percentage of our population does appear to posses a sort of "Rambo" mentality when it comes to guns. I do not share that mentality and I do not understand it but I know it exists. I agree but have no concrete statistics to support this. It, of course, certainly seems logical. Yes, plenty of horrible things happen everywhere. I do not know the percentage of the U.S. population that harbors this gun mentality and I do not know if it is a greater percentage of our population than that of other countries.
I do know that many of us are weary of the perception that we are a civilization of "wild west' gun toting anarchists. In this case, perception is simply not reality.
I am also confident that during your visit to the U.S. this Fall, you will be hard pressed to encounter anyone carrying a gun.
(Well, you never know about Linda and Michael, they may have been radicalized by then. :D)
I'm not sure they are rhetorical, Gary, except possibly the one about the sky falling :).
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I just want to know what anyone thinks is GOOD about walking around with a gun, concealed or otherwise.
They're compensating for other shortcomings, or, rather, overcompensating. ;)
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I'm not sure they are rhetorical, Gary, except possibly the one about the sky falling :).
Oh, well then I guess you will have to ask those people. My guess is that none of them are regulars on DCF. Hence, my reference to rhetorical in that I thought you were asking us to consider your message or viewpoint.
I just want to know what anyone thinks is GOOD about walking around with a gun, concealed or otherwise.
Again, I don't know. You would need to ask a person who carries a gun concealed or otherwise. Obviously those who do walk around with guns must think there is something "good" about doing so…if they think at all. Or, perhaps, as Jeff implies, they have small penises. (and if that is the case, I think a large briefcase would be a decent substitute for a gun.) Or breasts? Or brains. Again, dunno.
And why people are not prepared just to see what life might be like without them.
Again, dunno. Have to ask them.
Would the sky fall?
No….unless you are being metaphorical or,again, rhetorical.
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No, he wasn't, but I believe the point was that those missions where six other Americans got killed included rescuing Bergdahl as part of their objectives. Obviously, they failed to rescue him and he was freed now in a prisoner exchange.
I never hear that there were ANY rescue attempts. Those six guys were assigned to cover several exits from the country to prevent him from being taken out. I'm sure if they had found a group of people, Taliban or otherwise, whether forcing or helping him, there would have been a rescue or recovery attempt, so yes, then a rescue would have been "part of their objectives." But, instead, they ended up in other fights and six were killed. As more than one of the interviewees said, if Bergdahl hadn't deserted, those men would not have been where they were killed because they were outside their normal areas of operation. You can put it down to the dangers of war, but, in this case, those guys should have been alive to die doing something else.
And I may have missed it since the story is all over the "news" and most of it is just repeats what has already been said several times, but none of the people who were stationed with him have spoken any words of acceptance or forgiveness for his actions. Just about everyone has said they knew he was unhappy and many of them were as well, but they were surprised he just quit and feel betrayed by him. It's one thing to walk away from your position as machine operator or cashier at Pizza Hut or Rams quarterback and leave your co-workers understaffed and another to break the trust of the men you are in a war with.
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Heroes' tears on the eve of the Longest Day: Emotional D-Day veterans remember their fallen comrades as they revisit the French towns they liberated 70 years ago
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2014%2F06%2F05%2Farticle-2649518-1E8111B100000578-280_636x349.jpg&hash=f5a475445bb4fb8a948557b0809c8a4fee25707b)
Seventy years ago, they were preparing for the most dangerous mission of their lives. Today, more than 650 British veterans have revisited the beaches and towns they liberated on D-Day to meet the French civilians they helped to free from the Nazis. And the day was an emotional affair for most - with former servicemen pictured weeping, beaming and embracing each other as they relived their heroic actions in Normandy in 1944. Pictured: Veteran Fred Holborn, from the Fleet Air Arm, looks at British Legion Union flags planted in the sand on Gold beach (left), William Ness from the 12th Yorkshire Parachute Battalion, is overcome with emotion (right) and a veteran is helped across Pegasus Bridge (inset).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2649518/D-Day-veteran-honours-war-dead-70th-anniversary-celebrations-begin.html
Beautiful pictures inside..
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I realize, Sara, these are a series of rhetorical questions. However, if they were direct,I would have no real idea how to answer them. Basically, I agree with your thoughts. A certain segment/ percentage of our population does appear to posses a sort of "Rambo" mentality when it comes to guns. I do not share that mentality and I do not understand it but I know it exists. I agree but have no concrete statistics to support this. It, of course, certainly seems logical. Yes, plenty of horrible things happen everywhere. I do not know the percentage of the U.S. population that harbors this gun mentality and I do not know if it is a greater percentage of our population than that of other countries.
I do know that many of us are weary of the perception that we are a civilization of "wild west' gun toting anarchists. In this case, perception is simply not reality.
I am also confident that during your visit to the U.S. this Fall, you will be hard pressed to encounter anyone carrying a gun.
(Well, you never know about Linda and Michael, they may have been radicalized by then. :D)
Yeah, Linda and Michael... ;D
I don't take a weapon... no guns, no knifes, no big clubs... with me off my property. I DO take my big dog who is very intuitive and protective and has on more than one occasion put himself between me and another person that HE considered a danger. I have no doubt he'd bite if someone didn't give him the respect he is due. But I know a lot of people, mostly women, who have conceal carry permits and have handguns in their purse or a pocket or the glovebox of their vehicle. And I'm sure I know just as many who I DON'T know have conceal carry permits who do the same thing. It's not a Rambo mentality but the realization that the cops or some bystander may not come to your aid or get there in time if you need them. Unlike Gary, I'm sure during your visit this Fall, you'll meet a lot of people carrying guns. You just won't know about it.
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Maybe that's your perception, but you'll have to persuade with more than a statement.
Google this story and what mostly comes up is right-wing articles and stories and Fox news items.
After a meeting yesterday Patrick Leahy was the "ONLY" Democrat who made any statement about
it while scores of Republicans wanted to parade before the news media they despise so much and
proclaim how wrong it all is.
Plus, show me where Democrats are doing this:
They've shamefully got anyone they can find with a relative lost in the war to come forth and share
their pain and grievances and trash or blame Bergdahl, the military, the Presidient or anyone else.
It's the kind of story that can be made to appear more significant because there are things we
don't know and boogeyman things to speculate about, like Cheney's oft-repeated fear based mantras.
It seems that most of us greeted this story as something positive. Someone in captivity for five years
was released into U.S. custody without any bloodshed and we traded five prisoners from a place that
most of the country wanted closed in 2009 like Obama pledged to do when he first took office. The prisoners
that were there who could be brought up on charges for trial have been. Something has to be done with them
eventually. People are released under the law from U.S. prisons all the time that others think should stay there,
but just because it makes some people feel artificially comfortable, like carrying a gun does, it doesn't mean it
should happen.
When this first broke on the news I don't recall anyone ever saying that the circumstances surrounding
Bergdahl's capture should not be looked into, nor subsequently dealt with at some point, nor that anyone
called him a hero. (The military thought he served honorably enough to be promoted twice while in captivity.)
Yet suddenly there was a parade of people stirring up any and all of that across the news media.
I ask why? Why couldn't this play out (as it will anyway) without all the brouhaha? And looking over all of
your posts, what is it EXACTLY that you are objecting to in this whole matter?
1.) Regardless of the circumstances of the capture, I have no problem that the U.S. got a soldier
back from five years in captivity.
2.) I have no problem with the prisoner exchange from Guantanamo.
3.) As for the brouhaha about Obama not notifying Congress in advance, I obviously don't know the
legalities of that and what, if anything, could be done about it after the fact, but when a far right
conservative like Charles Krauthammer, whom I never remember on any occasion having sided with
Obama, goes on Fox News Insider and defends it, I have to wonder if there's method to the madness
of the uproar.
For clarification, what Krauthammer said was:
Charles Krauthammer defended President Obama’s power to release the detainees without telling Congress. He said the spirit of the law was to prevent the president from emptying Guantanamo. Krauthammer said, “The one area where the president holds the upper hand in those disputes is in matters of war and peace, he’s commander in chief. And I think a prisoner exchange is in the province of the presidency.” Krauthammer said a country has two “iron clad” obligations. The first is if there’s a soldier being held prisoner, you get him back. The second obligation he outlined is, “If you desert your unit, you are subject to military discipline. I would say you free him, and then you try him.” Krauthammer said the mistake President Obama made was to celebrate the prisoner exchange. He said that the president’s press conference was part of his “arrogance” and “ignorance.” In any hostage exchange, Krauthammer said the other side always gets the better deal. “We put a premium on individual lives the way the other guys don't. That’s the difference between a civilized society and a barbarous society. And we pay a high price for being civilized,” he said.
I read a whole article yesterday just about one person's (John McCain) statements over the last few years concerning
Gitmo, any prisoner exchange and Bergdahl. (Wholly representative of the Rep. party.) You'd think he was entirely
schizophrenic.
I'm sure glad I don't get my news from cable.
-
As you would expect, I am in complete support of both Sara and Gary on the gun question.
I know too, that Sara will be met in the USA with kindness, courtesy and enthusiasm.
However, when we were in Florida we went into an "Outdoor" shop which sold fishing rods, hiking equipment and clothing, etc, when I walked around a stand of hats and came face to face with the gun department, a huge range of every type of guns one could imagine, including what looked to me like semi-automatic machine guns, I felt as if i had been brought face to face with a stand of hard core porn.
I felt so affronted and unsettled by it that I went to the other side of the shop as fast as I could.
I feel your pain. I'm just as affronted by the cigarette display behind the counter and don't get me started on the drinking alcohol department. Many stores in the US actually sell beer that has been refrigerated right along side the ice cream and Lean Cuisine.
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Bergdahl had left his unit before, but returned: sources
Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. military investigation of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's capture by the Taliban found he had slipped away from his unit before but had always returned, raising questions about whether or not he was deserting when he disappeared in 2009, people familiar with the findings said on Thursday.
Bergdahl, 28, was freed after five years as an Afghanistan war prisoner on Saturday when the Obama administration agreed to release five Taliban leaders from Guantanamo prison in exchange, a deal that touched off a firestorm of criticism.
Some soldiers who served in Afghanistan have accused Bergdahl of deserting from his remote outpost in the eastern region of the country on June 30, 2009, but the Pentagon has said publicly that the circumstances were unclear.
The people familiar with classified findings said investigators learned that Bergdahl, who was broadly portrayed as dissatisfied with the deployment in Afghanistan, had slipped away in the past, only to return a short while later. He did this once while undergoing military training in California, the sources said on condition of anonymity
more
http://news.yahoo.com/bergdahl-had-left-unit-returned-sources-210013292.html
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Many stores in the US actually sell beer that has been refrigerated right along side the ice cream and Lean Cuisine.
Which makes grocery shopping so much easier for us beer/ice cream aficionados who are constantly on a diet.
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Bergdahl had left his unit before, but returned: sources
He did this once while undergoing military training in California...
Yeah, but he was just going over to Disneyland to confer with Donald Duck and Goofy.
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I feel your pain. I'm just as affronted by the cigarette display behind the counter and don't get me started on the drinking alcohol department. Many stores in the US actually sell beer that has been refrigerated right along side the ice cream and Lean Cuisine.
Here is Canuckistan cigarettes have to be out of sight and no advertising is allowed. However, here in Quebec at least, beer and wine is promoted and on display in all corner stores and supermarkets.
-
And I may have missed it since the story is all over the "news" and most of it is just repeats what has already been said several times, but none of the people who were stationed with him have spoken any words of acceptance or forgiveness for his actions. Just about everyone has said they knew he was unhappy and many of them were as well, but they were surprised he just quit and feel betrayed by him. It's one thing to walk away from your position as machine operator or cashier at Pizza Hut or Rams quarterback and leave your co-workers understaffed and another to break the trust of the men you are in a war with.
I agree with you completely there. He was unhappy? Too bad. He enlisted of his own free will. So you suck it up and get through it and then don't reenlist. It's the military. You don't get to just walk off because you decide you don't like it.
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Anyone remember the movie Stop Loss?
A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.
You don't have to re-enlist, they can just send you back if they like!
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Here is Canuckistan cigarettes have to be out of sight and no advertising is allowed. However, here in Quebec at least, beer and wine is promoted and on display in all corner stores and supermarkets.
Yep in Ontario, smokes are out of sight where no one can see them (like kids) you have to ask for them. And there are mostly only sold in variety stores. And booze is not sold in stores, neither are assault weapons, we do have lean cuisines though!
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The Guardian's take on Maureen Dowd's excruciatingly earnest Reefer Madness Redux.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/04/new-york-times-columnists-harsh-our-mellow
I saw that and thought she was actually trolling, no one can be that stupid. I can't believe she won a Pulitzer, lol! I like that she mentioned that when she was curled up in a foetal position she fondled her GREEN corduroy pants, lol! Corduroy pants in June, there's a fashion crime right there.
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Which makes grocery shopping so much easier for us beer/ice cream aficionados who are constantly on a diet.
;D
Here is Canuckistan cigarettes have to be out of sight and no advertising is allowed. However, here in Quebec at least, beer and wine is promoted and on display in all corner stores and supermarkets.
Such an enlightened country. Good on ya', eh?
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Yep in Ontario, smokes are out of sight where no one can see them (like kids) you have to ask for them. And there are mostly only sold in variety stores. And booze is not sold in stores, neither are assault weapons, we do have lean cuisines though!
Wow! You keep your kids out of sight? Free health care, kids locked away... Canada here I come. I'll bring my own AK47.
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Wow! You keep your kids out of sight? Free health care, kids locked away... Canada here I come. I'll bring my own AK47.
That's okay we'll pass!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-shooting-manhunt-enters-2nd-night-1.2665707
Moncton New Brunswick, is having it's very own crazed gun man, he has already killed three police. People are in shock, as they say you hear of these things in the U.S., but not here and certainly not in New Brunswick.
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..... Corduroy pants in June, there's a fashion crime right there.
Well, finally I can totally disagree with you on something :D. Here, in Virginia, corduroys are good in heat because they breathe, and good in winter for warmth. For many years, they were all I wore.
Dunno about the green, though. Must be a Northern aberration.
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Moncton New Brunswick, is having it's very own crazed gun man, he has already killed three police. People are in shock, as they say you hear of these things in the U.S., but not here and certainly not in New Brunswick.
Better news coverage here.
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Good news!
Quebec passes 'dying with dignity' bill
Act respecting end-of-life care, Bill 52, allows terminally ill patients to choose death
Terminally ill patients in Quebec have the right to choose to die.
The non-partisan Bill 52, also known as an act respecting end-of-life care, passed Thursday afternoon in a free vote at the National Assembly in Quebec Cit
The bill passed 94-22. There were no abstentions.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-passes-dying-with-dignity-bill-1.2665834
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As you would expect, I am in complete support of both Sara and Gary on the gun question.
I know too, that Sara will be met in the USA with kindness, courtesy and enthusiasm.
However, when we were in Florida we went into an "Outdoor" shop which sold fishing rods, hiking equipment and clothing, etc, when I walked around a stand of hats and came face to face with the gun department, a huge range of every type of guns one could imagine, including what looked to me like semi-automatic machine guns, I felt as if i had been brought face to face with a stand of hard core porn.
I felt so affronted and unsettled by it that I went to the other side of the shop as fast as I could.
Just a question of curiosity. Does anyone in the UK hunt, and if so, where do the hunters get their rifles to hunt with? Do any farmers or ranchers have guns to protect their property or livestock from predators? If so, then where would they purchase these? I really am curious about this.
I know the kind of outdoor store you are talking about, Jess. I used to go with my husband to them all the time. It has been a few years since I have been in one, but this is the type of store where my husband purchased rifles and shotguns for hunting. I don't doubt that they are stocking the semiautomatics now, (unfortunately) but this is a place for legitimate gun owners (hunters, farmers and ranchers) to purchase guns.
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Better news coverage here.
No that's not it and I think you know that! And I can't make light of the death of three police men, but then like I say it doesn't usually happen here.
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Just a question of curiosity. Does anyone in the UK hunt, and if so, where do the hunters get their rifles to hunt with? Do any farmers or ranchers have guns to protect their property or livestock from predators? If so, then where would they purchase these? I really am curious about this.
I know the kind of outdoor store you are talking about, Jess. I used to go with my husband to them all the time. It has been a few years since I have been in one, but this is the type of store where my husband purchased rifles and shotguns for hunting. I don't doubt that they are stocking the semiautomatics now, (unfortunately) but this is a place for legitimate gun owners (hunters, farmers and ranchers) to purchase guns.
I was thinking about that earlier. Evenn if I wanted to, I have no idea where I could go and buy a handgun/rifle/semi-auotmatic weapon. Well, legally, anyway. I've never seen one for sale in any store I've been to. But yet, people buy them all the time. I guess I'm just a city kid and you have to be in the country to buy these things? I don't know.
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As you would expect, I am in complete support of both Sara and Gary on the gun question.
I know too, that Sara will be met in the USA with kindness, courtesy and enthusiasm.
However, when we were in Florida we went into an "Outdoor" shop which sold fishing rods, hiking equipment and clothing, etc, when I walked around a stand of hats and came face to face with the gun department, a huge range of every type of guns one could imagine, including what looked to me like semi-automatic machine guns, I felt as if i had been brought face to face with a stand of hard core porn.
I felt so affronted and unsettled by it that I went to the other side of the shop as fast as I could.
I think we know people in the UK hunt, they are big hunters right, look at the Royal Family! People in Canada certainly hunt, Moose and Deer hunting it is very popular in our Canadian North.
And you can buy rifles in stores I am sure (what stores, I also don't have a clue, ones that sell guns for recreational hunting I guess. :D) But wherever they are, they won't have the AK47 next to them.
And then of course you would need your safety course, your application, your license, your 30 day waiting period.... you aren't just grabbing them of the shelf.
BREAKING NEWS
3 shot at Seattle college
One killed; student tackles gunman
A gunman entered the science and engineering building at Seattle Pacific University, shot three people and was reloading a shotgun when a student subdued him, Seattle police say.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/05/justice/seattle-campus-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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And then of course you would need your safety course, your application, your license, your 30 day waiting period.... you aren't just grabbing them of the shelf.
All of the above applies here, Bubba. No one just grabs them off the shelf, despite what you think.
All of us took safety courses, mandatory, applications, mandatory, licenses yearly, mandatory ($2500+ fine if caught hunting without a license) and the waiting period, mandatory (depending on the state and type of gun being bought.)
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Well we can't go through it state by state, but it most definitely does vary. There is no waiting period to buy a gun in Texas.
Remember Bowling for Columbine, he walks into a bank in Michigan, opens an account and walks out with a free hunting rifle! :D
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There are probably several reasons this story hasn't been mentioned... nobody's dead, no guns were used and the real bad guy is a on going story on the internet. I mean, who doesn't have internet access? Not to mention knives.
U.S 12-year-old Wisconsin girl allegedly stabbed by Slenderman-loving classmates improving: family
The stabbing victim's condition was upgraded from critical to fair Wednesday. The middle schooler was allegedly attacked Saturday by two classmates who said they wanted to kill her to please Slenderman, a demon they read about online. Slenderman's creator has expressed his condolences to the victim and her family.
BY Meg Wagner / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Thursday, June 5, 2014, 1:19 PMA.
The 12-year-old girl who was allegedly stabbed 19 times by two of her middle school classmates is "improving each and every day," her parents said Thursday.
The Wisconsin girl was assaulted Saturday morning in a Waukesha park. Police said the suspects, two other 12-year-old girls, left her to die after they attacked her with a knife.
"Our little girl is a fighter," the victim's parents said in a statement. The family is asking that the child's identity be withheld for privacy.
On Wednesday, the girl's condition was upgrade to stable after she spent several days listed in critical but stable condition, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. One of the middle schooler's wounds was just a millimeter away from a major heart artery.
Police said the girl's classmates, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, attacked her during a game of hide-and-seek Saturday. The accused 12-year-olds said they wanted to kill their friend in order to please Slenderman, a fictional creature they read about in online horror stories.
The two girls told police they had been planning the attack for months because they wanted to become "proxies" of the demon-like figure.
Geyser and Weier have been charged as adults with attempted first-degree murder. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 65 years in prison.
more
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/12-year-old-slenderman-stabbing-victim-improving-family-article-1.1818318
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Good news!
Quebec passes 'dying with dignity' bill
Act respecting end-of-life care, Bill 52, allows terminally ill patients to choose death
Terminally ill patients in Quebec have the right to choose to die.
The non-partisan Bill 52, also known as an act respecting end-of-life care, passed Thursday afternoon in a free vote at the National Assembly in Quebec Cit
The bill passed 94-22. There were no abstentions.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-passes-dying-with-dignity-bill-1.2665834
Something we don't have yet - though I'm for it and there is a lot of pressure for a new law.
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Anyone remember the movie Stop Loss?
A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.
You don't have to re-enlist, they can just send you back if they like!
Yes, but that's not the same thing as willfully re-enlisting.
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Moncton New Brunswick, is having it's very own crazed gun man, he has already killed three police. People are in shock, as they say you hear of these things in the U.S., but not here and certainly not in New Brunswick.
I haven't heard anything this morning. Have they caught him yet?
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Yahoo headlines say the guy was arrested. I didn't bother reading the story...
although I would like to know if he got his firearms legally, you know, since Canada is so strict about it and all, eh?
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Yahoo headlines say the guy was arrested. I didn't bother reading the story...
although I would like to know if he got his firearms legally, you know, since Canada is so strict about it and all, eh?
Thanks.
I guess he can't be executed for killing three Mounties, can he?
I understand he had a crossbow, too.
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Just a question of curiosity. Does anyone in the UK hunt, and if so, where do the hunters get their rifles to hunt with? Do any farmers or ranchers have guns to protect their property or livestock from predators? If so, then where would they purchase these? I really am curious about this.
OK, I'll do my best with this, Linda.
"Hunting" never refers to shooting. It's usually hunting on horseback with hounds, and has traditionally been ostensibly to keep down foxes, deer, hares, otters etc, but I would think was mainly considered a sport. Nowadays much of this is prohibited:
(from government website) Hunting with dogs
You can’t hunt some animals, like foxes, hares and deer, but you can hunt under certain conditions, for example:
. stalking and flushing out - but only to control pests and only if they’re shot as soon as possible afterwards
. hunting rats and rabbits
. retrieving hares that have been shot
. rescuing wounded animals, as long as they weren’t wounded on purpose
. drag hunting and trail hunting
There has been much opposition to this from the hunting lobby, and there are rumours of fox-hunting continuing in some areas. You didn't ask for my opinion but I'll give it anyway ;). I can see that it must be great fun and exciting if you like riding, but I don't like the idea of killing for sport, which is what it pretty much is.
I hope this is all correct: Farmers can have guns for protecting livestock, mainly from foxes and dogs. They would buy them from licensed shops, have a gun licence, and keep them in locked gun cabinets which can be inspected by the police.
And ditto for rifles for rifle-shooting in a club or clay-pigeon shooting, and also for shooting pheasants or grouse etc. I suppose you could say that the latter was a reasonable way of obtaining food for carnivores, of which I am one, but from the little I have seen, pheasant shoots seem to be a very competitive massacre of birds that have been bred for the purpose - killing for sport again.
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I don't think anyone who supports general gun ownership has actually answered my possible naïve but sincerely meant questions. :)
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No one in GB hunts for food? That is huge here. Much of the animals killed for "sport" (which I don't get... I mean, where's the sport?) any way a lot of that is donated to shelters/food banks/ etc. so the meat doesn't go to waste.
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I don't think anyone who supports general gun ownership has actually answered my possible naïve but sincerely meant questions. :)
I've been trying not to enter into this well-worn debate, but can't hold my tongue. I just want to know what anyone thinks is GOOD about walking around with a gun, concealed or otherwise. And why people are not prepared just to see what life might be like without them. Would the sky fall? Go on, just give it a try.
Murders and tragic accidents would still happen of course, but I surely believe it would be to a lesser degree.
(And this is not a 'my own country is wonderful' post - plenty of horrible things happen over here, but....)
Yeah, Linda and Michael... ;D
I don't take a weapon... no guns, no knifes, no big clubs... with me off my property. I DO take my big dog who is very intuitive and protective and has on more than one occasion put himself between me and another person that HE considered a danger. I have no doubt he'd bite if someone didn't give him the respect he is due. But I know a lot of people, mostly women, who have conceal carry permits and have handguns in their purse or a pocket or the glovebox of their vehicle. And I'm sure I know just as many who I DON'T know have conceal carry permits who do the same thing. It's not a Rambo mentality but the realization that the cops or some bystander may not come to your aid or get there in time if you need them. Unlike Gary, I'm sure during your visit this Fall, you'll meet a lot of people carrying guns. You just won't know about it.
Life wouldn't be any different without them for 99% of the people who never are forced to protect themselves. For the 1% who DO have the misfortune of running into trouble with no backup, they make a big difference.
Most people have no idea how many weapons they are around every day because most people who carry concealed don't broadcast it. This is a country of 320 million people... versus GB's 35 mil and Canada's 63. In truth, the PERCENTAGE of problems caused by legal gun ownership... whether left at home or carried... is quite small.
FIFTY sixty percent of gun deaths are suicides
Since the CDC began publishing data in 1981, gun suicides have outnumbered gun homicides. But as gun homicides have declined sharply in recent years, suicides have become a greater share of all firearm deaths: the 61% share in 2010 was the highest on record. That year there were 19,392 suicides by firearm compared to 11,078 homicides by gun (35% of all firearm deaths). The rest were accidents, police shootings and unknown causes.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/05/24/suicides-account-for-most-gun-deaths/
Check out Oilgun's "death with dignity" post and your own response. What's the difference?
I don't know the percentage of gun violence that is the result of illegal weapons, but I'll bet it is the majority. Gangs and drug organizations probably account for most of it, but that would be just a guess on my part.
And another guess, legal or illegal guns, most of this stuff is by crazy people... excuse me, those with mental health problems (and that includes the gangs and druggies.)
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No one in GB hunts for food? That is huge here. Much of the animals killed for "sport" (which I don't get... I mean, where's the sport?) any way a lot of that is donated to shelters/food banks/ etc. so the meat doesn't go to waste.
Well, if you're as bad a shot as my dad was in his hunting days, or had as bad luck finding game, you've got to call it something when you freeze your ass off holding a .30-06 in the woods at daybreak in early December. ;)
If we'd had to rely on his deer hunting to get us through the winter, we'd have starved for sure. :-\
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OK, sorry I missed that. So that is good because otherwise these people would be afraid to go out?
But my second question: can you honestly and truly not consider that stricter gun laws might actually make life better for the majority of people? I wish I could feel that you have really given thought to this. Perhaps you have, and rejected it, and it's something else I've missed...
Well, I'm more scared of you than I am of American guns... :D But a kind answer would be appreciated.
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No one in GB hunts for food? That is huge here. Much of the animals killed for "sport" (which I don't get... I mean, where's the sport?) any way a lot of that is donated to shelters/food banks/ etc. so the meat doesn't go to waste.
Yes, they would say it's for food, and it is, but it's the sport and excitement and competitiveness that's the thing for many people - a treat for rich businessmen.
But I am not a vegetarian, and I dare say it's kinder than many abattoirs.
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OK, sorry I missed that. So that is good because otherwise these people would be afraid to go out?
But my second question: can you honestly and truly not consider that stricter gun laws might actually make life better for the majority of people? I wish I could feel that you have really given thought to this. Perhaps you have, and rejected it, and it's something else I've missed...
Well, I'm more scared of you than I am of American guns... :D But a kind answer would be appreciated.
Yes, I've considered it... probably everyone with a gun has considered it. Those of us who are law biding think it is naive and those of us who are not law biding are hoping stricter gun laws will keep the law abiding from getting guns.
Come on, if there was some way to get the guns away from the bad guys, everyone... well, most everyone... would be all for stricter gun control. But that ain't gonna happen.
And our laws, for the most part are as strict as Canada's, in some states a lot more strict and I admit in some, less. But once again, no matter how strict laws... ANY laws... are, they only apply to those who obey them.
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There are probably several reasons this story hasn't been mentioned...
You occasionally equate the fact that people use knives for violence as well as guns.
It's like carrying a match instead of a flamethrower. It's hardly an equal comparison.
If it were, you'd be just as happy with having a knife instead of a gun.
I'm sure glad I don't get my news from cable.
I don't have cable so try again. Don't know why you won't answer my question. You are posting a lot of
articles about Bergdahl's actions regarding his military service, but are you doing that because you don't think
actions should have been taken to have him returned? I'm willing to let the military do their investigation and
conclusions in that regard, but what is the point in speculations and hearsay about it aired night after night on
the news unless it's those "strategists" fueling that fire for political purposes? It's akin to babbling about the
Malaysian airliner when no one knows the facts, but keeps reporting anyway, which you pointed out while
that was occurring.
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Yes, they would say it's for food, and it is, but it's the sport and excitement and competitiveness that's the thing for many people - a treat for rich businessmen.
But I am not a vegetarian, and I dare say it's kinder than many abattoirs.
I know a number of people, in various parts of the US and one in Canada (well, the Yukon) who's entire meat supply come from hunting. I'm sure they are in the minority, even among those who hunt regularly, but it is how they feed their families.
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I know a number of people, in various parts of the US and one in Canada (well, the Yukon) who's entire meat supply come from hunting. I'm sure they are in the minority, even among those who hunt regularly, but it is how they feed their families.
And that's good.
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You occasionally equate the fact that people use knives for violence as well as guns.
It's like carrying a match instead of a flamethrower. It's hardly an equal comparison.
If it were, you'd be just as happy with having a knife instead of a gun.
I have a knife. And a car. And a chainsaw. And a hammer. And a rope. A few plastic bags too. Probably some rat poison. Feel free to drop in any time.
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Yes, I've considered it... probably everyone with a gun has considered it. Those of us who are law biding think it is naive and those of us who are not law biding are hoping stricter gun laws will keep the law abiding from getting guns.
Come on, if there was some way to get the guns away from the bad guys, everyone... well, most everyone... would be all for stricter gun control. But that ain't gonna happen.
And our laws, for the most part are as strict as Canada's, in some states a lot more strict and I admit in some, less. But once again, no matter how strict laws... ANY laws... are, they only apply to those who obey them.
Thank you for your answer. I'm sorry that you think it naive though.
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Why do you think it would help? How would it stop the use of illegal guns to commit crimes?
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I just read this article:
Rebutting the 'Criminals Don't Follow Laws' and 'Gun Control Only Hurts Law Abiding Citizens' Argument Against Gun Control
Link: HERE (http://www.armedwithreason.com/rebutting-the-criminals-dont-follow-laws-and-gun-control-only-hurts-law-abiding-citizens-argument-against-gun-control/)
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Why do you think it would help? How would it stop the use of illegal guns to commit crimes?
It wouldn't stop them. People who are intent on crimes will always get hold of weapons, although it would be that much harder here.
But it's not so much the crimes - it's the domestic arguments,guns in the hands of the unstable, the accidents..... The idea of women carrying guns (loaded?) in their purse or glovebox with children in the car is just unthinkable to me - I mean I literally cannot imagine doing it. And then the children grow up thinking that's the norm too.
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Check out Oilgun's "death with dignity" post and your own response. What's the difference?
You don't see a difference?
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Well, never the twain shall meet. So that's it for now. :)
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I have a knife. And a car. And a chainsaw. And a hammer. And a rope. A few plastic bags too. Probably some rat poison. Feel free to drop in any time.
You know, Sherry, if I answer this Linda will have to come on and post one of her thread warnings.
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Something we don't have yet - though I'm for it and there is a lot of pressure for a new law.
My parents wish the same law existed in Germany.
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It IS the norm.
If all the people who are so threatened by the idea of someone standing next to them with a gun in their pocket had actually been threatened by someone with a gun in their pocket, instead of just seeing it on Law and Order or Person of Interest or CSI, there would be "news" of nothing else AND it absolutely would be a problem. But, as with most activists, they are just fanatics trying to bend the majority to their way of thinking. It's the ol' "I don't like what you're doing and I'm going to make you stop even if you doing it has nothing to do with me" outlook.
And we're against that, right?
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You don't see a difference?
No. If someone wants to end his life, I think he should be able to do that regardless of his age or circumstances.
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I'd like to continue this rather sane (for a change) discussion, but I have to go shoot something for supper. Thank god there's a bumper crop of rabbits this year. ;)
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No. If someone wants to end his life, I think he should be able to do that regardless of his age or circumstances.
I wasn't aware that we were discussing the pros and cons of suicide. If someone is determined to kill themselves they'll find a way.
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I'd like to continue this rather sane (for a change) discussion, but I have to go shoot something for supper. Thank god there's a bumper crop of rabbits this year. ;)
Enjoy your rabbit stew. And I'm off to sing in the church choir ( true ). :D
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I haven't heard anything this morning. Have they caught him yet?
Yes, they finally caught him.
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I know a number of people, in various parts of the US and one in Canada (well, the Yukon) who's entire meat supply come from hunting. I'm sure they are in the minority, even among those who hunt regularly, but it is how they feed their families.
My uncle and aunt were like this. When they were alive, the two of them would go hunting and fishing together, my Aunt did not sit at home waiting for her husband to come home with the kill. The two of them would feed themselves and give extra food to their grown kids.
They also had a small garden, so they grew their own vegetables as well.
Their grocery bills were very little.
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Yes, they finally caught him.
Thanks. Glad to know, before he hurts anyone else.
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It's getting more and more dangerous in our most secure locations - military bases.
Currently a massive local story of an on-base stabbing, at Portsmouth Naval hospital (where I arrived, long ago, as a baby). The victim is in critical condition, the sailor who attacked him, the focus of an intensive manhunt. Everything on lock-down, including nearby schools.
A couple of things make this, for me, somewhat creepier. The suspect, Wilbur Harwell, is on Facebook, and his posts, IMO, are clear warnings from a prolonged pattern. He also had a post in Russian - "f**k my life.". Am not sure of the grammatical correctness of "ebat", as an imperative, but that he even knew the verb, shows some proficiency. He also suggested he was being watched. IMO, he was probably right, but part of the voyeurism machine we call security.
He may have bolted into the river, nearby.
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No one in GB hunts for food? That is huge here. Much of the animals killed for "sport" (which I don't get... I mean, where's the sport?) any way a lot of that is donated to shelters/food banks/ etc. so the meat doesn't go to waste.
Maybe I can shed a little more light on this. It's a question of a difference in environment. We don't have vast wooded areas available for individual hunting here so you don't get hunters going out after big food animals in the same way. Most of the forests are used for other recreational purposes or forestry so hunters would be dangerous to other users like off road cyclists, walkers, ornithologists etc..
Some shooting of deer goes on under highly supervised conditions up on the Scottish moors with the numbers taken carefully controlled. That's a very expensive thing to do, as is shooting on the Scottish grouse moors which happens only in a strictly defined season. All that meat. together with pheasant shooting on private estates is consumed. Running an organised shoot is a way for landowners to diversify and raise their income and they employ gamekeepers to raise the pheasants and look after the environment the birds need. If you wanted to shoot in this way you'd most likely go to a specialised gunsmith to discuss what sort of shotgun would suit you and then you go through all the regulations before you own it.
As Sara has said hunting with hounds is now curtailed although packs of foxhounds and beagles are still maintained all over GB. It was actually the best and most humane way to limit the numbers of rural foxes, especially necessary in sheep rearing areas. The fox population was kept healthy as the weak, old or sick tended to be taken out quickly and the balance in the ecosystem maintained with a spring and summer close season to allow vixens to raise the cubs in peace before cub hunting began in October. It was a far better method of control than the alternatives of trapping, poisoning, shooting or gassing, all of which can cause prolonged suffering. Also the habitat harbouring foxes, ie. small woods, scrubland etc. was maintained by farmers and provided many other species with a niche. In that way it aided conservation because of the preservation of important habitats. Now the balanced system which worked for centuries is off kilter and the results are causing problems in the countryside and also towns as an increasing fox population moves into urban areas. The change in the law didn't take into account any of the more subtle implications of meddling with something the politicians didn't understand. It was motivated by other factors than animal welfare.
So really the word "hunting" doesn't mean the same thing here. This is a bit OT probably but I thought some personal experience might be useful to define the differences.
J.
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Sorry, Janie, I agree with a lot of what you say but I don't think it 's humane for a pack of hounds and yelling people on horses to chase one small mammal for miles until it's exhausted and then let the dogs tear it to pieces. They don't even get that many anyway, so it wasn't doing all that much to keep the numbers down, if that's even necessary. And roadkill probably does the most efficient job!
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You know, Sherry, if I answer this Linda will have to come on and post one of her thread warnings.
So I withdraw my invitation.
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I wasn't aware that we were discussing the pros and cons of suicide. If someone is determined to kill themselves they'll find a way.
We were discussing "death with dignity." How and when someone chooses to end his life is up to him. Suicide by gun/hanging/overdose/withholding medication/turning off the machine... it's all suicide. DNR is suicide.
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Maybe I can shed a little more light on this. It's a question of a difference in environment. We don't have vast wooded areas available for individual hunting here so you don't get hunters going out after big food animals in the same way. Most of the forests are used for other recreational purposes or forestry so hunters would be dangerous to other users like off road cyclists, walkers, ornithologists etc..
Some shooting of deer goes on under highly supervised conditions up on the Scottish moors with the numbers taken carefully controlled. That's a very expensive thing to do, as is shooting on the Scottish grouse moors which happens only in a strictly defined season. All that meat. together with pheasant shooting on private estates is consumed. Running an organised shoot is a way for landowners to diversify and raise their income and they employ gamekeepers to raise the pheasants and look after the environment the birds need. If you wanted to shoot in this way you'd most likely go to a specialised gunsmith to discuss what sort of shotgun would suit you and then you go through all the regulations before you own it.
As Sara has said hunting with hounds is now curtailed although packs of foxhounds and beagles are still maintained all over GB. It was actually the best and most humane way to limit the numbers of rural foxes, especially necessary in sheep rearing areas. The fox population was kept healthy as the weak, old or sick tended to be taken out quickly and the balance in the ecosystem maintained with a spring and summer close season to allow vixens to raise the cubs in peace before cub hunting began in October. It was a far better method of control than the alternatives of trapping, poisoning, shooting or gassing, all of which can cause prolonged suffering. Also the habitat harbouring foxes, ie. small woods, scrubland etc. was maintained by farmers and provided many other species with a niche. In that way it aided conservation because of the preservation of important habitats. Now the balanced system which worked for centuries is off kilter and the results are causing problems in the countryside and also towns as an increasing fox population moves into urban areas. The change in the law didn't take into account any of the more subtle implications of meddling with something the politicians didn't understand. It was motivated by other factors than animal welfare.
So really the word "hunting" doesn't mean the same thing here. This is a bit OT probably but I thought some personal experience might be useful to define the differences.
J.
Of course! I never thought about the lack of space.
The change in the law didn't take into account any of the more subtle implications of meddling with something the politicians didn't understand.
Fancy that.
However, I agree it isn't a particularly humane way to handle a vermin problem. Dogs, working with flock guardians and hanging out around the chicken house, would work much better.
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We were discussing "death with dignity." How and when someone chooses to end his life is up to him. Suicide by gun/hanging/overdose/withholding medication/turning off the machine... it's all suicide. DNR is suicide.
Yes, I agree, but I thought that was a different discussion. Oh well, I've had enough of guns and death for one evening.
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CNN will be running an in-depth report on Bowe Bergdahl tonight, at 10 PM EST (Friday, 6/06). Supposedly some new background information on his life before the army. I'll keep an open mind, and see what shows up.
In the meantime:
* the very first intercept of Taliban chatter was that he had been captured while taking a crap. Captured. This initial report has had little play, in the news.
* why are we hearing only now, that he successfully escaped the Taliban for 5 days before being caught and put into a cage for a year? Even Fox news finds that some kind of balancing information.
He did seem to have wanderlust, and left boot camp in California, to go watch a sunset. I would think they should have red-flagged him then.
The army is no place for dreamers, and maybe he should have served his country some other way. This is a very complex case. And sometimes, there aren't easy answers despite our tendencies to insist that there are.
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My uncle and aunt were like this. When they were alive, the two of them would go hunting and fishing together, my Aunt did not sit at home waiting for her husband to come home with the kill. The two of them would feed themselves and give extra food to their grown kids.
They also had a small garden, so they grew their own vegetables as well.
Their grocery bills were very little.
I do live in Northern Ontario, but my son and his wife lived several hours North of here, for several years. Pretty much everyone hunted, that is how they all grew up. No one bought meat in the grocery store. And yes they grew their own vegetables, so the grocery bills were basically nil.
People hunt deer and moose and rabbit and lots of fishing going on, they raise chickens and kill them.
Still doesn't seem right to me, but people hunting to feed their families, that is a WHOLE other topic.
I couldn't do it, couldn't look Bambi in the eye and pull the trigger, not even close! :D
And yes for those of you asking the shooter in Moncton was captured, we don't have the death penalty here, so he won't be getting that.
I think it is automatic in the U.S. when you kill a police man isn't it?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/justin-bourque-faces-murder-attempted-murder-charges-in-moncton-shootings-1.2666996
The RCMP officially released the names of the dead officers:
Const. Dave Ross, 32.
Const. Fabrice Georges Gevaudan, 45.
Const. Douglas James Larche, 40.
Brown said police will release details about funeral arrangements in the coming days.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said in a statement released on Friday: "Their deaths are beyond comprehension. Their ultimate sacrifices will never be forgotten."
The two injured officers are:
Const. Darlene Goguen.
Const. Eric Dubois.
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I couldn't do it, couldn't look Bambi in the eye and pull the trigger, not even close! :D
I suppose if I had a family that was starving, I could find a way to do it, but I've never hunted, and only went fishing twice in my life.
I don't criticize hunters, because I'm not a vegetarian, and I know that the meat I eat just doesn't magically appear on little Styrofoam packets.
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I couldn't do it, couldn't look Bambi in the eye and pull the trigger,ot even close! :D
You're not alone. No one pulled the trigger on Bambi
I think it is automatic in the U.S. when you kill a police man isn't it?
Very little is "automatic" here.
in criminal cases, particularly homicides, actions of the accused or the situation under which the crime was committed for which state statutes allow or require imposition of a more severe punishment. "Special circumstances" in murder cases may well result in the imposition of the death penalty for murder (in states with capital punishment) or life sentence without possibility of parole. Such circumstances may include: rape, kidnapping or maiming prior to the killing, multiple deaths, killing a police officer or prison guard, or actions showing wanton disregard for life, such as throwing a bomb into a restaurant.
It depends upon the locale, on the crime committed, on whether or not the defendant is convicted of the crime.
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Well unless you are a vegetarian you can't criticize that is for sure!
And truth be told the fresh fish we could catch or the animal that we would hunt and kill for food, we be 100 times better than what we get at the grocery store. But we would have to do the killing...
Probably all should be vegetarians, or vegans!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food,_Inc.
Great movie!
Excuse me Bambi's Mother!!
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(CNN) -- The man accused of opening fire at a Seattle college had a fascination with school shootings, telling investigators he had once visited Columbine High School, a police source told CNN affiliate KIRO on Friday.
According to the unnamed police source, the suspect admitted to the attack and told police he "wanted to shoot up a school."
Aaron Ybarra, 26, of Mountlake Terrace, was ordered held without bail in connection with the shooting at Seattle Pacific University that left one dead and two wounded, Leesa Manion, a spokeswoman for the King County prosecutor, said. Charges against Ybarra are pending, she said.
The shooting at the university on Thursday afternoon began when a man armed with a shotgun opened fire inside Otto Harris Hall, which houses the engineering, math and science departments.
Authorities say the gunman walked into the building's foyer, confronted three students and then shot them.
The shooting rampage ended when a student security guard doused the shooter with pepper spray and tackled him as he tried to reload his shotgun, police said....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/06/justice/seattle-campus-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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Sorry, Janie, I agree with a lot of what you say but I don't think it 's humane for a pack of hounds and yelling people on horses to chase one small mammal for miles until it's exhausted and then let the dogs tear it to pieces. They don't even get that many anyway, so it wasn't doing all that much to keep the numbers down, if that's even necessary. And roadkill probably does the most efficient job!
Ok that's fine, we'll agree to disagree on that one. Just for the record the average fox hunt lasts less than ten minutes, the field does not "yell" and the fox is dead the minute the first hound reaches it. Having been brought up on farms and ridden to hounds I've seen the alternatives first hand and how the old methods compare. Believe me you do not want to see a fox which has suffered in a trap for days, nor one dragging around with gunshot wounds. You tend to see more badgers than foxes as roadkill...poorer eyesight.
But I respect your opinion to think what you like about it.
J.
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They've shamefully got anyone they can find with a relative lost in the war to come forth and share their pain and grievances and trash or blame Bergdahl, the military, the Presidient or anyone else. . . . When this first broke on the news I don't recall anyone ever saying that the circumstances surrounding
Bergdahl's capture should not be looked into, nor subsequently dealt with at some point, nor that anyone called him a hero. (The military thought he served honorably enough to be promoted twice while in captivity.) Yet suddenly there was a parade of people stirring up any and all of that across the news media.
I ask why? Why couldn't this play out (as it will anyway) without all the brouhaha? And looking over all of
your posts, what is it EXACTLY that you are objecting to in this whole matter?
Michael Hastings' June 2012 "America's Last Prisoner of War" article goes into very lengthy detail, including some background on the platoon Bergdahl was in. People repeating the standard-issue talking points might want to avoid it.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607
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Here is Canuckistan cigarettes have to be out of sight and no advertising is allowed. However, here in Quebec at least, beer and wine is promoted and on display in all corner stores and supermarkets.
In the Kansas City metro area you can buy beer, wine, liqueurs and whiskey in supermarkets and the larger department-type drugstores. It's part of the Midwest Trinity: food, gambling and alcohol (though we're way behind some of the far northern states in the latter category).
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Michael Hastings' June 2012 "America's Last Prisoner of War" article goes into very lengthy detail, including some background on the platoon Bergdahl was in. People repeating the standard-issue talking points might want to avoid it.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607
Thank you for the link - it was a very good fleshing out, and well-written.
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Michael Hastings' June 2012 "America's Last Prisoner of War" article goes into very lengthy detail, including some background on the platoon Bergdahl was in. People repeating the standard-issue talking points might want to avoid it.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607
What's your point?
I read that article several years ago and thought "What else is new?"
I read it again last week when it was a news headline on yahoo
and I just went back thru your link to make sure it was the same one.
It details parents who "raised" this "kid" without ever expecting him to grow up and never trying to make him face real life.
They blame his enlistment on his being told a lie about what he would be doing. Funny thing is, my granddaughter went through the process of consulting all five branches of the military before enlisting at the same time as Bergdahl and was savvy enough to call out the recruiters on that very same issue. SHE, who is younger than Bergdahl, was smart enough to insist on "getting it in writing" before signing on the bottom line. Of course, SHE didn't have her very own Lifetime movie planned out in her head and didn't think war would be anything but hard work, fear, disappointment and a very few moments of success to even things out. Or, in other words, real life. Something Bergdahl, with all his reading, never figured out. He is always the hero, the knight in shinning armor coming to the rescue.
The oh so sad depiction of the unit he was assigned to is not particularly strange in the military... or in civilian life, for that matter. (GM springs to mind.)
It all still boils down to he deserted. He signed his contract with the Army and when he didn't like the reality, he decided he would just leave. He even told a friend BEFORE he was deployed that if he didn't like the way things went he'd just walk off. The reality of the situation he found himself in was the same for everyone else there. He quit.
Do his parents share some of the responsibility? Absolutely. But instead of blaming themselves even a little bit, they want to throw it all on the Army.
And the Army, starting with his recruiters... who were more interested in meeting their quota than finding suitable trainees... through the sargeants at Basic... who didn't washout the obvious misfit... to the idiots in Alaska and California, is culpable as well. At least, at the court martial, that side of the story will come out and mitigate some of Bergdahl's guilt.
It doesn't change the fact that he's a deserter. It doesn't change the fact that desertion was his plan from the beginning if he didn't like what he found in the Army.
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Thank you for the link - it was a very good fleshing out, and well-written.
Well written for fleshing out an obvious bias. But then, what writing isn't?
Well, a lot of writing isn't well written.
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It doesn't change the fact that he's a deserter. It doesn't change the fact that desertion was his plan from the beginning if he didn't like what he found in the Army.
I suggest you do a little searching around concerning the term "deserter". It has very specific boundaries and isn't simply a military term for "poopyhead."
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de·sert
[dih-zurt] VERB (USED WITH OBJECT)
1.to leave (a person, place, etc.) without intending to return, especially in violation of a duty, promise, or the like
2.(of military personnel) to leave or run away from (service, duty, etc.) with the intention of never returning
3.to fail (someone) at a time of need
VERB (USED WITHOUT OBJECT)
4.to forsake or leave one's duty, obligations, etc. (sometimes followed by from, to, etc.)
5.(of military personnel) to leave service, duty, etc., with no intention of returning
I rest my case.
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Sherry, you accidentally made the case for his not being a deserter, or, it not being proven. "With no intention to return", are key words. This guy's, admittedly strange, pattern, was always to return. It's his motives for wandering off that are questionable, not whether he, for the first time, had no intention of returning.
Again, those motives are very much subject to condemnation, or being seen as flaky. But, there is nothing suggesting he did not intend to return.
Good grief, when he broke free, twice, he tried to return.
This is a case where absolute certainty, on any theory, is a rush to judgment.
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The rush to judgement is your assumption he had intention TO return.
There is nothing to suggest he was coming back... he sent all his belongings to his parents back in the States.
He was walking to Pakistan or India, depending on the time of day, remember?
He has a history of leaving everything when he gets tired of it.
In keeping with that history, I believe beyond a reasonable doubt, that he deserted.
He was captured by the bad guys and THAT is the only reason he was still in country.
He got his butt in a worse situation than he was in before he went on walkabout.
OF COURSE, when he got away from them, he tried to run. That's just self preservation.
It sure isn't patriotism.
The guy is a deserter.
The only thing to decide... via court martial... is how much responsibility the Army has for him being in the military, much less in a war zone, in the first place.
Too bad his parents can't be tried along with the rest of them.
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He has a history of leaving everything when he gets tired of it.
In keeping with that history, I believe beyond a reasonable doubt, that he deserted.
I agree with you.
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Two suspects shot and killed two police officers at a Las Vegas pizza restaurant Sunday before fatally shooting a third person and killing themselves inside a nearby Walmart, investigators said.
The spree began around 11:30 a.m. Sunday when a man and woman walked into CiCi's Pizza and shot two officers who were eating lunch, Las Vegas police spokesman Larry Hadfield said.
One of the suspects yelled, "This is a revolution," but the motive for the shooting remains under investigation, Hadfield said.
The two suspects then fled to the Walmart across the street, where they shot a person inside and then killed themselves in an apparent suicide pact, Hadfield said.
The two officers killed while they ate lunch have been identified as Alyn Beck, 42, and Igor Soldo, 32, KLAS reports.
"It is truly a tragic day here in the Las Vegas Valley," Sheriff Doug Gillespie said at a news conference. "We have lost two officers with young families."
The shooting victim at the Walmart, a woman, has not yet been identified.
"I think in any case where people are ambushed and shot it's upsetting to the public," Hadfield told The Associated Press. "We don't know anything about the suspects yet and are trying to learn more."
The restaurant and Walmart remained closed as detectives processed evidence.
http://www.people.com/article/las-vegas-walmart-cicis-pizza-shooting
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I'm surprised that the Walmart is closed.
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Regardless of the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture and/or release, what is the reasoning behind the
daily need to display some sort of displeasure over all aspects of a situation which will get handled in its
own time by the military? It reminds me of all the lynch mob westerns where everyone in town has made
up their own minds and can't wait for the law to take it's course. The Bergdahl's are receiving threats and
the town and its people are receiving them, too, along with hate mail and worse. Appropriate?
"Fox News Wonders: Should the Military Execute Bowe Bergdahl?" Chris Wallace thought that an appropriate
question to ask a military spokesman yesterday. The spokesman replied that they'd done it before in World War II,
so they take the accusation seriously. Although out of more than 21,000 cases of desertion in WWII only one was
executed, and that, it appears, was because they needed an example set as so many soldiers were deserting around
the time of the Normandy Invasion and subsequently. Still, that's the extreme rhetoric being waged now that we
should consider execution.
Before people spout absolutist statements they should take into account this Mark Twain quote:
"It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
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I looked up some information about that WWII execution for desertion mentioned by the Fox military spokesman.
Something interesting I came upon because of this is that there is a film from the early sixties called "The Victors"
where there is a scene inspired by this event that takes place.
What I found interesting wasn't anything to do with that, but this paragraph:
"The Victors was cut by about 20 minutes within a few weeks of opening. The version in circulation
(to the extent that it is circulating at all) is 154 minutes, cut from the original 175 mins. The Hollywood
Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, insisted that several scenes be deleted that showed two
of the American soldiers were patronizing a male French prostitute and paying him with food. While the
Code had been gradually liberalized in the 1950s-early 1960s, homosexuality was still something that
could only be, vaguely, implied in order to get approval from the Hollywood Production Code and the
Catholic Legion of Decency."
I wonder if that excised footage still exists somewhere.
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The Bergdahl's are receiving threats and
the town and its people are receiving them, too, along with hate mail and worse. Appropriate?
Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, I can understand people making threats against Bergdahl's parents, but making threats against other people in his home town? WTF? ???
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I can't see anybody making threats against his parents. Being an enabler isn't exactly a crime.
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I guess we Americans don't need the Taliban to kill us. We do a pretty good job of it ourselves. :(
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Never forget: Mourners pour into Moncton for funeral ceremony honoring three Canadian mounties shot and killed during rampage
Thousands of mourners poured into the city of Moncton on Monday to honor three Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers killed in last week's shooting spree
RCMP officers marched through Moncton in a funeral procession as onlookers saluted and wore red and white, the colors of the Canadian flag
Constables Dave Ross, Douglas Larche and Fabrice Gevaudan were killed in a shooting last week allegedly committed by Justin Bourque
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654444/Never-forget-Mourners-pour-Moncton-funeral-ceremony-honoring-three-Canadian-mounties-shot-killed-rampage.html#ixzz34HdeRUIY
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
:'( :'(
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Say what? :o
In a stunning upset, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-highest ranking
Republican in the House, lost his primary challenge to a tea party member.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/gop-eric-leader-cantor-falls (http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/gop-leader-eric-cantor-falls-tea-party-challenger-n127946)
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Say what? :o
In a stunning upset, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-highest ranking
Republican in the House, lost his primary challenge to a tea party member.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/gop-eric-leader-cantor-falls (http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/gop-leader-eric-cantor-falls-tea-party-challenger-n127946)
Indeed.
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Two Men Use Girl As Human Shield — Until Her Father Guns Them Down
A St. Louis couple is likely thankful to have guns in their home after they were forced to use them to defend their daughter against two men Monday night.
The men, one of whom had an extensive rap sheet, confronted the couples’ 17 year-old daughter after she stepped outside of the house to go to her car, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cortez McClinton, 33, and Terrell Johnson, 31, held a gun to the girl’s head and used her as a shield as they entered the family home, where a five-year old child was also present.
The girl’s father and mother witnessed the abduction, and both retrieved their guns. When McClinton and Johnson entered, the father fired several shots, hitting both men. The girl’s mother fired one shot but missed.
Johnson died at the scene. McClinton was wounded but was able to scramble off. He had his brother take him to the hospital.
In 2010, McClinton was charged with shooting another man. Charges were eventually dropped due to lack of witness participation. He also had drug possession and distribution charges against him.
McClinton is charged with second-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary, and criminal armed action and is being held on $1 million bond.
http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-girl-human-shield-until-her-father-040007545.html
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In 2010, McClinton was charged with shooting another man. Charges were eventually dropped due to lack of witness participation.
That's a b-i-i-i-g problem around here, the whole "don't snitch" thing, and witness intimidation.
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Tw
The girl’s father and mother witnessed the abduction, and both retrieved their guns. When McClinton and Johnson entered, the father fired several shots, hitting both men. The girl’s mother fired one shot but missed.
http://news.yahoo.com/two-men-girl-human-shield-until-her-father-040007545.html
That whole sentence is wrong on so many levels...........and then of course "the Mother fired one shot and missed" the problem with guns, if it had just been the Mom, having a gun would have been no help, not everyone is Dirty Harry. Not to mention the Father was able to shoot and kill someone "while they had a gun to his daughters head", he has been practicing.
Anyway googled the link and there is also more about his shooting skillls:
The bullets didn’t just hit the two men. Another one went all the way across the street, into the home of Jessica Swartz.
“I was freaked out. For lack of a better word, yeah, scared,” she said. “Just laying in bed watching TV getting ready to go to sleep. Then I hear the gunshots and heard glass break, felt debris, jumped to the other side of my bed and waited for it to stop. Then called 911.”
The father expressed concern over a bullet hitting a neighbors home.
http://fox2now.com/2014/06/10/exclusive-father-speaks-about-shooting-man-who-allegedly-put-a-gun-to-his-daughters-head/
Don't try this at home kids! :-\
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I looked up some information about that WWII execution for desertion mentioned by the Fox military spokesman.
Something interesting I came upon because of this is that there is a film from the early sixties called "The Victors"
where there is a scene inspired by this event that takes place.
What I found interesting wasn't anything to do with that, but this paragraph:
"The Victors was cut by about 20 minutes within a few weeks of opening. The version in circulation
(to the extent that it is circulating at all) is 154 minutes, cut from the original 175 mins. The Hollywood
Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, insisted that several scenes be deleted that showed two
of the American soldiers were patronizing a male French prostitute and paying him with food. While the
Code had been gradually liberalized in the 1950s-early 1960s, homosexuality was still something that
could only be, vaguely, implied in order to get approval from the Hollywood Production Code and the
Catholic Legion of Decency."
I wonder if that excised footage still exists somewhere.
A film festival focusing on pre-late 1960s antiwar films could be interesting. It should include The Victors as well as Robert Aldrich's Attack!
(exclamation point used in the title; not because I typed the post in a wildly excited state)
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Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, I can understand people making threats against Bergdahl's parents, but making threats against other people in his home town? WTF? ???
If making threats against his parents is something one can "understand", it's not that far a stretch to threaten people making plans to celebrate his return.
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If making threats against his parents is something one can "understand", it's not that far a stretch to threaten people making plans to celebrate his return.
Put that way, I agree. I wasn't thinking about the threats in connection with the plans to celebrate his homecoming.
Of course, by "understand," I meant I can see where some knuckleheads would make threats against his parents, not that I agree or approve.
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I looked up some information about that WWII execution for desertion mentioned by the Fox military spokesman.
I remember this TVM from 1974:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071477/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071477/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
The Execution of Private Slovik
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That whole sentence is wrong on so many levels...........and then of course "the Mother fired one shot and missed" the problem with guns, if it had just been the Mom, having a gun would have been no help, not everyone is Dirty Harry. Not to mention the Father was able to shoot and kill someone "while they had a gun to his daughters head", he has been practicing.
Anyway googled the link and there is also more about his shooting skillls:
The bullets didn’t just hit the two men. Another one went all the way across the street, into the home of Jessica Swartz.
“I was freaked out. For lack of a better word, yeah, scared,” she said. “Just laying in bed watching TV getting ready to go to sleep. Then I hear the gunshots and heard glass break, felt debris, jumped to the other side of my bed and waited for it to stop. Then called 911.”
The father expressed concern over a bullet hitting a neighbors home.
http://fox2now.com/2014/06/10/exclusive-father-speaks-about-shooting-man-who-allegedly-put-a-gun-to-his-daughters-head/
Don't try this at home kids! :-\
It's well know that cops and military always hit everything they shoot at. Far better if the parents had called 911 and hoped someone would respond in time to rescue their kid. We sure wouldn't want anything but the bullets from bad guy' guns missing their targets.
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That's a b-i-i-i-g problem around here, the whole "don't snitch" thing, and witness intimidation.
It's an understandable problem, but it is why gangs thrive and drug houses, etc. Fear is a more powerful motive than anything else.
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It's an understandable problem, but it is why gangs thrive and drug houses, etc. Fear is a more powerful motive than anything else.
Agreed.
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CNN) -- The scenes are depressingly familiar.
A gunman opens fire on an American campus. Students, teachers and administrators duck for cover. Parents anxiously wait for their kids to check in, praying for the phone to ring.
It played out again Tuesday at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon, a city of 16,400 people 12 miles east of Portland.
The 15-year-old Padgett arrived at school on a bus, carrying a guitar case and a duffel bag, Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson told reporters Wednesday.
The freshman student had an AR-15 type rifle, a semi-automatic handgun, nine loaded magazines capable of holding several hundred rounds, and a large knife, Anderson said.
Authorities have found no link between Padgett and his victim, 14-year-old freshman, Emilio Hoffman, and no known motive.
Padgett shot and killed Hoffman in a locker room. He also shot and wounded a teacher.
Padgett then moved through a main hallway, where he ducked into a small restroom as officers closed in, Anderson said.
There was a brief exchange of gunfire, but, based on autopsy reports, Padgett died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
"Given the weapons and the amount of ammunition that the shooter was carrying, the early notification and the initial law enforcement response were critical," the police chief said.
The school shooting, the second in a week, is the latest in a long string. An attack at Seattle Pacific University last week killed one person and wounded two others.
Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama said the nation should be ashamed of its inability to get tougher gun restrictions through Congress in the aftermath of mass shootings that he said have become commonplace in America.
"Our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There's no advanced, developed country on Earth that would put up with this," he said.
The President isn't optimistic.
Most members of Congress are "terrified" of the National Rifle Association, he said Tuesday, adding that nothing will change until public opinion demands it.
"The country has to do some soul-searching about this. This is becoming the norm, and we take it for granted, in ways that, as a parent, are terrifying to me," Obama said.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/11/justice/oregon-high-school-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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The End Is Near As Judge Rules That Medication, Food, Fluids Can Be Withheld From Casey Kasem
In a ruling TODAY (6/11), according to CNN.com, KERRI KASEM attorney TROY MARTIN has said that Superior Court Judge DANIEL MURPHY has reversed his decision from earlier this week (6/6) and has granted daughter KERRI the authority to withhold medication, food and fluids from her ailing father, the legendary CASEY KASEM.
In his ruling, MURPHY has determined that giving CASEY KASEM food and fluids would be harmful and cause more pain for the 82-year-old former radio personality.
KERRI KASEM said in a statement following the hearing: "The court's decision today upheld our father's explicit wishes as expressed by him in his health directive." According to the CNN report, "She was referring to a directive her father signed in 2007, saying he would not want to be kept alive if it would result in a mere biological existence, devoid of cognitive function, with no reasonable hope for normal functioning."
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/130490/the-end-is-near-as-judge-rules-that-medication-foo#ixzz34N8GBEfQ
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The End Is Near As Judge Rules That Medication, Food, Fluids Can Be Withheld From Casey Kasem
In a ruling TODAY (6/11), according to CNN.com, KERRI KASEM attorney TROY MARTIN has said that Superior Court Judge DANIEL MURPHY has reversed his decision from earlier this week (6/6) and has granted daughter KERRI the authority to withhold medication, food and fluids from her ailing father, the legendary CASEY KASEM.
In his ruling, MURPHY has determined that giving CASEY KASEM food and fluids would be harmful and cause more pain for the 82-year-old former radio personality.
KERRI KASEM said in a statement following the hearing: "The court's decision today upheld our father's explicit wishes as expressed by him in his health directive." According to the CNN report, "She was referring to a directive her father signed in 2007, saying he would not want to be kept alive if it would result in a mere biological existence, devoid of cognitive function, with no reasonable hope for normal functioning."
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/130490/the-end-is-near-as-judge-rules-that-medication-foo#ixzz34N8GBEfQ
So witholding medication, food and fluids will not cause pain?! "Stop the morphine, nurse, it causes him pain." Too bad he isn't in Oregon.
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So witholding medication, food and fluids will not cause pain?! "Stop the morphine, nurse, it causes him pain." Too bad he isn't in Oregon.
Do you make snarky comments about everyone who's terminally ill?
Being in Oregon wouldn't make a difference if he's unable to communicate his wishes. If he can't, and his health care directive is legal, that's what must be followed.
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If he is at the end of his life, you can withold fluids (and food of course) quite painlessly. Witholding morphine, not sure about that!
Anyway it is sad to hear about Casey, I always looked forward to his top 40 countdown!
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The End Is Near As Judge Rules That Medication, Food, Fluids Can Be Withheld From Casey Kasem
In a ruling TODAY (6/11), according to CNN.com, KERRI KASEM attorney TROY MARTIN has said that Superior Court Judge DANIEL MURPHY has reversed his decision from earlier this week (6/6) and has granted daughter KERRI the authority to withhold medication, food and fluids from her ailing father, the legendary CASEY KASEM.
In his ruling, MURPHY has determined that giving CASEY KASEM food and fluids would be harmful and cause more pain for the 82-year-old former radio personality.
KERRI KASEM said in a statement following the hearing: "The court's decision today upheld our father's explicit wishes as expressed by him in his health directive." According to the CNN report, "She was referring to a directive her father signed in 2007, saying he would not want to be kept alive if it would result in a mere biological existence, devoid of cognitive function, with no reasonable hope for normal functioning."
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/130490/the-end-is-near-as-judge-rules-that-medication-foo#ixzz34N8GBEfQ
And how is this different from euthanasia?
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And how is this different from euthanasia?
It's more cruel.
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Do you make snarky comments about everyone who's terminally ill?
Being in Oregon wouldn't make a difference if he's unable to communicate his wishes. If he can't, and his health care directive is legal, that's what must be followed.
You think my "snarky" comment is directed at the terminally ill Kasum? Dude, you need to work on your reading skills.
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Has anyone discussing this issue here had personal experience with being the decision maker when putting someone on Comfort Care?
By personal, I mean a spouse, partner, child, mother or father.
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Has anyone discussing this issue here had personal experience with being the decision maker when putting someone on Comfort Care?
By personal, I mean a spouse, partner, child, mother or father.
I certainly have, my Mother, I had no problem with it then and would have no problem with it now. It was a very very peaceful passing, which is all we want for our loved ones.
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I certainly have, my Mother, I had no problem with it then and would have no problem with it now. It was a very very peaceful passing, which is all we want for our loved ones.
My point exactly!
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I actually never knew it was "an issue". Comfort care in hospital or in hospice or at home, I honestly thought everyone pretty much did that at the end of a terminal illness.
Not sure what the problem is with Mr. Kasem, obviously his wife and children disagree. I can't imagine his wife is thinking clearly. And I am wondering who had power of attorney, seems like no one! That is a very important thing to have, for just this reason.
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And I am wondering who had power of attorney, seems like no one! That is a very important thing to have, for just this reason.
very important.
My mother had it over her mother, who ended up in an Alzheimer's Facility. When it got to the point that mom could see the end was near, she asked that grandma be over-medicated so that she was comfortable, and no drastic measures be taken for her. Grandma died in her sleep not long after.
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So instead of a shot of something to immediately stop the heart, it is better to let a loved one died of starvation and dehydration.
Beware the kindness of family and friends.
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So instead of a shot of something to immediately stop the heart, it is better to let a loved one died of starvation and dehydration.
Beware the kindness of family and friends.
You know this because you have made the decision to have this done, Sherry? You witnessed this action of someone dying of starvation and dehydration?
I doubt it, if you make a statement like the above.
When everything is removed from the patient, nutrition, medication, any other external things that are keeping them alive, by artificial means, when there is no hope for recovery, they continue to receive fluids (so no dehydration) and are introduced to morphine in ever increasing doses until the heart stops. There are no cruel and unusual things happening. The patient is peaceful, and dies peacefully. There is no pain, no starvation, no dehydration. Just sleep until the heart ceases to beat. I sat by my husband's side while slept for 8 hours from the time all external things were removed, until his heart stopped. He did not suffer dehydration nor starvation as a result of this procedure. These were the wishes of my husband, which I respected.
So unless you have personally witnessed someone's death in this manner, don't make uneducated and uninformed statements like the one above.
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In days of old people slipped into a coma and passed, that's what happened. Then along came modern medicine and the idea of pumping people full of artificial fluids came about.......why would anyone do this to a loved one at the very end of their life? It would have an adverse effect and would stop nature from taking it's course, making them more uncomfortable in the process.
The only symptom is dry mouth and that can be easily alleviated with some ice chips and swabbing the mouth.
Like we said get that POA, make your needs known, this is different from a will.
My Mother was the same Linda and passed after 3 days, sleeping like a baby.
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My mother took somewhat more than 8 hours to pass away.
If there are going to be ever increasing doses of morphine until the heart stops, why not just do it instead of dragging it out?
Having put down a good many pets, they get a shot and it is over in a minute. They go to sleep. It's peaceful, painless and quick.
Why treat people worse than we treat animals?
We put prisoners to death far more humanely than that.
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My mother took nearly 5 weeks to die after a stroke which the doctors thought would kill her in hours. She appeared to be deeply unconscious and not in pain, but she did occasionally seem to respond to sound. At first she was fed glucose intravenously but after a bit her body wouldn't even absorb water. Her heart must have been so strong - no one could believe she could last so long. My sister and I begged the doctors to give her something to bring it to an end, but because she was not in pain (I pray), they were not permitted to give her morphine. My cats are allowed a quick peaceful death, but not my mother.
Thank God my husband died within hours after a cerebral haemorrhage.
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What we do with our pets is euthanasia, where I live it is not legal to do with human beings.
And my Mother never had any morphine, as I said she wasn't in pain. No one was treated inhumanely and I resent the implication.
Callly there is something to be said for going quickly isn't there, but it is such a shock to loved ones. :'(
I wonder if this would be a good seperate topic, it is interesting and there is obviously a lot of misinformation out there!!
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Cally there is something to be said for going quickly isn't there, but it is such a shock to loved ones. :'(
I wonder if this would be a good seperate topic, it is interesting and there is obviously a lot of misinformation out there!!
Thanks, Bubba. He had been pretty ill for several months, and I think the stroke was what he would have wanted. Still so hard to get used to though - a year ago in July.
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My beloved father died from a cerebral haemorage too, only he hadn't been ill and was only 62. It was such a shock for all the family, but at least he wouldn't have known much about it.
His sudden death still affects me till this day.
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You think my "snarky" comment is directed at the terminally ill Kasum? Dude, you need to work on your reading skills.
Oh, so now you're getting snarky with me instead of the terminally ill?
Dude, you need to work on your writing skills and say what you mean. And your reading skills.
No wonder you made yourself unwelcome "somewhere else." Too bad this forum doesn't have an "ignore" button.
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My beloved father died from a cerebral haemorage too, only he hadn't been ill and was only 62. It was such a shock for all the family, but at least he wouldn't have known much about it.
His sudden death still affects me till this day.
The same thing happened to my mother.
I don't know how things are done elsewhere (e.g., Canada or Britain), but for those of us in the U.S., it's absolutely essential to have a durable power of attorney for medical care, for someone you completely trust, and also an advance directive specifying what you do and do not want done for you if you become unable to communicate your own wishes.
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Couldn't we keep personal antagonism to PMs?
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Oh, so now you're getting snarky with me instead of the terminally ill?
Dude, you need to work on your writing skills and say what you mean. And your reading skills.
No wonder you made yourself unwelcome "somewhere else." Too bad this forum doesn't have an "ignore" button.
Sorry but I honestly can't understand how my comment could have been construed as being directed at the terminally ill. I thought it was clear that my comment was directed at the judge ruling to stop medication because it would cause pain. Perhaps instead of lashing out you could have explained why you found my post offensive.
As for being unwelcome "somewhere else", I wasn't aware of it. Do PM me with details.
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I think when someone is ill for a long time, a terminal illness, the grieving process is going on every day, even if we don't realize it. And then almost just relief for the poor loved one at the end. Where as when they die suddenly, there is just no preparing for that, so it all comes later and yes can take years. Grieving takes years anyway, I know I was just over a year after my Mom's death before I got through one whole day with out crying and I am talking about little melt downs on a daily basis.
And for the record, I didn't understand the with holding drugs comment either, why with hold pain killing drugs? Maybe that was a typo in the original article.
Seriously though if anyone wants to continue this topic elsewhere, I am up for it.
And to keep the thread on topic, just read that the wonderful Ruby Dee has passed.... :'(
(CNN) -- Ruby Dee, the award-winning actress whose seven-decade career included triumphs on stage and screen, has died. She was 91.
Dee died peacefully Wednesday at her New Rochelle, New York, home, according to her representative, Michael Livingston.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/showbiz/obit-ruby-dee/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Peacefully in her sleep, good for her!
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Here's some more happy and positive news...
Two juveniles charged in foiled mass shooting plot at Volunteer High School
Posted: Jun 12, 2014 4:02 PM EDT Updated: Jun 12, 2014 5:10 PM EDT
By News Channel 11 Staff
HAWKINS COUNTY, TN (WJHL) -
Two male juveniles were arrested for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and other charges, after they reportedly planned a mass shooting at Volunteer High School in Hawkins County.
According to Assistant District Attorney Ryan Blackwell, a detention hearing was held for the two juveniles in Rogersville.
While the names and ages of the juveniles were not released, Blackwell said the two juveniles could be eligible to be transferred to an adult court.
According to Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson, a press conference has been planned for Friday at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the case
Hawkins County Schools superintendent Charlotte Britton said information from the Hawkins County Board of Education will be released Friday during the press conference with the Hawkins County Sheriff's Department in Rogersville. No other comment about the alleged planned mass shooting was given.
http://www.wjhl.com/story/25763800/two-male-juveniles-charged-for-allegedly-planning-mass-shooting-at-hawkins-county-school
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Meanwhile:
Iraq is disintegrating
Ruby Dee died
Harrison Ford broke his ankle
Jake is scheduled to make his Broadway debut
Several people are in a snit over SNIT
Others are enamored with spit strings
There is a boat load of water 400 miles beneath the Earth's crust, we just need to figure out a way to fuck,frack it up.
Rick Perry needs to undergo conversion therapy for stupidity ( or, if an asshole can be converted just,exactly, to what can it actually be converted? )
Prioritize according to your own interests.
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Poor Harrison. Poor old Harrison.
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Ontario Liberal Party leader Kathleen Wynne thanks supporters at her election party headquarters in Toronto, June 12, 2014.
The Liberals won a majority government with Wynne becoming the first woman and gay premier of Ontario.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/liberals-form-government-ontario-majority-minority-still-014440469.html
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At this morning's news conferrence re the planned attack at Volunteer High School, the chief of police credited the mental health clinic where the 15 year old boy was seen with alerting them to the kid's obsession with Columbine and the possibility that he was planning a bigger and better attack. Maybe if more in the psych industry would stand up, some of these "disturbed" people would be prevented from becoming killers.
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WWE legend Pat Patterson just revealed that he's been living in the closet for the past 50 years -- and has finally decided to go public about that fact he's a gay man.
The 73-year-old dropped the news on the finale of WWE Network's "Legends' House" ... saying, "For once in my life I'm going to be me now."
Patterson -- who's a WWE exec -- explained that he's been keeping the secret out of the public eye for 5 decades ... and had a partner for roughly 40 years, but he passed away after suffering a heart attack.
Patterson has been Vince McMahon's right hand man for decades ... he also was the company's first Intercontinental champion and helped create the "Royal Rumble."
The whole thing was incredibly emotional ... and the reaction from Pat's fellow wrestling legends was touching -- with the guys telling him, "We love you Pat ... we always love you."
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz34ZY98XxM
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Meanwhile:
Several people are in a snit over SNIT
It's amazing, and they are the same people who have been here for years and discussed it before as well! I know Brokeback got us good but wow, just wow
PS not that I don't have an opinion about SNIT, of course
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Meanwhile:
Iraq is disintegrating
Wondering what George HW Bush is thinking, and wondering what his son George W. Bush is thinking about this
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Poor Harrison. Poor old Harrison.
I am in a mild quandary over Harrison Ford. He was flown in an air ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, which is a centre of excellence, and is the teaching hospital for Oxford University. It would certainly not be the nearest hospital to Pinewood Studios.
Is he getting special NHS treatment because of who he is, or has he done something complicated and difficult to his ankle, bearing in mind that he is 71, that requires specialist treatment?
The ankle is a complicated joint, and it ist't necessarily a trivial matter in a man of that age.
On the other hand he is Harrison Ford, which shouldn't actually make a difference.
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Wondering what George HW Bush is thinking, and wondering what his son George W. Bush is thinking about this
There you go again, makin' stuff up - we all know GWB can't think...well, not and snort coke at the same time.
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If we can bear one more bit about the terminally ill? If the patient doesn't sign a power of attorney naming someone to take over medical decisions when the patient can't, hospitals and nursing homes can't be kind. They are all obligated by law to keep even the terminally ill patient alive as long as possible. (Smokers might not want to read this part: when people die of lung cancer, there is a point at the end of life where a higher dose of morphine - or other higher power painkiller - cannot legally be ordered, because that higher dose would kill the patient. I've witnessed this three times, and it this law benefits no one, not the patient, not the medical staff, not the family, not the state, not the church- oops, well maybe the church does benefit: after all what is such rule against mercy but the influence of power?) Without DNI or DNR (Do Not Intubate; Do Not Resuscitate) forms in the patient's chart these procedures must be performed. When Dad went in the nursing home, he refused to sign anything except for a CMO (Comfort Measures Only) document, naming me to make the call. It did make a big difference: when he was beyond help, the nurse called me at work to come to the nursing home quickly, I found it the most comforting thing to endorse the CMO order. This order simply states that it is time to stop medications which are no longer helpful, and provide the patient with as much comfort as he or she can stand. My younger brother - who hated our father - is a Christian, and he decided that I murdered Dad because I "had him put to sleep like a pet." He also said that I had no right to play God by interfering with "God's plan." I told him that Dad interfered with "God's plan" twelve years prior when he had a pace maker implanted, so his 'argument' was moot. Dad died in 2003, and my Catholic, eucharistic-minister brother stopped speaking to me because fags irredeemably go to hell. The real reason he doesn't speak to me, however, was my reminder that Christ said we are all redeemed, 'so, Jack, when did you decide it's your place to make God's decisions for him?' Tell me, is eleven years of shunning the 'Christian' way to behave?
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What a brother.... :(
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It's amazing, and they are the same people who have been here for years and discussed it before as well!
Touche. :D
Guilty as charged.
(I would like to blame it on Sara…but it ain't her fault.)
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Wondering what George HW Bush is thinking, and wondering what his son George W. Bush is thinking about this
Yes, that crossed my addled mind as well.
Though, I do not share your animosity for George I.
Two is a different story.
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Touche. :D
Guilty as charged.
(I would like to blame it on Sara…but it ain't her fault.)
No it ain't! 8)
Just thought we all needed a bit of lightenin up with the Spit String.....
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Just to clarify, not to say right or wrong. The current teaching of the Catholic church, and used in Catholic hospitals, is that morphine and any other drug can and should be used to alleviate pain for the terminally ill, even though, eventually, higher doses will result in death.
The drug can be used knowing it can and will eventually result in death; it may not be used to deliberately cause death.
If forum members or others have had contrary experiences, and I'm sure they have, somebody didn't get the memo. A relative should call the local bishop, and if he is a dumb ass, go over his head to the archdiocese, or make an urgent complaint.
Again, am not saying the policy is right or wrong, am saying it is not understood, is fairly recent, and not always complied with.
My own beliefs are tangled, as I just don't believe every case is the same. I do believe, though, that... what people do, or want done, is their own business. And yet I also fear that some tendency to always ending life quickly could develop and influence people to presuming every case has the same answer. It is a very sensitive and painful area, and judgment, IMO, should be avoided.
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"Early this Father's Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends," Kasem's children -- Kerri, Mike and Julie -- wrote in a statement released by Kasem's representative, Danny Deraney.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/15/showbiz/casey-kasem-obit/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Well after all our posts on Casey, thought an update was in order, he has passed, rest in peace Mr. Kasem!
And on that note Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's on the board!
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Well, that didn't take long... 4 - 5 days?
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TWO days actually, as I said rest in peace. No doubt the family will be fighting over his body next.
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TWO days actually, as I said rest in peace. No doubt the family will be fighting over his body next.
Oh they'll be fighting, but not for his body.
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His body and his 80 million! ::)
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It's not new math, but at my house the difference between 11 and 15 is 4.
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Does your house know what time he was taken off fluids, or the day? I know the judge made his ruling on the 11th, maybe it was stopped on the 12th.... what time did he die today, we know it was early morning, you even tried to stretch it to 5?? The news is reporting two days. Anyway what a silly thing to discuss. He is at peace and died peacefully, that is all that matters.
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In days of old people slipped into a coma and passed, that's what happened. Then along came modern medicine and the idea of pumping people full of artificial fluids came about.......why would anyone do this to a loved one at the very end of their life? It would have an adverse effect and would stop nature from taking it's course, making them more uncomfortable in the process.
Which is a good example of the uncomfortable reality that we now have to make choices our ancestors didn't have to make; before modern "medicine", Nature would take its course long before anyone had to decide anything and in the last days the only thing people could do was to relieve pain. Unfortunately, people try to argue for what you're describing on the basis of laws and moral codes set down thousands of years ago; not a bad example of the often-horrible consequences of static thinking.
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In the even older olden days, the old, sick and otherwise unwanted folks were sent out of the encampment to die alone by whatever means came their way. We've come a long way baby. Now we watch.
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In the even older olden days, the old, sick and otherwise unwanted folks were sent out of the encampment to die alone by whatever means came their way. We've come a long way baby. Now we watch.
In Canada they were sent off on an ice flow, lol!
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And that wasn't easy in Saskatoon!
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Baghdad's boy army: Teenagers rush to join the call to defend city from ISIS militants who are fighting just 45 miles away - and Iraq's last Christians say they fear being wiped out
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Images coming out of Iraq today show youths brandishing automatic rifles in Baghdad and Basra
Iraq's dwindling but ancient Christian community is also fleeing the country following attacks, it emerged today
The Sunni militants have captured a key northern Iraqi town along the highway to Syria
Video appears to show ISIS commander taunting imprisoned Iraqi soldiers and forcing them to repeat jihadist slogan
The men are made to repeat 'baqiya', thought to mean 'ISIS will endure', as soldiers grab their faces and mock them
Shocking footage emerged after Tal Afar, in the north of Iraq, fell today, as did Saqlawiyah west of Baghdad
Iraqi are fighting back against forces from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in the middle of the country
U.S. Navy moved a fourth ship to Gulf today containing 550 marines - joining aircraft carrier and two missile ships
Foreign Secretary William Hague today said that as many as 400 Britons are 'inevitably' be fighting alongside ISIS
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2658858/ISIS-jihadists-tighten-grip-Iraq-capture-Tal-Afar-UN-hits-deeply-disturbing-soldier-massacre-pictures-shocking-world.html#ixzz34qFxfCP4
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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And that wasn't easy in Saskatoon!
:D
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Anyone check out Hillary Clinton yesterday?
6 times Clinton sounded, acted like a candidate
2. Guns, minorities terrorizing majorities: Clinton said on Tuesday that the United States needs to have "a more thoughtful conversation" on guns and blasted gun rights activists.
"We cannot let a minority of people -- and that's what it is, it is a minority of people -- hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people," she said.
Those comments are the strongest she has made in favor of gun control during her book tour and plant Clinton firmly with those who support tougher restrictions.
"We're going to have to do a better job protecting the vast majority of our citizens, including our children, from that very, very, very small group that is unfortunately prone to violence and now with automatic weapons can wreak so much more violence than they ever could have before," Clinton said.
Clinton has said during her paid speaking tour over the past six months that the United States needs "to rein in what has become an almost article of faith that anybody can have a gun, anywhere, anytime."
In the weeks and months after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Democrats -- led by President Barack Obama -- looked to spearhead efforts to strengthen gun laws and expand background checks of firearm sales.
Despite public support for the background check provision, a compromise plan failed to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate in April of last year, and efforts since then have been minimal.
CNN Poll: Is Clinton 2016 inevitable?
Clinton has backed those efforts and during the town hall, she backed reinstating the ban on assault weapons and banning high-capacity magazines.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/17/politics/clinton-town-hall-what-to-watch/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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Have been out of this country for a short time and I have been catching up with the newspapers.....when this little gem caught my eye ! It seems that now ....as in an aircraft.....you have a lifejacket stashed under your chair.....in US schools the kids will have a bullet proof blanket under theirs.
"Got your books ? Check....Got your pens and pencils ? Check......Got your blanket ?? :-\
http://dailymail.org.uk/news/1210856/Bullet-proof-blankets-new-US-defense-against-shootings.html
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Have been out of this country for a short time and I have been catching up with the newspapers.....when this little gem caught my eye ! It seems that now ....as in an aircraft.....you have a lifejacket stashed under your chair.....in US schools the kids will have a bullet proof blanket under theirs.
"Got your books ? Check....Got your pens and pencils ? Check......Got your blanket ?? :-\
http://dailymail.org.uk/news/1210856/Bullet-proof-blankets-new-US-defense-against-shootings.html
Home schooled by MOM...........check!! :o
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Home schooled by MOM...........check!! :o
:D
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Absolutely. They go along with the bulletproof backpacks all US kids are carrying. For a few dollars more, the blankies even come in school colors.
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^^^
You ARE kidding me ?? :o :D
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I want to thank everyone here who buys into all the anti 2nd Amendment crap espoused by the media. All of your posts have made me take a good hard look at the issue.
Thank goodness the majority of our elected officials have been unwilling to go along with the call for even more regulation of LEGAL firearms in the US. Not once have I seen or heard anyone offer ANY solution to the problem of ILLEGAL guns. Not once have I heard anyone set forth a plan to keep weapons, of every kind, out of the hands of the mentally disturbed. Criminals and crazies have their civil rights, after all. The only civil rights considered unimportant are mine and those of the 43-55 million households who legally possess guns. I am no longer going to donate to or do any kind of work or promotion for any politician who backs new or increased gun control or regulation of legal firearms no matter how many of their other issues I agree with.
Because of fanatics and activists constantly using the "news" to prey on people's fears and insecurities, I have, for the first time in over 30 years, bought a membership in the NRA. And everyone on my Christmas list this year is going to get a membership, fee paid by me, or have a $60 donation to the NRA in their name from me.
Plus! for my granddaughter's 18th birthday next week, I'm going to buy her her very first handgun. (And before anyone gets excited, I'm sending her the money and she will go with her mom to pick it out.) She has pretty much always gone to the range with her mom and is a better shot than her older, ex-military sister. Since she's off to college in 7 weeks, she'll have plenty of time to get use to her new weapon.
So, thanks again for giving me the opportunity to reassess the situation and solidify my position.
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^^ You're...welcome?^^^ :-\
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Because of fanatics and activists constantly using the "news" to prey on people's fears and insecurities, I have, for the first time in over 30 years, bought a membership in the NRA. And everyone on my Christmas list this year is going to get a membership, fee paid by me, or have a $60 donation to the NRA in their name from me.
We had a greyhound with a human-sounding name who was an NRA member for several years (at their invitation); he did get a very nice baseball cap. Be sure you ask if they're still giving those out.
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Yeah, he probably had a Visa and paid his income taxes every year as well. I'm sure he let you wear his ballcap whenever you wanted. You ARE the master, after all.
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It is hard to get guns out of the hands of people who do not think they are crazy.
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Washington (CNN) -- Up to 100 U.S. special forces -- probably Green Berets, Army Rangers and Navy SEALs -- would go to Iraq to advise its military and collect intelligence under a Pentagon plan offered to President Barack Obama, according to several U.S. officials.
An announcement on the plan could come Thursday, though the officials made clear that Obama will decide whether to accept it and when to announce it.
The White House said Obama would make a statement on the situation in Iraq at 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, after he meets with his national security team.
Obama is under pressure to help the embattled Iraqi government stave off a lightning advance toward Baghdad by Sunni fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
So far, his administration has ruled out combat troops on the ground in Iraq.
While the special forces in the Pentagon plan would be advisers, officials acknowledge the American special forces would likely face danger based on their location.
Boots on the ground
CNN military analyst Rick Francona called the distinction a loophole, declaring the Pentagon plan amounts to "boots on the ground."
"This is the first step. This is how you get drawn into these situations," said Francona, adding that the mission must be clearly defined to avoid greater U.S. military involvement after withdrawing forces in 2011 to end an eight-year war that ousted Saddam Hussein from power.
U.S. officials familiar with the plan, who spoke to CNN on condition of not being identified, said the deployment would begin with several small military teams and grow larger over time....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/19/politics/us-iraq/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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It is hard to get guns out of the hands of people who do not think they are crazy.
Excellent, Lyle! I say fine, let everybody who wants a handgun have one: as long as they agree to take the same punishment given - or would have been given if the criminal had been caught - as the triggerperson who commits any crime using their weapon. Your registered weapon, your responsibility! Now, that's responsible gun ownership!
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It is hard to get guns out of the hands of people who do not think they are crazy.
Couldn't agree with you more! Someone really ought to do something about that.
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Excellent, Lyle! I say fine, let everybody who wants a handgun have one: as long as they agree to take the same punishment given - or would have been given if the criminal had been caught - as the triggerperson who commits any crime using their weapon. Your registered weapon, your responsibility! Now, that's responsible gun ownership!
Wow! You learn something new every day. I always thought the law applied to everyone equally. Didn't know owners of legal guns got some kind of advantage when commiting a crime with a firearm. Yea!
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Sooooooo much more going on in the world - can gun control (or lack of it) maybe have it's own thread?? ::)
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Sooooooo much more going on in the world - can gun control (or lack of it) maybe have it's own thread?? ::)
Not happening, Bubba. It will continue to be discussed here as news warrants it.
Keep continuing to post news and current events and if someone wants to discuss what you post they will, if not they won't.
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Couldn't agree with you more! Someone really ought to do something about that.
But you would not acquiesce.
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Couldn't agree with you more! Someone really ought to do something about that.
Yes, like, maybe background checks?
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But you would not acquiesce.
To what? I already said I agreed with your statement. It WAS just a statement. No suggestion of a solution.
But that seems to be where all the anti-gun people get stuck.
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Yes, like, maybe background checks?
Once again, somebody has missed something...
National Instant Criminal Background Check System
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a point-of-sale system for determining eligibility to purchase a firearm in the United States of America. Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders are generally required by law to use the NICS to determine if it is legal to sell a firearm to a prospective purchaser. Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and launched by the FBI on November 30, 1998, NICS determines if the buyer is prohibited from buying a firearm under the Gun Control Act of 1968.
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Plus! for my granddaughter's 18th birthday next week, I'm going to buy her her very first handgun. (And before anyone gets excited, I'm sending her the money and she will go with her mom to pick it out.)
Well, okay. But will you be "gifting " her with an AK47 or a Bazooka? :)
You know I love you Sherry and will meet you at Taco Bell anytime, anywhere, but don't you honestly think it is a bit sad/scary that bullet proof blankets have replaced graham crackers for kindergarten kids and that we send our kids off to college with guns instead of pop corn poppers?
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Once again, somebody has missed something...
National Instant Criminal Background Check System
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a point-of-sale system for determining eligibility to purchase a firearm in the United States of America. Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders are generally required by law to use the NICS to determine if it is legal to sell a firearm to a prospective purchaser. Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and launched by the FBI on November 30, 1998, NICS determines if the buyer is prohibited from buying a firearm under the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Buying them at a gun show is a loop hole to the Brady Bill........even I know that!
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Well, okay. But will you be "gifting " her with an AK47 or a Bazooka? :)
You know I love you Sherry and will meet you at Taco Bell anytime, anywhere, but don't you honestly think it is a bit sad/scary that bullet proof blankets have replaced graham crackers for kindergarten kids and that we send our kids off to college with guns instead of pop corn poppers?
:)
I find it a bit sad and scary that people do not want to do anything about ILLEGAL firearms because criminals will fight back rather than just talk about it. It is easy to persuade themselves that getting guns away from normal, law abiding people is doing something to fix the situation.
And, Gary, exactly WHERE are these blankets in use? It is just another ridiculous idea put forth, like the bulletproof backpacks, to move the discussion AWAY from any solution to illegal possession/use of firearms.
It is the same tactic used by illegal aliens. They always forget the illegal part of the situation.
And the same used by drunks and drug addicts... "I was drunk or high" and therefore not responsible.
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Buying them at a gun show is a loop hole to the Brady Bill........even I know that!
Stealing them is another. Not a whole lot of illegal weapons are in the hands of folks willing to submit to a background check.
Probably the same is true in Canada.
Even I know that.
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How can you control illegal guns when there are so many legal guns, Sherry? When does one become the other in a society saturated with guns?
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Stealing them is another. Not a whole lot of illegal weapons are in the hands of folks willing to submit to a background check.
Probably the same is true in Canada.
Even I know that.
Gun shows are typically held in public buildings, including hotels, malls, armories, stadiums, etc., and are open to the public with a nominal fee charged for admittance.[1] They are almost always two-day events held on weekends by promoters who lease the space and allow dealers to rent tables to display their wares and/or advertise services they provide.
In 2005, Michael Bouchard, Assistant Director/Field Operations of ATF, estimated that 5,000 gun shows take place each year in the United States.[2] Most gun shows have 2,500 to 15,000 attendees over a two-day period.[1] The number of tables at a gun show varies from as few as fifty to as many as 2,000.[3] At the largest gun shows, over 1,000 firearms are sold over two days.[1]
Ummm yea we don't have that in Canada!
And to ad to the backpack story:
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore recently purchased 200 bulletproof whiteboards for $60,000 from the military vendor Hardwire. The whiteboards are intended to be placed near the classroom door so that a teacher can grab it to ward off an intruder. They even sell a bulletproof classroom door cover.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fguardianlv.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F06%2FBulletproof-Backpacks-and-Blankets-Among-New-School-Supplies-3-450x253.jpg&hash=3a67ab9e4a1974dff9f23992f986390316955e91)
This is the saddest picture I have ever seen. I didn't worry that my children would be shot in Grade School, sent them off to University with a new frying pan, not a gun.
I never had to worry about what kind of "a shot" they were. A whole world I know nothing about and never want to know about.
God bless the little souls of Sandy Hook...
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How can you control illegal guns when there are so many legal guns, Sherry? When does one become the other in a society saturated with guns?
How do you control unlicensed vehicles? Drivers who have had their priviledges revoked? Drunks tooling around the roads?
It is not LEGAL guns that are a problem. I really do not understand what is so difficult to understand about that concept.
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Gun shows are typically held in public buildings, including hotels, malls, armories, stadiums, etc., and are open to the public with a nominal fee charged for admittance.[1] They are almost always two-day events held on weekends by promoters who lease the space and allow dealers to rent tables to display their wares and/or advertise services they provide.
In 2005, Michael Bouchard, Assistant Director/Field Operations of ATF, estimated that 5,000 gun shows take place each year in the United States.[2] Most gun shows have 2,500 to 15,000 attendees over a two-day period.[1] The number of tables at a gun show varies from as few as fifty to as many as 2,000.[3] At the largest gun shows, over 1,000 firearms are sold over two days.[1]
Ummm yea we don't have that in Canada!
And to ad to the backpack story:
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore recently purchased 200 bulletproof whiteboards for $60,000 from the military vendor Hardwire. The whiteboards are intended to be placed near the classroom door so that a teacher can grab it to ward off an intruder. They even sell a bulletproof classroom door cover.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fguardianlv.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F06%2FBulletproof-Backpacks-and-Blankets-Among-New-School-Supplies-3-450x253.jpg&hash=3a67ab9e4a1974dff9f23992f986390316955e91)
This is the saddest picture I have ever seen. I didn't worry that my children would be shot in Grade School, sent them off to University with a new frying pan, not a gun.
I never had to worry about what kind of "a shot" they were. A whole world I know nothing about and never want to know about.
God bless the little souls of Sandy Hook...
I doubt many criminals are going to pay even a nominal fee when you can tell by just about every police proceedural on tv guns are available on every street corner in the US.
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I doubt many criminals are going to pay even a nominal fee when you can tell by just about every police proceedural on tv guns are available on every street corner in the US.
Yawn!
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GUNS.
How can arming one idiot ....stop them killing another idiot ? If all idiots want shoot each other....perhaps the world WILL be a happier and safer place.
SCHOOL.
As for "bulletproof back packs"....and "bulletproof blankets"....it sounds very much like US are sending their kids into battle instead of to school.
UK
Give me "Pollyanna" England any day .....where I have walked through the City of Birmingham at midnight in the dark
" and feared no evil ".......where my grandchildren go to school with just a clean handkerchief and an apple for their midmorning break. Yeah! That suits me just fine.
We have our problems...not saying we don't.....but these problems and grudges are 95% of the time against some one who has "upset" someone else. Not (extremely rarely... 3 times in my long life time) at 4-5-6 year olds sitting in a class learning their 1-2-3's and a-b-c's. Thank God.
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Yawn!
With you !!! :D :D :D
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How do you control unlicensed vehicles? Drivers who have had their priviledges revoked? Drunks tooling around the roads?
It is not LEGAL guns that are a problem. I really do not understand what is so difficult to understand about that concept.
Weren't the guns used in the Sandy Hook school massacre LEGALLY held?
That is what I was led to believe from news broadcasts here.
When a deranged son of the family managed to get hold of them, then death and mayhem was the result.
I know you think that Sue and I live in Pollyanna Land here in the UK, but have you ever visited our country?
I have spent two months in the USA in the last couple of years. and Sue has spent long periods of time on your side of the Atlantic too.
We both love your country, but can see ways it could be made even better.
Here is a list of gun related deaths per 100,000 people in one year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate
You will see that it is over 10 per 100,000 for the USA and .25 per 100,000 for the UK. Of course if you look down the list you will see that there are many countries far worse than either, but these figures do prove that gun control does work, even though we do still have incidences where a person who is mentally deranged does acquire a firearm and goes on the rampage.
Our countries are not the same, and there are many places and circumstances in the USA where a firearm may be necessary, as they are here in certain circumstances, but a lot more could be done in the form of firearms restrictions, and more social responsibility for people with mental health difficulties would not go amiss either.
Young children should NOT EVER have to attend school in body armour because the adult population is too entrenched in their attitudes to act.
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Yeah, he probably had a Visa and paid his income taxes every year as well. I'm sure he let you wear his ballcap whenever you wanted. You ARE the master, after all.
Yeah, but where's my free membership?
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Buying them at a gun show is a loop hole to the Brady Bill........even I know that!
Stealing them is another. Not a whole lot of illegal weapons are in the hands of folks willing to submit to a background check.
Probably the same is true in Canada.
Even I know that.
All those "illegal guns" that supposedly make intelligent gun control impossible here have to come from somewhere. ::)
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Funny what one little search on bing.com will turn up.
Then just yesterday, I came across an article that was published in The Telegraph on July 2, 2009:
“Analysis of figures from the European Commission showed a 77 per cent increase in murders, robberies, assaults and sexual offences in the UK since [the] Labour [Party] came to power.
“The total number of violent offences recorded compared to population is higher than any other country in Europe, as well as America, Canada, Australia and South Africa.
“The UK had a greater number of murders in 2007 than any other EU country — 927 — and at a relative rate higher than most western European neighbours, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
It gets worse. “Overall, 5.4 million crimes were recorded in the UK in 2007 — more than 10 a minute — second only to Sweden. . . . It means there are over 2,000 crimes recorded per 100,000 population in the UK, making it the most violent place in Europe.”
Great Britain’s crime rate is nearly four times that of the United States. “By comparison, America has an estimated rate of 466 violent crimes per 100,000 population."
http://politicaloutcast.com/2013/01/englands-crime-rate-nearly-four-times-higher-than-united-states/
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Well, well well.
Then there is this
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Comparing England (or UK) murder rates with the US: More complex than you thought
First, lets get this out of the way. I'm not going to fuss here about the terms "England", "The U.K", "Great Britain", "The Olde Country" or "The folks with those classy accents who live on some islands off the coast of Europe." I'll be careful to cite things in the links, but don't chew me up on where I'm talking about.
On to the oopsie. I have frequently in this series referred to the English murder rates as historically low and currently very low compared to US murder rates. I blandly accepted the murder statistics published by the UK Home Office as definitive. I overlooked the details of what and how the English counted "murders." It turns out that was a big mistake. (I was first turned onto my error by this post at Extrano's Alley.)
I fell into a definitions trap you may not be aware of. The shortest version is this. We count and report crimes based on initial data. The Brits count and report crimes based on the outcome of the investigation and trial. Yep, that says what I meant it to say.
In the US, the count of people murdered kept by the FBI is pretty darned straightforward. Got a body, not natural causes, not suicide? Must be murder of one sort or another. Count it.
So, if you ask the FBI, they will tell you that for 2011 there were 14,022 murders or non-negligent manslaughters. On the same line of that chart, they tell us the population was 292,364,075 which gives us a "murder" rate of 4.8 per 100,000 population. Those counts are based on crimes reported by local police agencies. They say nothing about the clearance rate, nor if anyone was ever identified or charged or convicted or whatever. Body, not natural, not negligent, homicide. Duh.
Now, on to England. It turns out that the Home office is very restrictive in what they report as "murders." Still, looking at the detailed report for 2010/2011 the Home office tells us that in the reporting period there were 636 murders "provisionally recorded" for a murder rate of 1.15 per 100,000 --- less than 1/3 the murder rate in the US. (See page 16 of the source document)
I've reported these numbers blindly many times, and quoted sources with many (sometimes silly) explanations for the lower murder rate in the UK. There's a problem with that as it turns out. What about all those murders which were not solved? The ones where a conviction wasn't gotten? The ones where the appeals are still on-going?
<<snip>>
I know, I know, there's no way I'm going to get most of my friends to read this, much less get people like Piers Morgan and his ilk to believe it much less repeat it, but still, here's the short version:
The murder rate in the UK is either equal to or higher than the murder rate in the US. (Sources not available. See reduced conclusion instead.)
The murder rate in the UK according to US standards is double or higher than their reported rate. It may be impossible to produce an actual apples to apples comparison number from official sources. It is not 15% of the US rate.
http://rboatright.blogspot.com/2013/03/comparing-england-or-uk-murder-rates.html
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How interesting! THEN there is this rebuttal which ends up substantiating what it is rebutting:
Fact-Checking Ben Swann: Is the UK really 5 times more violent than the US?
There’s been a number of memes circulating claiming that the the United Kingdom has a violent crime rate about 4 or 5 times higher than the United States (see here, here, and here), and Ben Swann, a local TV news reporter out of Cincinnati who is popular with libertarians for his “Reality Check” segments, in fact made that claim when assessing Piers Morgan’s own dubious stats on crime. Is it really true that Britain’s violent crime rate is 4 times higher than ours? There’s reason to be skeptical.
Swann stated that while Britain had only 59 gun-related homicides in 2011 (versus over 8,500 in the United States), this didn’t mean that gun control reduced overall violent crime, since, after all, Britain almost completely banned handgun ownership* in 1997. But he then cited a series of questionable statistics that warrant further examination.
•“The US has the highest gun ownership rate in the world.”
This claim is made by people on both sides of the debate, so we can perhaps forgive his error, but the statistic he used to justify it does not prove what he claimed. Swann states, correctly, that the US has an average of 88 guns per 100 citizens (it might be higher–nobody knows exactly how many firearms there are in the US, and figures range from 270 million to over 300 million). But this is not the rate of gun ownership.
To see why, consider the number of pet dogs in the United States. According to the Humane Society, there are 78.2 million pet dogs in the US. Given that there are 132 million households in the United States, this would imply that 59 percent of US households own a dog. But that’s not true: the Humane Society estimates that the rate of dog ownership is only 39 percent. How can this be? Because 40 percent of dog owners own more than one.
The same is true for guns: while there may be as many as 300 million guns in the US, less than half of American households own one. This is the rate of gun ownership that matters: how many Americans actually possess a firearm? It’s not 88 percent or 100 percent–it’s 47 percent. While the US has the most guns per capita, it does not have the highest rate of gun ownership.
For instance, even under Saddam Hussein, most Iraqi households owned at least one gun. I suspect the same is true for many of the poorer and more violent countries high on the list of guns per capita, like Serbia and Yemen†, which, after the United States, have the most firearms per person. Guns are expensive, so in countries that are both poor and violent, we may expect more people probably feel the need to own one for self-defense, while fewer people can afford to keep more than one, thus leading to a more equitable distribution of guns across the population.
•“In the UK there are 2,034 violent crimes per 100,000 people. …The US has a violent crime rate of 466 [violent] crimes per 100,000 residents.”
Some advice for Mr. Swann: when you see statistics that look unbelievable, you probably shouldn’t believe them, at least until you dig deeper into the data. Based on these figures, it appears that Britain is over 4 times more violent than the US, and since this is all he gives you, that is exactly what he leads his viewers to believe.
What Swann either doesn’t know, or simply doesn’t bother to tell his viewers, is that the definitions for “violent crime” are very different in the US and Britain, and the methodologies of the two statistics he cites are also different. (He probably simply doesn’t realize this: it appears that he lifted his data wholesale from a story in the Daily Mail, without checking it–something you might expect a fact checker to have done.)
First, it should be noted that the figures Swann gives are out of date: in 2010, according to the FBI, the reported rate of violent crime in the US was 403 incidents per 100,000 people–the 466 figure comes from 2007. Second, and more importantly, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports defines a “violent crime” as one of four specific offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
The British Home Office, by contrast, has a substantially different definition of violent crime. The British definition includes all “crimes against the person,” including simple assaults, all robberies, and all “sexual offenses,” as opposed to the FBI, which only counts aggravated assaults and “forcible rapes.”
When you look at how this changes the meaning of “violent crime,” it becomes clear how misleading it is to compare rates of violent crime in the US and the UK. You’re simply comparing two different sets of crimes. In 2009/10, for instance (annual data is from September to September), British police recorded 871,712 crimes against persons, 54,509 sexual offenses, and 75,101 robberies in England and Wales. Based on the 2010 population of 55.6 million, this gives a staggeringly high violent crime rate of 1,797 offenses per 100,00 people.
But of the 871,000 crimes against the person, less than half (401,000) involved any actual injury. The remainder were mostly crimes like simple assault without injury, harassment, “possession of an article with a blade or point,” and causing “public fear, alarm, or distress.” And of the 54,000 sexual offenses, only a quarter (15,000) were rapes. This makes it abundantly clear that the naive comparison of crime rates either wildly overstates the amount of violence in the UK or wildly understates it in the US.
Due to fundamental differences in how crime is recorded and categorized, it’s impossible to compute exactly what the British violent crime rate would be if it were calculated the way the FBI does it, but if we must compare the two, my best estimate‡ would be something like 776 violent crimes per 100,000 people. While this is still substantially higher than the rate in the United States, it’s nowhere near the 2,034 cited by Swann and the Mail.
http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/01/12/fact-checking-ben-swann-is-the-uk-really-5-times-more-violent-than-the-us/
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And from the World Health Organization...
The suicide rate (per 100,000)
US --- 19.2
UK --- 18.2
Canada --- 17.9
(In the US the majority of suicides is by firearms, while in both the UK and Canada it is by hanging/strangulation.)
Now here is what I want to know...
given the much advanced state of physical and mental health care in the UK and Canada... you know, where EVERYBODY, regardless of income, is covered and people get the care they need to lead happy, productive lives, WHY is the suicide rate essentially the same?
The mind boggles at what the suicide rate would be if firearms were available.
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So.....we all have....murders.....suicides....and whatever. NEVER said we didn't
My mind and life really would prefer to concentrate on the living.I have a life.Hope you get to the same stage in life as me sometime doodler. This world is a wonderful place...... just appreciate it while we are still here. We are here for such a short time.
Enjoy. :)
End of.
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To what? I already said I agreed with your statement. It WAS just a statement. No suggestion of a solution.
But that seems to be where all the anti-gun people get stuck.
The problem is that to have a solution people like yourself must acquiesce to it. But it appears that you and NRA types
don't want any solution if it infringes on anything to do with your gun ownership. No regulations, no law that you
might have to deal with because it would slow down* the criminals or mentally disturbed, even though you might have to
endure some degree of waiting or mild "attack on your liberty." The standard reply is that nothing will work. If a proposal
isn't 100% effective it's deemed worthless.
* -- I was watching a PBS special earlier in the year about how to accomplish a certain goal relating to the topic and the host
said that humans are more apt to do something if it's easier. If there's some book you want to read, for example, you're
more likely to pick it up if it's right by the place you normally sit. It's the whole idea behind remote controls. People who are
trying to lose weight would be advised not to have food easily within their grasp. So, doesn't it seem logical that if guns were
less available or harder to obtain that people would be less likely to use them? And wouldn't that be a good thing?
Remember how cigarettes were practically a way of life in all aspects of daily life? Anywhere you went people were
smoking in nearly any place they wanted and they were advertised ad infinitum in all available media? Practically
every TV show had someone smoking in it. Going to restaurants and bars was an exercise in supreme tolerance if one
was averse to it. The first time I flew to England the only available seats were in the smoking section and i spent ten
hours on a plane with smokers (who never wanted to sit in that section themselves) puffing away. The first year I came
to California there was a proposition on the ballot to limit smoking in public places and it was soundly defeated.
I couldn't envision a time when smoking would be banned in nearly every public setting.
I look at the issue of guns in the same manner. I envision a time when they, too, will be looked upon as aberrant and
not accepted as the norm.
There was a commercial for Kent cigarettes back in the day when you could advertise cigarettes on TV and they had
some people going around a city in a flatbed truck and they would hold up a huge sign as they went by the teaming
masses saying "Show us your Kents!" and people would pull them out and hold them up for the cameras. In the 70's
"Saturday Night Live" did a famous segment that foresaw our current guns-for-all culture where they went around in
the same manner with a sign saying "Show us your guns." It was intended as spoof of the second amendment and
what a literal translation of that might look like, but like the film Network of those same years, it became eerily prophetic.
Something I posted earlier:
I just read this article:
Rebutting the 'Criminals Don't Follow Laws' and 'Gun Control Only Hurts Law Abiding Citizens' Argument Against Gun Control
Link: HERE (http://www.armedwithreason.com/rebutting-the-criminals-dont-follow-laws-and-gun-control-only-hurts-law-abiding-citizens-argument-against-gun-control/)
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I looked up that "Show us your guns" segment and it turns out that it was on the very FIRST episode of SNL, October 11, 1975.
If you want to watch it, here's a youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHNF42OIJR4
If not, here's a transcript of it:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Show Us Your Guns
[A gated flatbed truck rolls slowly down a tree-lined road. Standing in the bed are a camera crew and a group of people who wave and hold a large sign that reads: SHOW US YOUR GUNS]
Announcer: We at Saturday Night wanted to see what kind of people carry guns. So we took our camera crew into the streets to find out.
[We hear a rousing version of the William Tell Overture as the camera tracks slowly past various people, all of whom smile and proudly display their guns to the camera:
Two young boys watch as their father, wearing a chef's hat and apron, emerges from behind his backyard grill to hold up a rifle. A smiling blonde, leaning against a lamppost, pulls a pistol from her large carrying bag and holds it up above her head. A man guides a lawn mower with one hand as he pulls a small pistol from his back pocket with the other. A housewife, in gown and slippers, emerges from her home and walks down her front steps with a submachine gun.
The truck rolls through town, the camera crew still filming, the others in the truck still smiling, waving and holding the large SHOW US YOUR GUNS sign.
More proud gun owners: At a gas station, a motorist stands by her car, holding a rifle above her head as two employees wave pistols. On a sidewalk, a mother reaches down into the baby stroller she is pushing to pull out a revolver. Two masked gunmen rush out of a liquor store, see the camera, and pause to hold up their weapons before racing off down the sidewalk with their loot -- followed, moments later, by a liquor store clerk who levels a pistol at the departing crooks but, before firing, notices the camera and happily holds up his gun. A woman, clipping hedges in her yard, turns to see the camera and quickly whips a revolver out of her pants suit.
We get a closer view of the truck rolling by as the crew holds their sign, smiles, points, and waves encouragement to still more gun owners:
Two shady-looking, mustachioed men stand by their car and peer at the camera: one starts to reach into his inside jacket pocket but his companion puts a hand on him and shakes his head -- so they merely wave and smile. A little old lady on a park bench waves her white gloves at the camera, then reaches into her purse to pull out an automatic. A uniformed traffic cop sees the sign, looks into his holster, realizes his gun is missing, shrugs unconcernedly, looks around at the ground for it, can't find it, shrugs again, and waves a friendly goodbye as the camera moves off. A wedding party on the steps of a church hurl rice at the bride and groom -- all pause upon seeing the oncoming camera, then the groom holds up a pistol, the bride a machine gun, and the wedding guests an assortment of firearms.
As the William Tell Overture reaches its climax, we see one last shot of the people on the truck ...]
Announcer: When you see our Saturday Night truck in your neighborhood, show us your guns!
[Dissolve to a large number of people standing in front of the Briarcliff hardware store, waving their weapons proudly into the camera as we fade out.][/i]
_________________________________________________________________________________
I noticed that the one area this segment didn't think to go to is having children or teens with the guns. Even in the gun culture
of the 70's that wasn't envisioned, much less bulletproof back-packs and blankets. Is this video something NRA types look at and
applaud? A chicken in every pot? A gun in every hand? NRA: No Reasonable Alternative.
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Somebody finally said it out loud (so to speak), and didn't use the word "hero" at least once:
Let's state this as plainly as possible: The Iraq "war" was a complete and total waste. It was completely and totally worthless. The United States and the rest of the world would be in better shape if Saddam Hussein were still in power. Every life lost was for nothing. Every limb, every scar was for nothing. Every veteran who faces the unending nightmare of PTSD does so for nothing. Let's just stop fucking pretending anything else. Let's grow up a little and face that fact. Let's look the families of the dead in the eyes and tell them the truth. . . .
And we need to bring former Vice President Dick Cheney before those families and have him tell the truth: "We did it for the dollars. We went to war with Iraq because war profiteering was the easiest goddamn way to enrich already rich people, like my friends at Halliburton. It was robbery and we named it 'patriotism.' It was extortion and we called it 'honor.'" Then, we should let the families do what they want.
http://www.rudepundit.blogspot.com/2014/06/father-and-daughter-cheney-can-go-suck.html
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Dick Cheney sits stunned as Fox News turns on him: 'History has proven that you got it wrong'
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/19/dick-cheney-sits-stunned (http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/19/dick-cheney-sits-stunned-as-fox-news-turns-on-him-history-has-proven-that-you-got-it-wrong/)
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Doodler, rather than posting extensive comparisons regarding the ways that crimes are counted in our countries, and which then defy common sense, can I draw your attention to the facts I posted, which were solely based on firearm deaths, and which are therefore much easier to compare, and also, perhaps, you might like to list the number of mass shootings in both our countries, in school and by young people wreaking havoc with firearms in public places, and who have mental health problems.
Do a comparative study if you really want to prove your case.
Also, please don't suggest that I am describing the UK as some kind of Utopia.
It is not, but you wouldn't know that because you haven't ever been here!
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Wow! You learn something new every day. I always thought the law applied to everyone equally. Didn't know owners of legal guns got some kind of advantage when committing a crime with a firearm. Yea!
Actually, what I mean is that if you have a legal gun, you should be responsible for it. If you are not - including keeping it in a place where it will be susceptible to being stolen - legal gun owners should be held liable for their lack of control over anything as lethal as a gun. That's responsibility. Illegal guns are a separate issue, and those who use them are/can be subject to harsher penalties, even when that means a separate charge. The legality and illegality of gun possession is not the issue, responsibility when a crime is committed is.
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I can only again quote "The President of the United States"!
Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama said the nation should be ashamed of its inability to get tougher gun restrictions through Congress in the aftermath of mass shootings that he said have become commonplace in America.
"Our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There's no advanced, developed country on Earth that would put up with this," he said.
The President isn't optimistic.
Most members of Congress are "terrified" of the National Rifle Association, he said Tuesday, adding that nothing will change until public opinion demands it.
"The country has to do some soul-searching about this. This is becoming the norm, and we take it for granted, in ways that, as a parent, are terrifying to me," Obama said.
But seriously again I ask, could I create a thread on "gun control/or lack of it"? Would that not be approved as a new thread??
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Actually, what I mean is that if you have a legal gun, you should be responsible for it. If you are not - including keeping it in a place where it will be susceptible to being stolen - legal gun owners should be held liable for their lack of control over anything as lethal as a gun. That's responsibility. Illegal guns are a separate issue, and those who use them are/can be subject to harsher penalties, even when that means a separate charge. The legality and illegality of gun possession is not the issue, responsibility when a crime is committed is.
And you know people who have guns that do NOT accept responsibility for them? And if that is the case, they are NOT held liable?
Except for a couple people on this thread who, with their x-ray vixion apparently, see guns in everyone's pocket and/or purse and are constantly attacked by gun wielding legal-gun owners, all the "info" about irresponsible gun owners seem to come from fanatics and activists, supposedly as fact but actually, supposition.
I have lived all over this country, from up-state NY to Miami, from outside Portland OR to LA, in the deep south and the midwest, in the real country and suburbia and large metro areas. I've worked late night shifts at hospitals and in some questionable parts of town. I have never once in over 70 years had a gun pointed at me... not by a bad guy, not by a responsible legal owner, not by a cop. I have never even seen a gun out in public except on the hip of a cop. I am the majority of the people who live in the United States.
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I can only again quote "The President of the United States"!
The President isn't optimistic.
Most members of Congress are "terrified" of the National Rifle Association, he said Tuesday, adding that nothing will change until public opinion demands it
Very likely scared the NRA will shoot 'em.!
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And you know people who have guns that do NOT accept responsibility for them? And if that is the case, they are NOT held liable?
Except for a couple people on this thread who, with their x-ray vixion apparently, see guns in everyone's pocket and/or purse and are constantly attacked by gun wielding legal-gun owners, all the "info" about irresponsible gun owners seem to come from fanatics and activists, supposedly as fact but actually, supposition.
I have lived all over this country, from up-state NY to Miami, from outside Portland OR to LA, in the deep south and the midwest, in the real country and suburbia and large metro areas. I've worked late night shifts at hospitals and in some questionable parts of town. I have never once in over 70 years had a gun pointed at me... not by a bad guy, not by a responsible legal owner, not by a cop. I have never even seen a gun out in public except on the hip of a cop. I am the majority of the people who live in the United States.
Obviously it's pretty safe out there so why would you need a gun in the first place?
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Doodler, rather than posting extensive comparisons regarding the ways that crimes are counted in our countries, and which then defy common sense, can I draw your attention to the facts I posted, which were solely based on firearm deaths, and which are therefore much easier to compare, and also, perhaps, you might like to list the number of mass shootings in both our countries, in school and by young people wreaking havoc with firearms in public places, and who have mental health problems.
Do a comparative study if you really want to prove your case.
Also, please don't suggest that I am describing the UK as some kind of Utopia.
It is not, but you wouldn't know that because you haven't ever been here!
Jess,
the postings were about crime rates in our two countries and how your country fudges how crime is reported. The better to make you feel safe.
What I posted is based on percentage, not actual number. It IS a comparative study. Obviously, a country of 330 million people will have a larger total number of deaths by firearms than one of only 60 million even if the rules were the same.
Two thirds of the deaths by firearms in the US are suicides.
The suicide rate comparison I posted is rather telling about the superiority of the British mental health system... and once again, you want to focus not on people... sane or otherwise... killing themselves, but the method used.
I don't care what my neighbors a mile away do, where they go for fun, what they eat. Why would I care what is happening in some foreign country half way around the world... or on the US' northern border, for that matter? I have no desire to visit your little island. And since you, and suely, "like" the US and visit here, you must not be nearly as nervous about gun violence in the US as your posts would suggest.
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Obviously it's pretty safe out there so why would you need a gun in the first place?
Did I give you the impression I, or most gun owners, N E E D a gun?
It is my R I G H T to have one ... or two... or twenty.
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The President isn't optimistic.
Most members of Congress are "terrified" of the National Rifle Association, he said Tuesday, adding that nothing will change until public opinion
demands it.
"The country has to do some soul-searching about this. This is becoming the norm, and we take it for granted, in ways that, as a parent, are terrifying to me," Obama said.
Very likely scared the NRA will shoot 'em.!
Wrong. More likely they know the majority of Americas think the NRA is right and they'll be out of Washington sitting on their jobless asses if they vote against the 2nd Amendment.
Or did you miss the actual real news in his statement... where he admits Americas are fine with the way things are...
adding that nothing will change until public opinion demands it.
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Did I give you the impression I, or most gun owners, N E E D a gun?
It is my R I G H T to have one ... or two... or twenty.
LOL! Sorry, but gun advocates are always claiming they need guns for protection. You can't deny that.
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Did I give you the impression I, or most gun owners, N E E D a gun?
It is my R I G H T to have one ... or two... or twenty.
:D :D :D :D
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Sounds like a spoilt child.
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LOL! Sorry, but gun advocates are always claiming they need guns for protection. You can't deny that.
I don't know anyone who claims that... by the time you find the key to the lockbox (whether it's in your home or the trunk of your car) and get the "weapon" out, then remember where you hid the ammo, get the kitchen chair to stand on while you reach all around the back of the top shelf in your bedroom... then remember it is in the back of the closet in the basement bathroom... then manage to get at least one bullet in the chamber you're either dead or the cops have arrived.
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Sounds like a spoilt child.
Say that when someone attempts to take away one of YOUR constitutional rights. They do still have a constitution where you live, right?
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Say that when someone attempts to take away one of YOUR constitutional rights. They do still have a constitution where you live, right?
It would depend what it was.
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I don't know anyone who claims that... by the time you find the key to the lockbox (whether it's in your home or the trunk of your car) and get the "weapon" out, then remember where you hid the ammo, get the kitchen chair to stand on while you reach all around the back of the top shelf in your bedroom... then remember it is in the back of the closet in the basement bathroom... then manage to get at least one bullet in the chamber you're either dead or the cops have arrived.
It's not a "weapon" - it's a weapon.
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I don't know anyone who claims that... by the time you find the key to the lockbox (whether it's in your home or the trunk of your car) and get the "weapon" out, then remember where you hid the ammo, get the kitchen chair to stand on while you reach all around the back of the top shelf in your bedroom... then remember it is in the back of the closet in the basement bathroom... then manage to get at least one bullet in the chamber you're either dead or the cops have arrived.
So then why buy your grand daughter a hand gun and why worry about what kind of shot she is??
Just call 911!
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Jess,
the postings were about crime rates in our two countries and how your country fudges how crime is reported. The better to make you feel safe.
What I posted is based on percentage, not actual number. It IS a comparative study. Obviously, a country of 330 million people will have a larger total number of deaths by firearms than one of only 60 million even if the rules were the same.
Two thirds of the deaths by firearms in the US are suicides.
The suicide rate comparison I posted is rather telling about the superiority of the British mental health system... and once again, you want to focus not on people... sane or otherwise... killing themselves, but the method used.
I don't care what my neighbors a mile away do, where they go for fun, what they eat. Why would I care what is happening in some foreign country half way around the world... or on the US' northern border, for that matter? I have no desire to visit your little island. And since you, and suely, "like" the US and visit here, you must not be nearly as nervous about gun violence in the US as your posts would suggest.
The figures I posted the link to, showed actual death rates per 100,000 of population. Above 10 per 100,000 for the USA, .25 per 100,000 for the UK. I don't think there can be much confusion in counting methods as far as that is concerned. It is not at all the same as different police forces counting, for instance, burglaries, as crimes against the person.
A person who has been shot dead, is a person who has been shot dead, in whoever's jurisdiction it takes place.
I don't think I ever said that the UK mental health services didn't leave a lot to be desired. The US system may be no better, but that doesn't mean there is any cause for complacency in either system. I suspect that the suicide rate by firearm in both countries is dictated by those who do have permission to have a shotgun etc. farmers for example, often lead lonely and hard lives, and when depression sets in having access to that means of causing their own deaths.
Suicide is a factor in many mental health disorders, but I still feel that there is much less tendency here for a person suffering from such a disorder going on a shooting rampage, because guns are so much more tightly controlled.
I am sorry that you have no interest in your neighbours, or in what happens in other parts of the world. Luckily, Sue and I are more open minded and interested in what goes on in the world, and we are keen to explore it and to try to understand other societies and cultures, and to gain from our experiences.
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We have more people... FAR more... we have more deaths by guns... FAR more... we have fewer deaths by hanging/strangulation... FAR fewer.
Personally, if decided I wanted to kill myself and didn't have any kind of pills to do it with, I would much rather do it with one clean shot from a gun than by strangling myself. But that's just me. I would not wish strangulation on anyone. But if you prefer it, in the US, you'd have that option along with the better one of a self inflicted gunshot.
Open minded, what a hoot.
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It would depend what it was.
I'm sure.
You're perfectly willing to give up something that doesn't have anything to do with you. Too bad for anyone it DOES have something to do with.
Exactly what I'd expect.
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We don't a actually have a written constitution here, Dood. It is all based on precedent.
Just one of our many "funny little ways."
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We have more people... FAR more... we have more deaths by guns... FAR more... we have fewer deaths by hanging/strangulation... FAR fewer.
Personally, if decided I wanted to kill myself and didn't have any kind of pills to do it with, I would much rather do it with one clean shot from a gun than by strangling myself. But that's just me. I would not wish strangulation on anyone. But if you prefer it, in the US, you'd have that option along with the better one of a self inflicted gunshot.
Open minded, what a hoot.
You are missing the point, Dood. The figures are regarding per 100,000 of population. The figures are proportionate. It doesn't matter how many people you have in the USA, the measurement is deaths by firearm per
!00,000 people.
For every 100,000 people in the USA 10 die by gunshot. For every 100,000 people in the UK .25 of a person dies by gunshot. or 1 in every 400,000, rather than 40.
That is, you will agree quite a difference.
39 people per 400,000 to be exact.
If many people die here from suicide by other causes, then that means we have to improve our mental health services, not that we need to change our gun laws.
As to being open minded, I have many friends here on the forum who have met me and know me, perhaps you should ask them.
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Oh, something's been lost in translation.
I didn't realize it was I telling you England needs to change it's gun laws.
My apologies.
I thought you understood it is you telling me the US needs to change it's gun laws. As if you had a vested interest.
And once again, two thirds of gun deaths in this country are deliberately self inflicted, not perpetrated on poor defenseless citizens.
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Oh, something's been lost in translation.
I didn't realize it was I telling you England needs to change it's gun laws.
My apologies.
I thought you understood it is you telling me the US needs to change it's gun laws. As if you had a vested interest.
And once again, two thirds of gun deaths in this country are deliberately self inflicted, not perpetrated on poor defenseless citizens.
I have no vested interest in the USA changing its gun laws, but I do feel I need to support the US citizens on this website who do think that the US gun laws need to be tightened up.
Here in the UK we do have experience of very tight gun laws, and that experience should be worth further study by those in the USA who would like some of the laws changed.
Our experience may or may not be of use to your lawmakers.
I realise that you have very strong pro gun views, but these are not universally held in your country.
Families who have seen their children gunned down and killed, are, I believe, in the forefront of campaigning for stricter gun regulations in the USA.
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^^^^
"Suffer the little children......"
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This poor girl was murdered on Tuesday, just 20 ft away from my daughters lounge window. She got the keys to her new flat on Monday. For those of you who know me and Lauren, she is expecting her first baby, my grandson in 2 weeks time. We have spent the last 4 days trying to decorate her flat, dodging the press, shooing them out of her block of flats, constantly saying no comment.
My thoughts are with Nahid's family in Saudi Arabia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-27946120
Sal :(
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This poor girl was murdered on Tuesday, just 20 ft away from my daughters lounge window. She got the keys to her new flat on Monday. For those of you who know me and Lauren, she is expecting her first baby, my grandson in 2 weeks time. We have spent the last 4 days trying to decorate her flat, dodging the press, shooing them out of her block of flats, constantly saying no comment.
My thoughts are with Nahid's family in Saudi Arabia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-27946120
Sal :(
Hi Sal, yes have seen it all over the TV. It's terrible. Hope your daughter is OK and that things will get back to normal there where she lives soon. Lets hope they catch this murderer as soon as possible.
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I have no vested interest in the USA changing its gun laws, but I do feel I need to support the US citizens on this website who do think that the US gun laws need to be tightened up.
Here in the UK we do have experience of very tight gun laws, and that experience should be worth further study by those in the USA who would like some of the laws changed.
Our experience may or may not be of use to your lawmakers.
I realise that you have very strong pro gun views, but these are not universally held in your country.
Families who have seen their children gunned down and killed, are, I believe, in the forefront of campaigning for stricter gun regulations in the USA.
What you don't get is it is not universally held in this country that the laws need to be changed.
Fifty percent of American households have at least one gun.
F I F T Y percent.
5 0.
Here, that's half.
And that is only counting the LEGAL firearms.
I realize that in England, if 50% of the populace wanted the gun laws eased they'd just be shit out of luck.
Precedence, you know.
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OK. Time out time.
I want everyone to step away from this subject, as there will never be a meeting of the minds regarding gun control, no matter where one lives, no matter how much you talk about it. There is just not going to be any agreement.
So time out for the thread and time out for the posters.
When it opens back up, no more gun control discussions as it seems to devolve into personal attacks.
There is plenty of other stuff to talk about out there.
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Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- As radical Sunni militants snatch city after city in their march toward Baghdad, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Iraq on Monday during the country's tensest time since the U.S. withdrawal of troops in 2011.
Kerry is meeting with Iraqi leaders. He met Monday with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the man who some observers say needs to step down.
With al-Maliki's Shiite-led government losing more ground to militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, Kerry has implored the leader to rise above "sectarian motivations" to become more inclusive and make the government more representative of Iraq's population.
"I'm here to convey to you President Obama's and the American people's commitment to help Iraq," Kerry said when greeting Iraq's speaker of parliament, Osama al-Nujayfi. "The principal concern is the integrity of the country, its borders, its sovereignty," he said. ISIS "is a threat to all of us."
His trip is emphasizing "our highest-level commitment to Iraq during this time of crisis," a State Department official said.
Kerry is also talking with key leaders about forming a new government "in line with the constitutional timeline that they're on."
Al-Malaki's office issued a statement after the meeting, saying the prime minister told Kerry the current situation "poses a threat" not only to Iraq but the region as well. Al-Malaki "called on the countries of the world, especially countries in the region to take it seriously," the statement said....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/23/world/meast/iraq-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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On one of the NPR's news background programs over the weekend, two young Muslim men who are students (?) in the US were saying that the war now being waged in many Arab nations are not sectarian at base. What they had to say is that political opportunists were using the sects as the excuses to gain personal political power and personal financial gain. Does anybody know if there is any real basis for this claim. One of the gentlemen said he was Sunni, the other claimed to be Shi'ite.
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(https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/10460725_860568720630807_6700352958658816157_n.jpg)
Scary thought! ::)
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I'm sorry but I don't see the "joke" in that post. Please explain.
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I'm sorry but I don't see the "joke" in that post. Please explain.
Neither do I, that came from a legitimate and very informative sight! Boy the thread was locked down for arguing and looks like some people are anxious to get back at it.
???
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if you don't see a talking pill bottle as a lame attempt as a joke, your vision is pretty limited.
The post is an obvious message about prescription drugs being dangerous. There is no joke in the message despite the cartoon pill botlle. I mean, seriously?
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you're from canada, right? expect nothing else from you...
I didn't want something personal made fun of by you, so I deleted
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you're from canada, right? expect nothing else from you...
I didn't want something personal made fun of by you, so I deleted
Why would you think that I would be making fun of you? To be honest you are kind of scaring me.
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Where are the moderators, I would say that was a personal attack (and to all Canadians) and crossing it out (but leaving it on there) doesn't help. :">
Maybe we need to do a post on cyber bulling by adults, it is a very hot topic right now, people are writing books on the subject.
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The post is an obvious message about prescription drugs being dangerous. There is no joke in the message despite the cartoon pill botlle. I mean, seriously?
Frankly I'm baffled as to why anyone would think the graphic was a joke. It's a very succinct comment on the limited thinking behind the "war on drugs" if nothing else.
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Where are the moderators, I would say that was a personal attack (and to all Canadians) and crossing it out (but leaving it on there) doesn't help. :">
Maybe we need to do a post on cyber bulling by adults, it is a very hot topic right now, people are writing books on the subject.
KillersMom is the moderator of this section, she's also at work. When she is done for the day, she'll review and take action.
As for the "joke" that is being posted about, I think it's a misunderstanding. The graphic, while making a point, does it in an almost "child-like" way. Cartoon graphics, talking pill bottle, it does't look like a serious graphic.
I'm not saying you meant it as a joke, I'm saying that is one way someone could perceive it.
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Everyone calm down. The statement was not cyberbullying, Bubba.
If you don't like my moderating, Bubba, take it to a PM, not in the thread.
It was a misunderstanding, that like everything else got blown totally out of proportion.
I don't have the luxury of being here during the day, as I am at work, so I was hoping things would settle down. Looks like that is not going to happen.
I have asked people to not be so sensitive and get their feelings hurt so easily, but that is not happening either. I am fighting to keep the thread opened, as it has been suggested it be closed due to all the contentiousness all the time. It's up to you as the posters to keep things civil, if not then it will have to be closed.
It's up to all of you. I think the thread is interesting and can have good discussions, and has in the past, but it has devolved into an unhappy place.
So folks, it's up to you.
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Well yes it is all over now, because two of the replies from morrobay have been deleted, by her, so you don't actually know what she said . I did nothing but post about a very current topic......that death from prescription drugs are more prevalent than death from illegal drugs.
We can't talk about guns, we can't talk about drugs, dignity in dying, seems like we are running out of things to discuss, without someone coming in with personal attacks. And it isn't me doing the attacking..
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Police question 19-year-old man over Muslim student's murder
By Oliver Duggan
6:25PM BST 20 Jun 2014
Detectives investigating the brutal murder of a Saudi Arabian student are questioning a 19-year-old man who was arrested for an attempted assault on a female jogger less than a mile from where the student was killed.
Nahid Almanea, 31, was stabbed 16 times in a “frenzied” attack as she walked along a path in Colchester, Essex, on Tuesday. It was the second fatal knife attack in the town within three months.
Essex police arrested a 19-year-old man shortly after midnight on Friday morning following an attempted attack on a woman while she was jogging in Cholchester.
The man had approached the jogger and tried to grab her, but she was able to fight him off and contact police.
A police spokesman said: “A woman reported that while she was jogging yesterday evening a man approached her and lunged at her. She was able to push him away and made her way home.
Detectives have said they are investigating potential links between the death of Ms Almanea and the similar murder of Jim Attfield, who was stabbed more than 100 times in a Colchester park in March, are being investigated.
The spokesman added: “Because of the circumstances we will be looking at it very closely.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10914693/Police-investigate-failed-attack-a-mile-from-Muslim-students-murder-scene.html
Man, 52, arrested after woman found beaten to death on a public footpath
By Keith Perry and agency
8:32PM BST 17 Jun 2014
A man has been arrested as part of a murder investigation after a woman was found with fatal head and body injuries on a footpath.
Essex Police were alerted by a member of the public after the woman was found on land off Avon Way, Colchester, just before 10.40am on Tuesday.
The woman was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
On Tuesday evening, the force confirmed a man had been arrested in connection with the murder.
The 52-year-old, from the Colchester area, is being questioned at the town's police station.
"I would ask anyone with any information about what happened to contact Essex Police."
So far there is no evidence to suggest the killing is linked to the recent murder of James Attfield, a vulnerable 33-year-old who had brain damage and was found in a park in the town in March after being stabbed more than 100 times.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10907622/Man-52-arrested-after-woman-found-beaten-to-death-on-a-public-footpath.html
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Man tortured with saw in Quebec home invasion
QMI AGENCY
First posted: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 09:22 AM MDT | Updated: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 10:10 AM MDT
MONTREAL — A man and his wife survived a terrifying home invasion in which three suspects tortured the man with a saw while looking for cash.
It happened just after 11 p.m. Monday in Mascouche, Que., a bedroom community northeast of Montreal.
Police say the three men knocked on the door and when the victims opened it, the suspects barged in.
The woman fled to the bathroom and tried to call 911 on her cellphone, but the invaders ripped away her phone and locked her inside the room.
The crooks then held the man down and sliced his hand with a kitchen knife.
Next they grabbed a metal-cutting power saw.
Police say the suspects knew there was a large amount of cash in the house, and they threatened to kill the man if he didn't tell them where it was.
When he hesitated, they started up the power tool and cut into the victim's arm until he finally told them the cash was in a freezer.
"The suspects bluntly told the man, 'you have friends who have big mouths,'" said police spokeswoman Celine St-Andre. "They knew exactly what they were looking for."
The crooks fled and the man ran to a neighbour's house, blood pouring from his arm, the neighbour told QMI Agency.
"He was talking but his arm was bleeding badly," said the witness. "There was a lot of blood everywhere."
The woman was not injured but suffered from shock.
Police are looking for three men who stole $23,000, jewelry and the man's passport.
http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/06/25/man-tortured-with-saw-in-quebec-home-invasion
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Mother-son murder-suicide highlights lack of autism funding in Canada
TORONTO – British Columbia mom Angie Robinson killed herself and 16-year-old Robbie, who suffered from autism, after her son became increasingly violent and Robinson was unable to access the support she felt she needed.
Respite care provided by the government hadn’t worked for their situation, so Robinson asked for a residential placement for Robbie. Family said she was told nothing was available.
In a portion of her final Facebook post, the Prince Rupert resident wrote:
“More, more, more needs to be done for our teens with special needs. They are neglected.”
Angie and Robbie Robinson.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1292113/mother-son-murder-suicide-highlights-lack-of-autism-funding-in-canada/
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Conjoined twins, just over two months old, die in Pennsylvania
6 hours ago
By Elizabeth Daley
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Conjoined twin boys in Pennsylvania whose parents opted not to separate them have died at just over 2 months old, authorities said on Wednesday.
Garrett and Andrew Stancombe of Indiana, Pennsylvania, were born on April 10 conjoined at the torso and sharing a heart and liver.
They were released from the hospital when they were 4 days old and died at home, about 60 miles (97 km) east of Pittsburgh, on Tuesday, according to the Indiana County Coroner.
"They courageously battled the obstacles associated with living as conjoined twins," read their obituary published on Wednesday in the Indiana Gazette.
Their parents, Michelle Van Horne and Kody Stancombe, said publicly they decided against separating the twins due to the serious risks of surgery.
The babies had been receiving in-home hospice care, the coroner said. A funeral was scheduled for Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/conjoined-twins-just-over-two-months-old-die-221503595.html
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Mother-son murder-suicide highlights lack of autism funding in Canada
TORONTO – British Columbia mom Angie Robinson killed herself and 16-year-old Robbie, who suffered from autism, after her son became increasingly violent and Robinson was unable to access the support she felt she needed.
Respite care provided by the government hadn’t worked for their situation, so Robinson asked for a residential placement for Robbie. Family said she was told nothing was available.
In a portion of her final Facebook post, the Prince Rupert resident wrote:
“More, more, more needs to be done for our teens with special needs. They are neglected.”
Angie and Robbie Robinson.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1292113/mother-son-murder-suicide-highlights-lack-of-autism-funding-in-canada/
“The numbers [of those diagnosed with autism] over the last three years have moved significantly from one in 100 down to one in 88 down to one in 68. There’s talk out there of one in 50,” said Irish. “So I don’t know that you can ever really be prepared for those kinds of numbers shifting as drastically as they are,” though she gave the government credit for “trying to make a dent.”
And I do give them credit, hard to keep up with those kind of numbers and it is happening all over the world. Just read where the son was found dead, but resting peacefully, looks like she gave him a lethal dose of a prescription drug.
I believe April 3rd is when all this happened, I remember reading about, very sad indeed.
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This poor girl was murdered on Tuesday, just 20 ft away from my daughters lounge window. She got the keys to her new flat on Monday. For those of you who know me and Lauren, she is expecting her first baby, my grandson in 2 weeks time. We have spent the last 4 days trying to decorate her flat, dodging the press, shooing them out of her block of flats, constantly saying no comment.
My thoughts are with Nahid's family in Saudi Arabia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-27946120
Sal :(
Police question 19-year-old man over Muslim student's murder
By Oliver Duggan
6:25PM BST 20 Jun 2014
Detectives investigating the brutal murder of a Saudi Arabian student are questioning a 19-year-old man who was arrested for an attempted assault on a female jogger less than a mile from where the student was killed.
I hope Lauren's ok, Sal - thoughts with you both, and looking forward to hearing your news.
Nahid Almanea, 31, was stabbed 16 times in a “frenzied” attack as she walked along a path in Colchester, Essex, on Tuesday. It was the second fatal knife attack in the town within three months.
Essex police arrested a 19-year-old man shortly after midnight on Friday morning following an attempted attack on a woman while she was jogging in Cholchester.
The man had approached the jogger and tried to grab her, but she was able to fight him off and contact police.
A police spokesman said: “A woman reported that while she was jogging yesterday evening a man approached her and lunged at her. She was able to push him away and made her way home.
Detectives have said they are investigating potential links between the death of Ms Almanea and the similar murder of Jim Attfield, who was stabbed more than 100 times in a Colchester park in March, are being investigated.
The spokesman added: “Because of the circumstances we will be looking at it very closely.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10914693/Police-investigate-failed-attack-a-mile-from-Muslim-students-murder-scene.html
Man, 52, arrested after woman found beaten to death on a public footpath
By Keith Perry and agency
8:32PM BST 17 Jun 2014
A man has been arrested as part of a murder investigation after a woman was found with fatal head and body injuries on a footpath.
Essex Police were alerted by a member of the public after the woman was found on land off Avon Way, Colchester, just before 10.40am on Tuesday.
The woman was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
On Tuesday evening, the force confirmed a man had been arrested in connection with the murder.
The 52-year-old, from the Colchester area, is being questioned at the town's police station.
"I would ask anyone with any information about what happened to contact Essex Police."
So far there is no evidence to suggest the killing is linked to the recent murder of James Attfield, a vulnerable 33-year-old who had brain damage and was found in a park in the town in March after being stabbed more than 100 times.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10907622/Man-52-arrested-after-woman-found-beaten-to-death-on-a-public-footpath.html
Poor girl. And very upsetting and worrying for Sal and daughter Lauren.
Thoughts with you both, Sal, and looking forward to hearing your news! :)
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Frankly I'm baffled as to why anyone would think the graphic was a joke. It's a very succinct comment on the limited thinking behind the "war on drugs" if nothing else.
Sometimes, perhaps, an artist would juxtapose the childishness of the drawing style with the drives and attitudes of the addicts, taking advantage to the natural repugnance to the concept of children and drugs to see the seriousness of the problem that some addictions are OK by virtue of the origin of the high? Just sayin.
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Sometimes, perhaps, an artist would juxtapose the childishness of the drawing style with the drives and attitudes of the addicts, taking advantage to the natural repugnance to the concept of children and drugs to see the seriousness of the problem that some addictions are OK by virtue of the origin of the high? Just sayin.
I must be high because I really don't understand your comment. Just saying.
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KillersMom is the moderator of this section, she's also at work. When she is done for the day, she'll review and take action.
As for the "joke" that is being posted about, I think it's a misunderstanding. The graphic, while making a point, does it in an almost "child-like" way. Cartoon graphics, talking pill bottle, it does't look like a serious graphic.
I'm not saying you meant it as a joke, I'm saying that is one way someone could perceive it.
Oh good grief, does your job include defending all stupid and/or offensive comments?
And why have you never defended mine ;-)
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I must be high because I really don't understand that comment. Just saying.
We can take the 'cartoon' literally or think of it as a piece done in a 'cartoon' style. The childish 'style' of the drawing in contrast to the seriousness of the subjects, reflects as well the childish assumption by some prescription med addicts that their addictions are somehow 'safer' and therefore 'better' addictions than are street drugs. Maybe when you're not high...
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Oh good grief, does your job include defending all stupid and/or offensive comments?
And why have you never defended mine ;-)
::)
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Sometimes, perhaps, an artist would juxtapose the childishness of the drawing style with the drives and attitudes of the addicts, taking advantage to the natural repugnance to the concept of children and drugs to see the seriousness of the problem that some addictions are OK by virtue of the origin of the high? Just sayin.
Maybe I am high, because this makes perfect sense and is said very eloquently.....thanks! :)
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:D :D
This thread is going to the dogs!
Am I the only one who finds Nancy Grace really irritating?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/25/us/michigan-missing-boy-found/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Did you hear abut the boy who was missing for 2 weeks and was found in his Dad's basement??
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:D :D
This thread is going to the dogs!
Am I the only one who finds Nancy Grace really irritating?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/25/us/michigan-missing-boy-found/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Did you hear abut the boy who was missing for 2 weeks and was found in his Dad's basement??
Don't insult dogs.
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Fantasist couple killed elderly parents to fund obsession with showbiz memorabilia
Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent
3:05PM BST 20 Jun 2014
A married couple, who murdered her elderly parents so they could steal their life savings, blew quarter of a million pounds on tacky Hollywood memorabilia.
Debt ridden Susan Edwards, 56, shot her reclusive mother and father dead before burying them in their back garden with the help of her husband Christopher.
The bodies of Patricia and William Wycherley lay undiscovered for 15-years as their daughter and son-in-law sent Christmas cards to convince relatives, friends and the authorities they were still alive.
The couple then proceeded to empty their bank accounts and liquidate other assets, eventually spending more than £245,000, to fund their “obsession” with showbiz memorabilia.
The couple were found guilty of murder after a jury rejected Edwards’ claims that she had been provoked into shooting her mother after she witnessed her kill her father.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10914853/Fantasist-couple-killed-elderly-parents-to-fund-obsession-with-showbiz-memorabilia.html
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Goose attack leaves Ottawa cyclist shaken and scarred
CBC – Wed, 25 Jun, 2014..
Kerry Surman was riding along the Trans Canada Trail from her home in the south Ottawa neighbourhood of Stittsville to Carleton Place, Ont., on June 10 when she came across a family of geese crossing the bike path.
Surman saw two adult geese and a gaggle of goslings cross before one final adult goose made its way through the trail, and she figured the path was clear.
"I thought, 'If I just zip past I'll be fine,'" Surman said. "But I misjudged how fast I was going and the goose misjudged my intentions.
"What I remember is the goose giving me the evil eye and then the goose wrapping its wings around my head, and I can't see and I hear myself screaming," she said.
The next thing Surman remembered was that she was lying on the ground and having difficulty getting up.
With her face swollen after the attack, she tried to flag down a cyclist or passerby to help, and eventually was aided by Steve Wilkens, a pastor at the All Nations Church in Sandy Hill. He called 911 and waited with her until an ambulance arrived.
Surman spent five days in hospital after suffering a concussion, fractured cheekbone, face lacerations including a scar under her eyebrow and loose teeth. She credits wearing a bike helmet and sunglasses with preventing more serious injuries.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/goose-attack-leaves-ottawa-cyclist-shaken-scarred-124441467.html
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Cornwall school closes over 'armed gunman' threat
AFP – 27 Jun, 2014 -- 5 hours ago
A primary school in Cornwall is closed as dozens of police launch a manhunt for a 60-year-old man they suspect may be carrying a firearm.
Police say they want to question Derrel Weaver following a domestic incident at Higher Widlake Farm, in Widegates, Cornwall, at around 9.30pm on Thursday.
Trenode Church of England Primary School was closed as a precaution following consultations with the police.
The school is expected to remain closed for most of the day and police have apologised to parents and local businesses.
"This decision was not taken lightly but public safety is our most important concern of the school and police," a police spokesman said.
Members of the public who see Weaver have been asked not to approach him and call 999 immediately since it's unclear if he is armed or not.
There remains a high police presence in the Widegates and wider Looe area with firearms officers and trained local officers dotted around the small village.
Superintendent Jim Pearce said: "There is currently significant enquiries on going to locate Mr Weaver and this includes the chance he may be in possession of a firearm.
"There is currently no suggestion that Mr Weaver is any risk to members of the public, but we need to locate him as soon as possible.
"There is already extensive work on going to contact and speak to Mr Weaver by trained police co-ordinators and this also remains on going."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/cornwall-school-closes-over-armed-gunman-threat-111449921.html
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Now something not as serious as guns or talking drug bottles......but just as irritating !
Can ANYONE tell me what EXACTLY Pippa Middleton is famous for ? OK....she is the sister
of someone who is married to a second in line to the English throne. Is that IT ?? She is in the newspapers
more than her sister Kate.......and seems to get better preferential treatment than here too.
Today she is in the papers AGAIN a picture of her sitting in the best seat for watching Wimbledon with two of her entourage.All grinning like Cheshire cats OR the cats that got the cream >:( Two more people of next to no significance.
Now....some one has flown 3,000 miles so she can be interviewed !! ABOUT WHAT ??
If I see one more picture of her and that ass.... or see another picture of her going to things or getting what
ordinary folk and in this instance what real tennis fans can't get ( tickets for Wimbledon for starters ) I swear I will combust !
Could it be a case of "Do you know who I am ? "
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Update: Tea party leader Mayfield dead of apparent suicide
"Attorney Mark Mayfield was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Friday at his Ridgeland home.
"Mayfield, vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, and is one of the three men charged with conspiring with Clayton Kelly to photograph U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's bedridden wife in her nursing home and create a political video against Cochran."
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2014/06/27/mark-mayfield-dead/11456769/
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Now something not as serious as guns or talking drug bottles......but just as irritating !
Can ANYONE tell me what EXACTLY Pippa Middleton is famous for ? OK....she is the sister
of someone who is married to a second in line to the English throne. Is that IT ?? She is in the newspapers
more than her sister Kate.......and seems to get better preferential treatment than here too.
Today she is in the papers AGAIN a picture of her sitting in the best seat for watching Wimbledon with two of her entourage.All grinning like Cheshire cats OR the cats that got the cream >:( Two more people of next to no significance.
Now....some one has flown 3,000 miles so she can be interviewed !! ABOUT WHAT ??
If I see one more picture of her and that ass.... or see another picture of her going to things or getting what
ordinary folk and in this instance what real tennis fans can't get ( tickets for Wimbledon for starters ) I swear I will combust !
Could it be a case of "Do you know who I am ? "
l'll see your Pippa and raise you a dozen Kardashians.
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Update: Tea party leader Mayfield dead of apparent suicide
"Attorney Mark Mayfield was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Friday at his Ridgeland home.
"Mayfield, vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, and is one of the three men charged with conspiring with Clayton Kelly to photograph U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's bedridden wife in her nursing home and create a political video against Cochran."
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2014/06/27/mark-mayfield-dead/11456769/
One down, how many to go?
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Can ANYONE tell me what EXACTLY Pippa Middleton is famous for ? OK....she is the sister
of someone who is married to a second in line to the English throne. Is that IT ?? She is in the newspapers
more than her sister Kate.......and seems to get better preferential treatment than here too.
Today she is in the papers AGAIN a picture of her sitting in the best seat for watching Wimbledon with two of her entourage.All grinning like Cheshire cats OR the cats that got the cream >:( Two more people of next to no significance.
Now....some one has flown 3,000 miles so she can be interviewed !! ABOUT WHAT ??
If I see one more picture of her and that ass.... or see another picture of her going to things or getting what
ordinary folk and in this instance what real tennis fans can't get ( tickets for Wimbledon for starters ) I swear I will combust !
Could it be a case of "Do you know who I am ? "
All week, after they began making such a fuss on the Today show about Matt Lauer getting to interview her, the thought has been crossing my mind, "Famous for being famous, I guess." WHO CARES!?!?
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l'll see your Pippa and raise you a dozen Kardashians.
Yay ! Something we agree on !!! :D ;)
Now........who ARE the Kardashians....WHAT is their claim to fame ?? :-\
They are all over our TV screens here in the UK (never watched them...honestly) and are in our newspapers too.
Never heard of them till about 2 years ago and no matter where I go and try to hide....they are THERE !!
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The orignal Kardashian was Robert, who was one of OJ's attorneys. How his wife, Chris Kardashian Jenner parlayed that into worldwide fame after he died is a mystery to me.
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Yay ! Something we agree on !!! :D ;)
Now........who ARE the Kardashians....WHAT is their claim to fame ?? :-\
They are all over our TV screens here in the UK (never watched them...honestly) and are in our newspapers too.
Never heard of them till about 2 years ago and no matter where I go and try to hide....they are THERE !!
They have huge asses.
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Now........who ARE the Kardashians....WHAT is their claim to fame ?? :-\
The orignal Kardashian was Robert, who was one of OJ's attorneys. How his wife, Chris Kardashian Jenner parlayed that into worldwide fame after he died is a mystery to me.
I can shed some light on it, as I've done some research trying to figure out where their fame came from as well, because (as far as I knew) none of them had done anything to earn the fame they had.
Robert Kardashian died in 2003. Looking for comfort, daughter Kim turned to her boyfriend, R&B singer Ray-J, the younger brother of R&B star and one time America's Got Talent judge Brandy. Kim and Ray-J proceeded to make a sex-tape, which was then 'leaked' to the public and picked up and distributed by Vivid Entertainment.
Kim sued Vivid Entertainment, and settled out of court for $5million.
The resulting publicity put Kim into the papers and on TV for almost a daily basis. By the end of 2003, Chris Kardashian Jenner managed to get the family booked to a reality show called "Keeping Up With The Kardashians", which has resulted in fragrances, books, a clothes line, and other TV shows.
So there ya have it, career started with a sex tape.
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Thanks, Chuck! I never connected them with OJ's lawyer. :-\
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I can shed some light on it, as I've done some research trying to figure out where their fame came from as well, because (as far as I knew) none of them had done anything to earn the fame they had.
So there ya have it, career started with a sex tape.
Classy !! :-\
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Brandy and Ray-J made a sex-tape? Kim shoulda sued them!
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Thanks, Chuck! I never connected them with OJ's lawyer. :-\
HEEYYY!!!
The orignal Kardashian was Robert, who was one of OJ's attorneys. How his wife, Chris Kardashian Jenner parlayed that into worldwide fame after he died is a mystery to me.
Never a mod around when you need one.
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Brandy and Ray-J made a sex-tape? Kim shoulda sued them!
I changed my post because of this, because that's just......ewwww!
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I don't know...
have you seen Brandy Ray-J?
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Vancouver council formally acknowledges city was built on unceded First Nations territory
Matthew Coutts | Daily Brew – 25 Jun, 2014 -- 8 hours ago
Vancouver city council formally acknowledged Wednesday that the city was founded on land that still belongs to three First Nations communities, taking a large step forward in its mission of reconciliation.
Vancouver’s planning, transportation and environment committee unanimously passed a motion on Wednesday stating that "the modern city of Vancouver was founded on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and that these territories were never ceded through treaty, war or surrender."
The motion also formally invited First Nations leaders to work with the mayor to develop protocols that "respect the traditions of welcome, blessing, and acknowledgement of the territory. The move come days after the conclusion of a Year of Reconciliation in Vancouver, which was focused on mending relationships with Vancouver's First Nations community.
Coun. Andrea Reimer, who championed the motion, said the city has been working for years to address the impact of past failures. Through discussions over the past year, they realized that this acknowledgement was long past due.
“This is a foundational truth that we are on the traditional land of these three First Nations, that they did not cede these territories to anyone, and here we are in this ambiguous place where the city of Vancouver also has a legal title and right of the city as well through the Canadian constitution and provincial charter. How do we find a pathway forward together?” Reimer told Yahoo Canada News.
“We felt the strongest step we could take was to acknowledge that we were not here first, that this is a traditional territory for these three Nations, and seek to find ways to properly acknowledge that this is their territory and honour their traditional protocols.”
Indeed, much of British Columbia's coastland is territory never officially ceded by First Nations. This caused conflict in 2010, when Vancouver and Whistler held the Winter Olympics on unceded territory. And it is again prevalent in the debate over the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, with First Nations groups that oppose the project claiming the government has no official right over their coastal territory.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/vancouver-council-formally-acknowledges-city-built-unceded-first-220234880.html
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Anti-shale gas protesters found guilty of weapons charges
CBC – 26 Jun, 2014 -- 2 hours 54 minutes ago..
Germain Junior Breau of Upper Rexton, N.B., and Aaron Francis of Eskasoni, N.S., were tried together on numerous firearm and assault-related charges.
Breau was convicted on Thursday morning at Moncton Law Courts of pointing a firearm and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
He was found not guilty of assaulting four officers.
Francis was convicted of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, but not guilty of throwing Molotov cocktails.
Judge R. Leslie Jackson is still in the process of delivering his verdict on the remaining charges against them.
Breau had been standing trial on 12 charges, including five counts of pointing a firearm at police, five counts of assaulting a police officer with a firearm, possession of a firearm for a dangerous purpose, and obstructing a police officer.
He previously pleaded guilty to uttering threats against a police officer, careless use of a firearm, and breach of probation.
Francis had been standing trial on five charges, including intent to do bodily harm by causing an explosive device to explode, placing or throwing at or on a person an explosive substance, possession of explosives while prohibited to do so, committing an offence while having his face masked, and possession of a firearm for a dangerous purpose.
He previously pleaded guilty to to assaulting a police officer, two counts of obstructing a police officer, careless use of a firearm, possessing a firearm while prohibited to do so, and breaching a court order. He also pleaded guilty to assault against a correctional officer while being held in custody and breaching a court order.
The verdict was supposed to be handed down last Thursday, but was postponed because of a power outage caused by an osprey's nest in Fredericton.
The protest on Route 134 near Rexton on Oct. 17, 2013 turned violent when police moved in to enforce a court injunction that prohibited protesters from interfering with the seismic exploration work of SWN Resources Canada. About 40 people were arrested that day and six RCMP vehicles were destroyed by fire.
The trial for Breau and Francis had been on and off since it started in March.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/anti-shale-gas-protesters-found-guilty-weapons-charges-135645770.html
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Now, that's the acme of sore loserdom: "my opponent was dead and has been replaced with a double."
"I, Timothy Ray Murray, am a human, born in Oklahoma, and obtained and continue to fully meet the requirements to serve as U.S. Representative when honored to so. I will never use a look alike to replace my (The Office's) message to you or to anyone else, as both the other Republican Challengers have. Rep. Frank Lucas, and a few other Oklahoma and other States' Congressional Members were depicted as being executed by The World Court on or about Jan. 11, 2011 in Southern Ukraine. On television they were depicted as being executed by the hanging about the neck until death on a white stage and in front of witnesses. Other now current Members of Congress have shared those facts on television also. We know that it is possible to use look alike artificial or manmade replacements, however Rep. Lucas was not eligible to serve as a Congressional Member after that time."
http://www.timothyraymurray.com/
In the 2000 election, we in Missouri decided that then-Senator John Ashcroft had earned the right to be a national embarrassment and voted him out in favor of a former Governor who had been killed in a plane crash a few weeks before election day. But we were up-front about it.
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HEEYYY!!!
Sorry. Didn't notice your original post, only the quote in Chuck's, and I confuse very easily. ...
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;D
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Now, that's the acme of sore loserdom: "my opponent was dead and has been replaced with a double."
"I, Timothy Ray Murray, am a human, born in Oklahoma, and obtained and continue to fully meet the requirements to serve as U.S. Representative when honored to so. I will never use a look alike to replace my (The Office's) message to you or to anyone else, as both the other Republican Challengers have. Rep. Frank Lucas, and a few other Oklahoma and other States' Congressional Members were depicted as being executed by The World Court on or about Jan. 11, 2011 in Southern Ukraine. On television they were depicted as being executed by the hanging about the neck until death on a white stage and in front of witnesses. Other now current Members of Congress have shared those facts on television also. We know that it is possible to use look alike artificial or manmade replacements, however Rep. Lucas was not eligible to serve as a Congressional Member after that time."
http://www.timothyraymurray.com/
In the 2000 election, we in Missouri decided that then-Senator John Ashcroft had earned the right to be a national embarrassment and voted him out in favor of a former Governor who had been killed in a plane crash a few weeks before election day. But we were up-front about it.
Wow, that's some special kind of crazy.
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Warrant: Man did Web search on kids dying in cars. By KATHLEEN FOODY Jun 28 2014 -- 11 minutes ago
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia man charged with murder after his 22-month-old son died in a hot SUV searched online for information about kids dying in cars and told police he feared it could happen, according to documents released Saturday as the boy's family planned a funeral in Alabama.
The search warrants, including the family's condo, car and electronics, released by the Cobb County Police Department provide more insight into the investigation of Cooper Harris' death on June 18.
Justin Ross Harris, 33, has told police he was supposed to drive his son to day care that morning but drove to work without realizing that his son was strapped into a car seat in the back. In an interview after his son's death, Harris told investigators that he had done a web search on what temperature could cause a child's death in a vehicle. The temperature that day was 88 degrees at 5:16 p.m., according to a warrant filed the day after the child died.
"During an interview with Justin, He stated that he recently researched, through the internet, child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur. Justin stated that he was fearful that this could happen," one of the four warrants released to The Associated Press stated
Harris also told police he was on his way to meet friends after work when he realized his son was in the back seat and pulled into a shopping center to get help, according to the warrants.
Police have said facts in the case "do not point toward simple negligence." A previously released arrest warrant stated that Harris stopped with his son for breakfast and returned to put something inside his car during the day while the child was still inside. The Cobb County Medical Examiner's office said Wednesday that it believes the cause of Cooper Harris' death was hyperthermia and manner of death was homicide.
Police searched the Marietta, Georgia condo where the family lives, looking for a laptop, electronic devices documents, photographs and any "evidence of child neglect, child abuse." They also searched Harris' cellphone and the light blue 2011 Hyundai Tucson that Harris was driving when his son died.
Police said in the warrants that they were searching for trace evidence including hair, fingerprints, blood or DNA inside the car and any computers, electronic devices or paperwork "related to the crime of Homicide and Cruelty to Children."
http://news.yahoo.com/warrant-man-did-search-kids-dying-cars-191433455.html
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A one-percenter ponders the future and doesn't like what he sees: pitchforks.
"Many of us think we’re special because “this is America.” We think we’re immune to the same forces that started the Arab Spring—or the French and Russian revolutions, for that matter. I know you fellow .01%ers tend to dismiss this kind of argument; I’ve had many of you tell me to my face I’m completely bonkers. And yes, I know there are many of you who are convinced that because you saw a poor kid with an iPhone that one time, inequality is a fiction.
"Here’s what I say to you: You’re living in a dream world. What everyone wants to believe is that when things reach a tipping point and go from being merely crappy for the masses to dangerous and socially destabilizing, that we’re somehow going to know about that shift ahead of time. Any student of history knows that’s not the way it happens. Revolutions, like bankruptcies, come gradually, and then suddenly. One day, somebody sets himself on fire, then thousands of people are in the streets, and before you know it, the country is burning. And then there’s no time for us to get to the airport and jump on our Gulfstream Vs and fly to New Zealand. That’s the way it always happens. If inequality keeps rising as it has been, eventually it will happen. We will not be able to predict when, and it will be terrible—for everybody. But especially for us."
rest at http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014.html
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Dead Georgia boy's mom researched how kids die in cars: police
(Reuters) - The mother of a 22-month-old Georgia boy who died after being left by his father in a sweltering SUV told police she had researched how children die in hot vehicles, according to search warrants released on Sunday.
The statements by Leanna Harris during police questioning echoed similar comments by her husband, Justin Harris, who has been charged with felony murder and second-degree child cruelty in the death of their son in an Atlanta suburb on June 18.
Justin Harris told police he had recently conducted Internet research about the temperature at which a child could die in a car because he was worried it could happen, a search warrant released on Saturday said.
Leanna Harris has not been charged in the toddler's death, and the search warrants did not specify when she had done the research
http://news.yahoo.com/dead-georgia-boys-mom-researched-kids-die-cars-180233015.html
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Marine who disappeared in Iraq in 2004 back in US
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Marine who was declared a deserter nearly 10 years ago after disappearing in Iraq and then returning to the U.S. claiming he had been kidnapped, only to disappear again, is back in U.S. custody, officials said Sunday.
Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, turned himself in and was being flown Sunday from an undisclosed location in the Middle East to Norfolk, Va. He is to be moved Monday to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, according to a spokesman, Capt. Eric Flanagan.
Maj. Gen. Raymond Fox, commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Lejeune, will determine whether to court martial Hassoun.
In a written statement from its headquarters at the Pentagon, the Marine Corps said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service "worked with" Hassoun to turn himself in and return to the U.S. to face charges.
Hassoun disappeared from his unit in Iraq's western desert in June 2004. The following month he turned up unharmed in Beirut, Lebanon and blamed his disappearance on Islamic extremist kidnappers. He was returned to Lejeune and was about to face the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing when he disappeared again.
Flanagan, said the Hassoun case is unrelated to the matter of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who disappeared from his post in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009 under unexplained circumstances. Members of Bergdahl's unit have said he walked away on his own and should face desertion charges. The Bergdahl case triggered a flood of controversy in part because of questions about the deal the U.S. struck with the Taliban to gain his release May 31, after five years in captivity, in exchange for freeing five senior Taliban commanders from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bergdahl has not commented publicly on the circumstances of his disappearance and the Army has made no charges against him.
It is unclear where Hassoun, 34, has spent the past nine years after disappearing during a visit with relatives in West Jordan, Utah in December 2004. Nor is it known why he chose to turn himself in now. He was born in Lebanon and is a naturalized American citizen.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps in January 2002 and was trained as a motor vehicle operator. At the time of his disappearance from a Marine camp in Fallujah in western Iraq in June 2004 he was serving as an Arabic translator. That was a particularly difficult year for the Marines in Iraq. In April they launched an offensive to retake Fallujah from Islamic extremists but were ordered to pull back, only to launch a second offensive in November that succeeded in regaining control of the city but at the expense of dozens of Marine lives.
Seven days after his June 2004 disappearance, a photo of a blindfolded Hassoun with a sword poised above his head turned up on Al-Jazeera television. A group called the National Islamic Resistance/1920 Revolution Brigade claimed to be holding him captive.
On July 8, 2004, Hassoun contacted American officials in Beirut, Lebanon, claiming to have been kidnapped. He was returned to the U.S. and eventually to Camp Lejeune. After a Navy investigation, the military charged Hassoun with desertion, loss of government property, theft of a military firearm for allegedly leaving the Fallujah camp with a 9 mm service pistol, and theft of a Humvee.
Shortly after his return to the U.S., Hassoun said in a public statement that he had been captured by insurgents in Iraq and was still a loyal Marine. "I did not desert my post," he told reporters. "I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days. This was a very difficult and challenging time for me."
In the initial months following his return to Lejeune, Hassoun was not held in confinement because charges had not yet been brought against him. He was considered non-deployable until the case was resolved, but he was allowed to make personal trips
A January 2005 hearing on the matter was canceled when Hassoun failed to return to Camp Lejeune from his Utah visit. His commanders then officially classified him as a deserter, authorizing civilian police to apprehend him. A short time later Hassoun was been placed on a Navy list of "most wanted" fugitives. A mug shot of him appeared on a Navy criminal justice Web site, which claimed the missing corporal used the alias "Jafar."
In a February 2005 interview with the Associated Press in Salt Lake City, Hassoun's brother, Mohamad, said Wassef Ali Hassoun was a victim of anti-Muslim bias in the U.S. military. The Marine Corps denied this. The brother also said the pressure of facing desertion charges was partly to blame for Hassoun's decision to flee while in Utah.
"Instead of them giving him medals and making him feel good about his service and what he was doing for his country, they gave him an Article 32," Hassoun said of the military court proceedings that his brother was to have faced in January 2005.
Family members have said they last saw him on Dec. 29, 2004.
http://news.yahoo.com/marine-disappeared-iraq-2004-back-us-200407495--politics.html
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The Bait-&-Switch Behind Today's Hobby Lobby Decision
For many years, the Supreme Court struck a careful balance between protecting religious liberty and maintaining the rule of law in a pluralistic society. Religious people enjoy a robust right to practice their own faith and to act according to the dictates of their own conscience, but they could not wield religious liberty claims as a sword to cut away the legal rights of others. This was especially true in the business context. As the Supreme Court held in United States v. Lee, “[w]hen followers of a particular sect enter into commercial activity as a matter of choice, the limits they accept on their own conduct as a matter of conscience and faith are not to be superimposed on the statutory schemes which are binding on others in that activity.”
With Monday’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, however, this careful balance has been upended. Employers who object to birth control on religious grounds may now refuse to comply with federal rules requiring them to include contraceptive care in their health plans. The rights of the employer now trump the rights of the employee.
Continues:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/30/3454501/hobby-lobby-bait-and-switch/
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The 8 Best Lines From Ginsburg's Dissent on the Hobby Lobby Contraception Decision
On Monday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg penned a blistering dissent to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling that the government can't require certain employers to provide insurance coverage for methods of birth control and emergency contraception that conflict with their religious beliefs. Ginsburg wrote that her five male colleagues, "in a decision of startling breadth," would allow corporations to opt out of almost any law that they find "incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs."
Here are seven more key quotes from Ginsburg's dissent in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby:
"The exemption sought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga would…deny legions of women who do not hold their employers' beliefs access to contraceptive coverage"
"Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community."
"Any decision to use contraceptives made by a woman covered under Hobby Lobby's or Conestoga's plan will not be propelled by the Government, it will be the woman's autonomous choice, informed by the physician she consults."
"It bears note in this regard that the cost of an IUD is nearly equivalent to a month's full-time pay for workers earning the minimum wage."
"Would the exemption…extend to employers with religiously grounded objections to blood transfusions (Jehovah's Witnesses); antidepressants (Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia, intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (certain Muslims, Jews, and Hindus); and vaccinations[?]…Not much help there for the lower courts bound by today's decision."
"Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude."
"The court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield."
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/best-lines-hobby-lobby-decision
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Yes, another dreadful Supreme Court Decision.
Ginsburg wrote that her five male colleagues, "in a decision of startling breadth," would allow corporations
to opt out of almost any law that they find "incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs."
Wonder what this ruling might mean for gay people.
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The Supreme Court's unanimous decision last week saying a Massachusetts abortion clinic that
has a buffer zone around it where protesters have to stand is illegal because it violates the
first amendment and free speech seems patently uninformed because, well, the Supreme Court
itself has a buffer zone around it. Someone should file THAT lawsuit next.
IMO, those abortion clinic people are not about exercising their right to free speech, they're about harassment.
Here's The Ultimate Irony Of The Supreme Court Banning 'Buffer Zones' At Abortion Clinics
by Brett LoGiurato
"By striking down the buffer zone law today, the Supreme Court has taken away an essential measure to protect public safety and health care access in our state," Marty Walz, the CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and an opponent of the court's decision, told Business Insider in a statement. "Of note, the Justices who voted to strike down the Massachusetts law today are protected by their own buffer zone. They made no mention of that buffer zone, and the opinion raises the question of whether the buffer zone at the Supreme Court is in fact constitutional."
http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-abortion-buffer-zones-decision-2014-6
P.S.:
A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
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Yes, another dreadful Supreme Court Decision.
Wonder what this ruling might mean for gay people.
They've opened a real can of worms, that's for sure. Unbelievable.
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The Supreme Court's unanimous decision last week saying a Massachusetts abortion clinic that
has a buffer zone around it where protesters have to stand is illegal because it violates the
first amendment and free speech seems patently uninformed because, well, the Supreme Court
itself has a buffer zone around it. Someone should file THAT lawsuit next.
IMO, those abortion clinic people are not about exercising their right to free speech, they're about harassment.
Here's The Ultimate Irony Of The Supreme Court Banning 'Buffer Zones' At Abortion Clinics
by Brett LoGiurato
"By striking down the buffer zone law today, the Supreme Court has taken away an essential measure to protect public safety and health care access in our state," Marty Walz, the CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and an opponent of the court's decision, told Business Insider in a statement. "Of note, the Justices who voted to strike down the Massachusetts law today are protected by their own buffer zone. They made no mention of that buffer zone, and the opinion raises the question of whether the buffer zone at the Supreme Court is in fact constitutional."
http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-abortion-buffer-zones-decision-2014-6
P.S.:
A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The Republican War on Women continues. Looks like the Republic of Gilead may not be far off.
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Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The United States is increasing its military presence in Iraq, ordering 300 more troops to the violence-ravaged nation, the Pentagon announced Monday.
The new troops will provide security for the U.S. Embassy, the Baghdad airport and other facilities in Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
The deployment includes "a detachment of helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, which will bolster airfield and travel route security," Kirby said in a written statement.
The 300 troops are in addition to 300 U.S. advisers who will help to train Iraq's security forces.
ISIS declares caliphate
Emboldened by a weakened Iraqi government that is struggling to stop their murderous advance, extremists of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria declared over the weekend that they have set up a caliphate spanning large areas of the two countries.
In a newly released audio message and written statement, purportedly from the official spokesman of ISIS, the group called on Muslims to swear allegiance to the caliphate, which means Islamic state.
The group said in the message Sunday, which CNN couldn't independently confirm, that its flag now flies from Aleppo province in northwestern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq. It announced that it was changing its name to just the "Islamic State."
The ISIS statement was just one of the many developments in the fast-moving situation in Iraq over the weekend....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/30/world/meast/iraq-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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unmanned aerial vehicles
I.e., drones.
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Yesterday's news.
Today's.....
announcement from GM:
if you have one of our cars, any make any model any year, bring it back. Do not drive it. Call AAA.
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New announcement from GM...
Never mind. Profits are WAY up. You obviously don't care about recalls.
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Stop the presses! David Beckham's new underwear campaign for H&M is here!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FDavid-Beckham-01_zps0c03d027.jpg&hash=3fd4a7f0327d47e4b2c79bf3aed28c4d6416c7ed)
http://www.out.com/fashion/truman-says/2014/07/02/david-beckhams-new-underwear-campaign-hm-here?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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I can't wait to see those tats when he's 70.
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Ooops! The new math...
Girl Born with 3 Legs to Have 2 Removed
With three legs all to herself, a 22-month-old toddler from Panama will next month undergo a major surgery at Shriners Hospitals for Children Los Angeles to remove the two that don't work. Ana Paula was born a conjoined twin, with not just three legs....
https://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/girl-born-3-legs-2-removed-164400531.html
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I'm not sure what your point is. Poor little girl.
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The headline was hilarious.
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But the article was quite sobering.
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I can't wait to see those tats when he's 70.
I think that about a lot of people who cover themselves with "body art."
Ever use Silly Putty to copy an image from a color comic strip, and then stretch it? That's what some of them will look like.
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The headline was hilarious.
It was a pretty stupidly written headline.
Reminds of an article I saw years ago concerning making soups and stews for winter meals. The headline read:
Pot Is The Heart of Winter Cookery
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So true.... ;D
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I think that about a lot of people who cover themselves with "body art."
Ever use Silly Putty to copy an image from a color comic strip, and then stretch it? That's what some of them will look like.
What is he 40, in 30 years, I bet they look great. He will probably still look good at 70!
My hubby had one tat done at 17, he is 57, still looks like it did when he got it! :)
If you look David's tatoos all mean something, about his wife, his children, his career -- I think it's great and I think they look great on him!
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London criticized for anti-homeless spikes, but Canada is little better
Matthew Coutts | Daily Brew – Mon, 9 Jun, 2014
Canada may not do enough to help its homeless community, but at least we've never lumped them in with pests and vermin the way a London, England apartment complex did when it installed metal spikes on the ground near its entrance.
Except, apparently we have. According to a Canadian homeless advocacy group, anti-homeless spikes are relatively common and have even made occasional appearances in Canada.
"I've seen them around, I've seen them here in Calgary and I've seen them in other cities around Canada," Tim Richter, head of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, told Yahoo Canada News.
"Typically outside high-rise buildings. It is the same kind of thing that lots of places do to deter skate boarding. The last time I saw them was right outside a C-train station in Calgary. They are unfortunately fairly common."
A volcano of outrage erupted over the weekend after an image of metal spikes located outside a London apartment complex was posted online.
The photo, posted to Twitter by several users, shows three rows of metal spikes posted near the entrance to the building.
The studs appear ideally located to stop people from sleeping nearby, and were quickly likened to the rows of spikes often used to keep pigeons from nesting in public areas.
The Telegraph newspaper reports that the spikes had been installed in recent weeks, but similar studs have been previously used outside other apartment complexes. Advocates for the homeless community called them inhumane.
"It is a scandal that anyone should sleep on the streets in 21st century Britain. Yet over the last three years rough sleeping has risen steeply across the country and by a massive 75 per cent in London," Katharine Sacks-Jones, head of the homelessness charity Crisis, said in a statement.
"Whether you are putting these spikes in place or spreading manure on homeless camps, or your police officers and bylaw officers are issuing fines to homeless people, really you are pushing the problem around. You're not solving it."
—Tim Richter, head of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/london-criticized-anti-homeless-spikes-canada-better-174042472.html
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Former tuck shop lady at Shrewsbury School arrested after 'going berserk' on cricket pitch
Keith Perry 6:28PM BST 20 Jun 2014
A woman who won her unfair dismissal case against a leading public school after being sacked from her job in the tuck shop, has been arrested after “going berserk” and driving her car onto the cricket pitch at high speed, sending staff and pupils running for cover.
Gillian Stokes, 44, was arrested by West Mercia police after driving her car onto the pitch during cricket practice and performing high speed “doughnuts” at Shrewsbury School whose former pupils include Charles Darwin.
One source said Stokes chased a teacher around the pitch with a fire extinguisher before assaulting him.
Kathy Campbell, a spokeswoman for the £30,000 a year school, which was founded in 1552 said the incident had been “very frightening” for pupils although no-one was injured.
The school’s brochure said the school fields were “described by the cricket-writer Sir Neville Cardus as the ‘the most beautiful playing fields in the world, spreading and imperceptibly mingling with the pasture land of Shropshire'.
“Pupils were practising on the cricket pitch at the time when a former employee turned up in defiance of an injunction banning her from the premises. She did several high speed laps of the cricket pitch in her car and performed, what I believe are called doughnuts,” said Mrs Campbell. “As her car has personalised number plates we knew immediately who it was and alerted police. Teachers led the pupils to safety. Everyone was shocked. The police arrived quickly and she was arrested. I gather she is being held in custody. We taking extra security measures to ensure she cannot come back to the school and locking the gates. She is currently in custody. Obviously you don’t want someone who is in an irrational state driving their car onto the school grounds where there are children around. It is very sad. Our groundsman is obviously not happy that someone drove a car onto the cricket pitch and the square. You are not even allowed to walk on it."
“It is quite a historic and beautiful cricket pitch. Charles Darwin probably played on it. We are very proud of our cricket teams at Shrewsbury and we also have some very good female players too who play in the second XI with the boys.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10915710/Former-tuck-shop-lady-at-Shrewsbury-School-arrested-after-going-berserk-on-cricket-pitch.html
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Never heard of such a thing, seems like the homeless are mistreated all over the world.
Ft. Lauderdale Passes Law Making it Legal to Steal Homeless Peoples’ Belongings
http://aattp.org/ft-lauderdale-passes-law-making-it-legal-to-steal-homeless-peoples-belongings/
Florida has declared all out war on them!
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Federal government to sell opulent Miami mansion in downsizing bid
By: Alex Boutilier Staff Reporter, Published on Wed Jul 02 2014
OTTAWA—Austerity has claimed its latest victim — a multimillion-dollar mansion in Miami that the federal government has been using as its official residence since 2009.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is looking for a Florida real estate agent to sell the opulent property, which boasts six bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms and a swimming pool.
An unofficial estimate on the real estate website Zillow.com puts the value of the 7,466-square-foot property, used by Canada’s consulate in Miami, at almost $5.5 million.
The sale comes as the department looks to scale back on its international properties to generate $80 million in revenues over the coming years — an initiative announced as part of the 2012 federal budget.
“Under the strategy, high-cost, oversized and/or poorly located housing is being replaced by more appropriately sized and located properties,” departmental spokesman John Babcock wrote in an email to the Star.
“In various cities across the U.S.A., Canada will replace up to 12 properties that are larger than we currently require. One of these is Miami.”
The Zillow listing notes that “no expense was spared” in the construction of the Spanish-style mansion, which features high ceilings for natural light, staff quarters, and a saltwater heated pool surrounded by “lush landscaping.”
The federal government purchased the residence for $1.9 million in 2009, but has since embarked on a cost-cutting exercise that saw the department sell seven properties — including two in Washington ($4 million), Mexico City ($3.1 million), Seattle ($2.2 million), and Detroit ($800,000).
The department has also sold official residences in Oslo, Norway and Brussels, Belgium and has other properties on the market, including one in Helsinki, Finland. According to spokesman Jean-Bruno Villeneuve, other properties are being considered for sale but have not yet been confirmed.
Ottawa had previously sold the Canada High Commission building in London’s Mayfair district for $530 million in 2013, and its Dublin residence in 2008.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/07/02/federal_government_to_sell_opulent_miami_mansion_in_bid_to_save_money.html
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Quebecers left homeless after moving day
By Geoffrey Vendeville, THE GAZETTE July 2, 2014 9:28 PM
For many Quebecers, July 2 is a time to unpack and relax after a hectic moving day. But for others, the stress isn’t over.
Four Montreal households were left homeless after their leases expired on July 1, including three families with children. The situation was more serious in Gatineau, where 19 households found themselves on the street after moving day.
But it’s a far cry from the situation at the peak of a housing shortage in the early 2000s, according to social housing activists from the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (Frapru).
“I remember 10 or 12 years ago, there were hundreds, even thousands, of people left homeless on July 1,” said François Saillant of the FRAPRU at a press conference on Wednesday.
Montreal may yet face another housing crisis after provincial cutbacks and if federal subsidies for public housing are allowed to lapse by 2035, he warned.
“The private sector is turning toward the construction of condos, especially in Montreal, because it sees immediate profit. But it’s not addressing the same market, the same world,” Saillant said. “We’re not talking about the same renters who found themselves without a home on July 1.”
FRAPRU says 50,000 units of public housing are needed to meet the demand in Quebec.
The organization is planning protests over the next year, including a major demonstration in November, to demand public housing.
Some experts say that a housing crisis isn’t just imminent, it’s already at hand.
“Rents are increasing rapidly in Montreal and the rental market is shrinking,” said Professor Ted Rutland of Concordia’s department of Geography, Planning, and Environment. “In these conditions, people are finding it harder than ever to find a decent place to live.”
He added that landlords have sometimes been shown to discriminate against people of colour, working-class families and recipients of social aid.
“We are in a worsening housing crisis that hits some people much harder than others and that no one wants to talk about,” he said.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebecers+left+homeless+after+moving/9994830/story.html
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It was a pretty stupidly written headline.
Yes, I agree. And I don't like the jokey tone of "With three legs all to herself". When you look at the photo of that smily little girl lying there, who has no idea what pain and disability lie ahead of her, it's hard to imagine anyone trying to say anything witty about it.
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What is he 40, in 30 years, I bet they look great. He will probably still look good at 70!
My hubby had one tat done at 17, he is 57, still looks like it did when he got it! :)
If you look David's tatoos all mean something, about his wife, his children, his career -- I think it's great and I think they look great on him!
Good for your husband! :)
David Beckham will probably still look fine at age 80, but everybody isn't a David Beckham. I'm sure a lot of people who aren't athletes, but who cover themselves with "ink," aren't going to be so pretty in old age. It's like some of the guys I've been seeing at my gym for 20 years and more. They maybe still have muscular arms and shoulders, but even they now have stomachs abs that are, er, convex instead of concave. Gravity may not get David Beckham in the end, but it gets most of us.
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Yes, I agree. And I don't like the jokey tone of "With three legs all to herself". When you look at the photo of that smily little girl lying there, who has no idea what pain and disability lie ahead of her, it's hard to imagine anyone trying to say anything witty about it.
Absolutely! Poor little kid. :(
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FKinder_Surprise-01_zpsb361318f.jpg&hash=7544bac9092e0a51dbb14bbdaf6f39663fdcce43)
Canadian Kinder Surprise smuggling ring broken up by US officials
Three Canadian women are being held in a Seattle detention centre after an elaborate Kinder Egg smuggling ring was uncovered. Border officials have seized more than 6,000 chocolate eggs containing tiny toys such as a little plastic horse that is also a whistle.
The Italian confectionary is popular in Canada but illegal in the US where small plastic items, like a wind-up, walking piece of cake or a raccoon playing the trumpet, are considered choking hazards. This has created a lucrative black market, a source of increasing tension between the Harper and Obama governments.
A 500 ft. tunnel running from the outskirts of Abbotsford, B.C. to a shed in Sumas, WA was detected late last week by Dale Lawson while he was walking his dog: "Buster got into this weird looking shed," say Lawson, "he comes out with chocolate in his mouth."
Lawson, worried that his dog could get sick, took the chocolate and found it contained a plastic capsule. "I thought maybe it was drugs but when I opened it up it was a little plastic fox dressed like a queen. I called the police right away."
Police arrived just as Melanie Russet, Marg Spooner and Lynn Dodwell emerged from the tunnel with flats of chocolate eggs. The three were taken into custody and more arrests on both sides of the border are expected.
It's estimated that up to 800,000 eggs cross the border every year and while there have yet to be any reported fatalities, it's only a matter of time before a child chokes on a tiny house with googly eyes or a pen shaped like a ski.
http://www.cbc.ca/thisisthat/blog/2014/06/02/canadian-kinder-surprise-smuggling-ring-broken-up-by-us-officials/
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Wedding bells for Paul Bernardo?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fthestar%2Fnews%2Fgta%2F2014%2F07%2F03%2Fpaul_bernardo_planning_prison_wedding_report%2Fpaul_bernardo.jpg.size.xxlarge.letterbox.jpg&hash=31c8db32fa33cd5861c47a513c58f2ce6e618ac7)
Sex killer Paul Bernardo is serving an indeterminate sentence for the slayings of two schoolgirls, a dozen rapes and more than two dozen other sex offenses — but there are still women who reportedly want to marry him.
The latest is reported to be a 30-year-old university graduate from London, Ont., who began corresponding with him last fall, according to QMI news agency.
Corrections Canada declines to comment on individual cases.
Tim Danson, a lawyer for the families of murdered schoolgirls has plenty to say.
“He should not be given any privileges,” Danson told the Star on Thursday.
He also said the woman who considers herself to be Bernardo’s fiancée needs plenty of help.
“People close to her have to reach out to her and save her from herself,” Danson said. “Just the thought of it is disturbing.”
Danson said he highly doubts Bernardo will ever get out of prison.
Still, there are plenty of women who struggle to make contact with him through letters.
One website for prisoners’ families features a hot discussion on whether it’s right to try to make contact with Bernardo.
“I write to Paul all the time, I send him cards and no I dont have a fetish for concrete!,” a woman who identified herself as “shoes” wrote. “I have read many books on his crimes and for some reason i hold compassion for him. Its deep in my bones and i cant let it go.”
Another woman, who identified herself as “brandy99,” wrote that she can see a difference between Bernardo the man and Bernardo the criminal.
“His crimes arent what intriques me it’s him,” she wrote.
In a report published on Thursday, The Quebecor-owned QMI report does not name the 30-year-old bride-to-be. It says that even her family doesn’t believe the ceremony behind bars will ever take place.
According to the QMI report, the couple first met last fall after she wrote him.
The QMI report says that his fiancée believes he is innocent even though he made videos of his victims in captivity.
“He has convinced her that he didn’t do this (rapes or murders),” her father told QMI.
Danson said Bernardo’s trial left no doubt that he is a sadistic psychopath.
“That’s well beyond the pale, given what was proven at trial and on the videotapes,” Danson said.
The QMI report says the bride-to-be has a tattoo on her ankle that says “Paul’s girl.”
The QMI report also says the engagement has caused tensions within her family.
If the marriage did take place, Corrections Canada could determine is she would be allowed to meet with her behind bars.
Prisoners are permitted private visits of up to 72 hours duration once every two months. A former Millhaven inmate told The Star said that prisoners often are able to increase that visiting time in swaps with other inmates.
Bernardo made the news last summer, Steven Blaney, the federal minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, said he would not be enjoying a transfer from ancient Kingston Penitentiary to a more comfortable medium security prison.
MORE ON THESTAR.COM:
Paul Bernardo won’t get cushier cell: Public Safety minister
Horror of Paul Bernardo crimes continues to haunt
Killer cop disgusts even Paul Bernardo
Blaney went to pains to state that Bernardo couldn’t expect soft prison time.
“Paul Bernardo was convicted of heinous and despicable crimes,” he had said then, in a prepared statement. “While I do not control the security classification of individual prisoners, I have received assurances that there are no plans to move this inmate to a medium security institution.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, whose lives were taken too soon.”
Blaney could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Bernardo is now believed to be housed in Millhaven Penitentiary in Kingston.
Kingston Penitentiary was closed late last year. Bernardo spent 18 years there housed 23 hours a day in a cell that’s roughly 1.5 metres by 3 metres.
For the remaining hour, he was allowed to watch television or exercise.
For a time, a prisoner in the adjoining cell was convicted murderer and former Toronto police officer Richard Wills.
Wills was transferred out of Kingston to a maximum-security B.C. prison because his behaviour disgusted Kingston Penitentiary staff and inmates, including Bernardo.
Exactly what Wills did to disgust them remains a mystery.
Bernardo’s other neighbours in the same segregated range of the Kingston Penitentiary included Russell Williams, former commander of CFB Trenton, who was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for two sadistic sex murders.
Wills was transferred to a maximum-security facility in B.C. late last month for a fresh start, the sources said. Suzanne Leclerc, of Corrections Canada in Ottawa, said she is prevented by the Privacy Act from saying where federal inmates are housed.
Bernardo’s first wife, Karla Homolka, was convicted of manslaughter for her role in the slayings of French and Mahaffey and served 12 years in prison.
She wasn’t charged in the 1990 Christmas Eve drug-rape death of her sister, Tammy Homolka, but her sentence took the incident into account.
Toronto journalist Paula Todd tracked down Bernardo’s former wife, Karla Homolka, two years ago and made her the topic of her e-book: Finding Karla: How I tracked Down a Serial Child Killer and Discovered a Mother of Three.
She found Homolka lived in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
In April 2011, Michelle Erstikaitis, a woman who had professed admiration for Bernardo, was named a dangerous offender herself.
Erstikaitis, then 31, had a lengthy criminal record that included threatening in 1999 to kill Debbie Mahaffy, the mother of Leslie Mahaffy.
At the time, Erstikaitis said she believed Bernardo was innocent.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/07/03/paul_bernardo_planning_prison_wedding_report.html
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London criticized for anti-homeless spikes, but Canada is little better
Matthew Coutts | Daily Brew – Mon, 9 Jun, 2014
Canada may not do enough to help its homeless community, but at least we've never lumped them in with pests and vermin the way a London, England apartment complex did when it installed metal spikes on the ground near its entrance.
Except, apparently we have. According to a Canadian homeless advocacy group, anti-homeless spikes are relatively common and have even made occasional appearances in Canada.
"I've seen them around, I've seen them here in Calgary and I've seen them in other cities around Canada," Tim Richter, head of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, told Yahoo Canada News.
"Typically outside high-rise buildings. It is the same kind of thing that lots of places do to deter skate boarding. The last time I saw them was right outside a C-train station in Calgary. They are unfortunately fairly common."
A volcano of outrage erupted over the weekend after an image of metal spikes located outside a London apartment complex was posted online.
The photo, posted to Twitter by several users, shows three rows of metal spikes posted near the entrance to the building.
The studs appear ideally located to stop people from sleeping nearby, and were quickly likened to the rows of spikes often used to keep pigeons from nesting in public areas.
The Telegraph newspaper reports that the spikes had been installed in recent weeks, but similar studs have been previously used outside other apartment complexes. Advocates for the homeless community called them inhumane.
"It is a scandal that anyone should sleep on the streets in 21st century Britain. Yet over the last three years rough sleeping has risen steeply across the country and by a massive 75 per cent in London," Katharine Sacks-Jones, head of the homelessness charity Crisis, said in a statement.
"Whether you are putting these spikes in place or spreading manure on homeless camps, or your police officers and bylaw officers are issuing fines to homeless people, really you are pushing the problem around. You're not solving it."
—Tim Richter, head of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/london-criticized-anti-homeless-spikes-canada-better-174042472.html
There were some anti-homeless spikes installed around a downtown building here in Montreal. When the mayor heard about it he flipped out and immediately went there and had them removed the same day. I'm sure anti-homeless spikes would be welcome additions to Tennessee's urban landscapes, that is if the state actually has urban landscapes. ;)
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;D
We have some semi-urban and pseudo-urban locales. But no homeless to speak of. Anyone without a home here is actually a country singer gathering info for new songs.
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Corporations race into Ginsburg’s ‘minefield’ to claim post-Hobby Lobby religious exemptions
The 5-4 majority in the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Hobby Lobby case claimed the decision was narrowly focused on closely held corporations that objected to the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate on religious grounds.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned in a scathing, 35-page dissent that her colleagues had “ventured into a minefield” with their ruling, arguing that the majority had invited “for-profit entities to seek religion-based exemptions from regulations they deem offensive to their faith.”
It took only one day to prove her predictions accurate.
[...]
Wow, Margaret Atwood was right.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/03/corporations-race-into-ginsburgs-minefield-to-claim-post-hobby-lobby-religious-exemptions/
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Arthur getting meaner
Emergencies
in 23 N.C. counties as hurricane nears
As tourists hunker down, Arthur is expected to grow to a Category 2 with winds of 105 mph
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/03/us/holiday-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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What's the Al Jolson line... "You ain't seen nuthin' yet."
Christian Conservatives Are Trying To Use Hobby Lobby To Discriminate Against Gays
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/07/03/christian-conservatives-hobby-lobby-discriminate-gays.html
_________________________
Op-ed: Hobby Lobby and the Constitutional Right to Be Stupid
Hobby Lobby just got a religious exemption from science. Yes, science.
by Michelle Garcia
http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/07/01/op-ed-hobby-lobby-and-constitutional-right-be-stupid
_________________________
Corporations are Still Not People… Hobby Lobby Reaps the Whirlwind…
by Chad Nance
http://www.camelcitydispatch.com/3rd-shift-corporations-are-still-not-people-hobby-lobby-reaps-the-whirlwind-4875/
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.camelcitydispatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F06%2FcorporateLogoJudges.jpg&hash=3d3383ad7fb39cd7c0a3d62e7e99d3d48f5afa19)
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Good Old Tennesse!. Cough, Doodler, cough!
US judge says lesbians can be ‘cured’ by male soldiers
[...]
Rehyansky, of Hamilton County, Tennessee, argued that men were naturally more promiscuous than women and “it fell to men to swing through the trees and scour the caves in search of as many women as possible to subdue and impregnate – a tough job but someone had to do it”.
Then, he claimed that the “promiscuity” of gay men, coupled with HIV, would have “the potential for disastrous health consequences” if gay men were allowed to serve openly in the military.
“Gays spread disease at a rate out of all proportion to their numbers in our population and should be excluded from the military,” he argued.
He continued: “Shouldn’t the overwhelmingly straight warriors who answer their county’s call be spared the indignity of showering with other men who achieve lascivious enjoyment from the sight of those lithe naked bodies, and who may be tempted to seek more than the view?”
Lesbian military personnel, who Mr Rehyansky praised for their “medical and administrative specialties”, should be allowed to serve because they apparently have low sex drives.
His final argument, which has now been removed by The Daily Caller, was as follows: “My solution would get the distaff part of our homosexual population off our collective ‘Broke Back,’ thus giving straight male GIs a fair shot at converting lesbians and bringing them into the mainstream.”
[...]
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/11/26/us-judge-says-lesbians-can-be-cured-by-male-soldiers/
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Ah, Oily, this is the reason we have strengthened our state immigration requirements. Joe moved here from Toronto, via Louisiana.
Just for the record, he was a retired Army officer and retired Assistant DA and fired magistrate BEFORE he made those comments in November 2010.
He hasn't been expelled from TN because we believe he is entitled to his opinions, no matter how UNpolitically correct they are, but word is, he's recently bought property back home in southern Ontario.
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" ....those lithe naked bodies..." should be a clue that the guy from Oilgun's post has, what the young people call "issues" :D. As for lesbians having a low sex drive, I tend to think he's never met any.
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Ah, Oily, this is the reason we have strengthened our state immigration requirements. Joe moved here from Toronto, via Louisiana.
Just for the record, he was a retired Army officer and retired Assistant DA and fired magistrate BEFORE he made those comments in November 2010.
He hasn't been expelled from TN because we believe he is entitled to his opinions, no matter how UNpolitically correct they are, but word is, he's recently bought property back home in southern Ontario.
REALLY, from Canada? I pulling my leg right? Oh and not everyone is entitled to their opinion.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.salon.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fthis_week_in_crazy_joe_rehyansky-460x307.jpg&hash=5679d8411cbd9e2d688c2097e9b064e8f1fd0f7a)
http://www.salon.com/2010/11/27/this_week_crazy_joe_rehyansky/
Had to look him up, he would be run out of Canada on a rail, we don't take to "his type". He needs to stay in the deep south!
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Leave it to Joan! :o
Joan Rivers jokes Obama is gay, first lady is transgender
(CNN) -- Who needs Fourth of July fireworks when you have Joan Rivers around?
The comedian known for her lack of self-censoring recently officiated a same-sex wedding and was asked by a photographer if she believed the United States would ever see the first gay or female president. Her response was typical Rivers.
"We already have it with Obama, so let's just calm down," she said. "You know Michelle (Obama) is a trans."
When asked to further explain Rivers said, "A transgender. We all know it."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/04/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/joan-rivers-michelle-obama-gay-transgender/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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LOVE Joan Rivers. And that is certainly not the worse thing anyone has ever said about the Prez and Mrs. Prez.
" ....those lithe naked bodies..." should be a clue that the guy from Oilgun's post has, what the young people call "issues" :D. As for lesbians having a low sex drive, I tend to think he's never met any.
;D
He was fired as a magistrate 7 months before his comments because of other comments he made to a prostitute while adjudicating her sentencing (April 2010.)
REALLY, from Canada? I pulling my leg right? Oh and not everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Family emigrated here in the late 60s. Or maybe they were run out....
We have free speech in the US, so yes, they are.
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LOVE Joan Rivers. And that is certainly not the worse thing anyone has ever said about the Prez and Mrs. Prez.
;D
He was fired as a magistrate 7 months before his comments because of other comments he made to a prostitute while adjudicating her sentencing (April 2010.)
Family emigrated here in the late 60s. Or maybe they were run out....
We have free speech in the US, so yes, they are.
Okay everyone may be entitled to their opinion, but some opinions are just not worth much.
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Not if you disagree with them. ;)
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Police say mom kills kindergarten teacher in class
PARIS (AP) — 4 July 2014
Authorities say the mother of a pupil at a French pre-school stabbed a teacher to death in front of her class Friday, the last day of the school year.
The education minister said the mother apparently had "serious psychiatric problems." Police said she was taken into custody.
Deadly attacks in a school are extremely rare in France, and the stabbing in front of a class of 5- and 6-year-olds raised concern at the highest levels. French President Francois Hollande expressed outrage at "this abominable drama" at the Edouard Herriot school in Albi in southern France.
Education Minister Benoit Hamon traveled immediately to the school, and told reporters that the mother of a pupil "committed this abominable act in a class against a remarkable teacher." A police official said the mother stabbed the teacher with a knife soon after school started Friday morning.
Hamon said the attacker's child had been in the school only for a month and a half, and the mother had had very little contact with the school staff until Friday. It was unclear whether the daughter was in class at the time of the attack.
Police and city officials would not comment on possible reasons for the attack. The regional prosecutor was expected to speak publicly about the case Friday evening.
After Friday's attack, "the children were immediately taken in by another teacher who brought them to another classroom to talk to them, to tell them stories, to try to break them away from what they had just lived through," Hamon said.
The slain teacher, 34, had two small daughters, Hamon said.
Fellow teacher Robert Couffignal of the regional teachers union told BFM television that the school had experienced tensions in the past but had never seen such violence
http://news.yahoo.com/police-mom-kills-kindergarten-teacher-class-115706450.html
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Okay everyone may be entitled to their opinion, but some opinions are just not worth much.
"Everyone's entitled to their opinion" has become another version of "bless your little heart".
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It's also come to mean by many that one shouldn't disagree or taken to task for their opinions,
because it's an entitlement, in other words, it's my opinion so leave me alone. As far as Free
Speech goes, TN has put forth a bill the past couple years so that you couldn't even say the word
"gay" in schools. Among other issues. So far, it's been politically incorrect to go that far.
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It's also come to mean by many that one shouldn't disagree or taken to task for their opinions, because it's an entitlement, in other words, it's my opinion so leave me alone. As far as Free Speech goes, TN has put forth a bill the past couple years so that you couldn't even say the word
"gay" in schools. Among other issues. So far, it's been politically incorrect to go that far.
Right; what it implies depends on which side of the 'conversation' it comes from.
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Children raised by same-sex couples healthier and happier, research suggests
"Dr Crouch said same-sex couples faced less pressure to fulfil traditional gender roles, which led to a more harmonious households.
" 'Previous research has suggested that parenting roles and work roles, and home roles within same-sex parenting families are more equitably distributed when compared to heterosexual families,' he said.
" 'So what this means is that people take on roles that are suited to their skill sets rather than falling into those gender stereotypes, which is mum staying home and looking after the kids and dad going out to earn money.' "
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-05/children-raised-by-same-sex-couples-healthier-study-finds/5574168
the study is at http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-14-635.pdf
(those citing the Regenerus study are, of course, entitled to their opinions; bless their hearts)
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So right! And I've noticed the more "liberal" people are the more they don't want to hear contrary opinions.
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Yukon same-sex moms still waiting for son's birth certificate
CBC – 26 Jun, 2014
A Whitehorse same-sex couple is still waiting for a birth certificate for their son despite changes made to Yukon's Vital Statistics Act this spring.
The changes allow parents of the same sex to both be listed on their child's birth certificate.
Earlier this year, Whitehorse moms Cai Krikorian and Corinne Gurtler were told both their names couldn't be on their son's birth certificate unless one mom adopted him.
Yukon MLAs voted unanimously to amend the Vital Statistics Act in early May.
But nearly two months later, Krikorian and Gurtler still don't have a birth certificate for five-month-old Mirek. The couple says they're being told the paperwork is taking time as new forms have to be created.
Meanwhile they say they're continuing with a human rights case.
The Yukon Government isn't commenting.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/yukon-same-sex-moms-still-waiting-sons-birth-140707395.html
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Lithium-water test in suicide study
Press Association -- 26 Jun, 2014
Adding lithium to drinking water supplies could help to reduce suicide rates, according to a team of psychiatrists.
Naturally-occurring levels of the chemical are to be measured in supplies in Scotland and compared with suicide rates in the population it serves.
It follows similar studies in the US and Japan which found that suicide rates are higher in areas where there are low levels of lithium in the drinking water.
The chemical is a common treatment for bipolar disorder but is found in many water supplies.
The project was announced at the Royal College of Psychiatrists' International Congress in London.
Lithium levels will be measured by postcode and compared with Scottish Health Survey and NHS statistics.
The team will also test the impact of adding lithium to water supplies just as fluoride is added to prevent tooth decay.
Professor Allan Young, professor of mood disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, said: " We have a considerable body of evidence that suggests that high levels of the chemical in the water supply could save lives. The key to lithium's impact on reducing suicide as a pharmaceutical agent is in reducing impulsivity as well as depression. We are now embarking on urgent research to establish the impact of taking low levels of lithium as medication, as well as adding lithium to the water supply in much the same way as fluoride is added to prevent tooth decay."
Dr Daniel Smith, from the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow, said: " If we can become deficient in calcium and zinc, there is absolutely no reason why we cannot become deficient in lithium. Previous studies have not always taken different variables such as poverty and unemployment into account when making this comparison. In Scotland, we have ideal conditions in which to carry out this research. A single organisation, Scottish Water is able to measure levels of lithium by postcode and we can make use of the excellent routine data which is available from sources such as the Scottish Health Survey and from the Information Services Division of NHS Scotland."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/lithium-water-test-suicide-study-164716658.html
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So right! And I've noticed the more "liberal" people are the more they don't want to hear contrary opinions.
That's interesting, I've noticed the opposite. I find that liberal people are way more open-minded than conservatives. Conservatives tend to stick to their guns despite facts and evidence.
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Lordy, do you read the posts on here?
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So right! And I've noticed the more "liberal" people are the more they don't want to hear contrary opinions.
Have, myself, noticed, that those who identify themselves as either liberal or conservative, either one, have a tendency to follow a program, set by others, with which they fear to disagree. Opinion leaders rule the roost, and far too many give up their own freedom of thought to them.
Probably, it's just that we all don't have the time to explore every issue, and so repose more trust in the opinion leaders than is really healthy.
Of course, there are exceptions, but we then tend to suppose them as cantankerous :P.
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;)
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I presume, Sherry, you saw the shoe fit? Not a bad show to wear :).
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To coin a phrase: Don't let the noise of others's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
I don't mind playing devil's advocate. I like it much better than playing follow the leader... no matter if my position is follower or leader.
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That's interesting, I've noticed the opposite. I find that liberal people are way more open-minded than conservatives.
Conservatives tend to stick to their guns despite facts and evidence.
And if you ask someone about their "contrary opinions" they get defensive and think you're attacking them.
They just want to "have" them withut discussing them. (It's my opinion so leave me alone.)
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I have never seen it written anywhere that anybody is required to discuss their opinions with someone else. However, I believe most people would be more inclined to do so when asked rather than when a demand to "explain yourself" is made. Math class is about the only place where you have to show your work.
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US activists hopeful about delayed deportation
Garland resident Ana Cañenquez and four of her seven children were originally ordered to leave the United States and return to El Salvador by March 21. That date was pushed back, and now there's no specific deadline for them to leave.
The extra time allows her to save money to afford a home back in El Salvador, both she and immigration officials say.
Advocates hope that kind of discretion is something Obama will expand.
"Many in the community hope the president will use more prosecutorial discretion," Proyecto Latino de Utah director Tony Yapias said. "It makes sense for ICE (the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) to focus on serious criminals rather than to separate families or target people who keep out of trouble here. That is a wiser use of resources."
Cañenquez said her family would face a life of extreme poverty in her native El Salvador, and she fears gangs in that country could mean death for her four sons should they be sent there.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-activists-hopeful-delayed-deportation-015020583.html
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U.S. needs 'to do right' for immigrant children: official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. official said on Sunday the U.S. border is not open to illegal entry into the country, but acknowledged the government does need to be sensitive to the tens of thousands of migrant children flowing into detention centers.
More than 52,000 unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have been caught trying to sneak over the U.S.-Mexico border since October, double the number from the same period the year before. Thousands more have been apprehended with parents or other adults.
"We have to do right by the children, but at the end of the day, our border is not open to illegal migration and we will stem the tide," Jeh Johnson, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
Johnson said that the government administers deportation proceedings to illegal migrants seized at the border, including children. But he added that the government is looking at being more flexible toward the children seized at the border.
"We are looking at ways to create additional options for dealing with the children, in particular, consistent with our laws and our values," Johnson said.
Johnson repeated the stance, taken by President Barack Obama last week, that the president would take executive action to revamp the U.S. immigration system.
"There are a number of things the president and I, within the confines of existing law, can do to fix the broken immigration system. If Congress doesn't act, we will," Johnson said.
Johnson would not answer a question on the Sunday show pertaining to whether the U.S. government would deport the current wave of Central American children, saying only that U.S. authorities would stem the tide, and that deportation processes are commenced against illegal immigrants
http://news.yahoo.com/u-needs-immigrant-children-official-175713681.html
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Israel arrests suspects in Palestinian teen's killing
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has arrested Jewish suspects in the abduction and killing of a Palestinian teen whose death touched off violent protests in Jerusalem and in Israeli Arab towns, a security source said on Sunday.
Six suspects were in custody, the source said, but added the number may change as the investigation into the killing of Mohammed Abu Khudair, 16, progressed.
The source gave no other details about the suspects other than to say they were Jews. There was no official comment from the police.
Investigators believe Mohammed Abu Khudair was slain out of "nationalist motives", the source said, in comments that appeared to confirm Palestinian suspicions that far-right Jews were involved and that his death was a vengeance killing.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-arrests-suspects-palestinian-teens-killing-israeli-media-115344362.html
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That's interesting, I've noticed the opposite. I find that liberal people are way more open-minded than conservatives. Conservatives tend to stick to their guns despite facts and evidence.
I agree with that Oilgun.
Views should be based on evidence, but in the ultra conservative types, (here that is with a large and small C), then evidence has nothing to do with it.
Ultra right wingers are almost always concerned with control.
They do say that they tend to have higher blood pressure than liberals (here, with a large and small L) because of it.
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Reminds me of Edith Ann:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdcafterfive.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F03%2F21.jpg&hash=76f2f39a4f1562fe013d3cc5de23ee46fa47394f)
"I am not bossy...my ideas is just better."
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Why do you say that?
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http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/passengers-must-keep-phones-charged-1
There was a program on TV this morning re the above. They also stated there was a possibility ....if things escalated
that cellphones and tablets and computers may be banned completely. The only thought that past through my mind....was that there may be a possibility in the future ....that I may be lying on an almost deserted beach....and not be disturbed by somebodies annoying ring tone. You know......like it used to be !
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http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/passengers-must-keep-phones-charged-1
There was a program on TV this morning re the above. They also stated there was a possibility ....if things escalated
that cellphones and tablets and computers may be banned completely. The only thought that past through my mind....was that there may be a possibility in the future ....that I may be lying on an almost deserted beach....and not be disturbed by somebodies annoying ring tone. You know......like it used to be !
What if Jake is calling you? :D
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What if Jake is calling you? :D
He'll have to wait !!!! :D :D
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http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/passengers-must-keep-phones-charged-1
There was a program on TV this morning re the above. They also stated there was a possibility ....if things escalated
that cellphones and tablets and computers may be banned completely. The only thought that past through my mind....was that there may be a possibility in the future ....that I may be lying on an almost deserted beach....and not be disturbed by somebodies annoying ring tone. You know......like it used to be !
Soon they'll have to ban passengers because the next terrorist trend are bombs inside the body. :-\
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Since this cellphone all charged up business applies only to people coming TO the US, that works for me. :D
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These domestic terrorists are out of control.
Militia plans to guard border by aiming guns at immigrants, start revolution if cops show up
A militia group is calling on supporters to patrol the Texas-Mexico border to guard against drug gangs and illegal immigrants.
The citizen militia operation, called “Secure Our Border – Laredo,” is urging members to voluntarily guard private property near the border town along the Rio Grande, where some residents have felt threatened by drug cartels and other gangs.
Conservative publications have warned that a recent surge in undocumented children and other immigrants has carried infectious disease across the border and poses an existential threat to the U.S.
[...]
“You see an illegal,” Davis says in the video. “You point your gun dead at him, right between his eyes, and you say, ‘Get back across the border or you will be shot.’”
He also urged militia members to “start the next 1776 right there on the border” if they were confronted by law enforcement authorities.
“It is time that we start taking back our national sovereignty,” Davis says.
[...]
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/07/militia-plans-to-guard-border-by-aiming-guns-at-immigrants-start-revolution-if-cops-show-up/
Do you guys really need Texas and Florida? Well I guess you need Florida because that's where your parents go to die. ;)
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It's not YOUR country being invaded. Thousands every day coming here illegally.
But I've got a solution... our northern border is pretty much open. We'll just load all these people on buses and truck them on up to where the US stops and let them cross on over.
See how YOU like it.
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It's not YOUR country being invaded. Thousands every day coming here illegally.
But I've got a solution... our northern border is pretty much open. We'll just load all these people on buses and truck them on up to where the US stops and let them cross on over.
See how YOU like it.
You're funny. If you didn't hire them, they wouldn't come, lol!
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You think the 50,000 plus children who came here without an adult in the last few months are here to work? Ummm... guess I never thought that if I stopped hiring 12 year olds, they'd stay south of the border. Here I thought the majority of people sneaking across the Rio Grande... those not into running drugs, that is... were after the free education and health care and welfare and.... Welp, guess you guys can straighten it all out when my buses stop outside your door.
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You think the 50,000 plus children who came here without an adult in the last few months are here to work? Ummm... guess I never thought that if I stopped hiring 12 year olds, they'd stay south of the border. Here I thought the majority of people sneaking across the Rio Grande... those not into running drugs, that is... were after the free education and health care and welfare and.... Welp, guess you guys can straighten it all out when my buses stop outside your door.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” What a cruel joke the US has become.
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Immigration made the United States. And was always a source of cheap labor. And immigrants have, in every case, contributed to our variegated culture. But a nation of immigrants must have time to absorb each new wave, and adopt as much of the general culture and values, as will make them Americans.
But we are facing, here, a tidal wave. In just one generation, Hispanics have become over 20% of the country. And that is too fast and not even in the best interests of those already here.
Personally, I am very comfortable with a United States that is 30-35% Hispanic. I love their culture and what they have to offer. But it is happening too fast, and this leads to a nearly permanent under-class, pressure against wages rising, for others, and resentments from those who do not feel safe with millions coming over the border, and millions behind them.
A liberal, smoochy, approach is all too easy to sympathize with. After all, they just want a better life, as did our own ancestors. but this wave is historic,
and cannot be sustained. I loathe the ones who are waving the battle-flag of closing the borders, and sending in troops. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. And I am not afraid of agreeing with them. Apparently, neither is Sherry. Neither of us are right wing. We are seeing something that is, in fact, a fast-track to an ever worse nightmare.
My own strong belief is that we must freeze immigration for at least several years, and focus on justice and better wages for those already here. We went through centuries of a black under-class. We do not need to do that again. And American Hispanics cannot integrate and prosper, if they are always only a smidge above the newly-arrived.
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“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” What a cruel joke the US has become.
We're full. Which is why it's such a good idea to keep 'em movin' north.
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Immigration made the United States. And was always a source of cheap labor. And immigrants have, in every case, contributed to our variegated culture. But a nation of immigrants must have time to absorb each new wave, and adopt as much of the general culture and values, as will make them Americans.
But we are facing, here, a tidal wave. In just one generation, Hispanics have become over 20% of the country. And that is too fast and not even in the best interests of those already here.
Personally, I am very comfortable with a United States that is 30-35% Hispanic. I love their culture and what they have to offer. But it is happening too fast, and this leads to a nearly permanent under-class, pressure against wages rising, for others, and resentments from those who do not feel safe with millions coming over the border, and millions behind them.
A liberal, smoochy, approach is all too easy to sympathize with. After all, they just want a better life, as did our own ancestors. but this wave is historic,
and cannot be sustained. I loathe the ones who are waving the battle-flag of closing the borders, and sending in troops. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. And I am not afraid of agreeing with them. Apparently, neither is Sherry. Neither of us are right wing. We are seeing something that is, in fact, a fast-track to an ever worse nightmare.
My own strong belief is that we must freeze immigration for at least several years, and focus on justice and better wages for those already here. We went through centuries of a black under-class. We do not need to do that again. And American Hispanics cannot integrate and prosper, if they are always only a smidge above the newly-arrived.
I... and I think Tony... have no problem with LEGAL immigration. Take a number, get in line, wait your turn. What we have are thousands, tens of thousands, a million? each year crossing our southern border illegally. Then these activists start shouting that they have rights. Undocumented people are people who are breaking the law of this country just because they are here. They are criminals. There is no other way to look at it. It's easy for people not faced with these hordes to sit back and critize. I REALLY would like to see how those people would feel if it was their country.
And as for the people in Texas/Arizona/California who live along the river taking up arms... they are in fear of their lives. The border patrol is spread too thin to protect them and their property and the Feds are definitely not inclined to do anything to help. It is coming to a boiling point and there is going to be a war.
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Well, actually. Sherry, I do have a problem with legal immigration. I think the situation is so wildly delayed in decent resolution, that we need to shut down all Hispanic immigration for several years, and take a breather, and concurrently begin making life better for those already here. The 12 million illegals should be given rights to stay, and earn citizenship. There is no way to deport them, and they should not live in daily fear, unless they commit a violent crime. Semi-legalize them. Pragmatic solutions are the best, and they take into account realities. There is something called prosecutorial discretion, and it is not only warranted for resident illegals, it is actually the only option. I would also want exceptions for extreme hardship.
I also think it would stand the test of law to continue the immigration of other ethnic groups that are bringing educational backgrounds desperately needed.
Discrimination? Yes. In favor of stopping the madness of creating a new underclass so large it would leave us as 2 peoples, instead of one.
But I am not meaning a lot of jury-rigging to injure Hispanics. I think Hispanics are a people who could more quickly have equivalent incomes.....if only we understood their importance to our future, and they understood that we cannot focus on those already here, if there are ever more, accelerating, each year.
So, because we have waited too long, I really favor ending quotas for legal Hispanic immigrants, for several years, so that we could stop the creation of a new under-class, make an historic, pragmatic effort for those here, legally or otherwise, and then, and only then, resume legal immigration.
Fat chance on any of this. Too much ideology, too little thoughtful and humane acceptance of the need to make hard choices, to prevent later suffering. Oh, yeah, anyone who thinks I am a bigot is way off target. I think Latinos are sexy :).
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Do you guys really need Texas and Florida? Well I guess you need Florida because that's where your parents go to die. ;)
Sorry to point this out, but didn't Hispanic people both own and rule Texas and Florida long before white Anglo Saxon protestants did a land grab on it?
And who says it belongs to any of you?
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We're full. Which is why it's such a good idea to keep 'em movin' north.
You must be bloody joking! Full up! Try the South East of England!
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You must be bloody joking! Full up! Try the South East of England!
And several other counties and cities >:(
Why do they keep thinking they can get a quart into a pint pot ?
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Yes, Sue, it is just the same where you live.
We'll all be sitting on each others shoulders soon.
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Well, actually. Sherry, I do have a problem with legal immigration. I think the situation is so wildly delayed in decent resolution, that we need to shut down all Hispanic immigration for several years, and take a breather, and concurrently begin making life better for those already here. The 12 million illegals should be given rights to stay, and earn citizenship. There is no way to deport them, and they should not live in daily fear, unless they commit a violent crime. Semi-legalize them. Pragmatic solutions are the best, and they take into account realities. There is something called prosecutorial discretion, and it is not only warranted for resident illegals, it is actually the only option. I would also want exceptions for extreme hardship.
I also think it would stand the test of law to continue the immigration of other ethnic groups that are bringing educational backgrounds desperately needed.
Discrimination? Yes. In favor of stopping the madness of creating a new underclass so large it would leave us as 2 peoples, instead of one.
But I am not meaning a lot of jury-rigging to injure Hispanics. I think Hispanics are a people who could more quickly have equivalent incomes.....if only we understood their importance to our future, and they understood that we cannot focus on those already here, if there are ever more, accelerating, each year.
So, because we have waited too long, I really favor ending quotas for legal Hispanic immigrants, for several years, so that we could stop the creation of a new under-class, make an historic, pragmatic effort for those here, legally or otherwise, and then, and only then, resume legal immigration.
Fat chance on any of this. Too much ideology, too little thoughtful and humane acceptance of the need to make hard choices, to prevent later suffering. Oh, yeah, anyone who thinks I am a bigot is way off target. I think Latinos are sexy :).
Many plantation owners thought their slaves were sexy. Just saying. ;)
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True, Oilgun, but they wanted an underclass and cheap labor. I want the Latinos to avoid that 200-300 year journey, and, I think it requires pragmatic ditching of conservative and liberal views and battle flags.
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Yes, Sue, it is just the same where you live.
We'll all be sitting on each others shoulders soon.
Jess, I can't tell if you and Sue are just playing droll, about overcrowding. But, if you are serious, isn't it true the English have found ways to preserve the rural nearby to the heavily populated? I had thought you all had found a way, and that maybe some parts of the U.S. could do well to look it over.
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An interesting article from last year:
Everything You Know About Immigration is Wrong
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/10/ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/10/everything-you-know-about-immigration-is-wrong/)
For the last five years our net immigration from 'Mexico' has been zero ...
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So Tony, your proposal is to punish the Latinos who are trying to abide by the rules (by waiting for legal immigration) and reward the Latinos who have broken them? You think THAT will solve anything? You think that will stop the thousands of people who just wander into out country every DAY?
OK then, let's apply that to other things... how 'bout forgiving all the crimes people have committed in the past, oh 5 years, give them blanket amnesty for jay walking, speeding, petty theft, fraud, drug use and/or sale, armed robbery, breaking and entering, rape, murder, etc, and at the beginning of next
year we'll start chasing down and prosecuting those who commit crimes after Dec. 31, 2014. That should take some of the burden off the court system since for the second half of this year, it will have to deal with just cases older than 5 years.
Or let's just cancel any payments owed on any debt that occurred before today, wipe the slate clean. Nobody owes nobody nothing. Credit cards over charged, don't worry. All is forgiven, everyone starts back at zero. Bought too much house and are behind in the payments? That's alright, the house is now yours. You can use that monthly house payment for other things. Racked up $50,000 in school debt? Rest easy. It's been wiped off the books. Borrowed a few thou for your Disneyland vacation. Have fun. It's on the house. Owe your dealer or bookie a few bucks? He'll understand why you're not paying.
Whatever happened to the saying... don't do the crime if you can't do the time? (And I'm back to illegal immigration.) There MUST be consequences and deportation is what's on the books. No exceptions. Put all this energy being used to circumvent the law into fixing things in your own country.
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Immigration made the United States. And was always a source of cheap labor. And immigrants have, in every case, contributed to our variegated culture. But a nation of immigrants must have time to absorb each new wave, and adopt as much of the general culture and values, as will make them Americans.
And are these immigrants willing to "adopt as much of the general culture and values, as will make them Americans"?
When my German ancestors got off the boat in Philadelphia in 1748, they didn't see signs in English and German. Even if they wanted to retain their German culture and language, they still had to learn to get along in an English-speaking society. They didn't walk into a Sears store and see signs in English and German.
Now their descendant--me--walks into a Sears in what was once the "Pennsylvania Dutch" country and sees signs in English and Spanish. "Can you direct me to the caballeros department, por favor?"
I'm not against immigration--legal and well managed--nor am I against Hispanic immigration in particular, but I do believe these people need to learn English. I think that's part of becoming part of the general culture. By all means let them retain their native language if they wish, but I do believe they should learn English.
Or maybe I should say, "They need to learn American."
"There even are places where English completely disappears.
"In America they haven't spoken it for years." ;)
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Sorry to point this out, but didn't Hispanic people both own and rule Texas and Florida long before white Anglo Saxon protestants did a land grab on it?
And who says it belongs to any of you?
You're right. We should be ashamed of ourselves. That's something the British would never do.
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You must be bloody joking! Full up! Try the South East of England!
And several other counties and cities >:(
Why do they keep thinking they can get a quart into a pint pot ?
The whole world has long envied and admired England's come-one-come-all open border policies.
Hell until recently, even foreign DOGS had to spend 6 months in quarantine when going into the UK.
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"Everyone's entitled to their opinion" has become another version of "bless your little heart".
Bill Clinton was asked if he said anything in lieu of "Go fuck yourself." He said, "Yes. I say, 'Nice tie.'"
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Sorry to point this out, but didn't Hispanic people both own and rule Texas and Florida long before white Anglo Saxon protestants did a land grab on it?
And who says it belongs to any of you?
I say, give 'em both back, and let them take Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama too, jus' because the rest of us would be better off.
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I just took a poll on Newsmax about what I thought of President Obama. I was astounded to see how many other poll-takers really think he's awful. I'd like to say to the dopes, he's not the awful one, that's John Boner. This jerk actually said that nothing this President proposes will be passed! This dictator was not elected to run the country, but he's running it anyway, with the Republican majority in the House, and then turning around blaming the President for not getting anything done. This is not two sides differing and coming to a conclusion, which is the stated purpose of having a congress anyway, to rule by mutual consent.
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I agree with both your posts but would add California to the give-back list. And maybe France would take Louisiana back if we asked nicely. Russia could have Alaska since we're not using it anyway.
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Hell, I've got an even better idea.
Let's give the whole damn country to the Brits and sit back, laughing our asses off, while they fix it!
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Canada will take the ones who don't want to go to war, or worse yet back to war!
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So Tony, your proposal is to punish the Latinos who are trying to abide by the rules (by waiting for legal immigration) and reward the Latinos who have broken them? You think THAT will solve anything? You think that will stop the thousands of people who just wander into out country every DAY?
......Whatever happened to the saying... don't do the crime if you can't do the time? (And I'm back to illegal immigration.) There MUST be consequences and deportation is what's on the books. No exceptions. Put all this energy being used to circumvent the law into fixing things in your own country.
Sherry, we, and other countries have survived, on occasion, by being pragmatic. And this is one of those issues that calls for pragmatism and, prosecutorial discretion ( a legal-shmeagle there for just these occasions).
You can not deport the 12 million illegals. There is no way. Further, most economists have said that successfully doing that, IF, it even could be done, would throw us into a recession that would make this last one look like a temporary sneeze. They buy stuff. We are dependent on their cheap labor. And they do pay the sales taxes, which are the biggest source of tax revenue. Some pay regular taxes. Recession? Probably a depression.
If you want to get sharp about enforcing laws, how come you aren't posting about prosecuting the corporations and banks, that recklessly broke rules that sent us over the brink?
IMO, we need to face up to a severe crisis, by accepting 2 basic facts : 1) we can't send 12 million people back, and 2) we have to do whatever it takes, to regain control of our borders. And both mean liberals and conservatives need to take a chill pill on the painful details, and unfairness, to prevent far worse.
And, again, I have an extended hope, that in shutting down the worst, we should then move to whatever it takes to prevent an Hispanic underclass becoming permanent. We don't need it to be 200 years before there is income parity. I think careful programs, not just throwing money at the problem, should be revved up.
And that includes strong incentives to whittle down the trend to a bi-lingual country. As it happens, the children are eager to learn and speak English. But I agree with Jeff, the 2 language format that is emerging, is not right for us. It may work for Canada, and Belgium, and even Britain (the Orkneys are, I suspect, unable to decipher the BBC).
Sherry, this is one of those times when selective demands for prosecution.....won't work.
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I just took a poll on Newsmax about what I thought of President Obama. I was astounded to see how many other poll-takers really think he's awful. I'd like to say to the dopes, he's not the awful one, that's John Boner. This jerk actually said that nothing this President proposes will be passed! This dictator was not elected to run the country, but he's running it anyway, with the Republican majority in the House, and then turning around blaming the President for not getting anything done. This is not two sides differing and coming to a conclusion, which is the stated purpose of having a congress anyway, to rule by mutual consent.
Whenever I hear a Republican blame the President I get so mad I think I'm going to have a heart attack.
To Republicans, the word compromise means giving in to their demands. >:(
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These two ideas or facts are mutually exclusive...
IMO, we need to face up to a severe crisis, by accepting 2 basic facts : 1) we can't send 12 million people back, and 2) we have to do whatever it takes, to regain control of our borders.
We CAN send 12 million people back. That is less than 10% of the country's population... it's less than 5%. A nasty round of a previously unknown flu could wipe out or permanently disable that many people. We would survive that. It may not be fun, but it IS survivable. 12 million is a drop in the bucket.
Prosecutorial discretion... yeah, here's how that will work.
It won't.
The people who have sneaked into this country... and those who are coming in droves now and waiting for the Border Patrol buses to pick them up and give them a ride to the holding facilities... have all broken the same law. They must all be treated equally. You are offering to cherry pick the ones we can use and let them stay here and throw in a few whose backstories make you feel sad or make you look compasionate.
If you want to get sharp about enforcing laws, how come you aren't posting about prosecuting the corporations and banks, that recklessly broke rules that sent us over the brink?
I believe I covered that when I said all crime for the last 5 years should be wiped off the books. That would even include part... maybe close to half... the 12 million that are here illegally.
how 'bout forgiving all the crimes people have committed in the past, oh 5 years, give them blanket amnesty
In case you've missed it, corporations and businesses ARE people in this country. Time to get use to the idea.
But that has no bearing on the what we're discussing which is ILlegal immigration.
You want to be pragmatic. Here's some pragmatism for you...
sometimes you have to chop off a gangrenous arm or leg or both in order to survive. Sending 12 million people back whence they came chops off a finger or two.
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British Airways Climbdown over Mobile Phones
British Airways passengers whose phone batteries are flat will still be able to board their flight without the device after a climbdown by the airline on Tuesday.
BA warned on Monday night that passengers who could not switch on an electronic device when asked to do so would not be allowed to board their flight, with or without the item in question, as part of a new security protocol.
But less than 24 hours later it reversed its position, offering passengers the option of being rebooked on a later service, leaving their device at the airport for collection on their return, or having it forwarded to an address of their choice.
It came as the Government set out new official guidance which only states that electronic devices, and not passengers themselves, would be barred from the cabin.
Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, said the new advice is “in line with that issued by the United States” in response to concerns that terrorists have developed a new type of explosive which can circumvent current security checks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10955066/British-Airways-climbdown-over-mobile-phones.html
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Ex-Guantánamo inmate gets Canada prison transfer
The Associated Press
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Alberta’s top court has granted an application by former Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr to be transferred to a provincial jail from a federal medium-security prison in the western Canadian province.
The Appeal Court has ruled the 27-year-old should be serving a youth sentence.
Khadr lost his bid for a transfer last fall, then appealed.
Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to five war crime offenses, including throwing a grenade that fatally wounded a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15.
The U.S. military repatriated the Toronto-born Khadr from the military base in Guantánamo Bay in September 2012.
Khadr was reclassified earlier this year as a medium-security inmate and transferred to the medium-security Bowden Institution in central Alberta from the maximum-security Edmonton Institution.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/08/4224640/ex-guantanamo-inmate-gets-canada.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/08/4224640/ex-guantanamo-inmate-gets-canada.html
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The whole world has long envied and admired England's come-one-come-all open border policies.
Hell until recently, even foreign DOGS had to spend 6 months in quarantine when going into the UK.
Yeah....wish I knew of somewhere were I could say "I want a house with 6 bedrooms in a top class area preferably
where the houses cost around £6 million minimum. I want it all kitted out to high spec. I have 6 kids that I expect
the British taxpayers to keep.......and anything else that is on offer.
Then some one who would say..." And when do you want all this ? ....and I could say "Whenever "...and they would say
"How about tomorrow ?? "
Where in this world would they do this for ME ??
NOWHERE......but YOU can come here and they'll do it for YOU ! >:(
Soft touch ?? Soft in the head more like. >:(
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An interesting article from last year:
Everything You Know About Immigration is Wrong
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/10/ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/10/everything-you-know-about-immigration-is-wrong/)
For the last five years our net immigration from 'Mexico' has been zero ...
Lyle, this was a great link. Thank You !
I am very open to new information, and also to reconsidering my understanding of an issue.
Just finished watching the news, and it finally got through to me. The current hot news, is not about accelerating hordes of Mexicans. There may have been some success, there. And, as the article pointed out, many illegals wanted to just hop in, for a few years, make some money, and then go home. The stricter border patrols had the unintended consequence of making going home, voluntarily, more of a risk, because, if caught, the bunny hopping was over. So, the problem got worse. Kind of like the War on Drugs, all sensible and reasoned, backfired.
No, what's happening now is a sudden usage of President Bush's exception for unaccompanied minors. They could stay. I believe Obama just cancelled that, or is ready to do so. The kids aren't Mexican. They're from Central America. Allegedly, they are being packed off for here to avoid the exploding drug cartel violence, but I'm not convinced that is the cause of this sudden surge.
Even with Bush's exemption reversed, and the kids being sent back, when caught, they are still arriving at about 50,000 a month. And have been requiring medical attention, housing, and all the bucks for providing everything else. And they are over-loading social services, in ways the adult illegals did not. The pictures are, of course, provoking compassion. From those who don't have this strange and wildly different phenomenon. And the current story, which is unique, is getting entangled with the older issue.
I'm not confident in the surface explanations being given. I only just understood, it's a different ball game. Their entry was legal, months ago. It isn't now.
I do stand by my posts before, which Sherry finds as containing contradictions (but I had admitted the contradictions). They referred to the original problem.
Thanks, again, Lyle, for a quiet, thoughtful, and useful link. About the old problem.
The new problem is sudden, fraught with nightmarish ethical issues (these are kids), not legitimately explained, and being ideologically tacked on to a decades long prior problem. I am ashamed, I wasn't staying informed enough. It's a mess.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fwubbing-01_zps5d4758da.jpg&hash=1b8054b7f10f1edf0e916bac682d9ffdb784bb5c)
Twerking is so last year, the latest dance craze is Wubbing! Men dancing with large prosthetic penises will become the new dance craze of 2014!
Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyk1qezYKXk
http://www.wubbing.net/
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^^^
I think a new "low" has been reached !
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T, I think we are on the same page... different parts of it, but the same page.
I do NOT think the Mexican influx is under control but most of the problem with that is the drug business, not the plain ordinary Mexican peasants.
And for me, a majority of the problem comes from these "undocumented persons" activists trying to tell me these people who are here illegally have rights. They are NOT US citizens no matter how long they have been here, how many children they have produced (who have received free educations and health care,) and no matter how much they have spent in SALES taxes. That is like me wandering into YOUR house and demanding new furniture, full cable and fillet mignon for dinner every night. You'd kick me out and that's what we need to do with the 12 million.
The immediate problem is the children... and the adults who are arriving on the same buses... by the THOUSANDS every day. Since at least the kids are getting off the South/Central American buses, walking over the border, and getting right on the US buses, sending them back should not be a problem.
There are kids in this country legally who could benefit from the millions of dollars being poured into taking care of these freeloaders.
I'm not so sure that article is accurate about the numbers of Mexican migrants returning home every year. When I lived in the Willamette Valley... which has a huge "picker" population year round... I managed almost 2 dozen rental properties. Our favorite tenants were the migrants who would rent a 2-3 bedroom apartment and 10-15 men plus 1 woman would immediately move in. They paid their rent on time. Their abode was kept clean. They kept the eletricity on and the water. And they stayed as long as there was work in the area. Then they moved on until the next crop was ready when they came back. The same men over and over and over for years. They may have gone home for Christmas, but they were back for New Year's.
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Yeah....wish I knew of somewhere were I could say "I want a house with 6 bedrooms in a top class area preferably
where the houses cost around £6 million minimum. I want it all kitted out to high spec. I have 6 kids that I expect
the British taxpayers to keep.......and anything else that is on offer.
Then some one who would say..." And when do you want all this ? ....and I could say "Whenever "...and they would say
"How about tomorrow ?? "
Where in this world would they do this for ME ??
NOWHERE......but YOU can come here and they'll do it for YOU ! >:(
Soft touch ?? Soft in the head more like. >:(
I wish I knew what this meant.
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I think it means we should go there, maybe take a few illegals with us to get em outta here, and we'll live better than here? But no guns...
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^^^
You got it MB! What it means is.......this is what our immigrants and illegals can get if they kick up enough fuss.
"No".....no guns. Not necessary.
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Immigrants and illegals are two completely different things.
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Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird condemns Hamas rocket attacks on Israel
By The Canadian Press, Postmedia News
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada is condemning attacks by Hamas on Israel.
Baird says in a statement that rocket attacks aimed Tuesday at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem “prove that Hamas continues to target innocent civilians.”
Baird says that Canada believes Israel has every right to defend itself “from such belligerent acts of terrorism.”
The statement came as Israel launched its largest offensive in the Gaza Strip in nearly two years, carrying out an aerial assault on scores of targets and killing 25 people.
Officials called it an open-ended operation aimed at ending weeks of heavy rocket fire.
Baird called on the new Palestinian government to exercise its authority in Gaza and bring an immediate end to Hamas’s rocket attacks on Israel.
Baird adds that Hamas must respect the ceasefire agreed upon in 2012.
http://www.canada.com/news/Foreign+Affairs+Minister+John+Baird+condemns+Hamas+rocket/10012045/story.html
U.S. President Barack Obama calls Israel revenge killings ‘dangerous moment’
By William Marsden, Postmedia News
WASHINGTON – In the wake of yet another round of escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis, U.S. President Barack Obama has taken the unusual step of publishing an article in the influential Israeli newspaper Haaretz urging both parties to exercise restraint and to reopen peace talks.
Calling the current crisis a “dangerous moment for the region,” he urged both sides to “protect the innocent and act with reasonableness and restraint, not vengeance and retribution.”
He stressed that only through a peaceful two-state solution can Israel “ensure a secure and democratic future” for itself and its people.
“Reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians would also help turn the tide of international sentiment and sideline violent extremists, further bolstering Israel’s security,” he said.
The article was published Tuesday just as Israel began Operation Protective Edge, an offensive against the Gaza Strip, which opened with airstrikes. The Israelis said the bombings are in retaliation for recent rocket attacks on southern Israel. Israel said Tuesday it intercepted two missiles over Tel Aviv.
http://www.canada.com/news/President+Barack+Obama+calls+Israel+revenge+killings+dangerous/10011296/story.html
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Immigrants and illegals are two completely different things.
Maybe....but we still have too many of both
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You gotta expect that when you conquer the world and leave your seed all over. Good thing you're an island.
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Jess, I can't tell if you and Sue are just playing droll, about overcrowding. But, if you are serious, isn't it true the English have found ways to preserve the rural nearby to the heavily populated? I had thought you all had found a way, and that maybe some parts of the U.S. could do well to look it over.
No, honestly, not playing droll.
There are parts of this country that are seriously overcrowded, and I live in one of them. Houses are built in peoples back gardens, anywhere there is a spare piece of land.
Not all areas are as bad, but particularly anywhere near London is overcrowded and expensive.
Sue lives near Birmingham, and that is very built up too.
We do still have nice countryside, but our idea of "in the middle of nowhere" and the American idea of "in the middle of nowhere" are not the same at all. You mean 50 miles to the nearest settlement, we mean 5 miles.
Our houses are much smaller than yours, our furniture and domestic appliances half the size of those in the USA.
We are very "land poor," and it is a problem.
Having said that, I am not against immigration as such.
We need to be able to employ people from all over the world, and in my opinion it makes for a healthier society where we respect each others differences.
There is however, a question of space, and that is why the cost of houses is so high.
My sister has two houses, one in Cornwall, one in Florida, the one in Florida, which is detached and has a pool, is twice the size of the one in Cornwall, and cost half the price.
I do have a friend, who is an Albanian national, who is a Special Needs teacher, here.
He has been deported once in the middle of doing his teaching degree, but was able to come back here eventually to finish his studies, and then to teach. He has to live with his sister, he can't afford a house. and his passport is embossed, (I know because I have seen it), to say he is not allowed any money from the British state, for his tuition or healthcare etc. So I am not sure that Britain is the easy touch we are assumed to be.
Basically, there is a problem with immigration in all of the developed countries, it is a genie that will not be going back in the bottle whatever governments try to do.
There are too many of us fighting for limited resources.
It worries me, but I don't have an answer.
Of course eventually the market takes care of things and shortage will drive up prices until people are forced to go elsewhere.
The thing to remember is that even though we are all of different races, we are the same species, so we will just have to get along as best we can.
You can't just order people to stay where they are and not move, that is never going to work.
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No, honestly, not playing droll.
This Yank thanks you for elaborating. All I know of Britain is what I see on television, and I've never seen anything about the overcrowding or immigration issues.
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I suspect what you see of us in the UK on TV is as misleading as our view of the USA.
The first time I visited the USA I was amazed that there were no cars crashing and people shooting each other, I expected the Blues Brothers!
I can only promise you that I don't know anyone who says "toodle pip, anyone for tennis" or who wears a bowler hat!
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F71%2F21%2F87%2F71218774396f79b2c35c197da83f6e36.jpg&hash=3766879df2ac708ff92aa3c5076bdee23e299c17)
"toodle pip, anyone for tennis?"
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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
How do we know it's British?
:D :D :D :D :D
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Must be an immigrant.
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Yep. A Norway rat. ;)
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"What a country!"
Russian MP wants naked Apollo removed from bank note in case he turns kids gay
Liberal Democratic Party MP Roman Khudyakov has written to the country’s Central Bank, calling for changes under the country’s ‘gay propaganda’ law to the 100 rouble note – worth about £1.70 – which features a statue of Apollo.
He said: “You can see clearly that Apollo is naked, you can see his genitalia.
“I submitted a parliamentary request and forwarded it directly to the head of the central bank asking for the banknote to be brought into line with the law protecting children and to remove this Apollo.”
In the letter, he complained that “intimate parts of the body” were visible on the banknote, which he says should have an “18+” rating under the anti-gay law.
He said: “As bills of that denomination often get into the hands of children as pocket money, I strongly request your help in changing the design of the banknote or otherwise bringing it into accordance with current legislative regulations.”
The real statue of the Greek god – at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow – was itself censored in 2011, when it was covered up with a fig leaf.
Lawyer Pavel Ivchenkov said: “The 100-ruble bill with a picture of Apollo is essentially a print product and can in fact be considered as ‘information of a pornographic nature’.
“That is, it can be regarded as ‘information containing a graphic depiction or description of human genitalia’.”
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/09/russian-mp-wants-naked-apollo-removed-from-bank-note-in-case-he-turns-kids-gay/
I'm not sure how showing male genitalia can be construed as "gay propaganda"
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Must be a Greek immigrant! :D
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Why don't they only allow females to carry the Apollo bank notes then?
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I guess it's somewhat comforting to realize that the US does not have the market on prudery cornered.
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I'm not sure how showing male genitalia can be construed as "gay propaganda"
Depends on the size.
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;)
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Girl sexted boy.
Boy sexted girl back.
Boy gets arrested.
POLICE WANT TO FORCIBLY TAKE PHOTOS OF TEEN’S ERECT PENIS TO PROVE HE SEXTED GIRLFRIEND
Police and prosecutors in Manassas City, Va. are attempting to collect evidence in a sexting case involving a 17-year-old boy and his 15-year-old girlfriend.
The authorities want to force the boy to have an erection in order to take photos to compare with a mobile phone video of an erect penis, his lawyers said.
The boy has been charged with manufacturing and distributing child pornography.
Jessica Foster, the boy’s lawyer, says the assistant Commonwealth attorney told her prosecutors would “take him down to the hospital, give him a shot [to make him erect], and then take the pictures that we need.”
Foster then asked the detective working the case what they would do with the photos, and he said they would “use special software to compare pictures of this penis to this penis.” Foster told the Post, “Who does this? It’s just crazy.”
[...]
http://www.thegailygrind.com/2014/07/10/police-want-forcibly-take-photos-teens-erect-penis-prove-sexted-girlfriend/
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Mexican Train Derails With 1,000 Illegal Immigrants Riding On Top
Mexican train carrying more than 1,000 illegal immigrants derailed en route to the Texas border area. The cargo train was transporting both Central Americans and Mexican adults and children hoping to enter the United States illegally and surrender themselves to Border Patrol agents, Reuters reports.
None of the illegal immigrants about the Mexican train were injured when it derailed. The train came off the tracks in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Wednesday. Many of the people riding on top of the train cars were young children and teenagers. The trains, which are believed to be used by coyotes to shuttle illegal migrants to America, travel through rural and rugged terrain, but many feel they are still easy to spot — and ultimately stop.
The train many illegal immigrants are using is referred to as La Bestia — The Beast. Mexican authorities think The Beast may have derailed due to several days of heavy rain in the area. Those attempting to cross over the Texas border illegally found themselves stranded and forced to go on foot if they were to reach their goal.
http://www.inquisitr.com/1345032/mexican-train-derails-with-1000-illegal-immigrants-riding-on-top/
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I can only promise you that I don't know anyone who says "toodle pip, anyone for tennis" or who wears a bowler hat!
(bolding added to quote)
Nevertheless, there's this....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e2fJfiddx4 ("The Kennedy Center Honors Led Zeppelin, 2012")
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"Toodle-pip"?
"Cheerio" I've heard of, but "Toodle-pip"? ???
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Isn't Toodle Pip a Dickens character?
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Girl sexted boy.
Boy sexted girl back.
Boy gets arrested.
That story IS crazy!
The above reminds me of a joke that a comedian (Alingon Mitra) recently told on Last Comic Standing.
He was talking about how men and women perceive each others bodies differently.
"Men want to see a woman naked...women want to see a man in a suit. That's why when women 'flash' it's
called Girls Gone Wild. When men flash, it's called America's Most Wanted."
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:D That is funny and true!
I was with a client yesterday, she has Alzheimer's, she had General Hospital on, although she can't really follow it. There was two men on there stripped to the waist, they are gay (I figured that out) they leaned in to kiss and she screams "Oh yuck I don't go for that"!!
Knowing that she can only say what is on her mind, no filter, no pretenses. I said "you don't go for what" She says "men without shirts"!! :D
Better add in a news topic, LeBron James is heading back to Cleveland, what about those Cavaliers eh? :D
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:D That is funny and true!
I was with a client yesterday, she has Alzheimer's, she had General Hospital on, although she can't really follow it. There was two men on there stripped to the waist, they are gay (I figured that out) they leaned in to kiss and she screams "Oh yuck I don't go for that"!!
Knowing that she can only say what is on her mind, no filter, no pretenses. I said "you don't go for what" She says "men without shirts"!! :D
Better add in a news topic, LeBron James is heading back to Cleveland, what about those Cavaliers eh? :D
Cleveland's economy returns! ;D
Even though Clevelandnites burned his jersey to cinders, and spat on his name when he left, I know that they're overjoyed that he'll be returning, and I'm glad he achieved what he set out to do by winning some rings, and now that he is heading back to his home base, I know it will be exciting for him and the Cleveland fans, not sure when he'll see a ring again though...:D
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"Toodle-pip"?
"Cheerio" I've heard of, but "Toodle-pip"? ???
It's all a bit "Bertie Wooster" but that is what we are reputed to say, but I've never known any one who did!
Hugh Laurie could probably carry it off.
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Al Gore invented the internet
AND global warming.
Return of Polar Vortex Stirs Debate on Climate Change
Friday, 11 Jul 2014 05:34 PM
By John Blosser
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/polar-vortex-climate-change-ice/2014/07/11/id/582195#ixzz37H8WaPCp
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!
Advocates of the theory of man-caused global warming have taken another hit – a polar vortex is about to knock temperatures down by 10 to 30 degrees below average in parts of the United States, The Washington Post reports.
After a bitterly cold winter, expected temperatures in Minneapolis in the 50s and 60s in mid-July and overall Midwest temperatures slated to be 10 to 30 degrees cooler than normal, voters and experts are asking themselves whether global warming is all it's iced up to be.
Vote Now: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance?
After all, global warming advocates have been stung recently with the revelation that the levels of sea ice in Antarctica are at their highest level in recorded history and on the increase. While global warming was thought to be an unstoppable worldwide ice melter, Antarctica has added a section of new ice the size of Greenland, and it is still growing, covering 16 million square kilometers, or 2.1 million more than is expected in July, and the most ice since scientists started tracking it in 1979.
Weather forecasters are struggling to blame the polar vortex on climate change.
Michael Mann, professor of meteorology at Penn State, wrote at livescience.com, "So, is there a climate connection to this strange occurrence? While more study is certainly needed, I have been increasingly impressed by the growing body of evidence supporting the hypothesis that climate change may lead to more persistent meanders in the jet stream," which, in turn, could be the cause the polar vortex’s chill air wafting down from the north.
However, conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh takes a different tack — "So despite the polar vortex freezing everybody's buns off, it's because Arctic air is getting warmer, and it's breaking down the boundaries of the polar vortex. Now, I'm here to assure you this is a crock, but this is how the left works, and you don't have anybody in the media questioning this."
While ice is melting in the Arctic, professor Judith Curry, head of climate science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is beginning to question scientific findings on global warming, noting that global warming advocates have, in effect, been trumpeting the warming of Arctic ice while ignoring the growth in Antarctic ice.
"We do not have a quantitative, predictive understanding of the rise in Antarctic sea ice extent," she told the Daily Mail. "Convincing arguments regarding the causes of sea ice variations require understanding and ability to model both the Arctic and the Antarctic."
The Fifth Assessment Report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found, "There is low confidence in the scientific understanding of the observed increase in Antarctic sea ice extent since 1979, due to … incomplete and competing scientific explanations for the causes of change," the Mail reported.
The Mail’s Andrew Mountford openly speculated that the "relentless focus by activist scientists on the Arctic decline does suggest a political imperative rather than a scientific one."
Urgent: Assess Your Heart Attack Risk in Minutes. Click Here.
Related Stories:
•Global Warming Linked to Kidney Stones
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/polar-vortex-climate-change-ice/2014/07/11/id/582195/
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Isn't Toodle Pip a Dickens character?
I think you are thinking of Pip in Great Expectations!
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Al Gore invented the internet
AND global warming.
Return of Polar Vortex Stirs Debate on Climate Change
Friday, 11 Jul 2014 05:34 PM
By John Blosser
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/polar-vortex-climate-change-ice/2014/07/11/id/582195#ixzz37H8WaPCp
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!
Advocates of the theory of man-caused global warming have taken another hit – a polar vortex is about to knock temperatures down by 10 to 30 degrees below average in parts of the United States, The Washington Post reports.
After a bitterly cold winter, expected temperatures in Minneapolis in the 50s and 60s in mid-July and overall Midwest temperatures slated to be 10 to 30 degrees cooler than normal, voters and experts are asking themselves whether global warming is all it's iced up to be.
Vote Now: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance?
After all, global warming advocates have been stung recently with the revelation that the levels of sea ice in Antarctica are at their highest level in recorded history and on the increase. While global warming was thought to be an unstoppable worldwide ice melter, Antarctica has added a section of new ice the size of Greenland, and it is still growing, covering 16 million square kilometers, or 2.1 million more than is expected in July, and the most ice since scientists started tracking it in 1979.
Weather forecasters are struggling to blame the polar vortex on climate change.
Michael Mann, professor of meteorology at Penn State, wrote at livescience.com, "So, is there a climate connection to this strange occurrence? While more study is certainly needed, I have been increasingly impressed by the growing body of evidence supporting the hypothesis that climate change may lead to more persistent meanders in the jet stream," which, in turn, could be the cause the polar vortex’s chill air wafting down from the north.
However, conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh takes a different tack — "So despite the polar vortex freezing everybody's buns off, it's because Arctic air is getting warmer, and it's breaking down the boundaries of the polar vortex. Now, I'm here to assure you this is a crock, but this is how the left works, and you don't have anybody in the media questioning this."
While ice is melting in the Arctic, professor Judith Curry, head of climate science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is beginning to question scientific findings on global warming, noting that global warming advocates have, in effect, been trumpeting the warming of Arctic ice while ignoring the growth in Antarctic ice.
"We do not have a quantitative, predictive understanding of the rise in Antarctic sea ice extent," she told the Daily Mail. "Convincing arguments regarding the causes of sea ice variations require understanding and ability to model both the Arctic and the Antarctic."
The Fifth Assessment Report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found, "There is low confidence in the scientific understanding of the observed increase in Antarctic sea ice extent since 1979, due to … incomplete and competing scientific explanations for the causes of change," the Mail reported.
The Mail’s Andrew Mountford openly speculated that the "relentless focus by activist scientists on the Arctic decline does suggest a political imperative rather than a scientific one."
Urgent: Assess Your Heart Attack Risk in Minutes. Click Here.
Related Stories:
•Global Warming Linked to Kidney Stones
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/polar-vortex-climate-change-ice/2014/07/11/id/582195/
Is that by the same John Blosser of the National Enquirer who is being sued by David Bar Katz for an article in which he claimed that Katz was Philip Seymour Hoffman's lover and that Hoffman fell off the wagon and began shooting up heroin because he was confused over his sexual identity and published it shortly after Hoffman's death, I suppose as a gift to his grieving family.? That John Blosser? Sorry but I have more faith in those "activist" scientists over this hack.
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I have no idea.
However, more and more "experts" are starting to rethink this "man is causes global warming" business. Glad they're finally catching up to reality.
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Miami, the great world city, is drowning while the powers that be look away
Low-lying south Florida, at the front line of climate change in the US, will be swallowed as sea levels rise. Astonishingly, the population is growing, house prices are rising and building goes on. The problem is the city is run by climate change deniers
[...]
"There has been a rise of about 10 inches in sea levels since the 19th century – brought about by humanity's heating of the planet through its industrial practices – and that is now bringing chaos to Miami Beach by regularly flooding places like Alton Road," says Harold Wanless, a geology professor at the University of Miami. "And it is going to get worse. By the end of this century we could easily have a rise of six feet, possibly 10 feet. Nothing much will survive that. Most of the land here is less than 10 feet above sea level."
[...]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/miami-drowning-climate-change-deniers-sea-levels-rising?CMP=fb_gu
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I have no idea.
However, more and more "experts" are starting to rethink this "man is causes global warming" business. Glad they're finally catching up to reality.
I have to agree, you have no idea, lol! ;)
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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Climate Change Debate (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjuGCJJUGsg
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I have to agree, you have no idea, lol! ;)
Too bad no one here is going to be around in a thousand hundred years to see who's right. At least you won't have to listen to me laughing and saying "I told you so!"
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Tatler editor: manners 'as important as grades' for teenagers
Good manners are as important as GCSE and A-level grades when it comes to teenagers forging a successful career, according to the editor of Tatler.
Kate Reardon said girls should focus on being "polite and respectful" to get ahead in the world rather than just obsessing over qualifications.
In a speech to a leading girls’ school, she said people with good manners are well liked, opening doors for them as they climb the career ladder.
Ms Reardon also cautioned against attempting to “hide behind a computer or mobile phone” in the modern digital age, saying it was important for girls to make face-to-face contact.
The comments come amid concerns that large numbers of teenagers are leaving school with high-level computing skills but lacking the most basic social skills such as manners and the ability to hold a conversation
A survey of business leaders earlier this year found that almost half believed school leavers were unable to grasp workplace etiquette.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10953484/Tatler-editor-manners-as-important-as-grades-for-teenagers.html
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Saskatchewan man accused of snowmobile rage
SASKATOON – A Saskatchewan man is accused of confronting two snowmobilers with a shotgun.
RCMP say one of the snowmobilers captured what happened last February south of Saskatoon on video, which he gave to police.
Deryl Ring of the rural municipality of Corman Park faces assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon and other charges.
The 61-year-old is to appear in Saskatoon provincial court on Sept. 17.
Earlier this year the snowmobilers said they were riding through fields on private property.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1439761/saskatchewan-man-accused-of-snowmobile-rage/
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Too bad no one here is going to be around in a thousand hundred years to see who's right. At least you won't have to listen to me laughing and saying "I told you so!"
Be careful how you tune in; you might hear some descendants cursing their clueless ancestors who didn't know the difference between weather and climate and didn't want to know. At present, for all the perennial popularity of the Think Of The Children theme, in the long run it's out of sight, out of mind.
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"Todd Akin takes it back.
He’s not sorry."
And it goes steadily downhill from there.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/todd-akin-new-book-108745.html
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The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control
At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US, says whistleblower William Binney – that's a 'totalitarian mentality'
William Binney is one of the highest-level whistleblowers to ever emerge from the NSA. He was a leading code-breaker against the Soviet Union during the Cold War but resigned soon after September 11, disgusted by Washington’s move towards mass surveillance.
On 5 July he spoke at a conference in London organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and revealed the extent of the surveillance programs unleashed by the Bush and Obama administrations.
“At least 80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the US”, Binney said. “This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores.”
The NSA will soon be able to collect 966 exabytes a year, the total of internet traffic annually. Former Google head Eric Schmidt once argued that the entire amount of knowledge from the beginning of humankind until 2003 amount to only five exabytes.
Binney, who featured in a 2012 short film by Oscar-nominated US film-maker Laura Poitras, described a future where surveillance is ubiquitous and government intrusion unlimited.
“The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control”, Binney said, “but I’m a little optimistic with some recent Supreme Court decisions, such as law enforcement mostly now needing a warrant before searching a smartphone.”
He praised the revelations and bravery of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and told me that he had indirect contact with a number of other NSA employees who felt disgusted with the agency’s work. They’re keen to speak out but fear retribution and exile, not unlike Snowden himself, who is likely to remain there for some time.
[...]
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/11/the-ultimate-goal-of-the-nsa-is-total-population-control
Interestingly, on TV right now is an investigative journalism show about how Canada shares Canadian's personal information with the U.S. Featured, are two women who were denied entry into the U.S. because of a past suicide attempt.
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Tory child abuse whistleblower: 'I supplied underage rent boys for Margaret Thatcher's cabinet ministers'
Whistleblower and former Conservative party activist Anthony Gilberthorpe says he provided child prostitutes for a sex and drugs party with top politicians
[...]
Mr Gilberthorpe claims that at the 1983 Blackpool conference he was asked by Dr Alistair Smith – the Tory Party Chairman in Scotland – to arrange for young rent boys to have sex with two high-profile cabinet ministers, who we are not naming today.
Other MPs at that party were said to include Rhodes Boyson and Keith Joseph.
In that week he presented the then-Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher with a cake to mark her 58th birthday. But he says he also had a more sordid role – using his young looks to find these underage boys for her ministers.
At the time, the age of consent made it illegal to have gay sex with anyone under 21-years-old.
He said: “Dr Smith, who I looked up to at the time and was the most important Tory in Scotland, told me to go and fetch some ‘entertainment’, which was code for young boys and handed me a handful of bank notes. There was about £120.”
Mr Gilber-thorpe claims he was not shocked by the request.
He said: “It was a norm and an open secret that these older members of the Tory party, like
Dr Alistair Smith, paid for young men to join them at sex parties.
“It was the first time I was asked to fetch them but it was hardly surprising as I was becoming one of their trusted people. There was a well known and used cruising area close to the Imperial Hotel, which was a conference hotel. The hotel was not open to the public.
“I was expected to find the youngest and prettiest boys. It was what those men wanted.
“In fact it was all they wanted.
[...]
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-child-abuse-whistleblower-i-3848987#ixzz37Mt0LtbN
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook
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Return of Polar Vortex Stirs Debate on Climate Change
Friday, 11 Jul 2014 05:34 PM
By John Blosser
Advocates of the theory of man-caused global warming have taken another hit – a polar vortex is about to knock temperatures down by 10 to 30 degrees below average in parts of the United States, The Washington Post reports.
After a bitterly cold winter, expected temperatures in Minneapolis in the 50s and 60s in mid-July and overall Midwest temperatures slated to be 10 to 30 degrees cooler than normal, voters and experts are asking themselves whether global warming is all it's iced up to be.
[...]
However, conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh takes a different tack — "So despite the polar vortex freezing everybody's buns off, it's because Arctic air is getting warmer, and it's breaking down the boundaries of the polar vortex. Now, I'm here to assure you this is a crock, but this is how the left works, and you don't have anybody in the media questioning this."
As I sit here reading this in California where the entire state is under various degrees of drought conditions and temperatures
weren't even in the 50's and 60's during January, the phrase can't see the forest for the trees comes to mind. (Marge's
post about "climate and weather"...) And an article writer using Rush Limbaugh to reassure me can be assured that I'm not.
One is reminded of the quote attributed to Daniel Moynihan–everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.
A current example being that "corporations are people" in the 'opinion' of the court.
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Be careful how you tune in; you might hear some descendants cursing their clueless ancestors who didn't know the difference between weather and climate and didn't want to know. At present, for all the perennial popularity of the Think Of The Children theme, in the long run it's out of sight, out of mind.
It's not a particularly important theme among those who HAVE children. For those with grandkids... especially if they live far away where you don't see them often (like on the other side of town,) it may have a little more popularity, but only in the abstract.
And if the globalwarmists are correct, there won't be any descentants. All in God's plan and His hands.
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As I sit here reading this in California where the entire state is under various degrees of drought conditions and temperatures
weren't even in the 50's and 60's during January, the phrase can't see the forest for the trees comes to mind. (Marge's
post about "climate and weather"...) And an article writer using Rush Limbaugh to reassure me can be assured that I'm not.
One is reminded of the quote attributed to Daniel Moynihan–everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.
A current example being that "corporations are people" in the 'opinion' of the court.
Well, as California goes, so goes the world.
Never mind the rest of us had one of the coldest winters ever recorded.
And since our weather related records go back to the Big Bang, we all know what THAT means.
Let's see, when was that little dry weather problem in Oklahoma?
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The meek shall inherit the earth, the meaning of which has gotten lost over the years. Meek meaning "teachable." People who are able to
learn and grow and, dare I say it, change.
Tatler editor: manners 'as important as grades' for teenagers
Good manners are as important as GCSE and A-level grades when it comes to teenagers forging a successful career, according to the editor of Tatler.
Kate Reardon said girls should focus on being "polite and respectful" to get ahead in the world rather than just obsessing over qualifications.
In a speech to a leading girls’ school, she said people with good manners are well liked, opening doors for them as they climb the career ladder.
Nixon thought so, too. From this link, an article about a new book, posted in the book thread
This is going to be an interesting read:
April 28, 1971. During a discussion with Haldeman and Kissinger about an annual youth conference, the subject turned to homosexuality and society.
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/07/nixon-secret-white-house-audio-tapes
The subject soon turned to swearing in public.
Nixon: I mean, you’ve got to stop at a certain point. Why is it that the girls don’t swear? Because a man, when he swears, people can’t tolerate a girl who is a—
Haldeman: Girls do swear.
Nixon: Huh?
Haldeman: They do now.
Nixon: Oh, they do now? But, nevertheless, it removes something from them. They don’t even realize it. A man drunk, and a man who swears, people will tolerate and say that’s a sign of masculinity or some other damn thing. We all do it. We all swear. But you show me a girl that swears and I’ll show you an awful unattractive person. . . . I mean, all femininity is gone. And none of the smart girls do swear, incidentally.
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Well, as California goes, so goes the world.
Never mind the rest of us had one of the coldest winters ever recorded.
And since our weather related records go back to the Big Bang, we all know what THAT means.
Let's see, when was that little dry weather problem in Oklahoma?
The point is about the difference between weather on any given day, month, year, decade, millennium,
and climate patterns taken as a whole. That article that you posted was saying people had to perhaps
rethink the "global warming" issue because they had a cold winter in the mid-west. So, should I write
an article about it because the west did not? It's an article written with blinders on, probably like most
of its readers.
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And the truth is in your response which shows you can't see beyond the mote in your eye.
Climate is cyclic. A cycle is more than a year, more than 100 years, more than a 1000 years.
Remember hearing about the Ice Age? What makes you... and all the climate-alarmists... think this is nothing but the end of it?
Antarctic ice is increasing at the same rate Arctic ice is decreasing.
US warm-mongers started years ago preaching about the increasing violence of weather and yet we haven't had a major hurricane hit the US in over 5 years and it is about double the length of major hurricane absence since 1915 and the longest going back to when records began in 1900. The top 10 list of deadlist tornadoes includes just one in the last 50 years.
You are free to write about how bad things are in California all you want. It's not news. It's not any indication of how things are anywhere else, in the US much less in the world.
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And the truth is in your response which shows you can't see beyond the mote in your eye.
Climate is cyclic. A cycle is more than a year, more than 100 years, more than a 1000 years.
Remember hearing about the Ice Age? What makes you... and all the climate-alarmists... think this is nothing but the end of it?
Antarctic ice is increasing at the same rate Arctic ice is decreasing.
US warm-mongers started years ago preaching about the increasing violence of weather and yet we haven't had a major hurricane hit the US in over 5 years and it is about double the length of major hurricane absence since 1915 and the longest going back to when records began in 1900. The top 10 list of deadlist tornadoes includes just one in the last 50 years.
You are free to write about how bad things are in California all you want. It's not news. It's not any indication of how things are anywhere else, in the US much less in the world.
Why are conservatives against science, facts and observable reality?
Wow! Just wow. I can only shake my head.
Why are conservatives so against science, facts and observable reality.
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Why are conservatives so against science, facts and observable reality.
A question I often ask myself!
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You are free to write about how bad things are in California all you want. It's not news.
It's not any indication of how things are anywhere else, in the US much less in the world.
::)
Lordy, that's what I've been saying, one location's weather at any given time isn't an indication of
whether climate change is a reality or not. But the article you first posted says that people should reconsider
global warming because of the polar vortex, one event, this year. Get it?
Antarctic ice is increasing at the same rate Arctic ice is decreasing
And this is one event, too, that according to you, should signify nothing in the cyclic scheme of things. Besides,
if you actually read about it, there's a lot more to it than that. The sea ice has increased, but the land ice is disappearing.
And there are scientists who are purporting that the Antarctic sea ice increase may itself be caused by global warming.
Plus other articles like this one: Sorry, conservatives: Antarctic sea ice increase is because of weather, not climate. (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/03/sorry-conservatives-antarctic-sea-ice-increase-is-because-of-weather-not-climate/)
The politicizing of science is one of the worst things to happen the past couple decades.
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Oh, of course, I get it now.
The sky IS falling.
Over and over, climate-is-changing-we-got-to-do-something "experts" have been shown to be fudging their figures. But,of course, they were doing it for the greater good. The best way to get people's attention is to lie exaggerate.
ALL of this is normal. Stop trying to blame it on something.
And just as a matter of interest on MY part, when was the last time anyone heard anyone talking about global warming in normal conversation?
People don't 1) believe it and 2) care.
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We will lose the planet to monkeys/apes, I just watched, it's true! :D
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;D
And reptiles and cockroaches and testtube viruses.
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Climate change, kdney stones and related tales of woe
Here’s Another Side Effect of Climate Change: Painful Kidney Stones
Sun, 13 Jul 2014 14:15:48 PDT
We know that climate change is bad. Because of warmer temps panicked polar bears stand on melting icebergs with nowhere to go, and the Statue of Liberty might not even survive for future generations to see. Now it’s getting personal: A new study links a warmer climate with a greater chance of developing kidney stones, an agonizing affliction.
“We found that as daily temperatures rise, there is a rapid increase in probability of patients presenting over the next 20 days with kidney stones,” said author Gregory E. Tasian of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, according to CityLab.
The researchers, who published their paper in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, examined 60,433 patients in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and other U.S. cities. They concluded that experiencing more hot days—when temperatures hit 81 degrees or higher—could lead to an increased risk of growing a kidney stone.
Though the exact relationship between temperature and kidney stones remains unclear, the researchers wrote that heat causes “water loss, urinary concentration, and low urine volume and pH”—all of which promote the accumulation of lithogenic minerals in urine.
“Kidney stone prevalence has already been on the rise over the last 30 years, and we can expect this trend to continue, both in greater numbers and over a broader geographic area, as daily temperatures increase,” wrote Tasian. “With some experts predicting that extreme temperatures will become the norm in 30 years, children will bear the brunt of climate change.”
And that’s just something we can’t let pass.
Related stories on TakePart:
• Climate Change and Ingrown Toenails
• Meet the New Symbol of Climate Change
• Here’s Why Al Gore Is Optimistic About the Fight Against Climate Change
• The GM Recall and How It Influences Climate Change
• Here’s How Climate Change Will Make Food Less Nutritious
• Owners of Trump Plaza Blame Climate Change for Casino Closing
• How Climate Change Can Alter Your Baby
• The Six Best US Cities If You Want to Avoid Climate Change
http://news.yahoo.com/another-side-effect-climate-change-painful-kidney-stones-213045658.html
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First Woman Charged on Controversial Law that Criminalizes Drug Use During Pregnancy
By GILLIAN MOHNEY
4 hours ago July 13, 2014
A Tennessee woman is the first to be charged under a new state law that specifically makes it a crime to take drugs while pregnant, calling it "assault."
Mallory Loyola, 26, was arrested this week after both she and her newborn infant tested positive for meth, according to ABC News affiliate WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. Loyola is the first person in the state to prosecuted for the offense.
The law, which just went into effect earlier this month, allows a woman to be "prosecuted for assault for the illegal use of a narcotic drug while pregnant" if her infant is harmed or addicted to the drug.
Monroe County Sheriff Bill Bivens told WATE-TV that the 26-year-old admitted to smoking meth days before giving birth.
"Anytime someone is addicted and they can't get off for their own child, their own flesh and blood, it's sad," he said.
Bivens said he hoped the arrest would deter other pregnant women from drug use.
"Hopefully it will send a signal to other women who are pregnant and have a drug problem to seek help. That's what we want them to do," he said.
The law has come under tremendous opposition from both state and national critics, who say that the law will hinder drug-addicted pregnant women from getting help and treatment.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee is actively seeking to challenge the law, which they describe as raising "serious constitutional concerns regarding equal treatment under the law."
"This dangerous law unconstitutionally singles out new mothers struggling with addiction for criminal assault charges," Thomas Castelli, legal director of the ACLU Tennessee, said in a statement. "By focusing on punishing women rather than promoting healthy pregnancies, the state is only deterring women struggling with alcohol or drug dependency from seeking the pre-natal care they need."
Just before Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed the bill in April, Michael Botticelli, acting director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy at the time, said the federal government didn't want to "criminalize" addiction.
"What's important is that we create environments where we're really diminishing the stigma and the barriers, particularly for pregnant women, who often have a lot of shame and guilt about their substance abuse disorders," Botticelli said, according to The Nashville Tennessean. "We know that it's usually a much more effective treatment and less costly to our taxpayers if we make sure that we're treating folks."
Haslam released a statement after signing the bill saying the intent of the law is to "give law enforcement and district attorneys a tool to address illicit drug use among pregnant women through treatment programs."
Loyola was released on $2,000 bail and was charged with a misdemeanor according to WATE-TV. The law allows anyone charged to use entering a treatment program before birth and successfully completing it afterwards as a defense.
https://gma.yahoo.com/first-woman-charged-controversial-law-criminalizes-drug-during-192016548--abc-news-topstories.html
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Climate change signals the end of Australian shiraz as we know it
HOBART Tasmania (Reuters) - Young Australian vintner Nick Glaetzer's winemaking-steeped family thought he was crazy when he abandoned the Barossa Valley - the hot, dry region that is home to the country's world-famous big, brassy shiraz.
Trampling over the family's century-old grape-growing roots on the Australian mainland, Glaetzer headed south to the island state of Tasmania to strike out on his own and prove to the naysayers there was a successful future in cooler climate wines.
Just five years later, Glaetzer made history when his Glaetzer-Dixon Mon Pere Shiraz won a major national award - the first time judges had handed the coveted trophy to a shiraz made south of the Bass Strait separating Tasmania from the Australian mainland.
Glaetzer's gamble embodies a major shift in Australia's wine-growing industry as it responds to climate change.
A study by the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that up to 73 percent of Australian land currently used for viticulture could become unsuitable by 2050.
< >
Not everyone shares the concern. Australia's current Conservative-led coalition government is playing down the role of climate change on Australian agriculture.
Since taking leadership of the country last September, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who in 2009 said the science behind climate change was "crap", has abolished the independent Climate Commission, the body created by the former Labor government to provide public information on the effects of global warming.
Abbott has also introduced legislation into parliament to axe Labor's Climate Change Authority, which advises the government on emissions-reduction targets, and to repeal its tax on carbon pricing.
Abbott dismissed climate change as a factor when unveiling a A$320 million short-term drought relief package for farmers earlier this year: "If you look at the records of Australian agriculture going back 150 years, there have always been good times and bad, tough and lush times. This is not a new thing in Australia."
http://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-signals-end-australian-shiraz-know-210341497--finance.html
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Kate Middleton Pregnant With Second Child, Jessica Hay "Confirms"
by Free Britney at July 14, 2014 7:45 am
With Prince George set to celebrate his first birthday later this month, there's one present very few people expected him to receive so early in life:
A sibling! Kate Middleton is reportedly pregnant again!
At least if you believe the Duchess' longtime friend, Jessica Hay, who "confirmed" the news to Australia's New Day in an interview this weekend.
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2014/07/kate-middleton-pregnant-with-second-child-jessica-hay-confirms/
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1. Over and over, climate-is-changing-we-got-to-do-something "experts" have been shown to be fudging their figures. But,of course, they were doing it for the greater good. The best way to get people's attention is to lie exaggerate.
2. ALL of this is normal. Stop trying to blame it on something.
3.And just as a matter of interest on MY part, when was the last time anyone heard anyone talking about global warming in normal conversation?
People don't 1) believe it and 2) care.
I don't know how or why you've formed your opinions on this topic, but if you're interested in possibly expanding your viewpoint
about it based on science, facts and figures, in the interest of science, here's a link that debunks a lot of the hype and myth around the subject:
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
Contrary to what the right-wing conservatives and right-wing media has tried to do the past decades, namely make
scientists the bad guys who are only interested in being right and not in the facts of science regardless of the outcome
of their research and also forcing a media world in which any statement of fact is subject to an equal and alternate
viewpoint to be aired regardless, there are actual facts and agreement on the subject of climate change and/or global
warming.
The site I linked above, in one column has 176 climate myths listed that deniers like to use as evidence and in a column
next to those a short answer to each one of them. And you can click on the short answer to find a lengthy answer and
discussion of it.
Separating your post above into three parts you can find more about
1. - the skepticism and exaggeration in items 4, 17, 34, 38, 45, 59, 66, 80, 85, 94, 101, 102, 103, 115, 117, 118, 121, 151, 164, 170 - among others.
2. - All of this is normal - see items 1, 29, 32, 38, 56, 62, 121, 144, 176 - among others
3. - That people don't care about the issue isn't covered here, but that's not surprising since the rise of a conservative
tactic to place doubt about anything that is against their own interests into the ether, regardless if it is true or not. Besides,
facts don't care whether you believe them or not, nor if you're interested in them or not, they just are facts.
In the whole debate about this issue, if one listens to those on both sides, the thing that has bothered me the most is
that the people who are skeptics or deniers deliver their opinions about it, but do not publish any peer-reviewed papers
on the scientific aspects of the research.
I've linked this article before:
Why Don't Climate Change Deniers Publish Papers?
http://www.slate.com/2014/01/14/papers.html (http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/01/14/climate_change_another_study_shows_they_don_t_publish_actual_papers.html)
From the article:
To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of climate change denial is how deniers essentially never publish in legitimate journals, but instead rely on talk shows, grossly error-laden op-eds, and hugely out-of-date claims (that were never right to start with). In 2012, National Science Board member James Lawrence Powell investigated peer-reviewed literature published about climate change and found that out of 13,950 articles, 13,926 supported the reality of global warming. Despite a lot of sound and fury from the denial machine, deniers have not really been able to come up with a coherent argument against a consensus. The same is true for a somewhat different study that showed a 97 percent consensus among climate scientists supporting both the reality of global warming and the fact that human emissions are behind it.
In the news this week:
Study: Rich Republicans Are the Worst Climate Deniers
Salon - Jul 10, 2014
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/10/study_uncovers_the_worst_climate_deniers_rich_republicans/
___
The research is beginning to overwhelm the climate change deniers, so they are in Las Vegas this week trying to
re-brand themselves:
In Las Vegas, Climate Change Deniers Regroup, Vow to Keep Doubt Alive
Are re-branding themselves as 'Climate Optimists'
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group]http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/in-las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group-vow-to-keep-doubt-alive-hold-for-art]http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/in-las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group-vow-to-keep-doubt-alive-hold-for-art)
___
And, finally, a news organization does something about the situation I mentioned earlier in this post:
Contrary to what the right-wing conservatives and right-wing media has tried to do the past decades, namely make
scientists the bad guys who are only interested in being right and not in the facts of science regardless of the outcome
of their research and also forcing a media world in which any statement of fact is subject to an equal and alternate
viewpoint to be aired regardless:
BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
The BBC takes a strong stand against promoting fake science (including creationists)
Jul 7, 2014
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-fake-science-20140707-column.html
You can lead a horse to water...
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Well done, Lyle.
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Here’s Another Side Effect of Climate Change: Painful Kidney Stones
Are there any other kind?
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;D Good one!
-
I don't know how or why you've formed your opinions on this topic, but if you're interested in possibly expanding your viewpoint
about it based on science, facts and figures, in the interest of science, here's a link that debunks a lot of the hype and myth around the subject:
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php
Contrary to what the right-wing conservatives and right-wing media has tried to do the past decades, namely make
scientists the bad guys who are only interested in being right and not in the facts of science regardless of the outcome
of their research and also forcing a media world in which any statement of fact is subject to an equal and alternate
viewpoint to be aired regardless, there are actual facts and agreement on the subject of climate change and/or global
warming.
The site I linked above, in one column has 176 climate myths listed that deniers like to use as evidence and in a column
next to those a short answer to each one of them. And you can click on the short answer to find a lengthy answer and
discussion of it.
Separating your post above into three parts you can find more about
1. - the skepticism and exaggeration in items 4, 17, 34, 38, 45, 59, 66, 80, 85, 94, 101, 102, 103, 115, 117, 118, 121, 151, 164, 170 - among others.
2. - All of this is normal - see items 1, 29, 32, 38, 56, 62, 121, 144, 176 - among others
3. - That people don't care about the issue isn't covered here, but that's not surprising since the rise of a conservative
tactic to place doubt about anything that is against their own interests into the ether, regardless if it is true or not. Besides,
facts don't care whether you believe them or not, nor if you're interested in them or not, they just are facts.
In the whole debate about this issue, if one listens to those on both sides, the thing that has bothered me the most is
that the people who are skeptics or deniers deliver their opinions about it, but do not publish any peer-reviewed papers
on the scientific aspects of the research.
I've linked this article before:
Why Don't Climate Change Deniers Publish Papers?
http://www.slate.com/2014/01/14/papers.html (http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/01/14/climate_change_another_study_shows_they_don_t_publish_actual_papers.html)
From the article:
To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of climate change denial is how deniers essentially never publish in legitimate journals, but instead rely on talk shows, grossly error-laden op-eds, and hugely out-of-date claims (that were never right to start with). In 2012, National Science Board member James Lawrence Powell investigated peer-reviewed literature published about climate change and found that out of 13,950 articles, 13,926 supported the reality of global warming. Despite a lot of sound and fury from the denial machine, deniers have not really been able to come up with a coherent argument against a consensus. The same is true for a somewhat different study that showed a 97 percent consensus among climate scientists supporting both the reality of global warming and the fact that human emissions are behind it.
In the news this week:
Study: Rich Republicans Are the Worst Climate Deniers
Salon - Jul 10, 2014
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/10/study_uncovers_the_worst_climate_deniers_rich_republicans/
___
The research is beginning to overwhelm the climate change deniers, so they are in Las Vegas this week trying to
re-brand themselves:
In Las Vegas, Climate Change Deniers Regroup, Vow to Keep Doubt Alive
Are re-branding themselves as 'Climate Optimists'
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group]http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/in-las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group-vow-to-keep-doubt-alive-hold-for-art]http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/in-las-vegas-climate-change-deniers-re-group-vow-to-keep-doubt-alive-hold-for-art)
___
And, finally, a news organization does something about the situation I mentioned earlier in this post:
Contrary to what the right-wing conservatives and right-wing media has tried to do the past decades, namely make
scientists the bad guys who are only interested in being right and not in the facts of science regardless of the outcome
of their research and also forcing a media world in which any statement of fact is subject to an equal and alternate
viewpoint to be aired regardless:
BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
The BBC takes a strong stand against promoting fake science (including creationists)
Jul 7, 2014
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-fake-science-20140707-column.html
You can lead a horse to water...
I remember a post not too long ago from someone who was chastising another poster (not me in this case) about only citing articles that supported his/her argument.
My thought then... and now... is well, duh!
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You're taking two very different things out of context and trying to make them the same.
Diversion.
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Climate change signals the end of Australian shiraz as we know it
Okay now I am seriously freaking out!! :D
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You're taking two very different things out of context and trying to make them the same.
Diversion.
Sauce for the gander
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A 49-year-old Connecticut man faces threatening charges after a woman told police he stabbed a watermelon in a passive-aggressive manner.
The Register Citizen of Torrington reports Carmine Cervellino of Thomaston was arraigned Monday on charges of threatening and disorderly conduct. He was released after posting a $500 bond.
Police say the woman had gone to police on July 4 to report finding drugs, including marijuana, in Cervellino's tool box. He was not arrested.
They say she later returned home to find the watermelon on the counter with a butcher's knife in it. She reported that Cervellino then entered the room and began carving the watermelon. She called the incident passive-aggressive and menacing.
No one answered a phone call Tuesday morning to the Cervellino home seeking comment.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fsandbox%2Fnews%2F140728%2Fwatermelon-435x580.jpg&hash=01dd3a2a2efc353e897d85fd2426a89af956eca9)
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How do you stab anything "in a passive-aggressive manner"? ???
Nice little piece in our morning paper today about a couple arrested for having sex on the roof of a Chipotle Mexican restaurant. ::)
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The Gaza Bombardment - What You're Not Being Told
The corporate media isn't just distorting the facts on the Gaza assault, they're flat out covering them up.
On July 7, 2014 Israel began a massive assault on the Gaza strip of Palestine. In the first week alone Israel dropped over 400 tons of bombs, killing over 130 Palestinians. Most were civilians, about half of them were women and children. By the time you are watching the the number will be higher.
Israel's official justification for this wholesale slaughter: the murder of three Israeli teenagers which Israel blames on Hamas. That's not the real reason. First of all Israel has not produced one single piece of evidence implicating Hamas or even a Palestinian in the murders, and in fact the the evidence we do have indicates that that murderers were Israeli. You see on Tuesday July 1st, The Jerusalem Post released the audio of the kidnapped teen's distress call to police, and in that call the kidnappers can be heard telling the boys to put their heads down in HEBREW. According to the Jerusalem Post prior to being leaked to the public this audio was being held under a gag order by the Israeli government.So why is Israel really attacking Gaza? It's not about self defense and it's obviously not about avenging those three teenagers. Those are just cover stories for the naive. What this is really about is natural gas.
It turns out that Gaza has quite a bit of natural gas on its coastline. One of the largest sources in the region. British Gas, which holds a joint exploration agreement for the area estimates that the fields hold at least 1 trillion cubic feet of gas. That gas belongs to the Palestinian people and they should be the ones to benefit from it. Israel disagrees.
http://scgnews.com/the-gaza-bombardment-what-youre-not-being-told
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Unbelievable!
A Montana man could spend the rest of his life in prison if he is found guilty of growing marijuana plants.
According to an affidavit obtained by the Independent Record, the Missouri River Drug Task Force obtained a search warrant for 22-year-old Chance McKenzie Bowen’s home in Helena after receiving multiple tips that he was running a marijuana growing operation.
Officers executing the warrant on Friday found 178 “actively growing marijuana plants,” grow lights, ballasts, and other equipment “used in the manufacture of marijuana.”
The affidavit said that Bowen admitted to being the owner of the growing operation. He was charged with one count of felony criminal production or manufacturing of dangerous drugs.
KXLH reported that Bowen faces fines of up to $50,000, and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Montana is nearby Washington state, which recently legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/15/montana-man-faces-life-in-prison-after-officers-find-actively-growing-marijuana-plants/
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Seems to me Hamas shot at Israel first.
When is the rest of the world going to learn you don't mess with Israel?
__________________________________
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
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Seems to me Hamas shot at Israel first.
When is the rest of the world going to learn you don't mess with Israel?
__________________________________
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
Of course you would think that, but it's wrong.
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To quote someone... why do you think so?
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To quote someone... why do you think so?
I already posted why. Do you not read my posts?
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No. I skip them and just ask why you feel the way you do. Or, if I do read them, I post why do you think like a bloody liberal when all the scientific proof shows that it's a figment of Al Gore or Dick Chaney or Al Stockton or Dick Snowden's imagination or maybe some kind of spin made up by the Obama camp.
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Parents say boy committed suicide after embarrassing video went viral
SAN DIEGO - A San Diego couple says their 14-year-old son committed suicide after an embarrassing video surreptitiously taken of him in a school bathroom went viral and led to him being "mercilessly bullied."
Timothy and Barbara Burdette filed a $1 million claim against the San Diego Unified School District. They say a teacher, an administrator and possibly other employees at University City High School knew their son Matthew, a Boy Scout who was studying for the Eagle rank, was being harassed but did nothing to stop it.
According to their claim, Matthew, who was on the water polo and wrestling teams, was kicked out of class on Nov. 15 for eating sunflower seeds.
The claim said that the teacher didn't give him anywhere to go, so he wandered the halls and ended up in a boys' bathroom [and] another student peeked over a bathroom stall and videotaped Matthew, allegedly masturbating.
That student posted the video on social media, including SnapChat and Vine, and it quickly went viral among students at schools through the district.
"From the moment the video was posted, Matthew was mercilessly bullied, harassed and teased by students who had seen the video. This continued for the next two weeks," the claim said.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/parents-say-boy-committed-suicide-after-embarrassing-video-went-viral/
Perhaps I'm mistaken but I don't recall anything about this being mentioned here and, if not, why not?
I also question, as the boy died 29 November and was buried 6 December last year#, why it's only appeared online in the US, UK and Australia in the last day or so?
A quick survey of sites other than CBS News has brought up some pretty horrible comments about his suicide.
Such as the comment from some person called “Freddy Led-Lips Hodges” — http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/matthew-burdette-suicide/
# http://elcamsorrento.tributes.com/our_obituaries/Matthew-Sergei-Burdette-97161286
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In the US, suicide is the third leading cause of death.
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No. I skip them and just ask why you feel the way you do. Or, if I do read them, I post why do you think like a bloody liberal when all the scientific proof shows that it's a figment of Al Gore or Dick Chaney or Al Stockton or Dick Snowden's imagination or maybe some kind of spin made up by the Obama camp.
lol!
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You're welcome.
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Scientists Take Issue With Rupert Murdoch’s Remarks on Climate Change
By Eric Roston Jul 16, 2014
Poor Australia. It's responsible for just a tiny fraction of the global warming that's occurred so far and is already bearing much of the punishment.
Rupert Murdoch, one of Australia's most famous sons, lamented as much in an interview this week when he dismissed grave risks from climate change and cautioned against policy overreaction. Speaking with Sky News Australia, he lauded Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is pushing to repeal the nation's carbon tax after calling it a "hand brake" on the economy.
Murdoch's comments about climate change on Sunday bear little resemblance to what’s going on in the scientific journals:
"Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here… Things are happening,” Murdoch said. “How much of it are we doing, with emissions and so on? As far as Australia goes? Nothing in the overall picture."
The same day the interview aired, scientists affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a study that attributes southwestern Australia’s 40-year rainfall decline to human influence. Specifically, greenhouse gas pollution and ozone loss high in the atmosphere.
Less rainfall in the southwest is just one of the joys of being Australia this century, with rising snow lines on mountains, more frequent fire weather, and strains on water supply.
Current scientific research suggests that Murdoch is wrong here on a number of accounts, or, to be charitable, is providing insufficient context for us to know what he’s talking about.
Australia's historical responsibility for climate change is bigger than nothing. Oz ranks 19th among the top 20 national contributors to the warming that’s already occurred, according to a study in Environmental Research Letters in January.
From that perspective, Australia might indeed sit back and wait as the rest of the polluting world cleans itself up. On the other hand, Australians emit more CO2 per-capita than most any nation that isn't the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Luxembourg, an island or an emirate. Which nation should cut its carbon first, and by how much, is a matter of policy, not science.
Murdoch's other climate remarks call to mind common anti-science talking points.
I emailed what he said, as reported in the Guardian, to the two scientists who conducted the Nature Geoscience study, and to another who wrote a commentary in the same issue. David John Karoly, a University of Melbourne professor who wrote the commentary, said about the interview: “It is hard to know or even guess what Rupert Murdoch’s statements are based on."
The Earth’s climate does vary on long time scales. What is remarkable about manmade climate change is its speed. Usually, it takes the world much longer to change phases -- "many thousands of years," said Tom Delworth, one of the authors of the new Australia study. (He specified that he was speaking only on his own behalf.)
That the climate shifts over time doesn’t mean that natural factors are leading the charge now: A single species has never changed things so dramatically, so quickly. Delworth calls current global changes “outside the bounds of climate variations we see in the geologic record.”
Murdoch says in the interview that the worst-case scenario is a 3 degree Celsius rise in temperatures over a century, and that only a third of that would be manmade. “Wrong,” Karoly said. The worst-case is closer to 5 degrees C, almost all human-driven. “There is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that human factors would cause only 1 [degree] C warming by 2100.”
The recent shift in Australian politics could lead to a repeal of the nation’s carbon tax. Would that repealing the laws of nature were as easy.
More by Eric Rost
*Companies don't care anymore that you don't care anymore about this sustainability thing
*Fix the climate problem? Easy. Cut U.S. emissions to 1901 levels
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-16/scientists-take-issue-with-rupert-murdoch-s-remarks-on-climate-change.html
Scientists estimate average temperatures worldwide during the Ice Age were 12 degrees lower than current temps....
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.....I also question, as the boy died 29 November and was buried 6 December last year#, why it's only appeared online in the US, UK and Australia in the last day or so?
......A quick survey of sites other than CBS News has brought up some pretty horrible comments about his suicide.
Paul, I've noticed that news is now so fragmented, you can't keep up, unless you do the networks, Yahoo news, forums, and even Facebook bloggers. And there still remains a lot that slips by.
Maybe there's a lot more going on than 10 years ago, or more being reported. Either way, it's really messy, and possibly drives some people to just tuning out. The best source, for me, is the online Huffington Post.
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A Brief History of Ice Ages and Warming
Global warming started long before the "Industrial Revolution" and the invention of the internal combustion engine. Global warming began 18,000 years ago as the earth started warming its way out of the Pleistocene Ice Age-- a time when much of North America, Europe, and Asia lay buried beneath great sheets of glacial ice.
Earth's climate and the biosphere have been in constant flux, dominated by ice ages and glaciers for the past several million years. We are currently enjoying a temporary reprieve from the deep freeze.
Approximately every 100,000 years Earth's climate warms up temporarily. These warm periods, called interglacial periods, appear to last approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years before regressing back to a cold ice age climate. At year 18,000 and counting our current interglacial vacation from the Ice Age is much nearer its end than its beginning.
Global warming during Earth's current interglacial warm period has greatly altered our environment and the distribution and diversity of all life. For example:
Approximately 15,000 years ago the earth had warmed sufficiently to halt the advance of glaciers, and sea levels worldwide began to rise.
By 8,000 years ago the land bridge across the Bering Strait was drowned, cutting off the migration of men and animals to North America from Asia.
Since the end of the Ice Age, Earth's temperature has risen approximately 16 degrees F and sea levels have risen a total of 300 feet! Forests have returned where once there was only ice
In the 1970s concerned environmentalists like Stephen Schneider of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado feared a return to another ice age due to manmade atmospheric pollution blocking out the sun.
Since about 1940 the global climate did in fact appear to be cooling. Then a funny thing happened-- sometime in the late 1970s temperature declines slowed to a halt and ground-based recording stations during the 1980s and 1990s began reading small but steady increases in near-surface temperatures. Fears of "global cooling" then changed suddenly to "global warming,"-- the cited cause
"If 'ice age' is used to refer to long, generally cool, intervals during which glaciers advance and retreat, we are still in one today. Our modern climate represents a very short, warm period between glacial advances." Illinois State Museum
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Periods of Earth warming and cooling occur in cycles. This is well understood, as is the fact that small-scale cycles of about 40 years exist within larger-scale cycles of 400 years, which in turn exist inside still larger scale cycles of 20,000 years, and so on.
Earth's climate was in a cool period from A.D. 1400 to about A.D. 1860, dubbed the "Little Ice Age." This period was characterized by harsh winters, shorter growing seasons, and a drier climate. The decline in global temperatures was a modest 1/2° C, but the effects of this global cooling cycle were more pronounced in the higher latitudes. The Little Ice Age has been blamed for a host of human suffering including crop failures like the "Irish Potato Famine" and the demise of the medieval Viking colonies in Greenland.
Today we enjoy global temperatures which have warmed back to levels of the so called "Medieval Warm Period," which existed from approximately A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1350.
Global warming alarmists maintain that global temperatures have increased since about A.D. 1860 to the present as the result of the so-called "Industrial Revolution,"-- caused by releases of large amounts of greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide) from manmade sources into the atmosphere causing a runaway "Greenhouse Effect."
Was man really responsible for pulling the Earth out of the Little Ice Age with his industrial pollution? If so, this may be one of the greatest unheralded achievements of the Industrial Age!
Unfortunately, we tend to overestimate our actual impact on the planet. In this case the magnitude of the gas emissions involved, even by the most aggressive estimates of atmospheric warming by greenhouse gases, is inadequate to account for the magnitude of temperature increases. So what causes the up and down cycles of global climate change?
Playing with Numbers
Global climate and temperature cycles are the result of a complex interplay between a variety of causes. Because these cycles and events overlap, sometimes compounding one another, sometimes canceling one another out, it is inaccurate to imply a statistically significant trend in climate or temperature patterns from just a few years or a few decades of data.
Unfortunately, a lot of disinformation about where Earth's climate is heading is being propagated by "scientists" who use improper statistical methods, short-term temperature trends, or faulty computer models to make analytical and anecdotal projections about the significance of man-made influences to Earth's climate.
During the last 100 years there have been two general cycles of warming and cooling recorded in the U.S. We are currently in the second warming cycle. Overall, U.S. temperatures show no significant warming trend over the last 100 years (1). This has been well - established but not well - publicized.
References
(1) A scientific Discussion of Climate Change, Sallie Baliunas, Ph.D., Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Willie Soon, Ph.D., Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
(2) The Effects of Proposals for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction; Testimony of Dr. Patrick J. Michaels, Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science, United States House of Representatives
(3) Statement Concerning Global Warming-- Presented to the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works, June 10, 1997, by Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(4) Excerpts from,"Our Global Future: Climate Change", Remarks by Under Secretary for Global affairs, T. Wirth, 15 September 1997. Site maintained by The Globe - Climate Change Campaign
(5) Testimony of John R. Christy to the Committee on Environmental and Public Works, Department of Atmospheric Science and Earth System Science Laboratory, University of Alabama in Huntsville, July 10, 1997.
(6) The Carbon Dioxide Thermometer and the Cause of Global Warming; Nigel Calder,-- Presented at a seminar SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex, Brighton, England, October 6, 1998.
(7) Variation in cosmic ray flux and global cloud coverage: a missing link in solar-climate relationships; H. Svensmark and E. Friis-Christiansen, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar- Terrestrial Physics, vol. 59, pp. 1225 - 1232 (1997).
(8] First International Conference on Global Warming and the Next Ice Age; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, sponsored by the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and the American Meteorological Society, August 21-24, 2001.
(9) Ice Core Studies Prove CO2 Is Not the Powerful Climate Driver Climate Alarmists Make It Out to Be; CO2 Science;
Volume 6, Number 26: 25 June 2003; http://www.co2science.org/articles/V6/N26/EDIT.php
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html
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Sherry, that was an interesting account of the natural cycles of weather over millions of years. Ups and downs. And, here and there, temporary blips and reversals. But, I would object that the issue is not the gradual cycles, but rather the relatively sharp rises occurring these last decades, which seems much too fast for a cycle.
Also, in one of your posts, you mentioned some areas that have had historic cold temps, and so, where's the global warming? I guess you didn't get the global warmies memo. They are saying that the unnatural process will cause extremes, in both areas, because of destabilization, but that the average of the extremes are showing an over-all warming.
Myself, I think global warming has been so heavily politicized, they might do better to use another term, which even deniers accept: climate change. Happening too fast.
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I always post the links, even when I quote most of the article. In this case, the article is so long, most of it is still back on it's own site. Sorry, but the whole thing pretty much covers all the areas you just mentioned.
One thing I remember is back a few years... 30-40... the talk was of global chilling which was following years of warnings about global warming. The article says either way, warming or chilling, some group is going to jump all over it with dire warnings. I've got all I can do worrying about whether or not Devin is going to get the boot!
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Same here :). I read, and then take refuge in the mindlessness of my likings :D.
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Absolutely!
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References
(1) A scientific Discussion of Climate Change, Sallie Baliunas, Ph.D., Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Willie Soon, Ph.D., Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
(2) The Effects of Proposals for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction; Testimony of Dr. Patrick J. Michaels, Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science, United States House of Representatives
(3) Statement Concerning Global Warming-- Presented to the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works, June 10, 1997, by Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(4) Excerpts from,"Our Global Future: Climate Change", Remarks by Under Secretary for Global affairs, T. Wirth, 15 September 1997. Site maintained by The Globe - Climate Change Campaign
(5) Testimony of John R. Christy to the Committee on Environmental and Public Works, Department of Atmospheric Science and Earth System Science Laboratory, University of Alabama in Huntsville, July 10, 1997.
(6) The Carbon Dioxide Thermometer and the Cause of Global Warming; Nigel Calder,-- Presented at a seminar SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex, Brighton, England, October 6, 1998.
(7) Variation in cosmic ray flux and global cloud coverage: a missing link in solar-climate relationships; H. Svensmark and E. Friis-Christiansen, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar- Terrestrial Physics, vol. 59, pp. 1225 - 1232 (1997).
(8] First International Conference on Global Warming and the Next Ice Age; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, sponsored by the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and the American Meteorological Society, August 21-24, 2001.
(9) Ice Core Studies Prove CO2 Is Not the Powerful Climate Driver Climate Alarmists Make It Out to Be; CO2 Science;
Volume 6, Number 26: 25 June 2003; http://www.co2science.org/articles/V6/N26/EDIT.php
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html
Know your sources:
References
(1) A scientific Discussion of Climate Change, Sallie Baliunas, Ph.D., Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Willie Soon, Ph.D., Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Soon and Baliunas controversy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soon_and_Baliunas_controversy)
The Soon and Baliunas controversy involved the publication of a paper written by Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas in the journal Climate Research, which prompted concerns about the peer review process of the paper and resulted in the resignation of several other editors and the agreement by the publisher Otto Kinne that the paper should not have been published as it was.
(2) The Effects of Proposals for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction; Testimony of Dr. Patrick J. Michaels, Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, before the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science, United States House of Representatives
Patrick Michaels: Cato’s Climate Expert Has History Of Getting It Wrong (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/10/2280091/patrick-michaels-catos-climate-expert-has-history-of-getting-it-wrong/)
Patrick Michaels’ Losing Bets: A review of claims made by the Cato Institute’s Patrick Michaels over the last quarter century shows that he has repeatedly been proven wrong over time. Michaels is one of a few contrarian climate scientists who is often featured in the media without disclosure of his funding from the fossil fuel industry.
(3) Statement Concerning Global Warming-- Presented to the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works, June 10, 1997, by Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Guardian: Lindzen puff piece exemplifies the conservative media's climate failures (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jan/06/climate-change-climate-change-scepticism)
Last week, The Weekly Standard ran a puff piece about contrarian climate scientist Richard Lindzen that embodied the fundamental problems in most conservative media coverage of climate change. Richard Lindzen is one of the approximately 3 percent of climate scientists who believe the human influence on global warming is relatively small. More importantly, he's been wrong about nearly every major climate argument he's made over the past two decades.
(4) Excerpts from,"Our Global Future: Climate Change", Remarks by Under Secretary for Global affairs, T. Wirth, 15 September 1997. Site maintained by The Globe - Climate Change Campaign
I suppose it says “excerpts” in the above, because if you read this speech, except for the “excerpt” taken out of context, this is an entirely environmentally friendly speech.
Our Global Future: Climate Change -
The Hon. Timothy E. Wirth,
Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs
, Department of State (https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/wirth.htm)
(5) Testimony of John R. Christy to the Committee on Environmental and Public Works, Department of Atmospheric Science and Earth System Science Laboratory, University of Alabama in Huntsville, July 10, 1997.
Examining Dr. John Christy's Global Warming Skepticism (http://www.skepticalscience.com/examining-christys-skepticism.html)
(6) The Carbon Dioxide Thermometer and the Cause of Global Warming; Nigel Calder,-- Presented at a seminar SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex, Brighton, England, October 6, 1998.
Credentials (http://www.desmogblog.com/nigel-calder)
Although Calder has been mainly employed as a “Science Writer,” he does not have credentials as a “scientist. “
(7) Variation in cosmic ray flux and global cloud coverage: a missing link in solar-climate relationships; H. Svensmark and E. Friis-Christiansen, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar- Terrestrial Physics, vol. 59, pp. 1225 - 1232 (1997).
(8] First International Conference on Global Warming and the Next Ice Age; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, sponsored by the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and the American Meteorological Society, August 21-24, 2001.
(9) Ice Core Studies Prove CO2 Is Not the Powerful Climate Driver Climate Alarmists Make It Out to Be; CO2 Science;
Volume 6, Number 26: 25 June 2003
Not sure what the last three are referencing in the linked site, but these are still debateable topics with studies for all of them, such as a rebuttal to #9 titled: Ice Core Studies Confirm Accuracy Of Climate Models (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080911150048.htm)
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A Malaysia Airlines jet crashes in Ukraine, possibly shot down
Malaysia Airlines flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, crashed in Ukraine on Thursday.
Ukraine's president has called it a "terrorist act," and says the flight was shot down by forces aligned with Russian-backed separatists in the country's eastern region. But pro-Russian separatists have blamed the crash of the Boeing 777-200, which was carrying 280 passengers, on Ukrainian government forces.
All aboard the plane, which also included 15 crew, are presumed dead.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-07-17/malaysia-airlines-jet-crashes-ukraine-possibly-shot-down
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Updated Earthquake Map Shakes Up Risk Zones
By By Laura Geggel, Staff Writer
Parts of 42 states are at risk of earthquakes during the next 50 years, according to a new report fromthe U.S. Geological Survey.
The report includes updated maps that show geologists' predictions of where and how often future earthquakes may occur, and how strongly they may shake the ground.
Many of the at-risk states are in the country's western half, but the map also highlights hotspots in the Midwest and Southeast. There are 16 states that have regions labeled as being at high risk for seismic activity, because they have histories of earthquakes measuring a magnitude of 6.0 or greater: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. [Image Gallery: This Millennium's Destructive Earthquakes]
In making the new maps, geologists considered data from earthquakes that have struck since the maps were last updated, in 2008. For instance, the 5.8 Virginia temblor that struck in 2011 showed that seismic activity can happen in the Northeast. Seismic risk has also increased near Charleston, South Carolina, due to recent earthquakes in the area.
____________________________________
The information in the report could guide new building codes, geologists at the USGS said in a statement. The maps will also help set insurance rates and emergency preparedness plans. Private homeowners can consult them when deciding whether to reinforce their homes to make them more earthquake-safe.
"The standards for seismic safety in building codes are directly based upon USGS assessments of potential ground shaking from earthquakes, and have been for years,” said Jim Harris, a member and former chairman of the Provisions Update Committee of the Building Seismic Safety Council.
As geologists continue to study earthquake hazards, they plan to incorporate risks from man-made activities, such as the disposal of wastewater into deep wells, they said in the statement.
"The cost of inaction in planning for future earthquakes and other natural disasters can be very high, as demonstrated by several recent damaging events across the globe," said Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project. "It is important to understand the threat you face from earthquakes at home and the hazards for the places you might visit."
http://news.yahoo.com/updated-earthquake-map-shakes-risk-zones-192731537.html
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Obama: Malaysia Airlines jet shoot-down an 'outrage of unspeakable proportion'
(CNN) -- Russia likely bears some of the responsibility for the apparent downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, U.S. President Barack Obama indicated Friday, saying pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine couldn't have operated sophisticated surface-to-air missile batteries without Russian training and support.
In the administration's strongest words yet on the downing of the jet, which left 298 people dead, Obama said rebel fighters couldn't have operated the surface-to-air missile believed responsible for the shootdown "without sophisticated equipment and sophisticated training, and that is coming from Russia."
He and other U.S. officials stopped short of publicly placing the responsibility on Russia, which has denied any involvement in the destruction of the jetliner, whose debris lay strewn Friday across the eastern Ukraine farm field where it fell.
But a senior defense official told CNN that the "working theory" among U.S. intelligence analysts is that the Russian military supplied the Buk missile system to rebel fighters inside Ukraine.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/18/world/europe/ukraine-malaysia-airlines-crash/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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Uh... a few years back didn't WE wipe out some airliner?
Of course, the GOP was probably in the White House then....
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Uh... a few years back didn't WE wipe out some airliner?
Of course, the GOP was probably in the White House then....
A Brief History Of Civilian Planes That Have Been Shot Down
Ukrainian officials say pro-Russian separatists may have shot down the Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed Thursday in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people onboard.
It's rare, but not unprecedented, for civilian airliners to be shot down. In fact, it's happened before in Ukraine, just 13 years ago.
Back in 2001, the Ukrainian military accidentally shot down a Russian civilian plane while conducting an exercise on the Crimean Peninsula — the very territory that Russia seized earlier this year, prompting the current crisis in Ukraine.
Here's a list of the deadliest such episodes:
Israel Shoots Down An Errant Libyan Plane: The Libyan Airlines Boeing 727 left the capital, Tripoli, on Feb. 21, 1973, heading east for Cairo when it suffered the double whammy of bad weather and equipment failure. It flew past Cairo and entered the Sinai Peninsula, which was controlled by Israel at the time. Two Israeli warplanes intercepted the Libyan aircraft, and when it refused to land, the Israelis shot it down, killing all but five of the 113 onboard.
U.S. Navy Shoots Down An Iranian Plane Over The Persian Gulf: In a tense time in a volatile region, the USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser, was in the Persian Gulf in 1988 to help keep the key oil shipping lane open and to monitor the war between Iran and Iraq. According to the U.S. government, a helicopter from the Vincennes came under warning fire from Iranian speedboats. Such small-scale incidents took place with some regularity at the time.
The Vincennes then entered Iranian territorial waters and spotted an aircraft that it thought was an Iranian F-14 fighter plane. However, it was actually a civilian Iran Air Airbus A300, flying over Iran's territorial waters on its regular route from Tehran to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The Vincennes fired a surface-to-air missile that destroyed the plane, killing all 290 onboard. Under a 1996 agreement at the International Court of Justice, the U.S. agreed to pay Iran $61.8 million.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/07/17/332318322/a-brief-history-of-civilian-planes-that-have-been-shot-down
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NBC News Pulls Veteran Reporter from Gaza After Witnessing Israeli Attack on Children
By Glen Greenwald
Ayman Mohyeldin, the NBC News correspondent who personally witnessed yesterday’s killing by Israel of four Palestinian boys on a Gazan beach and who has received widespread praise for his brave and innovative coverage of the conflict, has been told by NBC executives to leave Gaza immediately. According to an NBC source upset at his treatment, the executives claimed the decision was motivated by “security concerns” as Israel prepares a ground invasion, a claim repeated to me by an NBC executive. But late yesterday, NBC sent another correspondent, Richard Engel, along with an American producer who has never been to Gaza and speaks no Arabic, into Gaza to cover the ongoing Israeli assault (both Mohyeldin and Engel speak Arabic).
Mohyeldin is an Egyptian-American with extensive experience reporting on that region. He has covered dozens of major Middle East events in the last decade for CNN, NBC and Al Jazeera English, where his reporting on the 2008 Israeli assault on Gaza made him a star of the network. NBC aggressively pursued him to leave Al Jazeera, paying him far more than the standard salary for its on-air correspondents.
Yesterday, Mohyeldin witnessed and then reported on the brutal killing by Israeli gunboats of four young boys as they played soccer on a beach in Gaza City. He was instrumental, both in social media and on the air, in conveying to the world the visceral horror of the attack.
Mohyeldin recounted how, moments before their death, he was kicking a soccer ball with the four boys, who were between the ages of 9 and 11 and all from the same family. He posted numerous chilling details on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, including the victims’ names and ages, photographs he took of their anguished parents, and video of one of their mothers as she learned about the death of her young son. He interviewed one of the wounded boys at the hospital shortly before being operated on. He then appeared on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, where he dramatically recounted what he saw.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/17/nbc-removes-ayman-mohyeldin-gaza-coverage-witnesses-israeli-beach-killing-four-boys/
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Not Richard Engel! He has a huge target on his back AND his front.
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Not Richard Engel! He has a huge target on his back AND his front.
He's the network's "chief" Middle East correspondent. Maybe he pulled rank. :(
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Take my advice, Dicky. Pull rank in the opposite direction!
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CNN Removes Reporter Diana Magnay From Israel-Gaza After 'Scum' Tweet
NEW YORK -- CNN has removed correspondent Diana Magnay from covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after she tweeted that Israelis who were cheering the bombing of Gaza, and who had allegedly threatened her, were “scum.”
“After being threatened and harassed before and during a liveshot, Diana reacted angrily on Twitter,” a CNN spokeswoman said in a statement to The Huffington Post.
“She deeply regrets the language used, which was aimed directly at those who had been targeting our crew," the spokeswoman continued. "She certainly meant no offense to anyone beyond that group, and she and CNN apologize for any offense that may have been taken.”
The spokeswoman said Magnay has been assigned to Moscow.
Magnay appeared on CNN Thursday from a hill overlooking the Israel-Gaza border. While she reported, Israelis could be heard near her cheering as missiles were fired at Gaza.
After the liveshot, Magnay tweeted: “Israelis on hill above Sderot cheer as bombs land on #gaza; threaten to ‘destroy our car if I say a word wrong’. Scum.” The tweet was quickly removed, but not before it had been retweeted more than 200 times.
The removal of Magnay comes a day after NBC News pulled Ayman Mohyeldin from Gaza.
NBC's decision to remove the widely praised Mohyeldin, and unwillingness to explain why, has been met with anger and frustration from journalists inside and outside the network.
A source with knowledge of the decision told The Huffington Post that NBC executives cited security concerns. But at the same time Moyheldin was pulled, NBC assigned chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel to Gaza.
One of Mohyeldin's tweets and Facebook posts were recently deleted, a move that has fueled speculation that his social media use could have been the cause for his removal. But the source said the reason given internally by network executives was security.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/cnn-diana-magnay-israel-gaza_n_5598866.html?fb_comment_id=fbc_673095652781244_673121629445313_673121629445313#f18e091e54
I saw that report and people really were cheering and applauding when the missiles hit. I was actually surprised that the cameraperson didn't pan to the left to show the "scum" sitting on lawn chairs celebrating.
Anyway, calling them 'Scum' seems a pretty mild and certainly an accurate discription of people cheering the death of women & children already trapped in an open prison.
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NBC News Pulls Veteran Reporter from Gaza After Witnessing Israeli Attack on Children
Aren't they pulling Ayman Mohyeldin for fear of his life from some 'accident' at the hands of Israel?
Or am I reading the article wrong?
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Aren't they pulling Ayman Mohyeldin for fear of his life from some 'accident' at the hands of Israel?
Or am I reading the article wrong?
maybe you're right. Considering the following paragraph, it's a wonder he hasn't been assassinated by Israel already:
Over the last two weeks, Mohyeldin’s reporting has been far more balanced and even-handed than the standard pro-Israel coverage that dominates establishment American press coverage; his reports have provided context to the conflict that is missing from most American reports and he avoids adopting Israeli government talking points as truth. As a result, neocon and “pro-Israel” websites have repeatedly attacked him as a “Hamas spokesman” and spouting “pro-Hamas rants.”
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As many as 100 of the world’s leading HIV/Aids researchers and advocates may have been on the Malaysia Airlines flight that crashed in Ukraine, in what has been described as a “devastating” blow to efforts to tackle the virus.
Delegates to a plenary session held ahead of the Aids 2014 conference were told that email exchanges showed about 100 attendees were booked on the MH17 flight. The plane was downed in eastern Ukraine by what the US and Australian governments have described as a surface-to-air missile.
There was no official confirmation of the number of researchers on board.
There were no survivors among the 298 people on the flight, which was bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. The Aids 2014 conference, due to start on Sunday, is being held in Melbourne.
“There’s a huge feeling of sadness here, people are in floods of tears in the corridors,” Clive Aspin, a veteran HIV researcher who attended the pre-conference plenary session in Sydney, told Guardian Australia. “These people were the best and the brightest, the ones who had dedicated their whole careers to fighting this terrible virus. It’s devastating.”
Prof. Richard Boyd, director of the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories, told Guardian Australia he was "gutted" by the losses.
"There were some serious HIV leaders on that plane," he said. "This will have ramifications globally because whenever you lose a leader in any field, it has an impact. That knowledge is irreplaceable.
"We've lost global leaders and also some bright young people who were coming through. It's a gut-wrenching loss. I was involved in the aftermath of 9/11 in New York and it brings back that level of catastrophe.
"But the Aids community is very close-knit, like a family. They will unite and this will galvanise people to strive harder to find a breakthrough. Let's hope that, out of this madness, there will be new hope for the world."
Trevor Stratton, an HIV/Aids consultant, told the ABC: “The cure for AIDS may have been on that plane, we just don’t know. You can’t just help but wonder about the kind of expertise on that plane.”
A number of leading scientists, including a former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS) who has led HIV research efforts since 1983, are believed to be among the dead.
Organisers of Aids 2014, which is set to welcome about 14,000 delegates from around the world, said they were unable to officially confirm the number of people on MH17 who were due to attend the conference. The organisation said in a statement: “The IAS is hearing unconfirmed reports that some of our friends and colleagues were on board the flight and if that is the case this is truly a sad day.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/18/aids-conference-says-100-researchers-may-have-been-on-board-crashed-plane
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Over the last two weeks, Mohyeldin’s reporting has been far more balanced and even-handed than the standard pro-Israel coverage that dominates establishment American press coverage; his reports have provided context to the conflict that is missing from most American reports and he avoids adopting Israeli government talking points as truth. As a result, neocon and “pro-Israel” websites have repeatedly attacked him as a “Hamas spokesman” and spouting “pro-Hamas rants.”
This being the case, it speaks well of NBC that it has employed him.
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I was listening to an interview about how many people on the Malaysia flight were aids/HIV researchers.
It is tragic.
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http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/19/girl-11-banned-from-school-trip-because-she-took-day-off-to-attend-mothers-funeral-4803586/
I bet it's a great comfort to the little girl that the school isn't doing the 100% attendance competion anymore >:(
How callous....unfeeling.....unsympathetic can these bloody people be ? Not even a "Sorry". :(
Not nearly as devastating as the news posted in the above posts but it struck me as a mean thing to do to a young child.
Especially due to the circumstances.
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Not nearly as devastating as the news posted in the above posts but it struck me as a mean thing to do to a young child.
Especially due to the circumstances.
I agree with you.
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This being the case, it speaks well of NBC that it has employed him.
Good news!
NBC News statement: Ayman Mohyeldin back to Gaza
Statement from an NBC News spokesperson:
"Ayman Mohyeldin has done extraordinary reporting throughout the escalation of the conflict in Gaza, filing 25+ reports over the past 17 days, including his invaluable and well-documented contribution to the story on the deaths of the four Palestinian children on Wednesday. As with any news team in conflict zones, deployments are constantly reassessed. We've carefully considered our deployment decisions and we will be sending Ayman back to Gaza over the weekend. We look forward to his contributions in the coming days."
http://www.nbcumv.com/nbc-news-statement-ayman-mohyeldin-back-gaza?network=33130
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I trust he has been suitably chastised and educated about fair and unbiased reporting and now knows where the line is so he can toe it.
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British jihadists caught after parents inform police
Two British jihadists who fought in Syria were caught on their return after their parents alerted the police.
Childhood friends Mohammed Nahin Ahmed and Yusuf Zubair Sarwar, both 22, spent eight months in the war-torn country last year fighting with a notorious terror group.
Sarwar, a part time student, left a note for his parents, who thought he was on holiday in Turkey, saying he had gone to Syria to fight “jihad” and to become a martyr.
The family alerted the police and pleaded for help and West Midlands counter terrorism officers were waiting for them when they finally returned home in January.
Traces of military grade explosives were discovered on their clothing when stopped on Heathrow Airport and hundreds of photos of the pair in Syria were recovered from a camera.
They included images of the pair aiming automatic weapons.
The two men, both from Birmingham, admitted engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorism acts when they appeared at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday.
The families of both men had put pressure on them to return to the UK once they discovered where they were.
Sarwar's family reported him missing to police in May last year after they found a handwritten letter from him in which said he had left to join a terrorist group called Kataib al Muhajireen (KaM)- later renamed Kateeba al-Kawthar – "to do jihad" and that he wanted to "die as a martyr".
Headed “please read”, the six-page letter also said: “As you know I have gone on holiday but the real purpose is to fight jihad for Allah. Jihad has been declared.”
It added: “Make sure you do not get any authorities involved. It is a kufaar (unbelievers) government.”
He said the Taliban and al-Qaeda were “not bad” and that: “We stand up and never would let Allah’s religion be demonised.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10954025/British-jihadists-caught-after-parents-inform-police.html
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Student found with thousands of pounds stuffed in knickers for jihadist, court told
A university student was caught smuggling 20,000 euros in her underwear at Heathrow Airport which was intended for a British jihadist fighting in Syria, the Old Bailey heard.
Nawal Msaad, 27, had been promised around £800 to act as a “trusted courier” by the wife of the British fanatic but was stopped as she arrived at the boarding gate.
The euros, worth £16,000, were found in large sums tightly rolled up and stuffed in her knickers as she tried to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey.
Some of the money may even have been inside her in a condom, the court was told.
Msaad was asked to take the money by mother-of-two Amal El-Wahabi, 27, whose husband Aine Davis was fighting with "extremist jihadist terrorist groups," Mark Dennis QC, prosecuting said.
Opening the case, he said: "She was found to be carrying 20,000 euros, in large denomination notes, which she was intending to smuggle into Turkey and pass to another person before returning to London two days later.
"This was not her money, nor indeed was it the currency in Turkey. She had been recruited to carry out this task on the promise of a payment of 1,000 Euros as a reward and the payment of her expenses."
Msaad's role was as a "trusted courier" who would carry large sums of money, concealing it on the journey and ensuring that it was handed to the correct person, he added.
"All this has to be done in the circumstances of secrecy and mutual trust. Her recruiter was the first defendant – Amal El-Wahabi – a close and long-standing friend.
The smuggling attempt, however, had been instigated by the first defendant's husband – Aine Davis, 30 – who, it is alleged had left London a few months earlier in order to pursue the jihadist cause in which he now believed.
"Davis had maintained regular contact with the first defendant using call and messaging services on mobile phones and the Internet.
"He had provided her with both Turkish and Syrian mobile phone numbers.
"It is plain from images that he had sent to her that Davis had fulfilled his desire and was now with jihadist fighters and was supporting the familiar black flag adopted by the extremist jihadist terrorist groups in various countries in that troubled part of the world."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10953488/Student-found-with-thousands-of-pounds-stuffed-in-knickers-for-jihadist-court-told.html
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Mother of B.C. man accused in Canada Day bomb plot 'knows he's innocent'
The Canadian Press July 2, 2014 6:28 PM
VANCOUVER — Nearly a year after a British Columbia man was arrested for allegedly plotting to bomb the B.C. legislature during Canada Day, his mother says she maintains her firm belief in his innocence.
John Nuttall and his co-accused Amanda Korody were charged last July in what Mounties described as a plan to use pressure cooker bombs to target celebrations in Victoria. The two are in B.C. Supreme Court this week as Justice Catherine Bruce hears a four-day legal application related to the charges. The submissions are under a publication ban and details cannot be reported.
Nuttall's mother, Maureen Smith, who travelled from Victoria to attend the hearing, said outside the Vancouver courthouse on Wednesday that it is important for her to support her son during the most trying time in his life, even though hearing the legal arguments is "brutal."
The pair were arrested on Canada Day 2013 and each is charged with facilitating terrorist activity and making or possessing explosives.
None of the allegations against them have been proven in court.
"I want to be here to support my son, to show him that this is the most important thing," Smith said. "I know he's innocent and I got to be here for him."
Smith said she was in disbelief when she first heard about Nuttall's arrest last year.
"A year ago, when I found out that he got arrested, I thought it was a joke," she said. "My son would never, ever harm an innocent person."
Smith said Nuttall and Korody, who have been dating for roughly seven years, minded their own business.
"All they did was play video games and they would go for a coffee, maybe — not even once a day, they couldn't afford it," she said.
A jury trial is expected to begin in January 2015
http://www.theprovince.com/life/Mother+accused+Canada+terror+plot+knows+innocent/9994758/story.html
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Who are the psychotic terrorists again?
Israeli Lawmaker’s Call for Genocide of Palestinians Gets Thousands of Facebook Likes
A day before Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khudair was kidnapped and burned alive allegedly by six Israeli Jewish youths, Israeli lawmaker Ayelet Shaked (left) published on Facebook a call for genocide of the Palestinians.
It is a call for genocide because it declares that “the entire Palestinian people is the enemy” and justifies its destruction, “including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure.”
It is a call for genocide because it calls for the slaughter of Palestinian mothers who give birth to “little snakes.”
If Shaked’s post does not meet the legal definition of a call for genocide then nothing does.
Shaked is a senior figure in the Habeyit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party that is part of Israel’s ruling coalition.
Her post was shared more than one thousand times and received almost five thousand “Likes.”
Uri Elitzur, to whom she refers, and who died a few months ago, was leader of the settler movement and speechwriter and close advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Here’s a full translation of Shaked’s posting:
Continues:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/israeli-lawmakers-call-for-genocide-of-palestinians-gets-thousands-of-facebook-likes/5390230
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You say tomato, I say tomahto.
Hamas has said the exact same thing about wiping out the Israelis.
Too bad the Palestinians are caught in the middle. They need to choose a side and fight.
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You say tomato, I say tomahto.
Hamas has said the exact same thing about wiping out the Israelis.
Too bad the Palestinians are caught in the middle. They need to choose a side and fight.
True and Hamas is treated as a terrorist organization while Israel is treated as a victim. The mainstream media and most western governments refuse to acknowledge that this victim thing is a myth. Israel’s goal, from the start, has been to take over all of Palestine and expel the Arabs. The so-called “settlements” they keep building on Palestinian land are proof of that. The racist Knesset is just as much a terrorist organization as Hamas except with bigger hardware and more money.
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Hamas IS a terrorist organization. And like all terrorist groups, it starts these confrontations whuile hiding among the "innocent" population and then yells "foul" when some kid or "civilian" gets killed.
I'm on Israel's side.
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Obama and the US need to butt out of this Malaysian airplane business.
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Obama and the US need to butt out of this Malaysian airplane business.
How can we butt out if we haven't butted in? I'm surprised Obama managed to find time to make a statement today in between fund raising parties. at least he was able to fit in awarding the medal of honor to the 22 y/o vet today...
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He could stop phoning threats and nultimatiums in to Putin and giving a daily press talk about how outrageously the militants are acting. It is not any business of ours.
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He could stop phoning threats and nultimatiums in to Putin and giving a daily press talk about how outrageously the militants are acting. It is not any business of ours.
I'm sure the Dutch will take great comfort in your view.
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So? We're the world cop, the world avenger, the world peacemaker, the world judge, the world feeder, the world comforter, the world healer. Enough.
What the heck is the UN doing besides moaning about being shut out of the process?
Let the Dutch handle their own problem. Let Ukraine and Russia work it out with them and Malaysia. And if they can't, tough.
It's time we stayed out of other people's affairs.
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So? We're the world cop, the world avenger, the world peacemaker, the world judge, the world feeder, the world comforter, the world healer. Enough.
What the heck is the UN doing besides moaning about being shut out of the process?
Let the Dutch handle their own problem. Let Ukraine and Russia work it out with them and Malaysia. And if they can't, tough.
It's time we stayed out of other people's affairs.
Your isolationism is breathtaking. They should give you John Kerry's job.
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Hamas IS a terrorist organization. And like all terrorist groups, it starts these confrontations whuile hiding among the "innocent" population and then yells "foul" when some kid or "civilian" gets killed.
I'm on Israel's side.
You misunderstood, I didn't mean to imply that Hamas wasn't a terrorist organization, I know it is, my point is that so is Israel.
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No, Israel is a country surrounded by other countries who have sworn to wipe it off the face of the Earth, countries who allow terrorist organizations to run around willy nilly causing death and destruction while giving them sanctuary.
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Your isolationism is breathtaking. They should give you John Kerry's job.
I realize most US people on this thread are too busy worrying about global weather and what other countries are doing/not doing with their minorities to pay any attention to what is going on here. The wake up call will come when our own poor decide to stage their version of an Arab Spring or when the George Washington Bridge or the Holland Tunnel collapses. It is way past time for the US to concern itself with its own problems and let the rest of the world take responsibility for THEIR problems. For sure, NO other country is going to offer more than insincere sympathy when we are faced with a disaster. And since it will be of our own making, who can blame them?
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Agree that we are probably headed for infrastructure or other disasters and that no foreign countries will give a shit. But we should be well used to having foreign countries hating the USA, until they need us.
I've been emailing back and forth with a woman in the Netherlands for about 3 months, and naturally gave my sympathy for the loss her country suffered this past week. She wanted to know why there was so much attention being paid by the US, since there were no Americans on board (except for the dual citizen Dutch man). I guess she doesn't think we should give them any help they haven't asked for, either.
However, she also sent me several links exploring the conspiracy theories, saying that Netherlands is a small country and nothing on their own, and afraid of a WWIII......so, there you go.
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So? We're the world cop, the world avenger, the world peacemaker, the world judge, the world feeder, the world comforter, the world healer. Enough.
What the heck is the UN doing besides moaning about being shut out of the process?
Let the Dutch handle their own problem. Let Ukraine and Russia work it out with them and Malaysia. And if they can't, tough.
It's time we stayed out of other people's affairs.
Must be nice to have this view. Not sure it's a universally held opinion though.
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... We're the world cop, the world avenger, the world peacemaker, the world judge, the world feeder, the world comforter, the world healer. Enough.
What the heck is the UN doing besides moaning about being shut out of the process?
Let the Dutch handle their own problem. Let Ukraine and Russia work it out with them and Malaysia. And if they can't, tough.
It's time we stayed out of other people's affairs.
Good news, then, about the UN resolution (and for more reasons than one):
UN resolution on MH17: How Australia achieved what other nations could not
When Security Council members, with representatives of nations whose citizens were murdered aboard flight MH17 last week, gathered to pass unanimously an Australian resolution condemning the downing of the flight and demanding immediate access to the site of the atrocity, the dignified repatriation of the remains of the victims and an independent international investigation, the language used was powerful, angry and bitterly sad.
That the resolution survived Russia’s power of veto with its language and intent largely intact was the result of a smart and astonishingly fast diplomatic effort led by Australia.
For reasons of both politics and tragic circumstance, Australia is well placed to take the lead in the talks. With 37 of its citizens or residents killed, Australia’s interest is significant, but it is distant enough from European and transatlantic geopolitics to act as an honest broker between Ukraine, Russia and the US.
It is a member of the Security Council, unlike the Netherlands, which has lost almost 200 citizens, and Malaysia, whose aircraft has been shot out over the sky, and Ukraine, in whose airspace the crime has been committed.
Russia objected to language that referred to the plane being “shot down”. It was changed to “downed”, a distinction without a difference. In contravention of standard practice, Russia wanted Ukraine’s role in the investigation to be expunged. Instead it was agreed the Dutch would take the lead in a co-ordinated international effort.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/un-resolution-on-mh17-how-australia-achieved-what-other-nations-could-not-20140722-zvnli.html
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Australian Federal Police join international investigation into MH17
A CRACK team of Federal Police investigators have arrived in eastern Ukraine to discover what happened at “the most contaminated crime scene in the world”.
An Australian delegation led by retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston touched down in Kiev on Sunday to join the international investigation into the MH17 tragedy.
John Hilton, an Australian Defence Force consultant for more than 25 years and former director of the NSW Department of Forensic Medicine, told News Corp Australia that the task would be a “nightmare” for the 20 highly-experienced federal police investigators and forensic experts.
“They’d be crime scene investigators. This is a huge crime scene. Not the world’s biggest but it’d be getting close to it,” he said. It’s going to be a nightmare for them because it’s the most contaminated crime scene in the world, ever. Their biggest challenge will be the delay (in accessing the site) and the gross contamination. The way the crime scene’s been handled is in itself quite criminal.”
The Australian Government has deployed 45 officials to assist including 20 personnel from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 20 AFP officers, two Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators and three Defence officials.
Australians are considered world leaders in the area of body identification, having honed their skills at the 2002 Bali bombings and the 2004 tsunami, among other tragedies.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/australian-federal-police-join-international-investigation-into-mh17/story-fniztvne-1226997936671
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Tell-tale signs of a supersonic hit to MH17
PICTURES appearing on social media of aircraft fragments peppered with holes are providing the first evidence of what blew MH17 out of the sky over eastern Ukraine.
Experts say the holes in the debris, roughly the size of a child’s fist, are a telltale sign of the detonation pattern of a surface-to-air missile.
Numerous photographs of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines plane, which rained down over a 25 square kilometre area, have now been posted on Twitter.
They appear to show a large amount of shrapnel damage to what appears to be the cockpit.
Western experts have suggested MH17, which was carrying 298 passengers and crew, was hit by the SA-11 or Buk M1 surface-to-air missile systems.
Robert Goyer, editor in chief of Flying Magazine, wrote in Time of seeing a photo of a 4500kg piece of the plane’s floor structure, capable of withstanding thousands of kilograms of force, torn apart.
“It’s not the kind of component that breaks off and flutters away,” he wrote. “The only explanations that make any sense, given the widely scattered wreckage and the degree to which the aeroplane came apart, are that it was hit by a missile … or that a bomb went off inside.”
An Australian forensic expert said yesterday the bodies of the dead could also provide investigators with evidence of what doomed the plane.
“If they can’t find any evidence of shrapnel damage to the plane, the bodies are also good repositories and may hold trace evidence of shrapnel wounds,” University of Canberra adjunct professor David Royds said.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/telltale-signs-of-a-supersonic-hit-to-mh17/story-fni0fit3-1226997961378
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No, Israel is a country surrounded by other countries who have sworn to wipe it off the face of the Earth, countries who allow terrorist organizations to run around willy nilly causing death and destruction while giving them sanctuary.
A racist, ethnic cleansing and expansionist country.
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Agree that we are probably headed for infrastructure or other disasters and that no foreign countries will give a shit. But we should be well used to having foreign countries hating the USA, until they need us.
I've been emailing back and forth with a woman in the Netherlands for about 3 months, and naturally gave my sympathy for the loss her country suffered this past week. She wanted to know why there was so much attention being paid by the US, since there were no Americans on board (except for the dual citizen Dutch man). I guess she doesn't think we should give them any help they haven't asked for, either.
However, she also sent me several links exploring the conspiracy theories, saying that Netherlands is a small country and nothing on their own, and afraid of a WWIII......so, there you go.
One of my best friends is a dual Dutch-US citizen. She thinks our Daddy-of-the-world complex is a bigger threat to our future than any terrorist group or foreign government.
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Must be nice to have this view. Not sure it's a universally held opinion though.
No... the rest of the world only agrees with that view when it needs a cop, avenger, peacemaker, judge, feeder, comforter, healer... and someone to supply the bankroll, troops, intelligence, technology, sanctuary, etc. Who else do they/you call on?
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A racist, ethnic cleansing and expansionist country.
With reason to be so.
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No... the rest of the world only agrees with that view when it needs a cop, avenger, peacemaker, judge, feeder, comforter, healer... and someone to supply the bankroll, troops, intelligence, technology, sanctuary, etc. Who else do they/you call on?
That is a very cynical view of the rest of the world. I don't understand it personally. All human beings have far, far more in common than they have differences. Surely, we care about all other members of the human race and help each other out when we can?
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What other country could get away with this, it's hardly being covered on the "news". if the US had done this after 9/11 we would have been vilified, even more than we already are. The story references "international outrage", all I hear is Obama continuing to say Israel has the right to defend itself. Do the Palestinians?
The Palestinian deaths — 75 percent of them civilians, according to a United Nations count — have prompted a wave of international outrage, and are raising questions about Israel’s stated dedication to protecting civilians.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza — The blast from the Israeli strike was so powerful that it threw an iron door clear over several neighboring houses. It came to rest along with a twisted laundry rack still laden on Monday with singed clothes and a child’s slipper.
When the strike leveled a four-story house in the southern Gaza Strip the night before, it also killed 25 members of four family households — including 19 children — gathered to break the daily Ramadan fast together. Relatives said it also killed a guest of the family, identified by an Israeli human rights group as a member of the Hamas military wing, ostensibly Israel’s target.
The attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed families in their homes, during an offensive that Israel says is meant to stop militant rocket fire that targets its civilians and destroy Hamas’s tunnel network.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/world/middleeast/questions-about-tactics-and-targets-as-civilian-toll-climbs-in-israeli-strikes.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/world/middleeast/questions-about-tactics-and-targets-as-civilian-toll-climbs-in-israeli-strikes.html?_r=0)
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One of my best friends is a dual Dutch-US citizen. She thinks our Daddy-of-the-world complex is a bigger threat to our future than any terrorist group or foreign government.
I respectfully disagree with your best friend
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No... the rest of the world only agrees with that view when it needs a cop, avenger, peacemaker, judge, feeder, comforter, healer... and someone to supply the bankroll, troops, intelligence, technology, sanctuary, etc. Who else do they/you call on?
Couldn't you consider the possibility that other countries in the world make their own contribution in varying degrees in all these areas?
One of my best friends is a dual Dutch-US citizen. She thinks our Daddy-of-the-world complex is a bigger threat to our future than any terrorist group or foreign government.
Not sure what you're saying here? How should you be dealing with this complex then?
I certainly don't hate America or the Americans - those I've met have been delightful and in no way appear to consider themselves indispensable to the rest of the world. Don't all right-minded people think that communication and co-operation between nations are what we should be aiming for?
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I am not surprised.
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What other country could get away with this, it's hardly being covered on the "news". if the US had done this after 9/11 we would have been vilified, even more than we already are. The story references "international outrage", all I hear is Obama continuing to say Israel has the right to defend itself. Do the Palestinians?
The Palestinian deaths — 75 percent of them civilians, according to a United Nations count — have prompted a wave of international outrage, and are raising questions about Israel’s stated dedication to protecting civilians.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza — The blast from the Israeli strike was so powerful that it threw an iron door clear over several neighboring houses. It came to rest along with a twisted laundry rack still laden on Monday with singed clothes and a child’s slipper.
When the strike leveled a four-story house in the southern Gaza Strip the night before, it also killed 25 members of four family households — including 19 children — gathered to break the daily Ramadan fast together. Relatives said it also killed a guest of the family, identified by an Israeli human rights group as a member of the Hamas military wing, ostensibly Israel’s target.
The attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed families in their homes, during an offensive that Israel says is meant to stop militant rocket fire that targets its civilians and destroy Hamas’s tunnel network.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/world/middleeast/questions-about-tactics-and-targets-as-civilian-toll-climbs-in-israeli-strikes.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/world/middleeast/questions-about-tactics-and-targets-as-civilian-toll-climbs-in-israeli-strikes.html?_r=0)
And that is ISRAEL's fault?
Why don't those poor defensless Palestinians do something about the terrorists in their midst?
It's the same thing as normal law abiding citizens here complaining about the lack of police and fire protection in their gang infested neighborhoods when THEY do nothing to stop the gangs themselves.
It's like screaming to the landlord about the cockroaches in your garbage-strewn apartment.
Israel protects its citizens.
Hamas protects its rockets.
Palestinians protect their right to do nothing.
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I am not surprised.
At what? That other countries in the world can provide a modicum of cop, avenger, peacemaker, judge, feeder, comforter, healer...... bankroll, troops, intelligence, technology, sanctuary
etc? Well, that's good to know.
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And that is ISRAEL's fault?
Israel's dropping the bombs.
Palestinians protect their right to do nothing
No, disagree there......
It's like screaming to the landlord about the cockroaches in your garbage-strewn apartment.
Shit. That cockroach analogy is pretty good...........
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LOL (whatever that means!)
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Israel's dropping the bombs.
In response to Hamas' rockets.
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Let's hear it for the French.......those old jokes about them surrendering for anything are suddenly funny again........wait until putin walks into paris.....
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.themoscowtimes.com%2Fupload%2Fiblock%2Fde2%2F5416-05-sub.jpg&hash=80db985f8263c7e6a4d7dedad96488440d840da3)
Cameron: Selling Mistral to Russia Is Now Unthinkable; Hollande Disagrees
LONDON — British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday questioned France's plan to sell Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, saying fulfilling such an order would be unthinkable in Britain after the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine.
When asked about France's plan to press ahead with a 1.2 billion euro ($1.66 billion) contract to sell the ships to Russia, Cameron said: "Frankly in this country it would be unthinkable to fulfill an order like the one outstanding that the French have."
"But we need to put the pressure on with all our partners to say that we cannot go on doing business as usual with a country when it is behaving in this way."
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said, however, that he doubted France would cancel the deal, despite coming under pressure from other Western leaders.
"This is billions of euros. The French are very pragmatic. I doubt it [that the deal will be canceled]," Rogozin said. "Suspension of the deal would be [much] less damaging for Russia than for France."
Cameron made his statement as fighting flared in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk as investigators began to inspect the bodies of victims of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 last week.
Cameron said that the EU should consider hard-hitting economic sanctions against Russia, including freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies whom he referred to as "cronies and oligarchs."
"I made some progress with that on Wednesday night, I hope to make some more progress [at an EU meeting on Tuesday], but I think it is time to start go into the tier three sanctions," he said, adding that Russia could not expect access to European markets, capital and technical expertise while Putin was fueling conflict in Ukraine.
A Question of Attitude
French President Francois Hollande said Monday a decision on whether to deliver a second Mistral helicopter carrier to Russia will depend on Moscow's attitude over the Ukraine crisis,
Speaking during a dinner with the presidential press corps, Hollande said that a first warship was nearly finished and would be delivered as planned in October, despite strong opposition from France's allies.
"For the time being, a level of sanctions has not been decided on that would prevent this delivery," Hollande said.
"Does that mean that the rest of the contract - the second Mistral - can be carried through? That depends on Russia's attitude," Hollande added.
For the second delivery to be canceled, EU sanctions would have to be decided at the level of heads of state and government, a French government official said.
EU foreign ministers might agree to ratchet up sanctions on Russia when they meet on Tuesday, though targeting deliveries of defense equipment was not planned, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"For now, France wants the sanctions to be financial, targeted and quick," a presidential aide said separately.
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Has it been established that Russia shot down that plane? I suspect it was the Russian-backed militants who did it but by accident. They don't seem too bright or experienced. Neither Russia nor the militants gain anything from this tragedy.
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Weelll, if the US news reports are to be believed, it was the militants with the help of their Ruskie advisers.
Of course, Putin is getting the blame because he is... well, he's Putin... and no one in the world likes that.
Except most of his people and a good many Ukraines... Ukrainies... Ukranians....
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According to Jonathon Turley, George Washington University law professor, staunch Obama supporter and self-proclaimed champion of a "socially liberal agenda,"
Obama's 2006 best seller, Audacity of Hope, shows the Prez believes that the guarantees of individual rights, the restrictions on government and the absolute structural rules of the Republic in the US Constitution are transient--- ephemeral, with no concrete meaning now or for the future. "Rule of Law" is political silly putty.
Damn! He said it out loud and in words everyone can understand.
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Canada 'mourns' Gaza deaths, but says responsibility rests with Hamas: Baird's office
Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, July 14, 2014 5:28PM EDT
Last Updated Tuesday, July 15, 2014 11:58AM EDT
OTTAWA -- The Harper government offered a renewed expression of sympathy for the deaths of the innocent Palestinian civilians in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
The latest comment came Monday from a spokesman for Foreign Minister John Baird after days of unwavering support for Israel's right to defend itself in the face of rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza.
"Canada mourns the death and suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza," Baird's spokesman Adam Hodge told The Canadian Press in an emailed response to questions. Baird made the same comment on Saturday.
Hodge also added on Monday: "Responsibility rests solely with Hamas and its allies, who launched and continue to feed this crisis."
..
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-mourns-gaza-deaths-but-says-responsibility-rests-with-hamas-baird-s-office-1.1913589
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MP tweets about firing a rocket from Gaza
David Ward, the MP who was previously suspended from the Liberal Democrats for his comments about Israel, said he would fire a rocket if he was living in Gaza
22 Jul 2014
<><><><><><>
Britain's hypocrisy over Israel is shameful
British liberals accusing Israel of a "war crime" are missing the point: Hamas is the aggressor, and Israel has a right - and a duty - to defend its citizens, says Gabriel Sassoon
22 Jul 2014
<><><><><><>
A bloody conflict in Gaza, but Israel is not to blame
Telegraph View Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was reluctant to invade Gaza – but was left with little option
22 Jul 2014
<><><><><><>
Gaza Strip tunnels: why are they so important?
Israel has identified a series of tunnels built by Hamas to store weapons and infiltrate its fighters into Israel as its prime military target. But what are the tunnels, and why are they so important?
22 Jul 2014[/i]
<><><><><><>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/
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Canada 'mourns' Gaza deaths, but says responsibility rests with Hamas: Baird's office
Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, July 14, 2014 5:28PM EDT
Last Updated Tuesday, July 15, 2014 11:58AM EDT
OTTAWA -- The Harper government offered a renewed expression of sympathy for the deaths of the innocent Palestinian civilians in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
The latest comment came Monday from a spokesman for Foreign Minister John Baird after days of unwavering support for Israel's right to defend itself in the face of rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza.
"Canada mourns the death and suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza," Baird's spokesman Adam Hodge told The Canadian Press in an emailed response to questions. Baird made the same comment on Saturday.
Hodge also added on Monday: "Responsibility rests solely with Hamas and its allies, who launched and continue to feed this crisis."
..
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-mourns-gaza-deaths-but-says-responsibility-rests-with-hamas-baird-s-office-1.1913589
The Conservative Government is Canada's Repulican party and Harper is the most hated PM in Canada's history. He's also a fundamentalist christian which is why he's french-kissing Netanyahoo's anus.
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Such a bad man. However did he get elected? Oh, you know what? Maybe more people voted for him than voted for the other guy. We have the same problem here from time to time.
Maybe this is more to your liking... at least it seems to give the views of several different groups
http://vulgardetails.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/canadian-political-parties-on-israel-hamas-and-the-gaza-strip/
Jul 18 2014
By vulgardetails
Canadian Political Parties on Israel, Hamas, and the Gaza Strip
I’ve tried to find the official statements by the main Canadian parties on each of their websites. For the Conservatives, I’ve linked to articles that include Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s public statements.
Conservative Party of Canada
CBC News, July 17:
On Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields to defend against the Israeli bombardment.
Harper called on allies of Israel to show their support, saying that “failure by the international community to condemn these reprehensible actions would encourage these terrorists to continue their appalling actions.”
CBC News, July 15:
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has condemned a decision by Hamas to reject an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Israel.
Baird said the situation should not be characterized as a battle between Israel and the Palestinian Authority or the Palestinian people, but rather between Hamas, which Canada sees as a terrorist organization, and the Jewish state.
“The buck stops with Hamas,” Baird told reporters in Ottawa. “Hamas started this bloodshed. Hamas can end it.
“The scourge of terrorism must be rejected by all peace-loving peoples around the world,” he said…
Baird added that credit should go to President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, and noted that no rockets had come from areas under Abbas’s control.
And he repeated Canada’s support for Israel.
“We believe Israel has the right to defend itself by itself.”
NDP
NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar, July 14:
New Democrats are very concerned by the escalation of tensions in Gaza and Israel. We call on the Canadian government to support a ceasefire and urge all parties to exercise restraint and avoid actions that could further destabilize the situation.
On behalf of Canada’s Official Opposition, we have written to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and called for Canada to work in support of restraint, de-escalation and civilian protection within a framework of international humanitarian law. To date, neither his comments nor the Prime Minister’s statements get us closer to these important goals.
Since the start of the most recent tensions, we have spoken with Israeli and Palestinian representatives in Ottawa. We have reiterated that Hamas’ continued rocket attacks are unacceptable. We have also voiced our deep concern regarding the escalating violence and reports of civilian deaths.
We will continue to monitor the situation closely and maintain our diplomatic engagement with Israeli and Palestinian officials. The Canadian government must work diplomatically, together with our allies, to help de-escalate the situation, work towards an immediate ceasefire and support a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
Liberal Party of Canada
Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau, July 15:
The Liberal Party of Canada strongly condemns Hamas’ rejection of the Egyptian ceasefire proposal and its rocket attacks on civilians.
Israel should be commended for having accepted the ceasefire proposal, and demonstrating its commitment to peace. The Liberal Party of Canada, and many in the international community including the United States, the U.N. Security Council, and the Palestinian Authority, had urged a ceasefire that could have ended the tragic civilian loss of life in Gaza and the suffering of Israelis under terrorist attack.
Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Hamas is a terrorist organization and must cease its rocket attacks immediately.
Green Party of Canada
Leader of the Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May, July 11:
We need to immediately put a stop to this terrible cycle of violence which is killing innocent Israeli and Palestinian children…
What history has repeatedly shown us is that the only way to end this violence and come to a long-term, peaceful and equitable solution is through meaningful dialogue… Revenge is never a substitute or a solution to ending violence. I call on both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to step back and immediately end any further escalation of military action before we witness the inevitable and horrific loss of many more lives.
EDIT (07/18/2014):
As reported by the Huffington Post today, the Conservative Party has released “a dramatic new ad that highlights the party’s staunch support for Israel.” Although apparently first marked as “unlisted,” both PM Harper and Baird have tweeted a link to the video, and it has been shared on the Conservative Party’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. The article and video can be found here
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Elizabeth May consistently "wins " leader deabates. She is the smartest one in the room.
Elizabeth May [the leader of the Green Party] backs Green Party motion condemning 'illegal' Israeli settlements
Convention motion could attract support from disgruntled New Democrats, author suggests
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has no plans to pull her endorsement of a motion that would see the party "fully condemn all illegal Israeli settlement expansions" as "undeniable obstacles to the Israel-Palestine peace-process," despite escalating tensions in the region.
"I support the existing resolution condemning illegal settlements," May told CBC News Friday.
In fact, she says she wouldn't be surprised to see emergency resolutions related to both Gaza and the situation in Ukraine raised during Saturday's opening session.
The motion, which was drafted by Young Greens co-chair Ghaith El-Mohtar, a former intern in May's Ottawa office, is one of 54 draft policy resolutions on the agenda for convention attendees this weekend.
May is one of 14 listed co-sponsors.
Motion 'will likely have political repercussions'
According to an official policy statement on the Department of Foreign Affairs website, Canada believes the Israeli settlements "constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace," but the government has in recent years avoided commenting on the settlements.
In a backgrounder posted on the Green Party website, El-Mohtar acknowledges the motion "will likely have political repercussions" for the party.
"It will almost certainly frustrate the party's supporters who happen to support Israel's settlement expansions," he explained.
"It may also provoke a reaction from Canada's Israel lobby, which currently enjoys almost unconditional support for Israel's actions as the political norm in Canada."
On the other hand, he pointed out that it could "reinforce [the party's] image as a supporter of justice in the Middle
East," which, he predicted, "would likely win over former NDP supporters who oppose [NDP Leader] Thomas Mulcair's unquestioning support of Israel."
[...]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/elizabeth-may-backs-green-party-motion-condemning-illegal-israeli-settlements-1.2711328
Oh and surprise, surprise, I'm one of those disgruntled NDP supporters, lol!
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I noted with some interest that you ignored my post about the UN resolution, doodler, especially as it was a direct response to your question:
What the heck is the UN doing besides moaning about being shut out of the process?
Well, the UN is doing something, as is Australia, the Netherlands and Malaysia, so your criticism is unfounded.
Let the Dutch handle their own problem. Let Ukraine and Russia work it out with them and Malaysia. And if they can't, tough.
Hopefully your mind is now at ease regarding other countries “handling their own problems,” as you so neatly put it.
Your advice, though, doesn’t stop you from giving your 2¢ worth about "other people's affairs."
In the interests of consistency you could have instead said, “Let Palestine and Israel work it out between them—and if they can't, tough.”
I do wonder, however, whether you’d have expressed yourself in the same way had the MH17 passenger list included American citizens.
After all, not one of the 298 passengers who died on this civilian flight were Americans.
Perhaps that might have something to do with your apparent cold indifference to their deaths—and saying that
It's time we stayed out of other people's affairs.
—does not excuse dismissing their deaths as other countries' problems. That your President Obama has at least expressed his concerns is commendable, as is his pledge that “The United States will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened and why,” irrespective of any ulterior motive behind his statement.
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CNN) -- A river of blood runs through Gaza, as homes are smashed to rubble and hospital emergency rooms overflow. The volley of Hamas rockets into Israel continues, even when met with the preeminent firepower of the Israeli military's bombs, missiles and shells.
The legions of dead are swelling by the hundreds. It's horrifying. But the world has seen it all before -- twice. Operation Protective Edge looks much like its forerunners in 2008 and 2012.
Hamas won't back down. And Israel refuses to stop until it feels the job is done.
Millions around the world watch and ask: What could Israel hope to achieve?
CNN put that question and others to two seasoned Israeli columnists: one a former military correspondent, the other a human rights journalist focusing on Palestinians.
Though they disagreed on many points, they surprisingly concurred on some others. This is how they answered:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/23/world/meast/mideast-israel-endgame/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
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I could not--COULD NOT-- believe what I was hearing on Richard Engels' report on NBC last evening: Israel attacking hospitals and ambulances, claiming that Hamas uses hospitals as shields and uses ambulances to transport weaponry.
Is there any proof? IS THERE ANY PROOF?
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Well, they are terrorists, so that certainly wouldn't be beyond them.
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Well, they are terrorists, so that certainly wouldn't be beyond them.
Sure enough.
I'm not sure that's justification, though. Not without proof. Even with proof.
This is just barbarism on both sides, using hospitals to shelter terrorist activity--if true--and bombing hospitals in response.
I grant Israel the right to defend itself, but this just isn't the Israel that I knew growing up. This isn't the Israel that won wars in 1967 and 1973, and staged the raid on Entebbe in 1976. I don't know this Israel.
Good thing I'm not a U.S. policy maker because I can't take Netanyahu's word for anything.
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In the past I've seen several photos of IDF soldiers using palestinian children as human shields. Just saying.
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In the past I've seen several photos of IDF soldiers using palestinian children as human shields. Just saying.
That does not surprise me, if it's true. Hard to know any more if you can even believe a picture.
But, as I said, this is no longer the Israel I knew as a kid.
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Hell, this isn't the America I knew as a kid.
Or even the one I knew 20 years ago.
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I noted with some interest that you ignored my post about the UN resolution, doodler, especially as it was a direct response to your question:
Well, the UN is doing something, as is Australia, the Netherlands and Malaysia, so your criticism is unfounded.
Hopefully your mind is now at ease regarding other countries “handling their own problems,” as you so neatly put it.
Your advice, though, doesn’t stop you from giving your 2¢ worth about "other people's affairs."
In the interests of consistency you could have instead said, “Let Palestine and Israel work it out between them—and if they can't, tough.”
I do wonder, however, whether you’d have expressed yourself in the same way had the MH17 passenger list included American citizens.
After all, not one of the 298 passengers who died on this civilian flight were Americans.
Perhaps that might have something to do with your apparent cold indifference to their deaths—and saying that
—does not excuse dismissing their deaths as other countries' problems. That your President Obama has at least expressed his concerns is commendable, as is his pledge that “The United States will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened and why,” irrespective of any ulterior motive behind his statement.
Oh Pauly, Pauly, Pauly. I did not respond to your post because it did not require a response. Since you insist on knowing my thoughts, here goes...
The UN has made a resolution. How forceful! How bold! Bet those militants are quaking in their boots.
This whole issue has been solved because Australia was able to remove a word. It is reassuring to know Aussie powers of negotiating are just as powerful as ever.
The Dutch are caught between a rock and a hard place because they are, in effect, Russian since they are 99% economically dependant on Putin and pals. The rest of the world needs to let that family deal with its internal problems on its own.
And Malaysian is handling their latest airline problem with the same aplomb and directness as they did the one a couple months ago.
As for your current post...
it's subtle, I know, but I see a difference between my COUNTRY getting involved in some other COUNTRY's affairs and my voicing an individual opinion on a situation in the news.
Of course, my feelings about the downed aircraft would have been different if it had been an American plane carrying American passengers and crew. THAT would have involved the US. However, had that been the case, I would have neither expected nor wanted the rest of the world inserting itself in the situation. It would have, of course, to the same extent it did after 9-11. Shocked! Shocked, I tell you! The world would have been shocked.
Obama should have been content with an expression of sympathy, like the rest of you, and not appointed himself, and the US, chief investigator and arbiter. Sympathy only, of course, would not further his agenda of increasing world sanctions against Putin and Russia. Which is the only motive behind his statement and involvement. Increased sanctions are not in Europe's best interest, so this accident is basically a gift from god for our president.
Some other thoughts...
I can think of only two people on this forum who may be affected with the airline tragedy and/or the Gaza situation more than "intellectually." I doubt anyone else here is losing sleep over either situation.
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As I was just saying, our prez isn't getting a lot of European support on this sanctions business...
Britain still exporting arms to Russia.
4 hours ago
London (AFP) - Britain is still exporting arms and military equipment to Russia, according to a parliamentary report released Wednesday just hours after Prime Minister David Cameron rapped France for selling weapons to Moscow.
Cameron has urged the EU to ban military sales to Russia -- accused of equipping and training separatists in eastern Ukraine -- and said Monday Britain had already halted such arms exports.
The government promised in March to stop military sales to Russia.
However the report found 251 licences were still in place for the sale to Russia of controlled goods worth at least £132 million.
The licences allowed exports such as sniper rifles, small arms ammunition, body armour, military communications equipment, night sights, and "equipment employing cr
Just 31 licences had been suspended or revoked, while on three others Russia was no longer permitted as an export destination, the report found.
Cameron has taken a tough stance against Moscow, which has come under fire after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was allegedly shot down by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people.
Russia has already been hit with Western sanctions for its role in a protracted crisis in ex-Soviet state Ukraine and is facing more still over the MH17 disaster.
Both Washington and London have questioned France's decision to maintain 1.2 billion euro ($1.6 billion) deal to provide Russia with two warships.
Cameron said it would be "unthinkable" for Britain to supply warships to Russia and said no European country should sell arms to Russia.
However the parliamentary report by the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls appeared to contradict government claims.
"Russia is an authoritarian regime. We should have been applying a more cautious approach for some time in regard to Russia," said John Stanley, chairman of the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls.
The committee also criticised the granting of export licenses to Syria for chemicals which could allow it to make chemical weapons.
A government spokesman denied that arms restrictions had been softened.
"The majority of export licences that remain in place for Russia are for commercial use but we are keeping all licences under review," the spokesman said.
"The UK aims to operate one of the most robust and transparent export control systems in the world. Every application is examined rigorously against internationally recognised criteria."
http://news.yahoo.com/britain-still-exporting-arms-russia-023042537.html
;D
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Of course, my feelings about the downed aircraft would have been different if it had been an American plane carrying American passengers and crew. THAT would have involved the US. However, had that been the case, I would have neither expected nor wanted the rest of the world inserting itself in the situation. It would have, of course, to the same extent it did after 9-11. Shocked! Shocked, I tell you! The world would have been shocked.
Are you Native American, Dood?
What right do you have to call yourself American?
I know even Native Americans came originally from Mongolia across the then existing "land bridge," everyone else arrived there fairly recently in genetic time.
Why do you only care about Americans?
Are all other peoples beneath you?
Might you not be descended from some of us foreigners yourself?
I can trace some of my family members back to 1661 in Virginia.
Are their descendants substantially different from me?
Am I not entitled to be concerned about their welfare and expect the same back?
Your attitude seems like parochialism gone mad.
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Did I touch a nerve?
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Only inasmuch as your intolerance and isolationism astound me!
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Gaza City (CNN) -- A strike on a U.N. shelter in northern Gaza on Thursday has killed and injured multiple people, a United Nations spokesman said Thursday.
The coordinates of the school in Beit Hanoun, which was serving a shelter for families in Gaza, had been given to the Israeli military, said the spokesman, Chris Gunness.
"Many have been killed -- including women and children, as well as U.N. staff," according to a statement issued by Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary-general. Footage shows pools of blood at the scene. Ban, who was traveling in Iraq on Thursday, said he was "appalled" by the violence.
It's unclear who was behind the strike. The Israeli military said it was "reviewing" the incident and told CNN that a rocket fired from Gaza could have been responsible. Sometimes, rockets from Gaza fall and explode, and that could have been the case here, the military said....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/24/world/meast/mideast-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
My heart is simply breaking for everyone, especially civilians ... children.. :'(
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Apparently, OPEC and Big Oil love it when Israel and Hamas are having one of their spats.
Gasoline here is down 8 cents since last night, and another 2 cents since 10 this morning making a 22 cents decrease within the last 13 days.
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Only inasmuch as your intolerance and isolationism astound me!
It was the "British Arms to Russia" post, wasn't it.
;D ;D ;D
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No!
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Well you can't blame that post about the Queen's horse running on drugs on me.
I was the one that pointed out it wasn't just Liz's horses, but a lot of British equines are heroin addicts.
Fancy that, in a country that prides itself on drug free race horses. ;)
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It was the "British Arms to Russia" post, wasn't it.
;D ;D ;D
Oh, come on, Janjo quoted your "I only care if it's Americans" post, including the reference that seems to indicate that you forget that people of other nationalities died on 9-11, too.
You're entitled to your views, of course, and I'm entitled to mine, that I'm ashamed you're a fellow American.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.guim.co.uk%2Fsys-images%2FGuardian%2FPix%2Fpictures%2F2014%2F7%2F23%2F1406111013409%2Fe0709b57-3499-418f-acc2-13aadc2dc5a3-460x276.jpeg&hash=93f44dd77ac5f900dea8d1aee4f6496ffc5915ea)
The parents of three West Australian children who were killed with their grandfather in the MH17 plane plane disaster say they are living in "a hell beyond hell".
Mo Maslin, 12, his 10-year-old sister Evie, eight-year-old brother Otis and grandfather Nick Norris were among up to 39 Australian citizens and residents killed when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July.
The children's father Anthony Maslin and mother Marite (Rin) Norris on Wednesday issued an official statement directed at soldiers in Ukraine, politicians, the media, and friends and family.
"Our pain is intense and relentless. We live in a hell beyond hell," they said.
"Our babies are not here with us – we need to live with this act of horror, every day and every moment for the rest of our lives.
"No one deserves what we are going through.
"Not even the people who shot our whole family out of the sky."
The parents said it was a revelation to them that no hate in the world was as strong as the love they have for their children and Nick Norris, who was escorting the trio back to Perth for the start of school.
"No hate in the world is as strong as the love we have for each other," they said.
"This is a revelation that gives up some comfort.
"We would ask everyone to remember this when you are making any decisions that affect us and the other victims of this horror," they said.
They thanked family and friends who had surrounded them since they arrived home in Perth.
"We ask the media to respect the privacy of our family and friends – pain is not a story."
I bet Heath would be commenting on this family! :'( :'(
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Well you can't blame that post about the Queen's horse running on drugs on me.
I was the one that pointed out it wasn't just Liz's horses, but a lot of British equines are heroin addicts.
Fancy that, in a country that prides itself on drug free race horses. ;)
I know nothing of race horses, and I am not responsible for David Cameron's actions either.
However, the brotherhood of man, which is a central tenet of European thought, even though we don't always live up to its ideals, does concern me greatly.
That was what my posting was about. No more, no less.
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I posted this in the Listening thread, but I think it's appropriate here, too.
Iris Kroes - I still cry (Memorial Service MH17)
Singer and harpist Iris Kroes sings and plays the song 'I still cry' during the church ceremony "Verbonden in verdriet'' ("connected in sorrow") for the homecoming of the victoms of MH17.
(c) EO, IKON, KRO-NCRV, RKK,ZvK
St. Joriskerk in Amersfoort (The Netherlands) on 23rd of July 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHHZ1fp9Uak (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHHZ1fp9Uak)
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Oh Pauly, Pauly, Pauly. I did not respond to your post because it did not require a response. Since you insist on knowing my thoughts, here goes...
The UN has made a resolution. How forceful! How bold! Bet those militants are quaking in their boots.
One of the important sections of the UN Security Council Resolution 2166 (2014) is that it requires its member states (which includes Russia) to ensure that “efforts to establish a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the incident (the downing of a civilian aircraft on an international flight with the loss of all 298 passengers and crew) in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines” are supported.
Also, that the resolution emphasizes the “importance of holding those responsible for violations of [the] rules (of international law that prohibits acts of violence that pose a threat to the safety on international civil aviation) to account.”
You might be unaware that resolutions passed by the UN Security Council are legally binding on all member states.
In other words, they’re required by law to do what’s required to bring the culprits to account.
All members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council.
While other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to member states, only the Security Council has the power to make decisions that member states are then obligated to implement under the Charter.
http://www.un.org/en/sc/about/
Incidentally, I’d rephrase your comment that the “militants are quaking in their boots,” to they “should be quaking in their boots,” because they will be held to account.
That is, of course, if they were responsible in the first place...
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This whole issue has been solved because Australia was able to remove a word.
The UN Security Council contains 15 member states, five of which are permanent members (China, France, the Russian Federation, the UK and the USA) and ten are non-permanent members elected for two-year terms (Argentina, Australia, Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, Rwanda).
While Australia took the initiative to prepare and submit the draft resolution it was co-sponsored by each of the 15 Security Council member states plus the representatives of Belgium, Canada, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines and Ukraine (who were invited to participate in the meeting).
That you believe the resolution was unanimously passed simply because Australia “removed a word” shows little understanding of meeting procedures. The change to which you referred occurred because Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the UN, was concerned that the reference to MH17 being “shot down” was prejudicial. The change was implemented during informal consultations# prior to the resolution being presented for a formal vote.
In a statement## made at the conclusion of the formal meeting on 21 July Mr Churkin emphasised that “the crash called for a total impartial and full investigation, which was the target of the resolution. All elements of the truth should be brought to light, such as through the black boxes provided to investigators. There could be no jumping to conclusions or accusations.” [My emphases as indicated.]
That the plane was described as “downed” is a distinction without a difference, and that the term contained in the draft resolution was replaced so as not to prejudge the outcome of the investigation, by avoiding Russia’s use of its power of veto, enabled the resolution to be passed.
To claim that the resolution was passed simply “because Australia [i.e. alone] was able to remove a word” is naïve in the extreme.
# For the Working Methods of the Security Council: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2010/507
## For statements made by the Security Council members after the resolution was passed: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.7221
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It is reassuring to know Aussie powers of negotiating are just as powerful as ever.
Despite your snide tone, Sherry, it was actually a smart move on Australia’s part.
You might like to read the following articles in their entirety:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/un-resolution-on-mh17-how-australia-achieved-what-other-nations-could-not-20140722-zvnli.html
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-pitch-for-un-support-over-mh17-a-smart-move-20140722-zvm6x.html
I include an extract from The Canberra Times article:
In the badlands of eastern Ukraine, (Prime Minister) Abbott can only help shape a response, not direct it.
His challenge appears a closer parallel to the fateful experience of US president Jimmy Carter, when Iranian revolutionaries seized American diplomats as hostages.
Almost everything Carter attempted to free the hostages backfired. He had no control of the situation on the ground and needed to rely on the good will of others. Carter's presidency collapsed as the crisis dragged on and he was decried as weak-willed.
Abbott has done a far better job than the hapless Carter. He kept emphasising - as if to himself as much as the Australian people - the need to stop anger overwhelming good judgment.
But he has not contained himself so much as to appear timid.
He recognised that righteous anger was a powerful tool, especially in the face of Russian prevarication. As he put it in what seemed a telling remark after a telephone call to Putin; "I'm not going to have this conversation and say, 'Well that's nice, President Putin said everything will work out fine', and just accept that."
Australians are too often wary about raising their voice in the world, and clashing with Russia is certainly a big deal.
The one constant of the 21st century has been Putin's quest to keep a stranglehold on power and recapture Russia's influence over its neighours.
But having lost 28 citizens and nine permanent residents in this attack, Australia had every right to question Russia over its supply of weapons to the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Abbott showed leadership.
That said, you should realise that while the Netherlands and Malaysia are member states of the UN neither is a member of the UN Security Council—the same applies to the Ukraine, too—and although the Netherlands lost the most passengers (193) and Malaysian deaths were 43, including the plane’s crew, neither country is actually able to propose a Security Council resolution.
However, Australia, with a smaller number of deaths (27), is a member of the Council, and proposed the resolution in order that those responsible for what has been described as a criminal act, punishable under national and international law, are brought to account.
So I’ve no idea why you persist with your pooh-poohing of the efforts of non-US countries to see criminals taken to task and punished.
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The Dutch are caught between a rock and a hard place because they are, in effect, Russian since they are 99% economically dependant on Putin and pals. The rest of the world needs to let that family deal with its internal problems on its own.
Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, but that has little—if anything—to do with what we’re talking about.
And Malaysian is handling their latest airline problem with the same aplomb and directness as they did the one a couple months ago.
Why are you so negative regarding Malaysia?
Have you been personally affected by something it’s done to you?
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This wasn't an ordinary plane crash - which is something terrible, but that "just happens". It was a civilian plane shot down by an aggressive missile; the fact that it was "in error" doesn't really stop it being relevant to the rest of the world, and requiring an international response.
And surely we can all feel empathy on a human level - it hit me particularly hard because my daughter and 6-year-old grandsons were flying, with a different airline but on a similar route, home to Australia 12 hours earlier. Thank God I didn't know about the Malaysian plane until they were safely home.
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No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne
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Just finishing off my replies to your Reply #2297...
Obama should have been content with an expression of sympathy, like the rest of you, and not appointed himself, and the US, chief investigator and arbiter. Sympathy only, of course, would not further his agenda of increasing world sanctions against Putin and Russia.
Your understanding of what a United Nations resolution entails continues to be flawed.
The US is required by law to observe the requirements of UN Resolution 2166.
If President Obama has indeed appointed himself—and the US— as “chief investigator and arbiter,” as you say, then so what?
He still has to abide by the resolution’s requirements, and also ensure that the UN is involved.
Which is the only motive behind his statement and involvement. Increased sanctions are not in Europe's best interest, so this accident is basically a gift from god for our president.
I disagree with your comment about it being his “only motive.”
Do you have any concrete proof at all that your claim is correct—or is it merely another of your personal opinions?
But at least President Obama expressed sympathy ... as I said, “irrespective of any ulterior motive.”
The US, is after all, a permanent member state of the UN Security Council—and as such it’s legally obliged to uphold the requirements of Resolution 2166
regarding "full, thorough and independent international investigation" into the downing of the plane over Grabove on 17 July, and that those responsible
“be held to account and that all states co-operate fully with efforts to establish accountability.”
And what on earth did you mean by “the rest of you?”
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Some other thoughts...
I can think of only two people on this forum who may be affected with the airline tragedy and/or the Gaza situation more than "intellectually." I doubt anyone else here is losing sleep over either situation.
It isn't really a matter of not losing sleep, Sherry.
The News thread is a venue in which ideas can be exchanged through objective discussion, ideally based on and supported by factual evidence, rather than the spouting of hot headed opinions about things which are disliked (or liked).
I usually only respond when issues deemed to be newsworthy to me (and I try to be objective rather than subjective) raise interesting questions (i.e. ones which involve one’s “intellect,” if you like) and I understand that whatever’s said here has no impact whatsoever on what’s actually going on outside DCF in real life.
I also understand that the majority of participants here are North American, and usually restrict themselves to North American concerns; but that’s another story...
The News thread can be a bit like a kid’s club, at times, though, which is unfortunate. It provides some people with the opportunity to voice strongly-held personal opinions, but it's a sad state of affairs when the ones with the loudest voices tend to dominate "discussion."
The exchange of personal opinions (rather than discussion involving carefully considered, rational analyses of issues) tends to turn into either being angry that the grapes are sour or being delighted that they’re sweet. ::)
I know which course I prefer.
PS My recent edits were simply to insert the correct links back to your Reply #2297
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I normally do not mod in this thread, but things are getting heated and everyone needs to take a breath and cool down.
KillersMom will be here later to decide what action (if any) needs to be taken.
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No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne
Worth bumping up, can't say it any better than this!
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I am at work folks, and came in here to back up what Chuck said.
Take a step back, don't take what is being said by any of the participants as a personal attack against anyone else, and continue to discuss things calmly as has been done the last week or so.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and no amount of references that a participant deems appropriate are going to change what one feels about today's issues. This is their right to have their own opinion. Keep it on the issues and not about what someone else's opinion is and attack it. Respect that someone has a different opinion than you, even if you don't agree. If you have issues, go past and discuss something else!!
I will check back later and if it continues in the vein it has been, then there will be a time out.
If you have problems with what I have said, take it to PM.
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I'll try to do a non-personal post :).
It's been beginning to line up, a major part of Putin's aggressive behavior, of late. I have wondered if he's gone bat-crazy, risking so very much over Ukraine, when the alleged goals were obtainable by other means, and annexation of new territory, a certain danger, not worth the risk.
No, it's beginning to look like he has a much longer-term goal : the end of NATO. He is exploiting the different interests of the constituent members, and, it's working. He has managed to separate Europe from American/British solidarity. He wants....Angela Merkle ::). Not Ukraine.
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Good point Tony. I had not thought about the NATO aspect when trying to figure out his end goal. This is a very good possibility!
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Well, now, Linda, I know what with the grandkids, work, and modding, you can get into a blooper mode.
But the above post was me, not Paul. I have no kangaroo as an avatar. It's ok, though, being mistaken for Paul is a compliment :).
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Sorry Tony!! I knew it was you and even had Tony in my head (scary thought, I know!! :D )but my fingers typed Paul! I changed it!!
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Israel must be permitted to crush Hamas
By Michael Oren July 24 at 8:07 PM
Michael Oren was Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013. He currently is a fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and the Atlantic Council.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of Great Britain and France all are rushing to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Their motive — to end civilian suffering and restore stability to the area — is noble. The images of the wounded and dead resulting from the conflict are indeed agonizing. However, these senior statesmen can be most helpful now by doing nothing. To preserve the values they cherish and to send an unequivocal message to terrorist organizations and their state sponsors everywhere, Israel must be permitted to crush Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-oren-israel-must-be-permitted-to-crush-hamas/2014/07/24/bd9967fc-1350-11e4-9285-4243a40ddc97_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-oren-israel-must-be-permitted-to-crush-hamas/2014/07/24/bd9967fc-1350-11e4-9285-4243a40ddc97_story.html)
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Some people believe a UN resolution is going to be able to handle some of Ukraine's disgruntled citizens shooting down an airliner when in almost 70 years it has not been able to resolve the Palestinian problem.
Hold your breath. Please.
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Sierra Leone’s top Ebola doctor infected as the worst
outbreak in history continues, with no end in sight
By Abby Phillip July 23 at 11:18 AM
The doctor leading Sierra Leone's fight against the deadliest Ebola
outbreak in history has contracted the virus himself, government
officials said.
Sheik Umar Khan, 39, was on the front lines of battling the disease that
has so far claimed 632 lives in three West African states, according to
the World Health Organization. He is credited with treating more than
100 victims.
And now he is one himself.
In late June, Khan seemed keenly aware of the risk he faced. "I am
afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life," he told
Reuters. "Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the
first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease.
"Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk."
Nurses treating Ebola cases at the government hospital in Kenema, one of
the centers of the outbreak, went on strike Monday after three fellow
nurses were believed to have died of the virus, according to the BBC.
Sierra Leone alone has suffered 206 deaths, with hundreds more affected.
Doctors and public health officials are scrambling to combat the
disease, which is spreading quickly in the eastern part of the country.
Those who can't be saved are being buried in makeshift graves near a
treatment center. Some who die at home remain there until public health
officials can be alerted.
Khan is being treated in a ward run by the medical charity Medecins Sans
Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in Kailahun. The charity is also
evaluating the Ebola case management center at the government hospital
in Kenema and will report back to the Ministry of Health.
Sierra Leone's health minister, Miatta Kargbo, pledged to "do anything
and everything in my power to ensure he survives," Reuters reported.
The virus, which is contracted by contact with infected bodily fluids of
humans or animals, causes death in 90 percent of cases, according to the
World Health Organization. Early treatment can, however, improve chances
of survival. It can incubate for up to 21 days before symptoms begin to
arrive: First fever, pain and headaches, then diarrhea, vomiting and
rashes. In some cases, bleeding both inside and outside the body might
occur.
There is no known cure or vaccine, though several are being tested.
"We are running behind Ebola," said Anja Wolz, emergency coordinator
with MSF, which runs the Ebola treatment center in Kailahun, according
to the WHO. "We came too late when villages already had dozen of cases
and right now we don't know where all chains of transmission are taking
place."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/07/23/sierra-leones-top-ebola-doctor-infected-as-the-worst-outbreak-in-history-continues-with-no-end-in-sight/
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Five Israeli Talking Points on Gaza—Debunked
Noura Erakat on July 25, 2014 - 11:28AM ET
Israel has killed almost 800 Palestinians in the past twenty-one days in the Gaza Strip alone; its onslaught continues. The UN estimates that more than 74 percent of those killed are civilians. That is to be expected in a population of 1.8 million where the number of Hamas members is approximately 15,000. Israel does not deny that it killed those Palestinians using modern aerial technology and precise weaponry courtesy of the world's only superpower. In fact, it does not even deny that they are civilians.
Israel's propaganda machine, however, insists that these Palestinians wanted to die ("culture of martyrdom"), staged their own death ("telegenically dead") or were the tragic victims of Hamas's use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes ("human shielding"). In all instances, the military power is blaming the victims for their own deaths, accusing them of devaluing life and attributing this disregard to cultural bankruptcy. In effect, Israel—along with uncritical mainstream media that unquestionably accept this discourse—dehumanizes Palestinians, deprives them even of their victimhood and legitimizes egregious human rights and legal violations.
This is not the first time. The gruesome images of decapitated children's bodies and stolen innocence on Gaza's shores are a dreadful repeat of Israel's assault on Gaza in November 2012 and winter 2008–09. Not only are the military tactics the same but so too are the public relations efforts and the faulty legal arguments that underpin the attacks. Mainstream media news anchors are inexplicably accepting these arguments as fact.
Below I address five of Israel's recurring talking points. I hope this proves useful to newsmakers.
http://m.thenation.com/article/180783-five-israeli-talking-points-gaza-debunked
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Another the sky is falling story
Earth survived near-miss from 2012 solar storm: NASA
July 24, 2014 6:24 PM
Washington (AFP) - Back in 2012, the Sun erupted with a powerful solar storm that just missed the Earth but was big enough to "knock modern civilization back to the 18th century," NASA said.
The extreme space weather that tore through Earth's orbit on July 23, 2012, was the most powerful in 150 years, according to a statement posted on the US space agency website Wednesday.
However, few Earthlings had any idea what was going on.
"If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire," said Daniel Baker, professor of atmospheric and space physics at the University of Colorado.
Instead the storm cloud hit the STEREO-A spacecraft, a solar observatory that is "almost ideally equipped to measure the parameters of such an event," NASA said.
Scientists have analyzed the treasure trove of data it collected and concluded that it would have been comparable to the largest known space storm in 1859, known as the Carrington event.
"I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did," said Baker.
The National Academy of Sciences has said the economic impact of a storm like the one in 1859 could cost the modern economy more than two trillion dollars and cause damage that might take years to repair.
Experts say solar storms can cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything from radio to GPS communications to water supplies -- most of which rely on electric pumps.
more...
There is a 12 percent chance of a super solar storm the size of the Carrington event hitting Earth in the next 10 years, according to physicist Pete Riley, who published a paper in the journal Space Weather earlier this year on the topic.
His research was based on an analysis of solar storm records going back 50 years.
"Initially, I was quite surprised that the odds were so high, but the statistics appear to be correct," said Riley.
"It is a sobering figure."
http://news.yahoo.com/earth-survived-near-miss-2012-solar-storm-nasa-222404357.html
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Central American leaders meet Barack Obama to criticise US border policy
Presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador say combination of US policies is seriously harming their countries
Chris McGreal theguardian.com, Friday 25 July 2014 20.17 EDT Three Central American leaders met President Obama on Friday to tell him that billions of dollars poured into attempting to prevent migrant children crossing the US border would be better spent addressing the root causes of the crisis in their countries.
The presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador urged the US administration to do more to combat the armed gangs and drug cartels responsible for the violence driving emigration that has seen more than 57,000 unaccompanied children from their countries arrive at the Texas border in recent months. The three leaders – Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras, Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala and Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador – urged the Obama administration to do more to address the destabilisation caused by cartels shipping narcotics to the American market, and to invest in more rapid economic development to relieve widespread poverty.
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The Central American presidents also met US Congressional leaders on Thursday but got little satisfaction in their appeals for more financial assistance. Republicans were divided over Obama's request for $3.7bn in emergency funding to address the crisis on the Texas border with some prepared to consider only a fraction of the request while others are seeking to tie approval to greater curbs on immigration including overturning the president's 2012 order halting deportation of undocumented aliens of people brought to the US in their youth who have made their lives in the country.
Before the meeting with Obama, the president of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, said the US is wasting money on trying to keep desperate people from crossing the border and that it should instead invest it "to attack the root of the problem" behind the surge in children arriving in Texas. He said economic prosperity in Central America would remove the need for the US to spend additional money protecting the border.
"The United States is spending about $20 billion on border security and other border crossings where they process children and where they treat them and all those other processes," he told the Washington Post. "We say that with just 10% of that money that you're investing on the US border, it could be spent at minimum in the three countries and I'm confident that it would be much more profitable than investing it on border security or border control with Mexico."
The Central American leaders said the US shares responsibility for creating the crisis because of the illegal drug trade. The US is the main market for smuggled narcotics and often the source of weapons used by the drug cartels because of lax gun laws in states such as Texas.
The Honduran president described the drug smugglers as part of a "criminal monster" that has one foot in Central America but the other "in the United States under American jurisdiction".
"Central America is on the very route between those who produce drugs and those who consume drugs massively," said Hernández. "You'll see clearly in Honduras that most of the children have come from the most dangerous areas of our country, where drug lords and gangs are at the root of the greatest levels of violence."
The Honduran president said that the US's 'war on drugs' destabilised Central America by pushing the cartels out of Mexico and Colombia.
"A number of drug lords that have now settled in Central America and that have now linked up with … gangs in an unholy alliance as it were that has generated levels of violence that are unprecedented," he said: "so what has helped Mexico, what has helped Colombia, alas has created a problem of gigantic proportions for us."
The Guatemalan president raised the same issue.
"Central America became transit corridors or warehouses for the drugs reaching the United States," said Pérez Molina. "Between 2003 and 2013 we have seized 50,000 arms; 50,000 arms … which for the most part come from the United States."
But it was a topic the US administration was keen to avoid. When the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, was asked about the Central American leaders' views, he responded: "I'm not enough of an expert on Central American politics to give you an assessment of that claim."
Pérez Molina said the US also bears an historic responsibility for the region because it used Central America as a battle ground with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. His own country suffered more than three decades of civil war after the CIA engineered a military coup against Jacobo Árbenz, the elected president whose land reforms threatened US economic interests.
"Why did Guatemalans have to live an internal armed conflict? Especially when the Cold War was not our problem?" said Pérez Molina. "The hot spots of that Cold War were in Central American countries. We lived 36 years of internal armed conflict between capitalism and communism – in Guatemala we were neither capitalists nor communists, but we lived 36 years in which many died."
El Salvador was also the scene of a long civil war in which the US backed right wing regimes against Marxist guerrillas. Honduras hosted camps for the US-created Contras to wage war against the Sandinista government in neighbouring Nicaragua in the 1980s.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/26/central-american-leaders-obama-border-policy
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Some people believe a UN resolution is going to be able to handle some of Ukraine's disgruntled citizens shooting down an airliner when in almost 70 years it has not been able to resolve the Palestinian problem.
Hold your breath. Please.
An interesting comparison, Sherry.
Although I might not be as familar with how the United Nations works as any others here, your comment prompted me to dip my toe into the water, so to speak, in order to gain some understanding of what’s going on, but it would seem to me that there’s a clear distinction between the issues involved in UN Resolution 2166 (regarding the fate of MH17) and those in the ongoing Israel/Palestine situation.
It's my opinion that you’re comparing apples with oranges, which is a false analogy, and I doubt that bringing those to account for violations of the rules of international civil aviation law (which prohibits actions which constitute a threat to the safety of international civil aviation) will similarly take 70 years. You appear to believe otherwise, which is your right, of course, but as far as I can see you could be mistaken about investigations about what happened to MH17 taking 70 years.
Only time will tell, of course, but in the meantime I'd like to mention a few things I've discovered, some of which might be well-known, or not...
Prior to Palestine being granted non-Member State Observer status in the UN General Assembly in 2012 (by an overwhelming vote of 138 in favour to 9 against [including Israel, Canada and the United States] with 41 abstentions) Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, had this to say:
Palestine reaffirms that it would always adhere to and respect the Charter and Resolutions of the United Nations and international law, uphold equality, guarantee civil liberties, uphold the rule of law, promote democracy and pluralism and uphold and protect the rights of women. Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly had adopted resolution 181 (1947), which partitioned the land of Palestine into two States and had become “the birth certificate for Israel.” [The United Nations] now had a moral and historic duty, as well as a practical one, to “salvage the chances for peace.” [And I ask the Assembly] to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine on an urgent basis.
After the vote was taken the Israeli representive said:
Israel is prepared to live in peace with a Palestinian State, but for peace to endure, Israel’s security must be protected. The Palestinians must recognize the Jewish State and they must be prepared to end the conflict with Israel once and for all... There is only one route to Palestinian statehood. And that route does not run through this chamber in New York [but] through direct negotiations between Jerusalem and Ramallah. There are no shortcuts. No quick fixes. No instant solutions. [And, as] United States President Barack Obama had said in 2010, “Peace cannot be imposed from the outside.” [...] 65 years ago the Palestinians could have chosen to live side by side with the Jewish State of Israel. They could have chosen to accept the solution of two States for two peoples. They rejected it then, and they are rejecting it again today. The United Nations had been founded to advance the cause of peace. Today, the Palestinians were turning their back on peace. Don’t let history record that today the world body helped them along on their march of folly.
And the US representative said:
The United States felt strongly that today’s grand pronouncements would soon fade and that the Palestinian people would wake up tomorrow and find out that little about their lives had changed, save that the prospects of peace had receded. Therefore, the United States called on both parties to renew direct negotiations, and continued to urge all parties to avoid all provocative actions in the region, in New York or elsewhere.
Full record# here: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/ga11317.doc.htm
The general sentiments expressed by the Israeli and US representatives quoted above, and in statements by other UN representatives (and also in the record) support the idea that Israel and Palestine should “sort things out between themselves.” Do I perhaps detect an echo of an earlier comment of yours here?
... Let the Dutch handle their own problem. Let Ukraine and Russia work it out with them and Malaysia. And if they can't, tough.
Palestine's status in the UN is as a non-Member Observer, and Israel, which has been a Member State since its creation in 1947 has not once been a member of the UN Security Council, where Member States are required by law to uphold its resolutions. So it’s unsurprising that, since 1947, the United Nations has been unable to effectively contribute to reconciliation between Israel and Palestine.
On the other hand, as far as the Security Council’s resolution 2166 is concerned, all parties in the Council have agreed to its conditions, including the “support of a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the [MH17] incident in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines” and holding those responsible for violations (of the rules of international law which pose a threat to the safety of international civil aviation) to account.
Neither Israel nor Palestine are beholden to whatever the UN resolves so it’s no wonder that they’re still at loggerheads after 70 years.
Which brings me back to my apples and oranges analogy, and hopefully explains why my opinion differs from yours. :)
# The representatives' words quoted above, apart from the indicated editorial shortenings, are exactly as contained in the record.
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It's really rough when one member of the Big Boys Club doesn't play ball with the rest.
What to do, what to do?
Nothing is the UN's answer.
The US and Israel have pretty much decided the way THEY want to go and the rest of the UN has gone along.
One of the rules for UN "membership" is to be a peace loving country. Gaza elected (that is ELECTED) Hamas to run its government.
I guess there's peace and then there's peace.
Just like there are UN resolutions and UN resolutions.
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No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne
Given all the chaos and cruelty we have seen discussed here, I thought this should be re-posted. Besides, it's easier for me to look up, again, in my own post profile, when I want to see it again :)
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Mortars Fired from Gaza as Israel Extends Humanitarian Ceasefire
By Adam Chandler
2 hours ago
Mortars Fired from Gaza as Israel Extends Humanitarian Ceasefire.Update
3:44 p.m.: Hamas has reportedly claimed responsibility for resuming rocket fire on Israel. According to reports, Israel says it will honor the four-hour extension of the humanitarian ceasefire, which Hamas rejected.
3:06 p.m.: This explains it:
No word yet if Israel has commenced its operations against Hamas yet.
Original Post
Minutes after a twelve-hour humanitarian ceasefire between was extended by Israel, four mortars crashed into southern Israel from Gaza, threatening to upend the fragile truce. As Haaretz reported:
Rocket sirens sound in south, after Israel agrees to extend pause.
Citing Israel's Channel 2, the Times of Israel gave some context:
According to Channel 2, the IDF says it might not be an intentional violation of the truce, but a lone terror cell acting without orders from Hamas’s central command.
The initial pause came as the death toll in the conflict neared 1000 on the Palestinian side, although it remains unclear how many of those killed are Hamas combatants. Forty soldiers and a few civilians have been killed in the 19-day conflict on the Israeli side.
The four-hour extension of the humanitarian truce is a temporary salve as United Nations envoy Robert Serry, who helped produce previous ceasefires, pushes for another full day of quiet between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Elsewhere, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Turkish and Qatari counterparts as proposals continue to be shaped in the hopes of yielding a long-term ceasefire.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/07/mortars-fired-from-gaza-as-israel-extends-humanitarian-ceasefire/375111/
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Russians in London: 'It's official policy now to hate us
'Those living in capital have noticed backlash since the downing of flight MH17, and feel UK media is blaming all Russians
The Guardian, Friday 25 July 2014 13.26 EDT
Russians living in London say British media's coverage of the Malaysia Airlines crash is pushing them to side with Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Zuma/Rex Features
Outside Kalinka, a Russian delicatessen and grocers on London's bustling Queensway, customers were uneasy . "I am shocked," says one, an electrician, who came to London 12 years ago to work on building sites. He remembers the stereotyping of his fellow Russians back then. "It was Russians are rude. And they are drinking beer. And they are drinking vodka. But it was funny. It was soft humour.
"Now, the newspapers are definitely trying to mix the opinions of people against Russian culture and people. Now it is Russians are killers."
He is far from alone among Russians living in London to have noticed a backlash since the downing of flight MH17. Like most, he too, speaks only on condition of anonymity.
"There are pictures of Putin. The word "killer" on the front pages," said Anna, a Russian-born pharmaceutical consultant. "Then page after page, until page 12 or something, when it's Gaza. Russians are killers. How do you think it affects us?"
"Do you believe in collective punishment? Do you want to bomb people for their nationality?" she asks. "It's actually official policy now to hate Russians."
Of course, she said, she has no idea of the exact circumstances that led to shooting of the plane and loss of 298 lives. "But the British culture is to find a culprit. Bully them. Bully those around them. Don't bother to investigate. Judge on very superficial grounds. Let's bully his daughter. Let's find someone who played judo with this man and bully them too.
"Surround him with hate so the Russians will throw him out. But the Russians won't throw him out," she added. "Everyone is suffering. Collective punishment is not the answer."
Among his friends, Sasha, a retired Russian army officer who has lived in London for more than 20 years, now finds "a great deal of sadness, and fear, fear that the lunacy will escalate.
"It is easy to resurrect antagonism towards Russia because people remember the cold war, and when something goes wrong in Russia it's magnified," he said. Sanctions would hit the middle and lower income Russians "the tourists, the students who fill the universities" and not "the big people, who don't care".
Across London in the City, fears are also for business. One director of a reinsurance broker, whose company works in 20 different countries, many from the former Soviet Union, said his concern about media coverage was "that there is no presumption of innocence in this case.
"It looked as if the story was ready for the mass media before the aircraft came down.
"All this blaming Russians, I am Russian English. I have been living here for 25 years. I don't quite like Putin's politics. But, unfortunately, all this has really pushed me over to the Russian side, which I haven't been since the events started in the Ukraine."
He fears a break "in connections which have been set up over the last 20 to 25 years, based on information that has not been verified".
Others fear a trade slump will lead to job losses. "If there is no business with Russia, it inevitably will affect our employability because we sell our language skills," said one insurance worker.
Now living in London, she was born in Russia before moving to Ukraine, where her parents still live. She was visiting them when the plane was shot down.
"My parents have both Ukrainian and Russian channels. And the story was so contradictory if you switched from Russian TV to Ukrainian TV. It is actually scary how the same event can be shown from a different perspective and you just didn't know what to believe," she said. "They are trading accusations, and both seem equally credible. My advice would be not to listen to either."
She has found British media "more or less objective" but is concerned how comments translate into Russian.
"I can hear what David Cameron says in English and it's sort of all right. Once it is translated into Russian it sounds really harsh. That really is an issue. When it's taken out of context, and translated, it can sound almost opposite to what was said," she said.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/25/russians-living-london-backlash-flight-mh17-blame
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Sunday 27 july 2014
Official: Ebola kills senior doctor in Liberia
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — One of Liberia's most high-profile doctors has died of Ebola, a government official said Sunday,
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Hamas-declared ceasefire in Gaza stalls as conflict continues.
A 24-hour ceasefire announced by Hamas in Gaza appears to be stalling, with both Palestinian militants and Israel continuing their offensives.
Hamas fired more rockets into Israel, accusing it of failing to abide by the ceasefire.
Israel rejected the truce, PM Benjamin Netanyahu saying: "Israel will do what it must do to defend its people".
Just hopeless :(.
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Who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH-17? Let's take a look at the facts.
On July 17th, 2014 two major events took place: Malaysian flight MH17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, presumably by a missile, and Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel's invasion was granted an almost complete media blackout. The MH17 tragedy, however, got full coverage, and was immediately propagandized. (This in spite of the fact that far more civilians have been killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza over the past few weeks.)
The U.S. government and the western media pinned the responsibility for the MH17 tragedy on Russia within minutes, long before investigators had time to even arrive at the scene, much less provide any actual conclusions. Then came an all out information war, with lies, omissions and disinformation coming from all sides.
The geopolitical implications of this event should not be underestimated. If this was ever in doubt, the fact that Obama just sent military advisers to Ukraine to help Kiev in its assault against the east should make it very clear. Depending on how much mileage Washington can get out of it, the downing of flight MH17 could end up being extremely pivotal.
Anyone who knows their history, knows that media coverage of events like these often lay the psychological groundwork for war. Consider the sinking of the Lusitania for example on 5/7/1915 (or the murder archduke Ferdinand in 1914). These combined with the Zimmermann Telegram (which was dispatched on 1/16/1917) pushed US public opinion over the tipping point, and on 4/6/1917 the United States declared war on Germany.
It is worth noting that though the U.S. denied it at the time, later diving expeditions revealed that the Lusitania was indeed smuggling war munitions at the time that was sunk (as Germany had asserted from the beginning). Of course, by the time the truth was known it was far too late for the 116,000 Americans who were killed in that conflict.
So who was REALLY responsible for the downing of flight MH17?
First let's start by asking some obvious questions.
Continues and includes a video:
http://scgnews.com/flight-mh17-what-youre-not-being-told
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The UN has a resolution.
All will be well.
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How about some good news in here!
(CNN) -- The Endreson family lottery pool -- a tradition born out of their mother's long-term dreams -- finally paid off when the 17 siblings won a $20 million jackpot, New Jersey lottery officials said Thursday.
The siblings, ranging in age from 53 to 76, began playing the lottery decades ago because of their mother's dream of buying bungalows at the Jersey Shore, where most of the family lives.
After the hopeful matriarch, Flossie Endreson, passed away in 2004, the siblings chipped in to pay for funeral expenses and realized they had set aside too much. Instead of taking the remaining money back, the siblings started a new lottery pool in their mother's honor, said family spokeswoman Marie McHenry.
"We're a family of working people," McHenry said, "We just go to work every day like everyone else."
The Endresons' good fortune comes after their share of hardships.
Four family members lost their homes during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and one sibling lost his life shortly after the storm.
The jackpot winnings "couldn't have come at a better time," McHenry said.
The siblings' father emigrated from Norway in the early 20th century, later meeting their mother on the Jersey Shore, where the family remained and settled in Ocean County, McHenry said. The pair had 19 children, according to N.J. lottery. One child died at birth.
When asked what their mother would say about winning the lottery, one sibling shouted: "Hallelujah!"
The total jackpot was $20.1 million with the family opting to take a lump sum payment of $14 million, about $10 million after taxes, according to the New Jersey lottery.
Family members would not comment on how they plan to divide the winnings, but said they would share it with the three children of their recently deceased brother.
John Endreson, one of the siblings who lost his home during Superstorm Sandy, broke down during the press conference as he talked about the devastation of the storm.
The storm "depleted my savings and now things are looking pretty good. Thanks to the state of New Jersey and my mom. Thank you all," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/24/us/new-jersey-family-lottery/
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How about some good news in here!
I agree with you, bubba.
Kittens dumped in a bag into middle of busy Birmingham road by driver are saved by cat lover
Caroline Alexander, who runs King’s Heath Cat Club, discovered the four kittens outside her home in Bank Street around midnight after hearing a car pulling up and screeching off.
The animals were seriously dehydrated, underweight and infested with fleas so Ms Alexander, 33, delivered them to safety at Cramar Cat Rescue and Sanctuary in Hopwood.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fkittens_zpsadee239d.jpg&hash=674deb296fc1c76c46e8149b234180693ca43710)
... and she didn't need a UN resolution to step in and do good, either... :)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2708295/Kittens-saved-passer-dumped-middle-busy-road.html
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Good news that they were rescued, but bad that they could be dumped like that >:(.
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Good news that they were rescued, but bad that they could be dumped like that >:(.
Agreed, Sara.
I guess that the driver wasn't a member of the Security Council, so could what he/she liked, with impunity... ;D
Just taking my thoughts for a bit of a stroll, here, but I doubt that the driver would have acted that way if a member of ASPCA.
Okay, that’s a US association, but the parallel applies to the UK (RSPCA), Australia (RSPCA), Canada (RSBC) and elsewhere, including Israel (SPCA) but not, as far as I can discover, Palestine (not the one in Texas).
Interesting that religion, or race, isn’t involved in any of these associations, isn't it?
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France's Jews Flee As Rioters Burn Paris Shops, Attack Synagogue
France's politicians and community leaders have criticised the "intolerable" violence against Paris' Jewish community, after a pro-Palestinian rally led to the vandalizing and looting of Jewish businesses and the burning of cars.
It is the third time in a week where pro-Palestinian activists have clashed with the city's Jewish residents. On Sunday, locals reported chats of "Gas the Jews" and "Kill the Jews", as rioters attacked businesses in the Sarcelles district, known as "little Jerusalem".
Manuel Valls, France's prime minister said: “What happened in Sarcelles is intolerable. An attack on a synagogue and on a kosher shop is simply anti-Semitism. Nothing in France can justify this violence.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/22/france-jewish-shops-riot_n_5608612.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/22/france-jewish-shops-riot_n_5608612.html)
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Back to happier news - if you have dogs in the room they will react to the sound on the video...
Dog Actually Faints With 'Overwhelming Joy' At Seeing Owner
This dog seriously cannot handle all the feelings right now.
Casey the Schnauzer was so overwhelmed with joy at seeing a family member, after two years apart, that he literally fainted, and had to be given medical attention.
The YouTube video, which has had more than 3.7m views in under 48 hours, shows Schnauzer squealing with joy as he paws at the woman, and then momentarily passing out.
Video owner Rebecca Ehalt said his joy was understandable, because two years "in fairness is 14 years in dog years".
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/26/dog-faints-video_n_5623363.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/26/dog-faints-video_n_5623363.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp03AorAWLY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp03AorAWLY)
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Back to happier news - if you have dogs in the room they will react to the sound on the video...
Dog Actually Faints With 'Overwhelming Joy' At Seeing Owner
I saw this last night, and thought it was amazing, too. ;D
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Continuing the change of pace—and some more good news:
Male university rowing club goes completely naked for their raunchiest ever charity calendar
A male university rowing club is raising cash for an anti-homophobia charity—by posing naked in a camp tongue-in-cheek calendar.
The buff students from Warwick University Rowing Society ditched their life jackets to strip nude for the artistic photo shoot.
Featuring 14 members of the upmarket university’s rowing club, the men—aged between 18 and 21— can be seen frolicking by the River Avon and at their boat house in Barford, Warwickshire.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2FRowers_zps3d464a40.jpg&hash=81bae5c22efed3a7cd9f7fc6874cf02129dd9366)
Read—and see—lots more here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2478813/Warwick-male-university-rowing-club-completely-naked-raunchiest-charity-calendar.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co
Well, I thought it would warm the, er, cockles of people's hearts ... :D
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But now back to the serious stuff. It's something I read online a few days ago and which I think deserves consideration in the interests of rational discussion.
Israel’s bloody assault on Gaza is a dream come true for Hamas
by Peter Hitchens
Israel exists only because quite a lot of people hate Jews for being Jews, and sometimes that hate turns into murder.
It is a place where Jews can go when other people want to kill them for being what they are, not for what they do, and when nobody else will take them in.
But it also exists because we in Britain set up a Jewish ‘national home’ in what was then our colony of Palestine, though we spent the next 30 years trying to go back on our word.
And it also exists because when we were too poor to hang on to our empire and quit Palestine in 1948 – leaving it in bloody, unfinished disarray – the USA backed the Jewish state that emerged from the mess.
It may all have been a terrible mistake. I’m not sure what choice there was back then. But it is there, like many other lingering injustices done in the 1940s, in India and central Europe, and it seems to me that wise and civilised people should try to accept it and make it work.
The alternative is endless blood and screams, stretching for miles and for years.
I made up my mind some years back, after many visits to the region, very much including the West Bank and Gaza, that the only honest position a British person could take was absolute defence of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
It must be that, or it cannot serve its grim ultimate purpose as a refuge against hate. And that once that is accepted, everything possible must be done to improve the position of the Arabs in the region.
It’s not always easy. Israel’s government and army have done and still do many wicked and stupid things. Its small elite is not really up to the huge responsibilities it faces. But I’m not budging.
And it is from that position that I say Israel’s attack on Gaza is idiotic, wrong and probably fatal to the future of the state its leaders claim to be defending.
Hamas, still clinging to its increasingly unpopular rule in Gaza, is overjoyed by Israel’s moronic, babyish response. It is all they dreamed of.
The world’s TV screens are full of pictures of dead and wounded women and children, weeping, gore and rubble – exactly what Hamas hoped to provoke.
Israel may bray that it did not intend to do this. I’m sure it didn’t. But if you shell and bomb a confined space such as Gaza, it will happen, and shame on you if you pretend that it’s not your fault when it does.
It is ludicrous to claim that this action, which makes future conflict certain, protects Israel in any way.
The fate of Israel will be decided in people’s minds, in countries like ours, and on TV screens, not by bullets and high explosive. Each episode of this kind makes that future more doubtful.
It is an illusion that a violent toughness is the only answer to threats. The really strong and brave man knows when to hold back.
Just as it would have been more sensible to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza when they captured them in 1967, it would have been far, far better to let the Hamas rockets fall, to shelter from them and to let the world see how much better Israel is than its aggressive despotic neighbours.
But the chance was missed, and it may, alas, have been missed for ever.
Having lived all my life in a world that was largely sensible and reasonable, I sense that the bad times are on the way back.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2707036/PETER-HITCHENS-Israel-s-bloody-assault-Gaza-dream-come-true-Hamas.html
I’ve highlighted what appear to me, in my Australian naïvety, to be the salient issues on Hitchens’ article—which I considered worth being quoted in its entirety—but also remind readers that neither Israel nor Palestine are members of the UN Security council, and so aren't beholden to any of that entity’s resolutions.
Responses to his comments are welcomed, but only if they are civil—and neighbourly, as Linda requested back on Page 1.
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Paul, awfully cheeky of that rowing club (pun intended :))......
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Multiple News Sites Publish Corrections After Falling For Fake Story About Michele Bachmann
By Colin Campbell
Last week, multiple liberal news sites were forced to correct false stories claiming Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) called for "Americanization facilities" for undocumented migrants at the border.
The sites — including ThinkProgress and Crooks and Liars — based the story on a parody site called KCTV7 News that features clearly absurd stories on its home page. For example, one KCTV7 news story is titled, "Feds Spend $2.2 Million To Study Why Lesbians Are Obese."
As Raw Story pointed out on Sunday, KCTV7 appears to have copied the story from another joke site, the National Report, which published it two weeks ago.
Both outlets retracted their stories after publication and apologized for being duped.
"We sincerely regret the error," ThinkProgress wrote, doing a complete strike through the text of the original article.
Crooks and Liars argued Bachmann's outspoken conservatism made the parody believable.
"Yeah, I got pwned," the author wrote. "How sad is it that it was just this side of realistic enough to believe in the first place. When you have a reputation for making outrageous and ridiculous comments, it becomes easier and easier to believe something that should have been dismissed out of hand."
Bachmann's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/multiple-news-sites-publish-corrections-150456772.html
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I've been reading the posts here about the war in Gaza, and have been very grateful to Oilgun, Jeff, and Paul, for their delving into this nightmare from a different perspective. And also grateful to Bubba, Sara, and others for very deep concern for the casualties.
Before adding to the conversation, I should give my own prejudices.
* I loathe Bibi Netanyahoo, especially because of that revealing article, I believe in the New Yorker, where he showed complete contempt for American Jews.
* APAIK, the conglom of Jewish lobbyists, has a death grip on American politics, which is undermining OUR system of deciding issues.
* IMO, the settlements in the West Bank, completely end the earlier era of providing a homeland for secular and religious Jews. It is expansionism. Religious cults and real-estate developers are the front line for an emerging dream of an expanded Great Israel.
But from there, I have noticed a variety of odds and ends:
* A recent poll showed 57% of Americans supported the invasion of Gaza, 34%, did not. Those figures are misleading. ONLY 57%? Subtract the fundamentalists who believe Jesus will return after an attack on Israel, and all the Jews will convert to Christianity, and that % of those not bat-crazy drops like a rock. And for one third of Americans to disapprove, is a bad sign for Israel. But, not to worry - Israel doesn't need the U.S. anymore. They've found gas reserves, have already gotten $350 billion in aid over 50 years, and......they have a new friend.....Russia. Many of Israel's immigrants are Russian Jews, and also, Putin has been playing up to Jews in Russia, for political support.
* Hamas is correct: most of the 1,200 Palestinian casualties have been civilians. The less than 20 Israeli's have been mostly soldiers. Of course, I also tend to believe that Hamas has used civilians as shields, in hopes of proving that Israel's people and government are barbarians. My question is, why did Israel take the bait? They don't have better methods?
* There is, yet again, wide diversity of Jewish support for the Palestinian casualties. It is heart-warming to see that, including the Jews demonstrating in L.A. against the invasion, and the many synagogues raising funds for Palestinian medical needs. I don't recall Muslims returning the favor.
* I don't trust those Hamas tunnels. Their rockets are worthless against the Iron Dome. But, by tunnels, they could, and IMO, would, get into Israel and kill civilians.
It's a blood feud. And extremely cruel. But then, there's always the Joan Rivers explanation. When asked about the women and children maimed and dying, she literally screamed : "I don't care !!! They started it !!!"
Thanks, Joan. You're such a balanced and caring person.
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Just for accuracy's sake, it's AIPAC, America Israel Political Action Committee.
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Thanks for the correction, Fritz ! Also, I spelled Netanyahu as Netanyahoo, for some reason or other :P. But, I got Joan Rivers name right :).
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Well I read that and just had to go look up what Joan said:
Controversial TV host Joan Rivers has now added her two cents into the conflict in Gaza, and she leaves no question where she stands.
“If New Jersey were firing rockets into New York, we would wipe them out,” she told a cameraman with TMZ on Friday.
“I don’t want to hear anymore, ‘Oh, we’ll do a partial truce.’ The Palestinian, you cannot throw rockets, and expect people not to defend themselves. […] The BBC should be ashamed of themselves. And CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” she added.
In regards to the large number of civilian casualties in Gaza, Ms. Rivers blamed Palestinians for keeping weapons in their homes.
“I don’t care! They started it,” she said when asked where she thought refugees should go. “You’re all insane! They started it!”
Palestinian officials announced today that the death toll has reached over 1,000 since the conflict began.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/26/joan-rivers-cnn-should-be-ashamed-its-israel-gaza-/#ixzz38nnH4FcZ
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
I use to be a huge fan of Joan Rivers, for years (decades) I thought she was funny and yes her humour was sometimes a bit cruel, but I figured all is fair in comedy and she doesn't mean half of what she says.
But lately, I honestly think she is going senile or something.. and it's no laughing matter.
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Hamas is a terrorist org, equal to the taliban and don't care how many Palestinians are killed.
What Is Hamas’s Mission?
As outlined in its 1988 charter (www.yale.edu/lawweb/
avalon/mideast/hamas.htm), Hamas’s principal
objective is the confrontation of Israel, which it
considers a foreign cancer on sacred Muslim land.
Indeed, without this mission, Hamas has no reason
to exist; it would simply revert to being the Muslim
Brotherhood. Numerous routes exist for achieving
this goal, ranging from the evolutionary Islamization
of Palestinian society, which would overwhelm Israel
through demography, to the armed struggle against
the Jewish state.
Indeed, even in a postelection
article he wrote for the Los Angeles Times and
the Guardian (London), Khaled Mashal stated without
equivocation Hamas’s principled rejection of the right
of Israel to exist—in any size, in any borders
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/html/pdf/PF53-Satloff.pdf (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/html/pdf/PF53-Satloff.pdf)
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21 July 2014 Last updated at 09:17 ET
Gaza conflict: France criticises 'anti-Semitic' riot
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has condemned "anti-Semitic" violence that broke out during a protest against Israel's action in Gaza.
Jewish-owned businesses and a synagogue were targeted in the suburb of Sarcelles, just outside Paris.
Shops were looted and 18 people were arrested as youths went on the rampage during Sunday's protest, which had been banned by authorities.
The mayor of Sarcelles said the Jewish community was in fear.
Such an outpouring of violence had never been seen in the suburb before, he said.
Roger Cukierman, head of the umbrella group Crif that represents French Jewish organisations, said Jews were not just afraid, they were anguished.
"What's happened in the past few days is terrible. They're shouting 'Death to the Jews' and attacking synagogues. It's completely out of control", he said.
Pro-Palestinian rallies also took place at the weekend in London, Vienna and Berlin, where an Israeli tourist was attacked by demonstrators.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28402882 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28402882)
Youths looted shops and burned cars during the banned pro-Palestinian rally in Sarcelles on Sunday
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbcimg.co.uk%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F76414000%2Fjpg%2F_76414161_023235421-1.jpg&hash=22a38ae83d4d2aa14f10ea5b9e07c08e7e8683ce)
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I'd be fine with the destruction of Hamas. They are a terrorist organization. But it would also be VERY helpful, if Israel stopped colonizing the West Bank. AND found ways to get around Hamas imbedded in civilian areas.
I know the residents of Gaza support or are sympathetic to Hamas. That is not grounds for genocide.
Further, Israel helped Hamas get started, because the more moderate Fatah were getting too close to a negotiated Palestinian state.
BTW, the legitimacy of the State of Israel rests upon the U.N. resolution which provided for two nations. Where's the other one?
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Report: North Korea threatens nuclear strike on White House
By Rebecca Shabad - 07/28/14 11:30 AM EDT
A senior North Korean military official on Sunday threatened to launch a nuclear strike on the White House and Pentagon, according to Agence France-Presse.
"If the US imperialists threaten our sovereignty and survival ... our troops will fire our nuclear-armed rockets at the White House and the Pentagon — the sources of all evil," Hwang Pyong-So said in a speech in Pyongyang during a military rally.
http://thehill.com/policy/international/213487-report-north-korea-threatens-nuclear-strike-on-white-house (http://thehill.com/policy/international/213487-report-north-korea-threatens-nuclear-strike-on-white-house)
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Iraq Death Toll Reaches 500,000 Since Start Of U.S.-Led Invasion ... Huffington
But that was different, eh?
Hamas are terrorists, they are democratically elected. Gaza is not a country.
Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip, after it won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections and defeated the Fatah political organization.
Since their election in 2006 Hamas made repeated efforts to establish diplomatic contacts with EU and American representatives. All of which were denied. Hamas were elected through a democratic process which the EU welcomed, paid for, monitored and declared to be free and fair. While secret or unofficial meetings continued to take place between Hamas and Western diplomats, the content of these meetings was always same. “Accept the Quartet’s principles or we will continue to treat you as an illegitimate actor and boycott you.”
In a leaked 2007 correspondence with Washington, Israeli Director of Intelligence, Amos Yadlin stated that “Israel would be happy if Hamas took over Gaza, as then the IDF could treat Gaza as a hostile country.” And this is exactly what has happened. Hamas took over Gaza through democratic elections and Israel treats it as a hostile zone, which we can observe occurring at this very moment. Israel stated that Hamas were terrorists and Western leaders did not challenge this line. On the contrary, they refused to meet diplomatically with Hamas leaders, they cut off all possible financing to the newly elected government and they supported Israel’s complete sanction and seize of Gazan territory. Israel stated that Hamas were terrorists, so European and American governments responded accordingly
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/understanding-hamas.html
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Thanks for the correction, Fritz ! Also, I spelled Netanyahu as Netanyahoo, for some reason or other :P. But, I got Joan Rivers name right :).
:D :D :D
The latter spelling of the Prime Minister is a bit more accurate.
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Well I read that and just had to go look up what Joan said:
Controversial TV host Joan Rivers has now added her two cents into the conflict in Gaza, and she leaves no question where she stands.
“If New Jersey were firing rockets into New York, we would wipe them out,” she told a cameraman with TMZ on Friday.
“I don’t want to hear anymore, ‘Oh, we’ll do a partial truce.’ The Palestinian, you cannot throw rockets, and expect people not to defend themselves. […] The BBC should be ashamed of themselves. And CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” she added.
In regards to the large number of civilian casualties in Gaza, Ms. Rivers blamed Palestinians for keeping weapons in their homes.
“I don’t care! They started it,” she said when asked where she thought refugees should go. “You’re all insane! They started it!”
Palestinian officials announced today that the death toll has reached over 1,000 since the conflict began.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/26/joan-rivers-cnn-should-be-ashamed-its-israel-gaza-/#ixzz38nnH4FcZ
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
I use to be a huge fan of Joan Rivers, for years (decades) I thought she was funny and yes her humour was sometimes a bit cruel, but I figured all is fair in comedy and she doesn't mean half of what she says.
But lately, I honestly think she is going senile or something.. and it's no laughing matter.
Joan Rivers is the way she's always been. She is definitely not senile.
Barbara Walters is senile.
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Joan Rivers is the way she's always been. She is definitely not senile.
Barbara Walters is senile.
Agree to disagree, definitely age related dementia going on there.
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Yep, Barb started losing it a few years back.
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Yep, Barb started losing it a few years back.
Yikes it's contagious!
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/29/opinion/ghitis-israel-palestine/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Five lessons of the Gaza war
United States
The fighting in Gaza, with the dramatic pictures of Palestinians civilian deaths and thousands of rockets fired by Hamas towards Israeli civilians, has caused a diplomatic conundrum for Washington. Israel is America's foremost ally in the region. But President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have disagreements. Instead of taking a firm stance on Israel's side, the United States has engaged in diplomacy with Qatar, which supports Israel's deadliest enemies, and Turkey, whose leaders have slandered and smeared Israel.
Details of the diplomatic process, which amazingly excluded Palestinian moderates, have caused consternation in Israel, fury in Palestinian circles and disdain in Egypt. When the cease-fire comes, the United States should review how it balances allies and their antagonists in times of crisis, because even after the shooting stops, this conflict is far from over.
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I loathe Bibi Netanyahoo, especially because of that revealing article, I believe in the New Yorker, where he showed complete contempt for American Jews.
I couldn't agree more.
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Yikes it's contagious!
Dang! A good one! ;D
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Yikes it's contagious!
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/29/opinion/ghitis-israel-palestine/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Five lessons of the Gaza war
United States
The fighting in Gaza, with the dramatic pictures of Palestinians civilian deaths and thousands of rockets fired by Hamas towards Israeli civilians, has caused a diplomatic conundrum for Washington. Israel is America's foremost ally in the region. But President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have disagreements. Instead of taking a firm stance on Israel's side, the United States has engaged in diplomacy with Qatar, which supports Israel's deadliest enemies, and Turkey, whose leaders have slandered and smeared Israel.
Details of the diplomatic process, which amazingly excluded Palestinian moderates, have caused consternation in Israel, fury in Palestinian circles and disdain in Egypt. When the cease-fire comes, the United States should review how it balances allies and their antagonists in times of crisis, because even after the shooting stops, this conflict is far from over.
Looks like they agreed to disagree.
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I couldn't agree more.
Thanks, Ingmar. I value your opinions and take comfort in reading that you agree, at least on that one dingie :) !!!
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As they have every year since 2009, the rowing team at England's Warwick University has gotten naked to raise money for an anti-homophobia charity.
The rowers have stripped down to produce an annual nude calendar, the proceeds of which will benefit Sport Allies, an organization that aims to combat homophobia and transphobia through the power of sports.
http://www.people.com/article/naked-rowers-calendar-warwick
Calendar not safe for work! :o
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Hamas turns to North Korea for weapons deal, Iran for money
Hamas terrorists in Gaza are reportedly looking to North Korea to provide them weapons and communications gear in their fight against Israel.
The weapons deal between Hamas and North Korea is believed to be brokered by a Lebanese-based trading company, with The Telegraph reporting Hamas has even Hamas-and-North-Korea-in-secret-arms-deal made a cash down payment to push along the deal.
“Hamas is looking for ways to replenish its stocks of missiles because of the large numbers it has fired at Israel in recent weeks,” one security official told The Telegraph. “North Korea is an obvious place to seek supplies because Pyongyang already has close ties with a number of militant Islamist groups in the middle East.”
Military insiders say North Korea has also been providing Hamas with knowledge on tunnel construction, The Telegraph reported. North Korea reportedly used a series of underground tunnels for years to invade and infiltrate South Korea, though only four have been found, the New York Times reported.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/28/hamas-turns-north-korea-weapons-deal-iran-money/#ixzz38thVh4aS
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi528.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd329%2Fsalmackenzie%2F_A_moat_of_Poppies_takes_s_zps8931f39a.jpg&hash=6c2a0c2e4a0fa18905aabc7e99932662f16fa484)
The Tower of London Remembers
The evolving installation by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper, will be unveiled on 5 August 2014; one hundred years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the First World War.
Entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’, the installation is being created in the Tower’s famous dry moat. It will continue to grow throughout the summer until the moat is filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies, each poppy representing a British or Colonial military fatality during the war.
The poppies will encircle the Tower, creating not only a spectacular display, but also an inspiring setting for learning activities, as well as providing a location for personal reflection. The scale of the installation reflects the magnitude of such an important centenary, creating a powerful visual commemoration.
The last poppy will symbolically be planted on 11 November 2014.
Each ceramic poppy will be available to buy for £25 (+p&p) from 5 August 2014. 10% from each poppy, plus all net proceeds, which we hope will be millions of pounds if all poppies are sold, will be shared equally amongst six service charities.
The charities chosen are Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO), Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help for Heroes, Royal British Legion and SSAFA (formerly the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association).
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Report: North Korea threatens nuclear strike on White House
By Rebecca Shabad - 07/28/14 11:30 AM EDT
A senior North Korean military official on Sunday threatened to launch a nuclear strike on the White House and Pentagon, according to Agence France-Presse.
"If the US imperialists threaten our sovereignty and survival ... our troops will fire our nuclear-armed rockets at the White House and the Pentagon — the sources of all evil," Hwang Pyong-So said in a speech in Pyongyang during a military rally.
http://thehill.com/policy/international/213487-report-north-korea-threatens-nuclear-strike-on-white-house (http://thehill.com/policy/international/213487-report-north-korea-threatens-nuclear-strike-on-white-house)
Now, that's got the fault of either Israel or Hillary Clinton. (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2Fbluescreamieemoticon.gif&hash=70ea33ad6a85652d3a86d268cda6e2af2a7f6a9e)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fnews%2F140811%2Frobina-asti-435.jpg&hash=2f526071b93be083c2ea2e5beb2ea44b52f049e7)
In the Navy during World War II, Robert Astey flew combat missions, and later became a commercial pilot, a mutual fund senior vice president, as well as a husband and father to three children.
Then at age 55 he began a transition to living as a woman, renamed Robina Asti, and was soon legally recognized as female. Today, at age 93, after a "glorious romance" with a the husband she met in 1980, she has become something else – a trailblazer, having won a victory that makes it much easier for transgender spouses to get Social Security survivor benefits.
The Naval lieutenant (who still pilots aircraft) says she never set out to be a pioneer. But that's how she's been hailed by the legal team that helped Asti launch the challenge to win her husband Norwood Patton's survivor benefits that she believed were rightfully hers following his death in 2012.
"She was a war veteran, and she's been living her life and has been recognized as a woman for over 38 years. For the federal government to say, 'You are not legally female' was just so insulting at a time when she was already grieving the loss of her husband," says Dru Levasseur, national director of the Transgender Rights Project for Lambda Legal, which took up Asti's case in June 2013.
Adding to Asti's argument: Her legal documents – from her Social Security card, to her passport, to her federal taxes, to her pilot's license – had long reflected her legal status as female. Even so, none of it was enough to convince the Social Security Administration, which originally denied her survivor's benefits because the agency claimed she was male at the time the couple wed in 2004.
As Robert, she had been married to a woman until, following a son's death in 1975, Asti struggled, divorced, and at age 55 began living as a woman while taking legal steps to be recognized as one. She met Patton, a 65-year-old artist, four years later. Together for 32 years, she and Patton "had an absolutely delightful life," says Asti.
Indeed, Asti's case and legal paperwork allowed Lambda Legal to document the harm caused by rejections based upon inconsistent policies regarding gender identity and marriage benefits. "We found this to be a good opportunity to really raise this issue," says Levasseur, "and because of her case, the federal government and Social Security changed its policy." Before, applications were subject to automatic review; now that is no longer the case.
It's also given Asti, who describes herself as a private person, added purpose in a long life where she's quietly led by example.
"I want to be able to inspire people," she says, "to know that the world doesn't end when they change their sex."
http://www.people.com/article/robina-asti-transgender-social-security-survivor-benefits
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi528.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd329%2Fsalmackenzie%2F_A_moat_of_Poppies_takes_s_zps8931f39a.jpg&hash=6c2a0c2e4a0fa18905aabc7e99932662f16fa484)
The Tower of London Remembers
The evolving installation by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper, will be unveiled on 5 August 2014; one hundred years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the First World War.
Entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’, the installation is being created in the Tower’s famous dry moat. It will continue to grow throughout the summer until the moat is filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies, each poppy representing a British or Colonial military fatality during the war.
[...]
What a wonderful idea, Sara. It will be beautiful to see when completed. :)
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Yes, I thought so, Paul :).
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As they have every year since 2009, the rowing team at England's Warwick University has gotten naked to raise money for an anti-homophobia charity.
The rowers have stripped down to produce an annual nude calendar, the proceeds of which will benefit Sport Allies, an organization that aims to combat homophobia and transphobia through the power of sports.
Calendar not safe for work! :o
As I indicated in my Reply #2348, because it's against Forum rules.
Elsewhere is fine, though. :D
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I've been reading the posts here about the war in Gaza, and have been very grateful to Oilgun, Jeff, and Paul, for their delving into this nightmare from a different perspective. And also grateful to Bubba, Sara, and others for very deep concern for the casualties.
I'm flattered, and humbled, to be included, Tony. :">
All I've done is to find and present rational facts.
Anyone can spout emotional opinions, and that includes TV "personalities" and other "celebrities," but that gets discussion nowhere.
I believe that true discussion dies when rational discourse is swept aside.
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As I indicated in my Reply #2348, because it's against Forum rules.
Elsewhere is fine, though. :D
It's official I have lost my mind!! :D
And those poppies are just beautiful, we love our poppies in Canada too! :-*
GOP-led House authorizes lawsuit against Obama
(CNN) -- The Republican-led House approved a resolution on Wednesday authorizing Speaker John Boehner to sue President Barack Obama over claims he abused his powers at the expense of Congress and the Constitution.
The vote was 225-201.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/30/politics/gop-obama-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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.....Anyone can spout emotional opinions, and that includes TV "personalities" and other "celebrities," but that gets discussion nowhere.
I believe that true discussion dies when rational discourse is swept aside....
Amen to that, Paul :P.
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...It's official I have lost my mind!! :D ....
Well, I got my certificate in the mail years ago. "Dear Tony: you're nuts !". Hang in there; it can be fun :) !!!
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Well, I got my certificate in the mail years ago. "Dear Tony: you're nuts !". Hang in there; it can be fun :) !!!
Oh, so that was what I got in the mail many years ago!!
I am in good company!! ;D
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Birds of a feather 8).......
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Well, that went well....lasted an hour and a half...
Israeli military announces end to Gaza truce
The Israeli military says a Gaza ceasefire that went into effect earlier on Friday is now over and military operations are in progress on the ground.
Asked during a media conference call if the ceasefire was over, Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said: "Yes. We are continuing our activities on the ground."
His comments came after medics said dozens of Palestinians were killed by tank shelling.
The ceasefire, that had been agreed by Israel and Hamas to last for 72 hours, had started with a brief lull in fighting at 8am local time (05:00 GMT). Less than three hours later, medics reported deaths in the south of the Palestinian territory. They said at least 40 people were killed as Israeli tanks fired shells into eastern Rafah.
Meanwhile, there were also rocket alarms sounding in Israel's Eshkol region, signalling that rockets had been fired from Gaza.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of breaking the ceasefire, which had been announced by the US and the UN.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/ceasefire-gaza-strip-20148145731196790.html (http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/ceasefire-gaza-strip-20148145731196790.html)
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Uganda Antigay Law Struck Down by Court
By JEFFREY GETTLEMANAUG. 1, 2014
NAIROBI, Kenya — A Ugandan court on Friday struck down a punitive antigay law that has strained Uganda’s relations with the West but the court ruled on narrow technical grounds, preserving the possibility that the measure could be revived.
In front of an overflowing courtroom in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, a panel of five judges announced that the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which punishes some homosexual behavior with life in prison, was invalid because it had been passed by Parliament without a proper quorum.
“We’re very happy,” said Sylvia Tamale, a Ugandan law professor who has supported gay rights despite persistent threats and harassment. “But it’s unfortunate that the court did not deal with the substantive issues that violate our rights.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/02/world/africa/uganda-anti-gay-law-struck-down-by-court.html?_r=0
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Oops....
Are these selfies proof that Putin IS operating in the Ukraine? Photographs posted by Russian soldier on Instagram 'were taken across the border'
Alexander Sotkin, a Russian soldier, has been posting selfies on social media
Several appear to show that they were uploaded from inside Ukraine
He has been swamped with abuse from Russians for embarrassing them
Alexander Sotkin may have thought he was harmlessly posting selfies to his friends back home, but last night the 24-year-old Russian soldier was at the centre of international intrigue.
For the photographs he has posted on the web appear to offer evidence that Vladimir Putin’s forces have been operating inside Ukraine.
Geotagging – the process of adding a location to a photograph taken by a mobile phone camera – creates a trail that leads Sotkin, a sergeant in the signals corps, from a military base in southern Russia across the troublesome border to villages inside rebel-held parts of Ukraine.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2711722/The-Russian-soldier-selfie-obsession-prove-Putin-operating-Ukraine-Comms-officer-operates-kit-like-used-MH17-accidentally-reveals-border.html#ixzz39A2F40Ud
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Is that why Facebook was down?
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Australian couple 'leave disabled baby with Thai surrogate'
3 hours ago
A baby boy has been abandoned overseas by his Australian parents when they allegedly left Thailand to return home with the healthy baby girl, leaving the twin brother with down syndrome with the surrogate mother. Samantha Jolly reports.
Load MoreWell-wishers on Friday had raised nearly $100,000 for a baby reportedly left with his surrogate Thai mother after his Australian parents discovered he had Down's Syndrome and returned home with his healthy twin sister.
Pattaramon Chanbua from Chonburi province, southeast of Bangkok, agreed via an agent to be a surrogate for the couple for a fee of Aus$16,000 ($14,900), giving birth to twins -- a boy and a girl -- in December, according to press reports.
But when the Australians discovered the boy, named Gammy by his surrogate family, had Down's Syndrome they abandoned him in Thailand and returned to Australia with only the healthy girl, Australia's ABC said.
"The money that was offered was a lot for me. In my mind, with that money, one, we can educate my children, two, we can repay our debt," said Pattaramon, already a mother to two children, in an interview with the broadcaster in Chonburi.
But instead the 21-year-old was left to care for the boy who also suffers from a life-threatening heart condition requiring expensive treatment she cannot afford, according to ABC.
"I don't know what to do. I chose to have him... I love him, he was in my tummy for nine months," she said in the interview.
The "Hope for Gammy" fundraising page has so far raised more than $98,000 for a Down's …Pattaramon has never met Gammy's Australian parents, according to Thai newspaper Thairath, which broke the story of Gammy last week, and their identities remain unknown.
"They (the surrogacy agency) told me to carry a baby for a family that does not have children... They said it would be a baby in a tube," she said.
A spokesman for Australia's foreign affairs department told AFP Canberra was "concerned" by the reports and was in consultation with Thai authorities over surrogacy issues.
"The alleged circumstances of the case raise broader legal and other issues relating to surrogacy in Thailand," he said.
Many foreign couples travel to Thailand, a popular medical tourism hub, to use its in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) services despite the unclear legal situation surrounding surrogacy.
Tares Krassanairawiwong, a Thai public health ministry official, said it was illegal to pay for surrogacy in Thailand.
"Surrogacy can be done in Thailand but it has to comply with the laws... A surrogate has to be related to the intended parents and no money can be involved."
The reports about Gammy's abandonment have triggered hundreds to donate to a fundraising page created for him last week.
By late Friday the "Hope for Gammy" page had raised more than $98,000.
It also carried scores of comments, many of which expressed outrage at the boy's abandonment by his parents.
"May this selfish and heartless couple be exposed and shamed for this horrible neglect!" said one.
http://news.yahoo.com/australian-couple-leave-disabled-baby-thai-surrogate-144356001.html
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Congress backs Israel's Iron Dome missile defense
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Friday rushed through a $225 million bill to replenish Israel's missile defense system, and House approval was expected in the final hours before lawmakers began a summer break.
The money will go to restocking Israel's Iron Dome, which has been credited with shooting down dozens of incoming rockets fired by Palestinian militants over three and a half weeks of war. The vote came two days after the Pentagon announced ammunition deliveries to the Jewish state and as a planned 72-hour cease-fire between Israel and Hamas unraveled almost as quickly as it began.
Efforts in the Senate to approve the money stalled Thursday night after Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma sought cuts elsewhere in the budget to pay for the aid. Earlier, senators attempted to lump the Israel money into a broader spending bill that included border security and wildfire assistance money. That bill failed to get the necessary 60 votes on Thursday, and the House had little interest in it, anyway. Friday's separate Israel bill passed by voice vote.
The Iron Dome system has emerged as a game-changer in the current round of violence, with Israeli officials citing a success rate as high as 90 percent.
The system uses radar, advanced tracking technology and anti-missile batteries to follow the trajectory of an incoming rocket or mortar and determine if it is headed for a major population center. If an urban area is threatened, interceptors are fired to detonate in the air in close proximity to the missile. Projectiles not posing a threat are allowed to fall in empty fields. The system targets short-range rockets with a range between 2 miles and 45 miles; interceptors cost as much $100,000 apiece.
Created by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Iron Dome has enjoyed strong U.S. technological and financial support.
Throughout its history, the U.S. has provided more than $700 million to help Israel cover costs for batteries, interceptors, production costs and maintenance, the Congressional Research Service said. The total already appeared set to climb above $1 billion after Senate appropriators doubled the Obama administration's request for Iron Dome funding for fiscal 2015. Now it seems likely to rise even further, with President Barack Obama expected to sign any bill swiftly into law.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/congress-backs-israels-iron-dome-missile-defense-161845577--politics.html
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She's not upset, but I am.........what's wrong with those people???
Thai surrogate mom not upset with Australia couple
SRI RACHA, Thailand — A Thai surrogate mother said Sunday that she was not angry with the Australian biological parents who left behind a baby boy born with Down syndrome, and hoped that the family would take care of the boy’s twin sister they took with them.
Pattaramon Chanbua, a 21-year-old food vendor in Thailand’s seaside town of Sri Racha, has had to take a break from her job to take care of her 7-month-old surrogate baby, named “Gammy,” who also has a congenital heart condition. The boy, with blond hair and dark brown eyes, is now being treated in a hospital for infection in his lungs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/thai-surrogate-mom-not-upset-with-australia-couple/2014/08/03/b1d4a1e4-1b15-11e4-9b6c-12e30cbe86a3_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/thai-surrogate-mom-not-upset-with-australia-couple/2014/08/03/b1d4a1e4-1b15-11e4-9b6c-12e30cbe86a3_story.html)
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There's already over $100,000 in a "support the baby" fund.
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100 years ago today Britain entered the First World War. Between 10 and 11 pm tonight we are asked to extinguish our lights - I don't know how universal this will be.
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100 years "only", I am tempted to say.
This seems already so far away, and sooooo much has happened in between.
But when one looks at Israel Gaza Libya Irak Syria etc. these days, maybe NOTHING has changed in the meantime. :(
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Amen to that, Paul :P.
Thank you, Tony.
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She's not upset, but I am...
If the surrogate mother’s not upset why should you be?
....what's wrong with those people???
I think it’d be wiser to await further information before leaping in with premature judgments about “those people.”
What’s been presented in the news since this “story” arose is only what’s deemed to be “newsworthy.”
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Why should Nancy not be affected by this human situation, Paul? I think most people would be moved by it. (Of course the surrogate mother will respond in a different way)
No, we don't know the whole story, though we are told that the surrogate mother refused a termination when one of the unborn babies appeared to have Downs Syndrome (as was her right). But the fact that this situation could only have arisen in very recent times, and the moral dilemmas that are the result, are both interesting and affecting, in my opinion.
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Why should Nancy not be affected by this human situation, Paul? I think most people would be moved by it.
Perhaps she should be allowed the opportunity to speak for herself.
(Of course the surrogate mother will respond in a different way)
What on earth do you mean?
No, we don't know the whole story, though we are told that the surrogate mother refused a termination when one of the unborn babies appeared to have Downs Syndrome (as was her right).
Yes, we don't.
But the fact that this situation could only have arisen in very recent times, and the moral dilemmas that are the result, are both interesting and affecting, in my opinion.
This is what's causing all the hubbub in the press—but while it's derived solely from this specific instance of surrogacy it's a separate issue.
As you seem so concerned about the issue you could have demonstrated your support for morrobay's comment, and even doodler's, directly.
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Perhaps she should be allowed the opportunity to speak for herself.
What on earth do you mean?
This is what's causing all the hubbub in the press—but while it's derived solely from this specific instance of surrogacy it's a separate issue.
I am not denying Nancy that. :)
The mother who carried the twins for nine months is in a wholly different situation from us who are merely observers. That doesn't prevent the rest of us from responding as human beings to the situation as it is presented to us, and I think it would be a hard heart that didn't respond to that little boy.
Yes, the issues are complex.
And my response was to your comment, not Nancy's. :)
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I am not denying Nancy that. :)
No, you're just preempting her.
The mother who carried the twins for nine months is in a wholly different situation from us who are merely observers. That doesn't prevent the rest of us from responding as human beings to the situation as it is presented to us, and I think it would be a hard heart that didn't respond to that little boy.
As I said earlier, if you are so concerned about the situation why did you wait until I piped up to say anything at all about it?
Yes, the issues are complex.
I wish you'd stick to the point.
The post to which I responded asked "what was wrong with those people?"
The complex issues to which you refer are those you yourself introduced and have nothing to do with my assertion that premature judgments about "those people" are unwise.
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100 years "only", I am tempted to say.
This seems already so far away, and sooooo much has happened in between.
But when one looks at Israel Gaza Libya Irak Syria etc. these days, maybe NOTHING has changed in the meantime. :(
Apples and oranges, Ingmar. :)
None of the countries you mention were involved in WWI, nor were those implied in your etcetera (Iran, or in Africa, perhaps) and the war wasn't based on religious belief, but as a result of Neo-imperialism.
So everything has changed.
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No, you're just preempting her.
As I said earlier, if you are so concerned about the situation why did you wait until I piped up to say anything at all about it?
I wish you'd stick to the point.
The post to which I responded asked "what was wrong with those people?"
The complex issues to which you refer are those you yourself introduced and have nothing to do with my assertion that premature judgments about "those people" are unwise.
I don't see any point in continuing this.
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Thank you for teaching me history, Paul.
As you're the master of deliberately "misunderstanding" remarks in this thread (and everywhere else too in this forum), I'll leave it at that.
I'm sure that everyone else has understood what I meant.
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I don't see any point in continuing this.
You shouldn't, ça ne vaut pas la peine.
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I don't see any point in continuing this.
Thank you.
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Thank you for teaching me history, Paul.
As you're the master of deliberately "misunderstanding" remarks in this thread (and everywhere else too in this forum), I'll leave it at that.
Thank you.
I'm sure that everyone else has understood what I meant.
Let's wait and see, shall we?
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So everything has changed.
"Let's wait and see, shall we?"
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I am not denying Nancy that. :)
The mother who carried the twins for nine months is in a wholly different situation from us who are merely observers. That doesn't prevent the rest of us from responding as human beings to the situation as it is presented to us, and I think it would be a hard heart that didn't respond to that little boy.
Yes, the issues are complex.
And my response was to your comment, not Nancy's. :)
Two thumbs up!
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Thank you for teaching me history, Paul.
As you're the master of deliberately "misunderstanding" remarks in this thread (and everywhere else too in this forum), I'll leave it at that.
I'm sure that everyone else has understood what I meant.
Three thumbs up! ;D
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I thought the solar flare was some time back, and missed us. Has there been another one? Maybe it just hit Norfolk, as am somewhat disoriented reading these last few pages.
Also, by news from the Middle East. Maybe am in a collapsed time-line that is resurfacing ? Doodler, are YOU still functioning :P ?
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Yeah, but I'm just about out of thumbs. ;D
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New York City Hospital Treating Potential Ebola Patient
Aug 4, 2014, 4:17 PM ET
By SYDNEY LUPKIN
Health Reporter via World News
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City is treating a possible Ebola patient who recently traveled to West Africa, hospital officials said.
The patient arrived at the hospital’s emergency room early Monday morning with “a high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms,” according to a statement from the hospital. The patient has been isolated and is undergoing diagnostic testing.
“All necessary steps are being taken to ensure the safety of all patients, visitors and staff,” the hospital said in a statement. “We will continue to work closely with federal, state and city health officials to address and monitor this case, keep the community informed and provide the best quality care to all of our patients."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/york-city-hospital-treating-potential-ebola-patient/story?id=24838232 (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/york-city-hospital-treating-potential-ebola-patient/story?id=24838232)
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The guy in Atlanta WALKED from the ambulance into the hospital! They just showed it on the news. He's had two doses of the "experimental" treatment... as has the woman still in Africa.
And, in other news, the Australian baby fund is up to a quarter million.
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Impoverished mother Pattaramon Chanbua claims the couple, who have not been identified, rejected Gammy and returned to Australia with his healthy sister.
Although I didn’t introduce this News topic I feel it’s intrinsically of sufficient interest to monitor its progress in the press.
“Breaking” news items in general don’t tend to provide a full picture until all the facts of a situation are known (as we all realise) and it’s been interesting to see how what was initially presented in a black/white context had acquired shades of grey, as occurred in several other issues raised here.
I refer of course, to the Edward Snowden, Malaysian Airlines flights 370 and 17 and Crimea/Russia situations, in which information presented in the press was/is less than accurate.
Incomplete or inaccurate information affects responses, and this is why I’ve tended to not rely on attention-grabbing headlines/news articles to make some sense of what we’re being told.
I expect that this is what most people do, but it's a difficult task, and one not necessarily automatically successful, if some social media and “tabloid” press sites are any indication, especially when emotional issues are involved, and more so when people use the guise of anonymity to spout their bile, as I've found, for instance, with YouTube comments...
Then there's the issue of empathy to be considered, where those who might, through no fault of their own, be what could be described as being “collaterally damaged,” such as the passengers of MH370 and MH17, baby Gammy and others elsewhere; well, after all, such feelings aren't diminished by the facts eventually coming to light. Those men, women and children still deserve our sympathy.
Enough of all that, and my apologies for boring people to sobs, yet again... :D
So, a synopsis of what the Australian press has had to say, so far, about the surrogate baby issue:
• Pattaramon Chanbua, the impoverished Thai surrogate mother of invitro-fertilised twins, claimed that their biological Western Australian parents abandoned the boy twin when they returned home with his healthy sister because the boy was disabled, suffering from Down syndrome and had a life-threatening hole in the heart condition requiring expensive treatment, leaving her to care for the boy.
• Ms Chanbua said her doctors, the surrogacy agency and the baby's parents had all known he was disabled at four months, but did not inform her until the seventh month when the agency asked her to abort the disabled foetus at the parents’ request. She said she refused their request to terminate the pregnancy for religious and legal reasons.
• The baby girl’s father (not identified at the time) said that the surrogacy clinic’s doctor had told them only about the girl. Both he and and his wife denied that they’d “rejected” and subsequently “abandoned” the baby boy.
“We saw a few people at the hospital. We [didn't] know who the surrogate was - it was very confusing. There was a language barrier,” they said.
• Ms Chanbua contradicted their claim and stated that if they hadn’t known (about the boy) they wouldn’t have asked for a termination.
• When the girl’s biological parents were eventually identified as David and Wendy Farnell of Bunbury, WA, a family friend issued a statement on their behalf on 5 August to the Bunbury Mail that the allegations made by Ms Chanbua were lies and “completely false.” She had misled the world over the situation and the subsequent heavy media attention had portrayed the Farnells as being “heartless.” (The Farnells had been advised, on legal grounds, not to speak.)
The friend said:
- The birth of the twins had been planned to take place at a major international hospital in Thailand.
- But Ms Chanbua had gone to another smaller hospital, which made the surrogacy agreement void, according to the couple.
- This meant the Farnells had no legal rights to the babies, even though they were the biological parents.
- The babies were born two months premature due to complications.
- She said the couple was not told that Gammy had Down syndrome, but they were told “he had a congenital heart condition and that he would not survive and he had a day, at best, to live and to say goodbye.”
- Ms Chanbua then said she wanted to keep Gammy and give him a proper Thai funeral.
- The couple subsequently became embroiled in a legal battle to bring the female twin home.
- The 21-year-old surrogate mother finally agreed to hand the baby girl over, but the couple were terrified she could change her mind.
• These warring versions played out as Fairfax Media confirmed court documents showing a series of 1997 child molestation charges against Mr Farnell, who was given a three-year jail term for sexually molesting two girls under the age of ten. He had pleaded not guilty to six charges of indecently dealing with a child under 13.
• Baby Gammy’s Thai surrogate mother says the boy’s twin sister should be sent back to her as details emerged that the father of the baby had been jailed for child sex offences.
• The charity raising money for the child at the centre of the surrogacy controversy has confirmed the infant’s suspected heart condition has been ruled out by cardiac specialists in Bangkok. He has a “strong and healthy heart.”
• In a statement posted on Channel 9's website, the child's biological parents David and Wendy Farnell said they have been cooperating with the Department of Child Protection in relation to the safety of their daughter.
The department became involved after it was revealed Mr Farnell had been convicted of 22 child sexual abuse charges involving girls as young as seven. According to the statement, the Farnells will give their side of the story in a program to be aired at the weekend.
The couple also responded to reports they had abandoned their dog at their Bunbury property, which was taken away by rangers on Wednesday, saying they had been feeding it every day.
• Gammy’s story has made headlines around the world and has prompted Thai authorities to investigate the circumstances of the surrogacy arrangements that were brokered by the Bangkok-based company IVF Parenting, the website of which has been shut down.
• The Bangkok clinic suspected to be involved in the baby Gammy surrogacy fiasco has been raided, according to local media reports. #
Thai authorities raided the unnamed premises on Phetchaburi Road after being tipped off that the clinic, which ran for five years but has now closed down, may have arranged the service of the surrogate mother last year.
Dr Boonruang Triruangworawat, who led the raid, told The Nation that the clinic had violated two key conditions because the Thai surrogate mother was not related to the Australian couple and she was paid to carry the couple’s embryo.
Sources, just to show that I'm not making all this stuff up: :D
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-04/baby-gammy-surrogate-mum-says-parents-saw-baby-in-hospital/5647440
http://www.bunburymail.com.au/story/2465558/gammy-bunbury-parents-break-their-silence-over-surrogacy-lies/?cs=27
http://www.theage.com.au/national/gammy-who-is-telling-the-truth-20140805-3d6n1.html
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/gammys-thai-surrogate-mum-wants-healthy-twin-sister-back/story-fni0do7e-1227014573531
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-08/baby-gammys-heart-condition-ruled-out/5658452
http://www.smh.com.au/national/gammy-out-of-danger-after-doctors-thought-he-would-die-20140805-100riw.html
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/gammys-thai-surrogate-mum-wants-twin-sister-back-tony-abbott-in-no-hurry-to-change-surrogacy-laws/story-fni0do7e-1227014573531
# A clinic on Phetchaburi Road in Bangkok was inspected yesterday following tips that it may have arranged the service of a surrogate mother last year, who gave birth to a baby boy born with Down's syndrome left with the Thai mother and a twin girl adopted by an Australian couple.
The head of the Department of Health Service Support Dr Boonruang Triruangworawat said the unnamed clinic was permitted to provide general medical services, and the doctor who conducted the service was licensed by the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. But the operation violated two key conditions - the Thai mother was not related to the Australian couple and she received money in exchange for carrying their embryo. He said the clinic, which had run for five years before closing down recently, had already violated regulations for the two conditions, and the people responsible would face punishment - up to a year in jail and/or a fine of up to Bt20,000 if found guilty by a court.
A probe is underway on whether the 20 or so doctors who took turns working at this clinic are licensed by the Royal Thai College, he said. Those found to have conducted a surrogacy could face up to three years in jail and/or a fine of up to Bt60,000, Dr Boonruang said.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Raid-on-Bangkok-clinic-linked-to-surrogacy-fiasco-30240341.html
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Baby Gammy parents David and Wendy Farnell to tell all in 60 Minutes interview
The Australian parents of abandoned* baby Gammy have told their story to 60 Minutes in an interview to air this Sunday night.
After going to ground since the story broke last week, David Farnell and his Chinese wife Wendy have been interviewed by the Channel 9 program, saying they want Australia to hear their side of the story before passing judgment on them.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/television/baby-gammy-parents-david-and-wendy-farnell-to-tell-all-in-60-minutes-interview/story-fni0cc2a-1227017812844
*Interesting how the Herald Sun has omitted the word “alleged,” isn’t it?
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Ridiculous!
Reagan aide Jim Brady's death ruled homicide
http://news.yahoo.com/reagan-aide-jim-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-220011426.html
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Impoverished mother Pattaramon Chanbua claims the couple, who have not been identified, rejected Gammy and returned to Australia with his healthy sister.
Although I didn’t introduce this News topic I feel it’s intrinsically of sufficient interest to monitor its progress in the press.
“Breaking” news items in general don’t tend to provide a full picture until all the facts of a situation are known (as we all realise) and it’s been interesting to see how what was initially presented in a black/white context had acquired shades of grey, as occurred in several other issues raised here.
............
Paul, I really appreciate all the research you've put into this very detailed post - the most disturbing aspect of which IMO is the "allegedly" paedophile father.
I'm left wondering though, whether anyone is ever entitled to comment on any news at any stage of its unfolding? I'm serious about this - it is understandable, and right, to react, but in a case as complex as this one wonders if the true story will ever emerge.... But there it is - the media will continue to present us with truths, half-truths, and attempts to cover up their own ignorance - if they are even aware how ignorant they sometimes are.
And I will continue to react emotionally at times :D, but I hope I always maintain some degree of cynicism.
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Paul, I really appreciate all the research you've put into this very detailed post - the most disturbing aspect of which IMO is the "allegedly" paedophile father.
Thank you, Sara. :)
Considering that there was a limited number of individuals involved I thought it’d be relatively easy to do, but sorting out the claims and counter-claims was actually time consuming, even though I restricted myself, with one partial exception, to only the Australian press.
What’s interesting about the biological father’s conviction/s is that they occurred when he was in his mid-twenties.
He was 39 when convicted of indecent assault in 1997 and jailed for three years; while serving his sentence he was later charged and convicted of further child sex offences and sentenced to a further eighteen months in 1998. (This is in the Supreme Court of Western Australia records.)
David Farnell, now 56 and the father of three adult children by a previous marriage, married his current wife Wendy in 2004 after his jail term ended. (The couple turned to surrogacy after failing to have their own child.)
His son, who didn’t wish to be named, said he and his siblings were frustrated at not being able to discuss their version of the story behind the Gammy surrogacy scandal because Mr Farnell had to follow the right legal processes.
In defence of his father he said that he and his siblings “live quite close to each other and we've all got a strong relationship, even my mother, his ex-wife, regardless of all the stuff that's happened in the past ... He's taken ten years to get his life back on track and he did and he has done so well and this, this has been shattering ... He's made mistakes, we've accepted it... he's made up for them.”
His daughter also spoke for the first time, saying that “The only thing that we are going to say right now is that my father is a wonderful father.”
I'm left wondering though, whether anyone is ever entitled to comment on any news at any stage of its unfolding?
It’s an interesting issue, I agree.
My feeling is that it depends on whether the comments are objective rather than off-the-cuff first impressions based on insufficient available evidence.
Expressions of empathy for those caught in the “cross-fire” of a situation are justified in the case of baby Gammy, and the passengers of the two Malaysian Airlines flights, for instance, but to draw conclusions about his biological parents’ behaviour—or the efficiency of the airline—without knowing the facts is mere speculation based on thin air.
I’ve noticed that some news sites have a “We Were Wrong” category, where corrections of incorrect information are presented; unfortunately the same doesn’t seem to apply to some online sites such as YouTube, for instance, where the most offensive and outrageous comments can be made under the guise of anonymity to and about other people without fear of reprisal, and where apologies for unwarranted rants are rare.
That’s a different story, of course, but I won’t hold my breath about accusations in the press about the Farnells’ behaviour being withdrawn when the truth is presented.
I'm serious about this - it is understandable, and right, to react...
It’s understandable, yes, but whether it’s “right” depends on what’s said, I think. Sometimes taking things with a grain of salt is wise.
...but in a case as complex as this one wonders if the true story will ever emerge.... But there it is - the media will continue to present us with truths, half-truths, and attempts to cover up their own ignorance - if they are even aware how ignorant they sometimes are.
Well, I wasn’t suggesting that the truth was being deliberately distorted, just that the press can sometimes make more of something, based solely on information available at the time, than a situation later turns out to have warranted.
In this case the only people who really know the facts of the surrogacy situation are those who were personally involved, yet as soon as the issue arose the Thai surrogate mother was being favoured, and the biological parents were deemed to be basically heartless. What’s come to light is that she’s now being investigated by Thai authorities because surrogacy is illegal unless it is with a relative, and paying a woman to carry a baby is prohibited.
And I will continue to react emotionally at times :D, but I hope I always maintain some degree of cynicism.
That’s a commendably balanced approach, Sara—as I knew it would be, of course. :-* :)
http://www.bunburymail.com.au/story/2469469/baby-gammy-case-son-of-david-farnell-defends-his-father/?cs=278
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa-man-david-farnell-accused-of-abandoning-baby-gammy-deserves-another-chance-says-longtime-friend-eugene/story-fnhnv0wb-1227017166415?nk=42c37758672bb2a084dac96a5053eef3
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/david-farnell-and-his-wife-wendy-say-they-wanted-to-bring-baby-gammy-home-to-bunbury/story-fnhocxo3-1227018907337
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:) :)
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Impoverished mother Pattaramon Chanbua claims the couple, who have not been identified, rejected Gammy and returned to Australia with his healthy sister.
Although I didn’t introduce this News topic I feel it’s intrinsically of sufficient interest to monitor its progress in the press.
“Breaking” news items in general don’t tend to provide a full picture until all the facts of a situation are known (as we all realise) and it’s been interesting to see how what was initially presented in a black/white context had acquired shades of grey, as occurred in several other issues raised here.
I refer of course, to the Edward Snowden, Malaysian Airlines flights 370 and 17 and Crimea/Russia situations, in which information presented in the press was/is less than accurate.
Incomplete or inaccurate information affects responses, and this is why I’ve tended to not rely on attention-grabbing headlines/news articles to make some sense of what we’re being told.
I expect that this is what most people do, but it's a difficult task, and one not necessarily automatically successful, if some social media and “tabloid” press sites are any indication, especially when emotional issues are involved, and more so when people use the guise of anonymity to spout their bile, as I've found, for instance, with YouTube comments...
Then there's the issue of empathy to be considered, where those who might, through no fault of their own, be what could be described as being “collaterally damaged,” such as the passengers of MH370 and MH17, baby Gammy and others elsewhere; well, after all, such feelings aren't diminished by the facts eventually coming to light. Those men, women and children still deserve our sympathy.
Enough of all that, and my apologies for boring people to sobs, yet again... :D
So, a synopsis of what the Australian press has had to say, so far, about the surrogate baby issue:
• Pattaramon Chanbua, the impoverished Thai surrogate mother of invitro-fertilised twins, claimed that their biological Western Australian parents abandoned the boy twin when they returned home with his healthy sister because the boy was disabled, suffering from Down syndrome and had a life-threatening hole in the heart condition requiring expensive treatment, leaving her to care for the boy.
• Ms Chanbua said her doctors, the surrogacy agency and the baby's parents had all known he was disabled at four months, but did not inform her until the seventh month when the agency asked her to abort the disabled foetus at the parents’ request. She said she refused their request to terminate the pregnancy for religious and legal reasons.
• The baby girl’s father (not identified at the time) said that the surrogacy clinic’s doctor had told them only about the girl. Both he and and his wife denied that they’d “rejected” and subsequently “abandoned” the baby boy.
“We saw a few people at the hospital. We [didn't] know who the surrogate was - it was very confusing. There was a language barrier,” they said.
• Ms Chanbua contradicted their claim and stated that if they hadn’t known (about the boy) they wouldn’t have asked for a termination.
• When the girl’s biological parents were eventually identified as David and Wendy Farnell of Bunbury, WA, a family friend issued a statement on their behalf on 5 August to the Bunbury Mail that the allegations made by Ms Chanbua were lies and “completely false.” She had misled the world over the situation and the subsequent heavy media attention had portrayed the Farnells as being “heartless.” (The Farnells had been advised, on legal grounds, not to speak.)
The friend said:
- The birth of the twins had been planned to take place at a major international hospital in Thailand.
- But Ms Chanbua had gone to another smaller hospital, which made the surrogacy agreement void, according to the couple.
- This meant the Farnells had no legal rights to the babies, even though they were the biological parents.
- The babies were born two months premature due to complications.
- She said the couple was not told that Gammy had Down syndrome, but they were told “he had a congenital heart condition and that he would not survive and he had a day, at best, to live and to say goodbye.”
- Ms Chanbua then said she wanted to keep Gammy and give him a proper Thai funeral.
- The couple subsequently became embroiled in a legal battle to bring the female twin home.
- The 21-year-old surrogate mother finally agreed to hand the baby girl over, but the couple were terrified she could change her mind.
• These warring versions played out as Fairfax Media confirmed court documents showing a series of 1997 child molestation charges against Mr Farnell, who was given a three-year jail term for sexually molesting two girls under the age of ten. He had pleaded not guilty to six charges of indecently dealing with a child under 13.
• Baby Gammy’s Thai surrogate mother says the boy’s twin sister should be sent back to her as details emerged that the father of the baby had been jailed for child sex offences.
• The charity raising money for the child at the centre of the surrogacy controversy has confirmed the infant’s suspected heart condition has been ruled out by cardiac specialists in Bangkok. He has a “strong and healthy heart.”
• In a statement posted on Channel 9's website, the child's biological parents David and Wendy Farnell said they have been cooperating with the Department of Child Protection in relation to the safety of their daughter.
The department became involved after it was revealed Mr Farnell had been convicted of 22 child sexual abuse charges involving girls as young as seven. According to the statement, the Farnells will give their side of the story in a program to be aired at the weekend.
The couple also responded to reports they had abandoned their dog at their Bunbury property, which was taken away by rangers on Wednesday, saying they had been feeding it every day.
• Gammy’s story has made headlines around the world and has prompted Thai authorities to investigate the circumstances of the surrogacy arrangements that were brokered by the Bangkok-based company IVF Parenting, the website of which has been shut down.
• The Bangkok clinic suspected to be involved in the baby Gammy surrogacy fiasco has been raided, according to local media reports. #
Thai authorities raided the unnamed premises on Phetchaburi Road after being tipped off that the clinic, which ran for five years but has now closed down, may have arranged the service of the surrogate mother last year.
Dr Boonruang Triruangworawat, who led the raid, told The Nation that the clinic had violated two key conditions because the Thai surrogate mother was not related to the Australian couple and she was paid to carry the couple’s embryo.
Sources, just to show that I'm not making all this stuff up: :D
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-04/baby-gammy-surrogate-mum-says-parents-saw-baby-in-hospital/5647440
http://www.bunburymail.com.au/story/2465558/gammy-bunbury-parents-break-their-silence-over-surrogacy-lies/?cs=27
http://www.theage.com.au/national/gammy-who-is-telling-the-truth-20140805-3d6n1.html
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/gammys-thai-surrogate-mum-wants-healthy-twin-sister-back/story-fni0do7e-1227014573531
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-08/baby-gammys-heart-condition-ruled-out/5658452
http://www.smh.com.au/national/gammy-out-of-danger-after-doctors-thought-he-would-die-20140805-100riw.html
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/gammys-thai-surrogate-mum-wants-twin-sister-back-tony-abbott-in-no-hurry-to-change-surrogacy-laws/story-fni0do7e-1227014573531
# A clinic on Phetchaburi Road in Bangkok was inspected yesterday following tips that it may have arranged the service of a surrogate mother last year, who gave birth to a baby boy born with Down's syndrome left with the Thai mother and a twin girl adopted by an Australian couple.
The head of the Department of Health Service Support Dr Boonruang Triruangworawat said the unnamed clinic was permitted to provide general medical services, and the doctor who conducted the service was licensed by the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. But the operation violated two key conditions - the Thai mother was not related to the Australian couple and she received money in exchange for carrying their embryo. He said the clinic, which had run for five years before closing down recently, had already violated regulations for the two conditions, and the people responsible would face punishment - up to a year in jail and/or a fine of up to Bt20,000 if found guilty by a court.
A probe is underway on whether the 20 or so doctors who took turns working at this clinic are licensed by the Royal Thai College, he said. Those found to have conducted a surrogacy could face up to three years in jail and/or a fine of up to Bt60,000, Dr Boonruang said.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Raid-on-Bangkok-clinic-linked-to-surrogacy-fiasco-30240341.html
Guess that answers to flaming-hot question of who "these people" are. ::)
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Ridiculous!
Reagan aide Jim Brady's death ruled homicide
http://news.yahoo.com/reagan-aide-jim-bradys-death-ruled-homicide-220011426.html
Does seem a bit of a stretch after all these years. :-\
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oh my god
Robin Williams Found Dead in Possible Suicide
1 hour ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Veteran film and television comedic actor Robin Williams was found dead on Monday. He was 63.
The cause of death is believed to be suicide via asphyxiation, according to the coroner’s office in Tiburon, Calif. He was found in his home.
According to his publicist, who confirmed the news, the actor had been battling depression of late and recently entered 12-step rehab stint for drug abuse.
His wife Susan Schneider said in a statement, “I am utterly heartbroken. On behalf of Robin’s family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.”
The Marin County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from Williams’ residence on Monday at 11:55 a.m. reporting the actor had been found unconscious and was not breathing. »
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I heard about this earlier today and am so sad about it.
Robin Williams was someone people either loved or hated.
I loved all he did, comedy and serious work. This happened as his home in Tiberon, not far from here. He grew up and went to school here.
The whole area here is very very upset and sad.
It is upsetting that someone who spent his life making so many people laugh, was so tortured with depression.
May he Rest in Peace.
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Yeah, I'd vote for her. NOT!
Tough Hillary Clinton says ‘dreadful’ pictures of dead women and children make it hard to get at truth– Hamas is to blame
[...]
HRC: I’m not sure it’s possible to parcel out blame because it’s impossible to know what happens in the fog of war. Some reports say, maybe it wasn’t the exact UN school that was bombed, but it was the annex to the school next door where they were firing the rockets. And I do think oftentimes that the anguish you are privy to because of the coverage, and the women and the children and all the rest of that, makes it very difficult to sort through to get to the truth.
[...]
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/dreadful-pictures-children.html
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Lauren Bacall -- one of the leading ladies of the Golden Age of Hollywood -- is dead ...
A family member tells us Bacall had a massive stroke Tuesday morning at her home.
She was 89 yo. RiP
http://www.tmz.com/2014/08/12/lauren-bacall-dead-dies/
One more.
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One more to go.
A suicide, natural causes... the next one has to be an overdose. Or maybe a murder....
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What's with gas prices? Is there something unusual going on in the Middle East?
Yesterday, I filled up about 4 o'clock. $3.07 a gallon (regular.)
Today, at noon, same station, the price was $3.19 a gallon.
Just now, 9 PM, same station, down to $3.05.
BUT within 2 blocks, 4 other stations:
Exxon -- $3.11
Sunoco -- $3.19
Marathon -- $3.18
Shell -- $3.19
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What's going on in Missouri?
Looting a tire store is not protesting the shooting of an unarmed man. It's committing a crime. >:(
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Consider the source. If the riots of the 60s taught us anything it is when there is a civil protest, most of the city is perfectly safe. Ninety-nine percent of the damage will be in the rioters own neighborhoods.
Gas price update:
this afternoon Exxon is still $3.11, Shell and Sunoco have joined "my" station at $3.05, Marathon is $3.17.
And between the 5 stations there is as much as a 40 cent difference in the price of a gallon of diesel.
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Consider the source. If the riots of the 60s taught us anything it is when there is a civil protest, most of the city is perfectly safe. Ninety-nine percent of the damage will be in the rioters own neighborhoods.
The riots after the trial of the police who beat Rodney King showed the same thing.
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More evidence of climate change.....
Fisherman Pulls Up Beastly Evidence of Early Americans
LiveScience.com
By Tia Ghose, Staff Writer
A 22,000-year-old mastodon skull and tool dredged from the seafloor in the Chesapeake Bay hints of early settlers in North America.
The two relics, which were pulled up together, may come from a place that hasn't been dry land since 14,000 years ago. If so, the combination of the finds may suggest that people lived in North America, and possibly butchered the mastodon, thousands of years before people from the Clovis culture, who are widely thought to be the first settlers of North America and the ancestors of all living Native Americans.
<snip>
By measuring the fraction of radioactive carbon isotopes (elements of carbon with different numbers of neutrons), the team found that the mastodon tusk was more than 22,000 years old.
There was no way to date the blade precisely, but the deft flint-knapping technique used to make it was similar to that found in Solutrean tools, which were made in Europe between 22,000 and 17,000 years ago.
Melting glaciers raised sea levels and submerged that area of the continental shelf about 14,000 years ago, so the knife must have been at least that old, Stanford added.
In addition, both pieces showed characteristic weathering that indicated they were exposed to the air for a while and then submerged in a saltwater marsh, before finally being buried in seawater.
That finding suggested that the two artifacts were possibly from the same environment — such as the marshes found between sand dunes that are often set back from the seashore. That would have been a perfect place for mastodons to find food, Stanford said.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/fisherman-pulls-beastly-evidence-early-americans-135831893.html
..... too bad our weather records don't go back that far.
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Welcome to the Police State:
Police In Ferguson Have Continually Attacked And Harassed Journalists
The assault and arrest of reporters in Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday night is perhaps the most egregious example of a continual pattern of police harassment that journalists covering the unrest in the St. Louis suburb have faced.
The challenges that reporters are dealing with are, of course, minimal compared to those of the residents of Ferguson, which has seen days of unrest following the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. But they nonetheless are examples of severe press intimidation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/journalists-attacked-police-ferguson_n_5677098.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000018
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Guess that answers to flaming-hot question of who "these people" are. ::)
Considering that the question appeared to be rhetorical I'm delighted that your curiosity regarding this issue has now been addressed. :)
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Tara Brown’s interview of David and Wendy Farnell on Channel Nine’s Sixty Minutes last Sunday was to be an opportunity for the Farnells to present “their side of the story” but it didn’t do them any favours.
They occasionally struggled, between tears, to explain why they took only Gammy's sister to Australia, and at one stage contradicted each other about whether they’d even taken a photograph of the boy in the hospital.
David Farnell also contradicted some of the things he’d said earlier, such as that they hadn’t known about the boy’s Down’s syndrome but only that he had a congenital heart condition and left him behind because Thai doctors said he would not survive because his lungs and organs were underdeveloped. (It has been confirmed, after they'd left Thailand, that the boy had a healthy heart; but that at the time he did have lung problems, now resolved.)
He claimed that they'd wanted to bring their son home but had left without extending their Thai visas to be with him in fear Ms Chanbua would seize their daughter, Pipah, who they’d taken home to Western Australia to ensure her safety before seeking advice on how to get custody of Gammy. (When asked whether they’d since contacted the authorities—Australian/Thai?—about this he said that they hadn’t.)
“[The surrogate mother] said if we tried to take the baby boy she was going to [report us to the police],” he said, and that they became concerned they "would lose both babies. We have been trying (in Australia) to make sure first that Pipah is safe and no one can take her away from us,” explaining that as she was born in Thailand she was not yet legally Australian, before “we can go and try to get our boy back.”
(Ms Chanbua had earlier said on Tuesday that they could never take Gammy, who she says was conceived after another Thai donor’s egg, fertilised by Farnell, was implanted in her on the promise of a $US14,900 fee. She maintains that the Thai agency who managed the surrogacy said the couple wanted her to have an abortion, illegal in Thailand, once medical tests revealed the boy had Down’s syndrome, but she’d refused.)
The couple said that they were angry to discover their unborn son had Down's syndrome seven months into the pregnancy, and that they would have asked the surrogate mother to abort the foetus if it had been safe to do so had they known about the boy’s disability earlier. “They sent us the reports but they didn't do the checks early enough,” he said.
While he denied that he and his wife had asked Ms Chanbua to have an abortion he admitted that when they found out Gammy had Down’s syndrome they rang the surrogacy agency, wanting it to “take responsibility,” and had demanded a refund. “This is [the agency’s] fault.” he said to Ms Brown. ‘‘I don’t think any parent wants a son with a disability.”
He also claimed that they bought both babies milk and nappies when they saw them in the hospital (all of which Ms Chanbua disputes), and that their opinion about bringing him to Australia changed when they saw him (also disputed by Ms Chanbua, who claims that they didn’t even look at Gammy), but were forced to flee with their daughter, leaving him behind.
Since returning to Western Australia the couple had contacted the agency which brokered the surrogacy deal only once. Mr Farnell said he sent the agency "a couple of thousand dollars" to go towards Gammy’s medical treatment, but they hadn’t called to check on their son’s welfare because, as his wife Wendy said, they “didn’t have the surrogate mother’s phone number;” nor had they asked the agency for help in bringing him to Australia.
Unsurprisingly, social media fired up with criticism about the Farnells’ overall behaviour, with many Australians “expressing outrage and disgust at their decision to leave baby Gammy behind in Thailand.”
Responses to Tara Brown’s interview (which sparked 11,000 tweets while the program aired) ranged from widespread praise (laudable, pitch-perfect: tough but fair, rigorous but not hostile; powerful, compelling television) to criticism that she’d “systematically dismantled” the arguments of “easy targets,” two people with “no media training, education or moral compass.”
I'm not taking sides in this, but to be fair, it should be remembered that the Farnells don't speak Thai and Ms Chanbua doesn't speak English.
If nothing else, though, the interview highlighted the ethical and legal issues surrounding international surrogacy, and the issue has prompted the Thai government to consider laws which ban commercial surrogacy and Jule Bishop, the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, to request that Thai officials ensure new laws banning commercial surrogacy are not applied retrospectively, saying it could lead to babies being abandoned. She said the Federal Government did not endorse commercial surrogacy and she urged the states and territories to get together to enact uniform laws which would ban it.
“It would certainly be open to all states to have uniform laws ... to standardise surrogacy laws in Australia so people don’t go surrogacy-law shopping,’’ she said.
(Up to 150 Australian couples are currently thought to have surrogacy under way in Thailand.)
Ms Bishop confirmed baby Gammy, who is now recovering from pneumonia in a Bangkok hospital, may be eligible for Australian citizenship through his father. However, no such application has yet been made.
All Australian states and the ACT have outlawed commercial surrogacy domestically and New South Wales, Queensland the ACT make it illegal for their residents to pay an overseas surrogate.
Baby Gammy’s parents ... come from WA, where no such law exists.
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Police In Ferguson Have Continually Attacked And Harassed Journalists
The assault and arrest of reporters in Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday night is perhaps the most egregious example of a continual pattern of police harassment that journalists covering the unrest in the St. Louis suburb have faced.
The challenges that reporters are dealing with are, of course, minimal compared to those of the residents of Ferguson, which has seen days of unrest following the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. But they nonetheless are examples of severe press intimidation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/journalists-attacked-police-ferguson_n_5677098.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000018
Memories of myself and others being strongly reprimanded by another poster that only Americans were actually entitled to comment on American affairs had prompted me to refrain from any comment likely to draw further fire from the person concerned.
But as you appear to have survived unscathed I feel free to comment on your posted article:
It’s about time somebody put a stop to their behaviour. :)
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Baby Gammy’s parents ... come from WA, where no such law exists.
I thought these people :D were from Australia. Has WA seceded from the Union and affiliated itself Down Under?
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Memories of myself and others being strongly reprimanded by another poster that only Americans were actually entitled to comment on American affairs had prompted me to refrain from any comment likely to draw further fire from the person concerned.
But as you appear to have survived unscathed I feel free to comment on your posted article:
It’s about time somebody put a stop to their behaviour. :)
The militariztion of the police forces is not just a US thing it's happening everywhere.
Ferguson is what happens when the police become the military
[...]
In Afghanistan, we patrolled in big, armored trucks. We wore uniforms that conveyed the message, "We are a military force, and we are in control right now." Many Afghans saw us as occupiers.
And now we see some of our police officers in this same way. "The militarization of law enforcement is counter-productive to domestic policing and needs to stop," tweeted Andrew Exum, a former Army infantry officer.
[...]
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/14/1321531/-Ferguson-is-what-happens-when-the-police-become-the-military?detail=facebook
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FMilitarized-police-01_zps7b377f43.png&hash=5ae3444161570110e4cc16842ca9938f4fc49983)
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I like my cops on bikes :)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fpolicier_a_velo-02_zps1e240037.jpg&hash=3429efc26f2a2f0fcc648be9aa41aa6f0a521ddc)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ff.fastcompany.net%2Fmultisite_files%2Ffastcompany%2Fimagecache%2F1280%2Fposter%2F2014%2F04%2F3028416-poster-p-houston-police.jpg&hash=fd91e270aae4f92aed8a9f95a48dae8306e22d38)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fnews%2F140825%2Frob-richards-600.jpg&hash=9f3b11f26d1eb3cdb1ed21e41ed9e0369f3d51dc)
The attorney for a retired Marine who pleaded guilty to urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters says the corporal has died in North Carolina.
Attorney Guy Womack said Friday that Cpl. Robert Richards died Wednesday at his home in Jacksonville. Womack says he suspects a change in medicine caused the death. Richards was taking medicine for numerous injuries. He was 28.
Womack says neither foul play nor suicide is suspected.
Richards was a sergeant who was demoted to corporal in August 2013 after a video was shared on YouTube, showing him and three other Camp Lejeune Marines urinating on the bodies of three Afghans in July 2011.
Womack called him a hero and says Richards made a mistake during his third tour in Afghanistan.
http://www.people.com/article/marine-robert-richards-urinated-taliban-corpses-dies
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry Indicted On Abuse-Of-Power Charges
by Dana Farrington
August 15, 2014 7:15 PM ET
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been indicted by an Austin grand jury in connection with a veto of funding for state public corruption prosecutors.
An ethics complaint was filed last summer. The Associated Press has this background on the case:
"The Republican governor is accused of abusing his official powers by publicly promising to veto $7.5 million for the state public integrity unit at the Travis County District Attorney's office. He was indicted by an Austin grand jury Friday.
"Perry said he'd veto the funding if the district attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, didn't resign. Lehmberg had recently been convicted of drunken driving. The state's Public Integrity Unit operates out of her office.
"When Lehmberg refused, Perry carried out his veto, drawing an ethics complaint."
NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports that Lehmberg's office was investigating one of Perry's favorite state projects at the time he was calling for her resignation.
"The governor would have been able to appoint the DA's successor had she stepped down," Goodwyn says.
The Texas Tribune notes that Perry does have the authority to veto budget items, but that "his critics said that this was done expressly for political purposes and is a crime."
The general counsel for Perry issued a written statement, saying the governor acted "in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution. We will continue to aggressively defend the governor's lawful and constitutional action, and believe we will ultimately prevail."
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TRAVIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY LEHMBERG'S BOOKING FOOTAGE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7y7oJ266qI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7y7oJ266qI)
Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg Drunk Driving Arrest Dash Cam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrxsCH_p1oc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrxsCH_p1oc)
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Too bad we didn't have video cams and outube when GWB was arrested for drunk driving.
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I like my cops on bikes :)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fpolicier_a_velo-02_zps1e240037.jpg&hash=3429efc26f2a2f0fcc648be9aa41aa6f0a521ddc)
Where are Jon and Ponch when you need them? 8)
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Regarding the gleeful reaction to the indictment of Texas governor Rick Perry : this mess may actually help his chances of becoming President. Things have a way of backfiring.
I did watch the 2 videos of Rosemary Lehmberg, (and thanks for posting them, Morrobay), and she did seem to be visibly under the influence. And I think it can be ruled out that she was politically targeted, since, towards the end, the officer reminded her she was going North in a Southbound lane, and had weaved in and out of bike lanes. I wouldn't have wanted to be near this woman on a highway !
As far as the indictment, as I understand it, they will have to prove the governor's actions were predominantly political, and, given this lady's behavior, that is not so easy.
So, Perry is the one who can waggle the moral high ground (he didn't shut down any highways, as in New Jersey), and, he can claim to be a victim of the Austin liberals. That would not only fly well with the Tea Party, but with quite a few others.
Am not a fan of Perry's, but the gloating over the indictment is premature. It could put him in the frontrunner position, if handled well. If convicted, this could enrage the conservatives to rally to his side, all the more.
Oh, dear God, please, not another President from Texas :P.
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Too bad we didn't have video cams and outube when GWB was arrested for drunk driving.
Snappy comeback, Lyle. You know you'd vote for him again...
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Regarding the gleeful reaction to the indictment of Texas governor Rick Perry : this mess may actually help his chances of becoming President. Things have a way of backfiring.
I did watch the 2 videos of Rosemary Lehmberg, (and thanks for posting them, Morrobay), and she did seem to be visibly under the influence. And I think it can be ruled out that she was politically targeted, since, towards the end, the officer reminded her she was going North in a Southbound lane, and had weaved in and out of bike lanes. I wouldn't have wanted to be near this woman on a highway !
As far as the indictment, as I understand it, they will have to prove the governor's actions were predominantly political, and, given this lady's behavior, that is not so easy.
So, Perry is the one who can waggle the moral high ground (he didn't shut down any highways, as in New Jersey), and, he can claim to be a victim of the Austin liberals. That would not only fly well with the Tea Party, but with quite a few others.
Am not a fan of Perry's, but the gloating over the indictment is premature. It could put him in the frontrunner position, if handled well. If convicted, this could enrage the conservatives to rally to his side, all the more.
Oh, dear God, please, not another President from Texas :P.
It was, as you can imagine, a big deal here in Austin when she was arrested and jailed for 10 days (not the longer original sentence). She was asked by groups to resign, and refused.
As for Perry, until he replaces his current handlers I don't think he has any more of a chance than he had the last time. But not only that, I just don't think he can handle himself on a world political stage, he just doesn't have it.
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In TX, are people normally arrested... and kept in jail... for driving drunk?
Somehow, I doubt that.
They're probably locked up for a couple hours until they sober up and then issued a ticket.
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Texas doesn't fuck around with DWI
DWI Penalties: Adults
Just like it does for minors, Texas assigns DWI penalties for drivers 21 years old or older according to the offense number and other situation-specific factors.
Offenses: DWI Alcohol or Drugs
First Offense
Up to a $2,000 fine.
Jail time between 3 days and 180 days.
License suspension for up to 2 years.
Annual surcharge up to $2,000 for 3 years to keep your license.
DWI intervention or education program (see below).
Possible ignition interlock device (see below).
On holiday weekends they have No Refusal Weekends
The No Refusal program is an enforcement strategy that allows jurisdictions to obtain search warrants for blood samples from suspected impaired drivers who refuse breath tests. Many jurisdictions allow officers to request warrants via phone from on-call judges or magistrates. This enables law enforcement to legally acquire a proper blood sample from drivers who refuse to give a breath sample. During these specified enforcement efforts, prosecutors and judges make themselves available to streamline the warrant acquisition process and help build solid cases that can lead to impaired driving convictions. The No Refusal program should also be highly publicized to let the public know that their chances of being caught, arrested, and convicted increase during these efforts.
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Would you send a copy of the statute to the Tennessee Attorney General?
Please.
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And I think it can be ruled out that she was politically targeted, since, towards the end, the officer reminded her she was going North in a Southbound lane, and had weaved in and out of bike lanes. I wouldn't have wanted to be near this woman on a highway !
Did the issue of political targeting come up from her being arrested? That would seem quite
a stretch given the circumstances.
As for Perry being indicted, the article says he "publicly" promised to veto the funding if she didn't resign.
If so, that sounds like an ethics violation to me. Whether she should resign or not shouldn't be a reason
to veto funding for a project. Unless Texas has some weird laws regarding that. The Grand Jury thought
it was enough to send it to trial.
Just from an observational point of view, it seems that the current Republican party has been so
off the wall the last decade or more that this statement of Tony's SHOULD be entirely laughable.
Regarding the gleeful reaction to the indictment of Texas governor Rick Perry : this mess may actually help his chances of becoming President.
Only in the current GOP would an indictment HELP a candidate in his own party!
What does Canadian Senator Cruz have to say about all this?
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In TN, Lt Gov Ramsey (Rep) openly initiated and pursued a campaign against the 3 Supremes who were up for "election." The GOP and Democrats all came out against the "get rid of the liberal Supreme Court" movement and all three judges are still supreme. Didn't hurt Ramsey a bit.
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Ferguson, Missouri (CNN) -- The Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who killed Michael Brown says the teenager rushed at him full speed in the moments before the shooting, according to an account phoned in to a radio station and confirmed by a source with detailed knowledge of the investigation.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney said Monday that evidence in the shooting death could be presented to a grand jury as early as Wednesday.
According to the account on St. Louis radio station KFTK, phoned in by a woman who identified herself as "Josie," the altercation on August 9 began after Officer Darren Wilson rolled down his window to tell Brown and a friend to stop walking in the street.
When Wilson tried to get out of his cruiser, Brown first tried to push the officer back into the car, then punched him in the face and grabbed for his gun before breaking free after the gun went off once, the caller said.
Wilson pursued Brown and his friend, ordering them to freeze, according to the account. When they turned around, Brown began taunting Wilson, saying he would not arrest them, then ran at the officer at full speed, the caller said.
Wilson then began shooting. The final shot was to Brown's forehead, and the teenager fell two or three feet in front of Wilson, said the caller, who identified herself as the officer's friend.
A source with detailed knowledge of the investigation later told CNN the caller's account is "accurate," in that it matches what Wilson has told investigators.
If true, the account represents the first telling of events from the perspective of Wilson, whose shooting of Brown has touched off violent nightly protests in the suburban St. Louis city, and prompted Gov. Jay Nixon to call out the National Guard...
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/18/us/missouri-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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The reaction to this event from the people of Ferguson and St. Louis, shows that the
event in and of itself is symptomatic of issues in that area that are above and beyond the actual
incident in question.
Just like Stonewall was symptomtic of years of harassment and other atrocities, there are
many other issues going on that this event has caused to be expressed. While the event alone
can and should be looked at, it's apparent there are more issues arising there.
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An article I read last night said Ferguson and the surrounding county are only 30% white but there is only one black on the school board and one or two on the city council.
So... my question...
if that is a problem for the other 70%, why don't they vote?
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2 Students Arrested, ‘Potential Mass Shooting’ at South Pasadena High School Thwarted: Police
Two South Pasadena High School students were arrested after allegedly plotting a mass shooting at the school, police announced Monday evening.
South Pasadena Police Department detectives began an investigation after receiving information from school officials that the students were allegedly planning “to kill 3 staff members and as many students as possible with firearms,” a news release from the department stated.
After serving warrants at their homes, detectives were able to obtain enough evidence to arrest the students, police said.
One of the students was taken into custody without incident, but the other, identified as a male, resisted and tried to flee, according to the release. He was eventually caught by arresting officers.
The detectives “stopped a potential mass shooting” as a result of the arrests, the release stated.
http://ktla.com/2014/08/18/2-students-arrested-as-potential-mass-shooting-at-south-pasadena-high-school-thwarted-police/
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Am glad they caught those kids. Now....they should start questioning them, and any others ever caught, and come up with better profiles. That isn't much, I know, but every additional warning sign, and accumulated warning signs, could be a help.
******
Meanwhile, we have a whale in the Norfolk area that is baffling everyone. He came in from the bay, went up the Elizabeth river, cruised around downtown, and then went to the Southern Branch, which is very narrow and miles from deeper water.
The police stay on the bridges with binoculars, and also have boats out to warn people in boats to stay away. Supposedly, whales resist being herded, or lured, and so they are just letting him decide when he will leave. He's either a Sei or a Bryde's whale, about 40' long.
Sea mammal lovers can follow this on PilotonLine.com, or just search for "the whale in the Elizabeth River" This is all very strange, as there aren't even many fish where he is.
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Around here, they are making a big deal out of every time boys are foiled when it comes to attacks in the schools. The more they publicize boys not getting away with this shit. the more likely it will fall out of fashion.
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The reaction to this event from the people of Ferguson and St. Louis, shows that the event in and of itself is symptomatic of issues in that area that are above and beyond the actual incident in question.
Missouri GOP Furious Over 'Disgusting' Voter Registration Booths In Ferguson
"The Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party has labeled an effort by some Ferguson residents to fix its paltry twelve-percent voter participation rate "disgusting." And he seems to defensively insinuate that Blacks vote for Democrats and whites vote for Republicans.
"In an interview with Breitbart News, Missouri RNC executive director Matt Wills expressed outrage about the reports" of voter registration booths popping up in Ferguson, Breitbart reports.
“If that’s not fanning the political flames, I don’t know what is,” Wills said, “I think it’s not only disgusting but completely inappropriate.”
Wills explained that the shooting death of Michael Brown was a tragedy for everyone.
“This is not just a tragedy for the African American community this is a tragedy for the Missouri community as well as the community of what we call America,” he said. “Injecting race into this conversation and into this tragedy, not only is not helpful, but it doesn’t help a continued conversation of justice and peace.”
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/conservatives_furious_voter_registration_booths_are_popping_up_in_ferguson
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And he seems to defensively insinuate that Blacks vote for Democrats and whites vote for Republicans.
Interesting capitalisation choice by the writer of the intro.
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Interesting capitalisation choice by the writer of the intro.
Actually, it used to be common "over here" to capitalize Black when it was used as a synonym for Negro. Yet at the same time it wasn't usual to capitalize white when it was used as a synonym for Caucasian. I have no idea why this was, it just was, and it did at times lead to some strange-looking sentences, such as the one quoted.
I have no idea what "the rules" are anymore, or even if there still are rules anymore. :-\
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Black is out, afro-American is back in.
And I repeat my question... why don't they vote?
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I find it interesting that the article about the THWARTED school shooting had to put this line
in the story and add something more horrific to the good news of this NOT happening:
On May 6, 1940, a South Pasadena school principal, angry about being fired by the district,
shot and killed five school officials in what is now considered a mass school shooting.
So there.
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Actually, it used to be common "over here" to capitalize Black when it was used as a synonym for Negro. Yet at the same time it wasn't usual to capitalize white when it was used as a synonym for Caucasian. I have no idea why this was, it just was, and it did at times lead to some strange-looking sentences, such as the one quoted.
I have no idea what "the rules" are anymore, or even if there still are rules anymore. :-\
And that's interesting, Jeff.
BTW, I don't know about Australia, but in England either -ise or -ize is fine, with the -s- becoming much more common.
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"The Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party has labeled an effort by some Ferguson residents to fix its paltry twelve-percent voter participation rate "disgusting." And he seems to defensively insinuate that Blacks vote for Democrats and whites vote for Republicans.
We already know by their voter registration "reforms" and other such attitudes that Reps. don't mind voting, it's WHO votes they can find
disgusting.
I wonder why Blacks/blacks vote for Democrats? Maybe because Republicans have members who think and write things like this:
Democrats are Scum: Voter Registration Booths set up in Ferguson
The Democratic Party is full of scumbags and all one needs to see are the photos of [voter registration booths] set up in Ferguson
to understand just how disgusting these creatures have become.
I happen to think trying to keep people from voting is way more disgusting.
As to why Ferguson residents don't vote, this article answers some of that:
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/08/local-leaders-most-fergusons-black
Ferguson's entire municipal voting turnout (black AND white) was only 12.3% this year.
And worse the previous two years: 11.7% and 8.9%.
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With only 12% voting, it should be AWFULLY easy for the majority to get whatever they want.
Guess it is even easier to stay home and bitch about how unfair everything is.
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Black is out, afro-American is back in.
Afro-American went out with bell bottoms and love beads. ;)
In England either -ise or -ize is fine, with the -s- becoming much more common.
That's interesting, too, Cally. I was under the impression that British spelling almost always preferred an -s- where Yank spelling goes with a -z-. (I've done some work where we've had to change some Yank usages to British usages, e.g., paracetamol for acetaminophen, "in hospital" for "in the hospital," and spellings, also.)
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With only 12% voting, it should be AWFULLY easy for the majority to get whatever they want.
Guess it is even easier to stay home and bitch about how unfair everything is.
It's always easier to stay home and bitch about something than to get off one's duff and do something about it. :(
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-1.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fnews%2F140831%2Fjames-foley-1024.jpg&hash=fba6d8bac900f4e3b5f09aeca440c18ba8726f32)
The United States stood firm Wednesday in its fight with Islamic State militants who beheaded a U.S. journalist in Iraq, pledging to continue attacking the group despite its threats to kill another American hostage.
The U.S. military continued its airstrikes against the group as President Barack Obama denounced the group as a "cancer" threatening the entire region.
"We will be vigilant and we will be relentless," Obama said.
Calling for a global response to the group that now controls territory in both Iraq and Syria, Obama condemned the group's execution of journalist James Foley, whose death he said had left the nation heartbroken. In forceful remarks, Obama accused the Islamic State of torturing, raping and murdering thousands of people in "cowardly acts of violence."
"ISIL speaks for no religion," Obama said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State. "Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day."
Obama's remarks affirmed that the U.S. would not change its military posture in Iraq in response to Foley's killing. Since the video was released Tuesday, the U.S. military has pressed ahead by conducting nearly a dozen airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq.
The president said he'd told Foley's family in a phone call Wednesday that the United States joins them in honoring all that Foley did, praising the journalist for his work telling the story of the crisis in Syria, where Foley was captured in 2012. "Jim Foley's life stands in stark contrast to his killers," Obama said. He spoke from Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, where the president is on vacation.
Foley, 40, from Rochester, New Hampshire, went missing in northern Syria in November 2012 while freelancing for Agence France-Presse and the Boston-based media company GlobalPost. The car he was riding in was stopped by four militants in a contested battle zone that both Sunni rebel fighters and government forces were trying to control. He had not been heard from since.
The beheading marks the first time the Islamic State has killed an American citizen since the Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011, upping the stakes in an increasingly chaotic and multilayered war. The killing is likely to complicate U.S. involvement in Iraq and the Obama administration's efforts to contain the group as it expands in both Iraq and Syria.
The group is the heir apparent of the militancy known as al-Qaida in Iraq, which beheaded many of its victims, including American businessman Nicholas Berg in 2004.
The video released on websites Tuesday appears to show the increasing sophistication of the Islamic State group's media unit and begins with scenes of Obama explaining his decision to order airstrikes.
It then cuts to Foley, kneeling in the desert, next to a black-clad militant with a knife to his throat. After the captive speaks, the militant is shown apparently beginning to cut at his neck; the video fades to black before the beheading is completed. The next shot shows the captive lying dead. The video appears to have been shot in an arid area; there is no vegetation to be seen and the horizon is in the distance where the sand meets the gray-blue sky.
At the end of the video, a militant shows a second man, who was identified as another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, and warns that he could be the next captive killed. Sotloff was kidnapped near the Syrian-Turkish border in August 2013; he had freelanced for Time, the National Interest and MediaLine.
Several senior U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the situation said the Islamic State very recently threatened to kill Foley to avenge the crushing air strikes over the past two weeks against militants advancing on Mount Sinjar, the Mosul dam and the Kurdish capital of Irbil.
Both areas are in northern Iraq, which has become a key front for the Islamic State as its fighters travel to and from Syria.
Since Aug. 8, the U.S. military has struck at least 70 Islamic State targets – including security checkpoints, vehicles and weapons caches. It's not clear how many militants have been killed in the strikes, although it's likely that some were.
The Islamic State militant group is so ruthless in its attacks against all people they consider heretics or infidels that it has been disowned by al-Qaida's leaders. In seeking to impose its harsh interpretation of Islamic law in the lands it is trying to control, the extremists have slain soldiers and civilians alike in horrifying ways – including mounting the decapitated heads of some of its victims on spikes.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimated Tuesday that about 20 journalists are missing in Syria, and has not released their nationalities. In its annual report in November, the committee concluded that the missing journalists were either being held and threatened with death by extremists, or taken captive by gangs seeking ransom. The group's report described the widespread seizure of journalists as unprecedented and largely unreported by news organizations in the hope that keeping the kidnappings out of public view may help in the captives' release.
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Afro-American went out with bell bottoms and love beads. ;)
Sorry, Jeff, I think it's back. Maybe it's AfriCAN-American. I saw two different shows in the last week or so where black folks were asked if they preferred Black Or Awhatever-American. Most (I remember ALL, but maybe not) said the latter. One said brown. And the Latino sitting next to her said "No, we've got that."
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Official: U.S. attempt to rescue Foley in Syria failed
By Ashley Fantz and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN
updated 6:53 PM EDT, Wed August 20, 2014
(CNN) -- [Breaking news update 6:53 p.m. ET]
The United States attempted a rescue operation earlier this summer to free a number of American hostages held in Syria by ISIS, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a written statement.
"Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location," he said.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN that the mission was to rescue U.S. journalist James Foley and others being held at an undisclosed location.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/20/world/meast/isis-james-foley/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/20/world/meast/isis-james-foley/index.html)
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Sorry, Jeff, I think it's back. Maybe it's AfriCAN-American.
Yes, it is AfriCAN American (with or without a hyphen). ;)
Though I do think the "Afro" hair style is making a comback. I had to change my seat in church a few weeks ago because a young fellow with hair so big that I couldn't see the minister came and sat down in front of me. :D
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The United States stood firm Wednesday in its fight with Islamic State militants who beheaded a U.S. journalist in Iraq, pledging to continue attacking the group despite its threats to kill another American hostage.
They're barbarians. That's the only word for them.
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Who... the Islamists. the US journalists or the US officials who have vowed to continue attacking?
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Yes, it is AfriCAN American (with or without a hyphen). ;)
I know it's not P.C. to consider races as "breeds" (although I don't understand WHY it's not,) if we were talking about domestic animals... like, say, dogs or cattle... we'd have AfriCaus or MexiAms or Blanglos. You know, like Eurasians.
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Am glad they caught those kids. Now....they should start questioning them, and any others ever caught, and come up with better profiles. That isn't much, I know, but every additional warning sign, and accumulated warning signs, could be a help.
Around here, they are making a big deal out of every time boys are foiled when it comes to attacks in the schools. The more they publicize boys not getting away with this shit. the more likely it will fall out of fashion.
I think the public, (luckily so) are more aware of the warning signs, and are reporting them, and luckily the police are taking it seriously. (Not like the Santa Barbara shootings where the shooter had been interviewed by the police the week before the murders. They did no follow up on him).
I think people feel it is OK to report when they suspect an issue, even if it does turn out to be a problem.
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Yeah.
See something, say something.
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Exactly, Sherry, or read something, say something.
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Afro-American went out with bell bottoms and love beads. ;)
That's interesting, too, Cally. I was under the impression that British spelling almost always preferred an -s- where Yank spelling goes with a -z-. (I've done some work where we've had to change some Yank usages to British usages, e.g., paracetamol for acetaminophen, "in hospital" for "in the hospital," and spellings, also.)
Well, the -s- comes more naturally to me, Jeff, and I think is more usual, but -z- (pronounced 'zed' of course :)) is how the words are listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, with "also -ise".
Well, I shall have to take enough paracetamol with me on holiday - I shall never remember your word, though I do know Tylenol. Is that the same?
Sorry, not news....
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I thought these people :D were from Australia. Has WA seceded from the Union and affiliated itself Down Under?
If they had they'd probably be told to “go back where they came from.”
One WA in Australia is quite enough. Oops, what have I said? :D
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Actually, it used to be common "over here" to capitalize Black when it was used as a synonym for Negro. Yet at the same time it wasn't usual to capitalize white when it was used as a synonym for Caucasian. I have no idea why this was, it just was, and it did at times lead to some strange-looking sentences, such as the one quoted.
And there was I thinking David Badash was editorialising... :D
Thanks, Jeff.
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... BTW, I don't know about Australia, but in England either -ise or -ize is fine, with the -s- becoming much more common.
All I know is what I prefer, -ise for instance, but the US "program" rather than the English "programme."
Perhaps my spelling is just multi-cultural... :D
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Who... the Islamists. the US journalists or the US officials who have vowed to continue attacking?
A soupçon of ambiguity can sometimes make the world go round...
Which brings me to my own earlier (perhaps unintentional) ambiguity:
Welcome to the Police State:
Police In Ferguson Have Continually Attacked And Harassed Journalists
The assault and arrest of reporters in Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday night is perhaps the most egregious example of a continual pattern of police harassment that journalists covering the unrest in the St. Louis suburb have faced.
The challenges that reporters are dealing with are, of course, minimal compared to those of the residents of Ferguson, which has seen days of unrest following the police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. But they nonetheless are examples of severe press intimidation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/journalists-attacked-police-ferguson_n_5677098.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000018
It’s about time somebody put a stop to their behaviour. :)
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The militariztion of the police forces is not just a US thing it's happening everywhere.
I was actually referring to the behaviour of the press, not the police; so, my apologies. :)
Perhaps my comment was premature, but the reports of the treatment Ryan Reilly and Wesley Lowery received last Wednesday seemed determined to paint the police as the “bad guys” and the two journalists as their innocent victims.
Since then I’ve taken the time to investigate what had occurred at McDonald’s on the night of 13 August and found that the situation wasn’t as black and white :D as it initially appeared.
It's certainly not as straightforward as was presented at the time, when the press leapt immediately to Reilly’s and Lowery’s defence without first checking their facts.
The reporters themselves, initially perceived to be the injured parties, were themselves unintentionally partly to blame for how things were presented and editorialised as unacceptable and antagonistic police harrassment.
I thought the use of the adjective “egregrious” to describe a pattern of journalists’ treatment by the police unnecessarily inflammatory not to mention, considering that it referred to actions which were outstandingly bad, shocking, appalling, terrible or atrocious, an inappropriate choice better applied to patterns of behaviour in which, for instance, ISIS engages.
Considering what had gone on in Ferguson prior to the events at McDonald’s the choice is perhaps unsurprising, but even so neither reporter was subjected to what other journalists had experienced earlier.
The bold and predictably clichéd claim by Martin Baron, chief executive of The Washington Post that “there was absolutely no justification for [Wesley Lowery’s] arrest. ... That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news” was another example of someone piping up without first knowing the facts of the situation. (Well, he had to say something in support of Lowery, I guess.)
The primary sources of information about what had occurred were Reilly’s and Lowery’s remarks during their interviews on MSNBC immediately after their release from the Ferguson Police Station holding cell and the contents of the video-recording made by Lowery at McDonald’s. Ryan Reilly gave one interview about the events at MacDonald’s (to Chris Hayes on MSNBC) but Wesley Lowery gave two, each on MSNBC (to Hayes and to Rachel Maddow).
Before I discuss what was said and shown, I’ll refer briefly to The Huffington Post’s claim that the video it presented at 8:48 pm on 13 August was a “video of Lowery’s arrest” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/reporters-arrested-ferguson-ryan-reilly-wesley-lowery_n_5676841.html), an incorrect claim as Lowery’s arrest occurred after the video recording had stopped.
But while The Huffington Post acknowledged that the video they'd posted had been uploaded by The Washington Post it still contained that paper’s embedded descriptor “Post’s Lowery detained in Ferguson” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-ferguson-washington-post-reporter-wesley-lowery-gives-account-of-his-arrest/2014/08/13/0fe25c0e-2359-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html), which is also incorrect as it shows Lowery being asked to leave McDonald's, not being “detained.”
It’s interesting how the press can, in one case, get a simple thing wrong and then, in the next, compound the original error.
These might be moot points, but they’re indicative of how the press can, if not ignore play fast and loose with the facts in the interests of newsworthiness.
I realise that the events in Ferguson occurred a week ago, and things have changed there since then, but comparing the reporters’ versions of what had happened, while time consuming, indicated that some of the press reports were misguided. I also understand that both men, considering what they’d experienced and that their interviews had occurred almost immediately upon their release, were somewhat stressed at the time.
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well, now we know where they're getting some of the money to run their terror org...
.....ISIS had a very different list of demands for Mr. Foley: The group pressed the United States to provide a multimillion-dollar [$130M] ransom for his release, according to a representative of his family and a former hostage held alongside him. The United States — unlike several European countries that have funneled millions to the terror group to spare the lives of their citizens — refused to pay.
...The policy of not making concessions to terrorists and not paying ransoms has put the United States and Britain at odds with other European allies, who have routinely paid significant sums to win the release of their nationals — including four French and three Spanish hostages who were released this year after money was delivered through an intermediary, according to two of the victims and their colleagues.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/middleeast/isis-pressed-for-ransom-before-killing-journalist.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/middleeast/isis-pressed-for-ransom-before-killing-journalist.html?_r=0)
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Who... the Islamists. the US journalists or the US officials who have vowed to continue attacking?
I boldfaced Islamic State militants. Journalists and US officials aren't cutting off people's heads.
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Well, the -s- comes more naturally to me, Jeff, and I think is more usual, but -z- (pronounced 'zed' of course :)) is how the words are listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, with "also -ise".
I didn't know that about the OED. That's very interesting. Thanks!
Well, I shall have to take enough paracetamol with me on holiday - I shall never remember your word, though I do know Tylenol. Is that the same?
Sorry, not news....
Yes. Tylenol is a brand name. Acetaminophen is the generic term for the drug.
And how could I have forgotten that usage? "To go on holiday" sounds so lovely and fun to me, whereas we Yanks just "go on vacation." :D
I guess I ought to go back to the news. Sorry, folks.
I haven't seen a local newspaper, but I'm wondering if Foley's murder is giving rise to any specific comment here, because around the beginning of Dubya's Iraq war, another journalist, whose family lives in the Philadelphia suburbs, suffered the same fate. :(
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I boldfaced Islamic State militants. Journalists and US officials aren't cutting off people's heads.
No they aren't (and you did boldface it) so we knew exactly who you meant!
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/aug/20/james-foley-died-most-horrific-way-parents-video
James Parents speaking on how cruel the execution was and how very proud they are of him, as they should be. James is in Heaven now and nothing can hurt him ever again.
More than can be said for these Islamic State Militants right to hell is where they will be going one day and hopefully sooner than later.
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Police and security services are trying to identify a suspected British jihadist who appeared in footage of the killing of a US journalist.
Extremist group Islamic State (IS) published a video of the moments before and after James Foley was beheaded.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the man in the video - who had an English accent - is from London or south-east England and may have guarded IS captives.
This feels bad.
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Kevin Sorbo unleashed a crazy rant on Facebook about the unrest in Ferguson ... accusing protesters of using the shooting of Michael Brown as "an excuse to be the losers these animals truly are."
The former "Hercules" star, who's a die-hard conservative, said on Facebook, "Ferguson riots have very little to do with the shooting of the young man."
He thinks the rioters are people who failed in life and need to cast blame for their shortcomings.
He wrote, "Hopefully this is a reminder to the African Americans ( I always thought we just Americans. Oh, well.) that their President they [sic] voted in has only made things worse for them, not better."
Sorbo then proceeded to paste the contents of a recent article from the Jewish World Review entitled, "Media Clueless About the Inner City."
We reached out to Sorbo's rep. So far, no comment.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3B2RSAVNW
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Well... there WAS that interview with the woman carrying the "No Peace" sign at the
riot rally who said she was proud to be taking part in keeping Fergusson in the news. "The whole world is watching us...."
It's pretty stupid to burn and wreck your own neighborhood. Of course, once all the businesses have been looted and the owners driven out, it gives credence to the belief that Whitey is keeping you poor by making you go great distances just to buy groceries or do your laundry.
Still, if Kevin is ever interested in running for office anywhere, he should be more... tactful.
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It’s interesting how the press can, in one case, get a simple thing wrong and then, in the next, compound the original error.
These might be moot points, but they’re indicative of how the press can, if not ignore play fast and loose with the facts in the interests of newsworthiness.
My feelings EXACTLY.
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Well, the -s- comes more naturally to me, Jeff, and I think is more usual, but -z- (pronounced 'zed' of course :)) is how the words are listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, with "also -ise".
Well, I shall have to take enough paracetamol with me on holiday - I shall never remember your word, though I do know Tylenol. Is that the same?
Sorry, not news....
That's the most frequently heard name, but the generic word is acetaminophen.
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My feelings EXACTLY.
:)
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Well... there WAS that interview with the woman carrying the "No Peace" sign at the riot rally who said she was proud to be taking part in keeping Fergusson in the news. "The whole world is watching us...."
It's pretty stupid to burn and wreck your own neighborhood. Of course, once all the businesses have been looted and the owners driven out, it gives credence to the belief that Whitey is keeping you poor by making you go great distances just to buy groceries or do your laundry.
Still, if Kevin is ever interested in running for office anywhere, he should be more... tactful.
Sorry, she's wrong, the whole world is not watching. They may have for a few minutes, but they have their own problems. CNN is perpetuating a lot of what's happening, having a "ride-along" in a cop car one night, covering it non-stop. If they reported on it once an hour, still giving updates but not dedicating their whole news day to it, it would have ended earlier (imo). People LOVE to see themselves on TV.....
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Repeatedly pushed by reporters about whether that meant operations against ISIS in Syria, Hagel said, "We're looking at all options."
While it's unclear what those options may be, Hagel said the United States is "very clear-eyed" about ISIS.
"They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess," Hagel said.
"This is beyond anything we have seen, and we must prepare for everything. And the only way you do that is that you take a cold, steely hard look at it and get ready."
Speaking at a town hall meeting in Arizona, Republican Sen. John McCain, who has advocated for strikes against ISIS in Syria, said the extremists were "an enemy that must be defeated. Not stopped, but defeated."
"It is a cancer which has spread throughout that region and can spread into Europe and into the United States of America," McCain said, according to CNN affiliate KGUN. His phrase echoed the term President Barack Obama used Wednesday to describe the terrorist group.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/21/world/meast/iraq-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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Sorry, she's wrong, the whole world is not watching. They may have for a few minutes, but they have their own problems. CNN is perpetuating a lot of what's happening, having a "ride-along" in a cop car one night, covering it non-stop. If they reported on it once an hour, still giving updates but not dedicating their whole news day to it, it would have ended earlier (imo). People LOVE to see themselves on TV.....
"After decades of escalating police brutality and months of watching insane white open carry ammosexuals swaggering around Dallas and other cities across the U.S. with their teeny weenies big guns on display, some black people have had enough.
"WFAA reports that on Wednesday, August 20, around 30 African-Americans gathered to march through a neighborhood in South Dallas open carry style. The group carried guns, wore all black, and included members of The Dallas New Black Panther Party and the Huey P. Newton Gun Club."
http://aattp.org/open-carry-what-happens-when-black-people-do-it/
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How unusual for African Americans to carry their guns out in the open.
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That term, "Ammosexuals" is very descriptive of certain personality types. I hope it is used more often, as it has traction, and, could give pause to some of those who are following the lead of their peer leaders :-\.
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How unusual for African Americans to carry their guns out in the open.
Excuse me while I whip this one out.....
"GoTopless, a Las Vegas-based organization that supports a women's right to go topless in public, is hosting a topless rally in San Antonio on Sunday.
"The group holds topless protests around the world every year on the Sunday closest to Women's Equality Day. They say a woman should be able to go topless anywhere a man legally can. Texas is one of 36 states where there is no law that prohibits public toplessness. And though a rally has been held in Austin for the past five years, this will be the first event held in San Antonio, which has a city ordinance banning public nudity that includes exposing a female breast.
"The San Antonio police have not announced whether they plan on arresting topless demonstrators Sunday, but the long arm (or the cold hands) of the law are not the only thing the ladies have to worry about. That's because in Texas, a woman's right to go shirtless has become intertwined with the open carry movement, and gun advocates are not shy about complaining about it. "
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Gun advocates think linking bare breasts and big guns is an unfair campaign."
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/san_antonio_to_celebrate_its_first_topless_day
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Since the female topless demonstrators will be breaking the law, they should be arrested.
I'd be willing to support a woman's right to go topless at the same time I support a man's right to go bottomless.
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Since the female topless demonstrators will be breaking the law, they should be arrested.
I'd be willing to support a woman's right to go topless at the same time I support a man's right to go bottomless.
Women going topless is legal in Canada. Apart from at Dyke Marches, it's pretty rare, but it is legal.
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"A campaign that emerged this week on GoFundMe.com set a goal of raising $250,000 for Officer Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. After just four days, the campaign has garnered nearly 6,000 individual donations totaling more than $234,000. . . .Wilson has been on paid administrative leave for nearly two weeks since the shooting occurred. According to the Washington Post, St. Louis County prosecutors still have not spoken to the officer directly about the circumstances of the shooting."
http://www.mediaite.com/online/crowdfunding-campaign-for-officer-darren-wilson-has-raised-nearly-250k/
The page includes screenshots of some of the deleted philosophical musings of The Faithful that the organization saw fit to delete. Seemed rather pointless considering some of the comments
when was the last time a Lithuanian or a Greek or a Vietnamese ran from or to a police officer at full speed? Nope its seems only the blacks have some sort of mental defect that prevents them from understanding you dont [sic] assault or run from the police........it really is that simple.
Officer Wilson bagged a violent thief. Cleaned up the street. Took out the trash. Wilson is a hero.
Of course, we don't know if these remarks are racist. Surely not everyone here is narrow-minded enough to find them offensive.
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I'd be willing to support a woman's right to go topless at the same time I support a man's right to go bottomless.
So you’d approve of apples only if bananas and plums were also on the menu. ;)
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How about plums if we're having fruit salad?
(Sorry if I interrupted your train of thought, Paul ::).)
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How about plums if we're having fruit salad?
You got in before my edit! :D
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I've got my own apple orchard. I have to go out for bananas and plums.
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Melbourne has been named the world's most liveable city for the fourth year in a row, by the Economist Intelligence Unit's liveability survey of 140 cities.
The survey rated cities out of 100 in the areas of healthcare, education, stability, culture and environment and infrastructure.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-19/melbourne-worlds-most-liveable-city-for-the-fourth-year-running/5681014
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Melbourne received an overall score of 97.5 out of 100, scoring a perfect rating for healthcare, education and infrastructure.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-19/melbourne-worlds-most-liveable-city-for-the-fourth-year-running/5681014
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You chose well then :).
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Melbourne received an overall score of 97.5 out of 100, scoring a perfect rating for healthcare, education and infrastructure.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-19/melbourne-worlds-most-liveable-city-for-the-fourth-year-running/5681014
I'm sorry, but Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto are the most expensive cities in Canada. For most people that hardly makes them the most liveable.
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:D Imagine living in Vancouver, I could "never" afford it. I watch "Love it or List it Vancouver" and just shake my head!
St Louis County police officer Dan Page has been suspended after a video of him giving a hate-filled speech to far-right group surfaced
Page was seen on CNN on Monday pushing anchor Don Lemon as he reported live from Ferguson
Page spews vitriol about black people, gay people, President Obama, Muslims and more
His extreme views include that the government is trying to indoctrinate children to spy on their parents at public schools
He claims there are 'four sodomites in the Supreme Court' as he rages against hate-laws
He says, 'I personally believe in Jesus Christ as my lord savior, but I'm also a killer. I’ve killed a lot. And if I need to, I'll kill a whole bunch more'
Page calls Obama 'my undocumented president'
He claims to be a Vietnam veteran and has 35 years with the St Louis County police
An investigation is pending
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2732402/I-ve-killed-lot-And-I-need-I-ll-kill-bunch-Racist-sexist-homophobic-speech-St-Louis-County-police-officer-Ferguson-pushed-CNN-s-Don-Lemon-live-air.html#ixzz3BEjLUfU5
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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From that cities list I'd say Rob Ford is managing Toronto really well!
The five Northern Hemisphere cities are all decidedly white bread and in sub-artic (!) climates!
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You chose well then :).
Canada didn't do too badly, either. :)
Vancouver: 100 for Healthcare, Culture&Environment and Education.
Toronto and Calgary: 100 for Stability, Healthcare and Education.
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I've got my own apple orchard.
Show off! :D
I have to go out for bananas and plums.
Have you considered home delivery? :D
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The EIU’s Liveability Survey
• Indicators. These are scored as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable.
Stability (25% of total): prevalence of petty and violent crime, threat of terror, military conflict and civil unrest/conflict.
Healthcare (20% of total): Availability and quality of private & public healthcare, availability of over-the-counter drugs and general healthcare.
Culture & Environment (25% of total): Humidity/temperature rating, ciimate discomfort to travellers, level of corruption, social or religious restrictions. level of censorship, sporting & cultural availability, food and drink, consumer goods and services.
Education 10% and Infrastucture 20% of total
• The overall ratings scale.
80—100 There are few, if any, challenges to living standards.
70—80 Day to day living is fine, in general, but some aspects of life may entail problems.
60—70 Negative factors have an impact on day to day living.
50—60 Liveability is substantially constrained.
50 or less Most aspects of living are severely restricted.
• The ten bottom countries are:
Cote d’Ivoire (total = 45.9), Libya, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Pakistan, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh and Syria (total = 30.5)
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Have you considered home delivery? :D
I've found the, eh, product is never as advertised and usually goes bad rather quickly. Much better to go out when I'm in the mood and pick it out myself.
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"A campaign that emerged this week on GoFundMe.com set a goal of raising $250,000 for Officer Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. After just four days, the campaign has garnered nearly 6,000 individual donations totaling more than $234,000. . . .Wilson has been on paid administrative leave for nearly two weeks since the shooting occurred. According to the Washington Post, St. Louis County prosecutors still have not spoken to the officer directly about the circumstances of the shooting."
http://www.mediaite.com/online/crowdfunding-campaign-for-officer-darren-wilson-has-raised-nearly-250k/
THANKS for posting this although it has been a frustrating couple of hours trying to donate to this fund! First, gofundme is not dial-up friendly. So many sites these days are set up for mobile and other devices! I made a trip to my son's house... he has broadband... and then we couldn't donate because they don't take paypal (not that I have a paypal account any more, but my kid does.) You have to use wepay and it takes time to verify the account. However, we persevered and found several other funds set up to help this police officer and his family. The check is in the mail, as they say! And I've already passed the info on to a half dozen or so like minded folks.
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I'm sorry, but Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto are the most expensive cities in Canada. For most people that hardly makes them the most liveable.
Sounds like San Francisco. :P
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I've found the, eh, product is never as advertised and usually goes bad rather quickly. Much better to go out when I'm in the mood and pick it out myself.
;D
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(08-24) 05:20 PDT AMERICAN CANYON -- A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck 3 miles northwest of American Canyon (Napa County) at 3:20 a.m., and "numerous" have been reported, authorities said.
The quake was felt widely throughout Northern California and had a depth of 6.7 miles, officials said.
Napa Fire Capt. Steve Becker said there are "numerous" injuries reported across Napa, but details were not immediately available.
There was a report of some buckling on an off-ramp from westbound Highway 37 to Highway 29 at Sonoma Boulevard. As a result, Highway 37 between Fairgrounds Drive and Highway 29 is closed as Caltrans crews assessed the damage.
A fire at a Napa mobile home park destroyed at least three homes. A water main break was hampering firefighting efforts, Becker said.
Some power lines down in western Contra Costa County, but Bay Area bridges appeared to be fine, according to the California Highway Patrol.
There were widespread reports of power outages, gas leaks and flooding in the North Bay, with at least 15,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers without power in Vallejo, Napa, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa and Sonoma. Police reminded motorists to stop at darkened intersections.
Many people were jolted awake by the quake.
Erica Gregory, who was brewing coffee while working by herself at the 24-hour Shell gas station on Highway 29 in Vallejo, said things started to fly off the shelves when the quake hit.
"It was nerve-wracking," Gregory said. "You just have to stand there and take it."
In Benicia, several miles from the epicenter, the quake was strong enough to knock pictures off mantles.
Darryl Sismil, owner of Marin Computer Service in Santa Rosa, described the tremor as "just a rolling sensation. It felt like I was on a boat in the bay."
At the 24-hour Napa Valley Casino off Highway 29 in American Cansyon, the quake interrupted a hand of Texas Hold 'Em.
"I didn't know what to do," said Sunshine Hamilton, adding that her "legs were shaking" from the experience. "Everybody ran outside, so I ran outside too. No one grabbed chips or anything like that."
They sat outside for about 10 minutes before returning inside to finish the hand.
"It wasn't like the shaking I felt in '89," said Skip Hutchins, the cashier at the table, referring to the Loma Prieta earthquake. "It felt like more of a rolling."
Les Flynn was asleep with his son on a buddy's couch in Napa when the quake hit.
"I had my little boy on the couch so I threw myself over him because the there was s- falling on the couch," Flynn said. "It was crazy, everything was shaking off the walls. The whole house was just rolling."
After the shaking stopped, Flynn grabbed his son and started driving home to Vallejo, where his home was without power.
Officer Albie Esparza, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, said a "roll call" of all police stations in San Francisco was conducted shortly after the quake hit, and that "all facilities reported no damage at this time, and operations continue normally."
Bay Area police departments urged the public not to call 911 to seek confirmation that a quake had occurred.
"Officers actively working the Napa area for earthquake-related issues," that city's police department wrote in a message on Twitter. "Only call 911 in life-threatening situations."
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Damage inside a 7-Eleven in American Canyon after a 6.0 earthquake was centered near the area at 3:20 a.m. on Sunday August 24, 2014.
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"Everybody ran outside, so I ran outside too.
Just for the record, you are NOT supposed to run outside.
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Just for the record, you are NOT supposed to run outside.
In the 1989 one, Loma Prieta, I did go outside...I was living in a one story apartment, I didn't think it would be unsafe...I remember seeing the tops of the palm trees moving, but of course, it wasn't the wind, and hearing glass shattering inside...
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Just for the record, you are NOT supposed to run outside.
Really? Running outside is what i would do, just to avoid things falling on me.
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(Napa today)
All the better to get hit by broken glass and flying bricks.
It's probably iffy either way, staying in, going out. In most of the US... and Canada... very little is built to withstand the earth bouncing around. This ain't Japan.
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^^
I'm not sure which is the right or wrong thing to do but.....running outside would be the most natural thing to do I would think.
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In the 1989 one, Loma Prieta, I did go outside...I was living in a one story apartment, I didn't think it would be unsafe...I remember seeing the tops of the palm trees moving, but of course, it wasn't the wind, and hearing glass shattering inside...
Really? Running outside is what i would do, just to avoid things falling on me.
Actually, Lyle is correct. I found out when NJ had that itty-bitty earthquake in 2011. We made the same mistake, went outside. We did so because our building is on 'poles', very similar to this one.
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Because of that, we left the building in case it wasn't safe.
If you leave a building during an earthquake, you can have something fall off the roof onto you, or have the windows higher up shatter and rain glass on you.
If you are inside during an earthquake, you should go to the biggest, sturdiest table (usually the dining room) and get under it.
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Don't know about NJ or CA any more... haven't lived in either since the 80s... but I don't know anyone who had big sturdy furniture these days. Or a "dining room," for that matter.
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Yes you do, Sherry. I don't know about the sturdiness of the furniture, it is reproduction maple and cherrywood, but we definitely do have a dining room.
We don't often have earthquakes here though. I haven't ever experienced one. My sister was in a small one when she lived in the North of England some years back, and the top came off the church spire, also my son in law's father experienced one a couple of years back, he said he thought it was "snow coming off the roof" so he went outside and looked, and there was no snow.
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I wrote earlier that I believed Ryan Reilly and Wesley Lowery were partly to blame for the way in which their treatment at McDonald’s was reported in the press.
I’ll first address the claims made by Lowery in his interviews with Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow and the evidence regarding those claims provided in the video (http://youtu.be/5a-mzKgBm6M) he recorded when asked to leave McDonald’s.
• He was illegally asked to stop video-recording. #
This was a point also made by Martin Baron of The Washington Post when he said that Lowery being told to “Stop video-recording” was an illegal instruction.
While some US state laws make it illegal to record others without their consent Federal US courts have held consistently that citizens have a First Amendment right to record the police as they perform their official duties in public.
The US Department of Justice under President Obama, by reminding police departments that they’re not allowed to harrass citizens for recording them, has affirmed the courts' stance.
However, the police don’t have the right to stop someone filming them unless that person is interfering with their work.
In this case the work of the police involved the clearing of McDonald’s for its customers’ safety.
(Ryan Reilly made this point in his interview with Chris Hayes: the police had talked to the Manager and then “told everyone in the restaurant that they couldn’t ... provide for or guarantee their safety ... if they were to stay in the area.”)
Lowery told Rachel Maddow that “protests were going on outside” when the police had entered McDonald’s.
They told everyone, he said, that “You all should leave, well you should get out of here [because] we can’t ensure your safety.”
He also told Hayes that they were told “We can’t ensure your safety. It’s dangerous out there.”
The work of the police was to ensure that the patrons of the restaurant were promptly evacuated for their own safety.
Any delay affecting the evacuation of the restaurant would impede their work.
The police officer's instruction to Lowery to stop video-recording was not illegal.
• He was arrested because he was packing his bags too slowly.
While the video shows Lowery procrastinating it does not show him being arrested because he did so.
In interviews with Hayes and Maddow he said that he was grabbed, put in restraints and taken outside because he’d asked to adjust his bag when being escorted from the building. ##
He wasn’t arrested because he was packing his bags too slowly.
• The officer was angry that he was too slow.
There are two issues here: that the officer was angry and his anger was in response to Lowery's slowness to cooperate.
Lowery told Hayes that the “officer was angry that I wasn’t moving fast enough,” but in his interview with Maddow he said that the officer “was angry that I wasn’t moving fast enough or what-not,” which suggests, at least, some uncertainty.
The video shows that Lowery was instructed to leave the building nineteen times, but rather than pack up and go promptly he stalled for time gathering his things and by repeatedly talking over the police officer’s instructions in order to focus on recording their exchange.
His initial response when instructed to leave, that “I’m workin’ on it,” has an arguably insolent tone, rather than a tone indicating willing compliance.
However, the officer involved, while possibly impatient with Lowery's behaviour, maintains a consistently business-like manner as he repeats his instructions to leave the building.
• The officer didn’t want to answer the question when Lowery asked if he could move his car.
Incorrect. When Lowery asked if he could move his car the officer answered “You can move your car if your car’s out here.”
To be fair, Lowery could have been confused about what was said while he was recording his exchanges with the officer.
Perhaps he didn’t hear the officer’s reply during his first attempts to ask the question and only recalled he’d said “We don’t have time to ask questions. Let’s go.”
But on his third attempt the officer clearly answers the question.
Lowery’s claim that the officer didn’t want to answer is not the full picture.
Video Transcript:
Officer: “... finished off. Let’s go.”
Lowery: “I’m workin’ on it.”
Officer: “Stop video taping and let’s grab our stuff and go.”
Lowery: “Have I no right to videotape you, sir?”
Officer: “Hurry up. Let’s go.”
Lowery: “Please don’t make me go ... [unclear].
Officer: “Let’s go.”
Lowery: “You’ve seen me working ... Please do not tell me not to use my [unclear].”
Officer: “It’s time to go. Let’s go.”
What Lowery says next is unclear. Then:
Officer (moving away): “We’re going in about 45 seconds, let’s go.”
The voices of the officer and other patrons (what is said is unclear) are heard in the mid-distance.
Lowery (continuing over them): “Now, is the street ... Can I ask you...?”
Officer (returning to Lowery): “Let’s go. Let’s go.”
Lowery: “I’m trying to ask you if I can move my car.”
Officer: “We don’t have time to ask questions. Let’s go.”
Lowery: “Can I ... can I move my car? Can I...”
Officer: “You can move your car if your car’s out here. Let’s go.”
Lowery: “It is, that’s what I was askin.’ You didn’t have time to answer, or you’re just being mean?”
Officer (over him): “Let’s go. Let’s go.”
owery: “I’m working on it, sir.”
Officer: “Let’s go. Here’s a door over here. Let’s go.”
Lowery says something unclear under other voices, which includes that of a female patron.
Officer: “Let’s go. You can move. Let’s go. Move. ”
Lowery: “Sir, please...
Officer: “Let’s move. Let’s move.”
Lowery: “Sir ... can you...?”
Officer: “Let’s move this way. Here, here’s the door ... this way, this way.”
# I refer here to the issue of Lowery's rights as a US citizen rather than as a member of the press, a point which was also raised by Baron when he claimed that Lowery’s arrest was “an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news.” ::)
## I’ll discuss his behaviour at this particular moment, and why I believe the police responded as they did, in a subsequent post.
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Yes you do, Sherry. I don't know about the sturdiness of the furniture, it is reproduction maple and cherrywood, but we definitely do have a dining room.
We don't often have earthquakes here though. I haven't ever experienced one. My sister was in a small one when she lived in the North of England some years back, and the top came off the church spire, also my son in law's father experienced one a couple of years back, he said he thought it was "snow coming off the roof" so he went outside and looked, and there was no snow.
For sure, "knowing" someone has been lost in translation.
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I think you will find that actually, I know a lot about you and you know a lot about me, even though we have never met. A lot of very real personal friendships have been forged on this forum.
I first traveled across the Atlantic to meet a lovely fellow Brokie.
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(CNN) — Read between the lines — but be careful if those lines are on a Virginia highway.
Posted 5:08 PM, August 25, 2014
Temporary striping tape installed on Interstate 66 peeled off on Monday, creating spaghetti-shaped dividers that caused lengthy delays for those on their morning commute, according to CNN affiliate WUSA.
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;D
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After he’d been released from the Ferguson Police Station on Wednesday night Ryan J. Reilly was interviewed, via phone, from the station’s lobby, by Chris Hayes on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes (http://youtu.be/Lj22qlwVw4k).
When asked about “the circumstances under which he was arrested” Reilly of The Huffington Post replied:
“Sure. I mean I was sitting in a McDonald’s doing, um, just doing work, um, and when, um, three um, yeah, fully SWAT, and er, officers in full SWAT gear came in, initially told everyone, ah, initially talked to the, ah, manager and told everyone in the restaurant that they couldn’t [unintelligible], um, provide for their safety or guarantee their safety if they were to walk, er, if they were to stay in the area, they then left, they then returned a couple a minutes later saying the plans had changed and that McDonald’s was going to be shut down, um, and when, um, me and Wesley did not apparently pack up our, ah, our gear quickly enough for it to their liking, er, I was given a countdown, at which point I was, ah, handcuffed and, um, ah, using a, the officer used his finger to, ah, um, to put, to push against my neck, um, bent my arms the right way, I was told to stop resisting in spite of the fact that I was - had gone limp and was not resisting, ah, at all, ah, at least my arms were limp, um, and then on the way out of the, er, of the McDonald’s my head was, er, purposely slammed into the, um, glass door, um, and the officer sar-, quipped sarcastically remarked that he was sorry. I asked for his identification, um, or his you know, his name or his badge number in the presence that, it was in the presence of the two officers who were, escort-, the two or three officers who were escorting me out, um, as well as additional, I’d say a total of over eight officers who were standing around, um, ah, and like repeatedly asked for any names, they were, none of them were wearing, ah, badges, or anything that nature, um, so it was impossible to sort of identify them, um, and yeah, I mean it was just, I mean I can’t especially if I, if I was someone just sitting in a McDonald’s working on their laptop who wasn’t [unintelligible] who wasn’t, um, moving quickly enough for the officers can be treated in that matter it just, I can’t, I can’t imagine what other people are going through right there...”
Hayes (attempting, in vain, to interrupt the flow): “Uh...”
Reilly (continuing without a pause): “which is something I think, you know, that needs to be some focus on and hopefully we can get to continue to, ah, provide coverages, you know, what’s happening here, outside of what just individually, ah, happened to us.”
Hayes: “Ah, Ryan, my understanding is, is, is the way that you ended up, you and, and Wesley, who I’m going to speak to in a moment from Washington Post, ah, the way that you were released was that fellow reporter Matt Pearce who’s there with the LA Times who’s also doing some great coverage of things on the ground, called up the Chief of Police in Ferguson Missouri and said ‘DO YOU REALISE THAT YOUR POLICE JUST ARRESTED TWO REPORTERS?’ # and then a little bit later you were released and there was no paper work, no charges, no nothing, is that correct?”
Reilly: “Right. We were given an arrest report number but were told that we’re not actually gonna be able to get the report, um, for several weeks, um, yeah, we were just released and told not allowed to speak to a, um, you know, no names at all of anyone who we dealt with, so we’re not allowed, ah, except for at the end when we got a business card, but no, um, like, you know, essentially they were just, they just released us and that was it, we didn’t really get to talk to any, anyone, and now we’re still camped out here and actually when they arrested us we were both near our vehicles and um, our vehicles were both near the McDonald’s so now we’re, I gather over a mile, er, away I think, probably a little bit, perhaps a little bit more, um, no way to really get back to our cars, we’re sort of here at the, um, we’re here at the police station, and um, you know, a colleague of mine is on the other, on the other, um, sides, ah, sort of, ah, of town and separated by, um, you know, lots of tear gas so it’s, it’s just a very chaotic and worrying situation and, um, you know, and the escalation I think that, that the militarised officers sort of introduced into this situation when it was, er, er, there was a peaceful protest, I think was, was, you know, I think it was antagonising, honestly, to just they way they had handled this thing.”
Reilly makes a number of points here which are of particular interest:
• that three officers in full SWAT gear came into MacDonald's;
• they spoke to the manager and then told everyone that they couldn't guarantee their safety if they stayed;
• they then said that McDonald's was going to be shut down;
• a total of more than eight other officers were also present (just “standing around” :));
• no officers were wearing identification; and
• Reilly asked for the identification of the officer who he alleges slammed his head into the glass, but doesn't say anything about the officer's response.
Finally, when Chris Hayes asked him about the connection between his and Lowery's release (that another reporter had contacted the Chief of Police to ask whether he knew the two men were reporters) Reilly avoided a direct response and had instead focused on the last section of Hayes' question, before providing unasked for information about his and Lowery's cars and then his (also unasked for) opinion about the behaviour of the police.
That Chris Hayes didn't follow through with Reilly's non-response to this issue is indicative of the approach by the press to Reilly's and Lowery's arrests.
Not a good interview, Chris, not by a long shot; but it certainly—and successfully—painted the cops as “the bad guys.”
I've posted the transcript of the interview as I realise those with dial-up might prefer not to watch a four-minute interview online.
That said,the transcript itself is a pretty onerous “read.” :)
#I've tried to suggests Hayes' dramatic and exclamatory tone by capitalising his words.
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FOOTNOTE to the above post:
The unidentified writer of The Huffington Post’s response (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/huffington-post-reporter-arrested-ferguson_n_5676829.html) to Reilly’s arrest wrote that:
“SWAT officers roughed up the reporters inside a McDonald's, where both journalists were working. Reilly snapped a photo, prompting cops to request his identification.
“The officer in question, who I repeatedly later asked for his name, grabbed my things and shoved them into my bag,” said Reilly, who appeared on MSNBC's ‘All In with Chris Hayes’ shortly after his release to recount the arrest.
Reilly said it will be difficult to hold the officer “accountable for his actions,” as the officer did not respond to Reilly's repeated requests for his name or other identification.
He said he can't be “100 percent sure” whether the officer was aware that he's a reporter, “but that really shouldn't matter in this equation.”
Reilly believes he was arrested because he declined to present the officer his identification when asked for it, he said.
I don’t know where the writer got this “extra” information—it’s certainly not contained in the Chris Hayes interview, as far as I can see ::) — but, if it's correct, it suggests that Reilly:
a) either didn't tell the whole story to Chris Hayes (which is certainly plausible, as Hayes doesn't ask the right questions but just lets Reilly ramble on at length); or,
b) that he'd later embroidered his version of what had occurred; or
c) his “memory" had suddenly improved.
It’s also telling that he (allegedly) admitted not only that he wasn’t sure whether he’d identified himself as a reporter but also that whether he was known to be a reporter wasn’t important.
In Dylan Byers' article (http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/08/reporters-arrested-in-ferguson-193914.html) on Politico.com Reilly allegedly said—inThe Huffington Post (which I’m unable to locate)—that his arrest and treatment was “a terrible experience,” and that:
“I recognize I’m in sort of a place of privilege here both as a journalist and as a white person frankly, in that evidently the police chief made the decision to not hold us.”
Come on, Ryan.
On the one hand you moan that your treatment was “a terrible experience” for a person in “a place of privilege ... as a journalist and a white person,” for goodness’ sake, yet you say that it’s unimportant whether or not the officer who arrested you knew you were a reporter? ::)
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I think you will find that actually, I know a lot about you and you know a lot about me, even though we have never met. A lot of very real personal friendships have been forged on this forum.
I first traveled across the Atlantic to meet a lovely fellow Brokie.
I do NOT know you and you most definitely do not know me.
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I don't care where you are in the United States, if a policeman wants you to do
something you'd better do it, regardless if you've done anything wrong or not.
Regardless if you're a journalist or not. You suffer the consequences if you do not.
You don't argue with them, or ask them questions, or have a discussion about anything,
you do it.
A woman was wandering near a freeway and on-ramp in L.A. recently and a sheriff
was trying to get her off the road. A passing motorist recorded him slamming her to
the ground and repeatedly beating her. You may have even seen this on the news.
Now, I am not going to say that what he did was not excessive and shouldn't have
been done, but I will say that if the person had done what she was told to do, that
would not have happened. Some would turn that around and say you are blaming the
victim for what happened. But it's the same notion if someone is in a car and the police
want you to pull over. What if you don't?
Has no one seen the COPS show that's been on for 25+ years? You don't do what the
police ask you to do, if you resist, it automatically gets worse for you.
I've been in protest situations concerning some gay related issues a few times and
afterwards I've watched a lot of news coverage of these events and I can also tell
you that a lot of these field reporters have no idea what they are talking about and
what they're doing. They might choose to interview the worst possible people for
their opinions or come up with whole cloth opinions out of nowehre, because they
are trying to "tell a story" -- even if there doesn't happen to actually be a story to tell.
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I do NOT know you and you most definitely do not know me.
So there.
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In the same vein as reporters not reporting news or coloring it up to make the story better, etc, I don't understand why reporters are considered off limits when they are working in dangerous situations. They know they are in peril and they generally go there willingly and get paid to do so. Tell me the rush they get from the danger isn't worth as much to them as the money they make, if not more. So when they are injured or killed... or taken hostage and executed... it is their fault. It would not have happened if they had not put themselves in the situation. And rather than the US refusing to ransom hostages, why are the companies these reporters working for not responsible for coming up with the money?
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I do NOT know you and you most definitely do not know me.
Shame really. We could have been such good friends.
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Shame really. We could have been such good friends.
Jess, we do get to know each other on these forums. And it is from patterns and good will, or lack of same. And, on this thread, our approach to the news events. I certainly consider you a friend.
In fact, even when there's disagreement, or, with a few of my favorites, some grumpiness, I consider everyone here a friend of some kind or other. Even when we disagree on issues.
I wouldn't be here unless I did like all of you. As for the issues, wow, we can go head-to-head on those. So what? Happily, we are not clones :D.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftribkcpq.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F08%2Flanes.jpg%3Fw%3D400%26amp%3Bh%3D225%26amp%3Bcrop%3D1&hash=5c1b0c8621301168218470131de6b2319f39cafd)
(CNN) — Read between the lines — but be careful if those lines are on a Virginia highway.
Posted 5:08 PM, August 25, 2014
Temporary striping tape installed on Interstate 66 peeled off on Monday, creating spaghetti-shaped dividers that caused lengthy delays for those on their morning commute, according to CNN affiliate WUSA.
Yep, that was big news on the radio, especially the traffic control reports. People were quite confused.
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I do NOT know you and you most definitely do not know me.
What an odd reaction to a couple of good-natured posts.
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Shame really. We could have been such good friends.
No, we absolutely could not.
Jess, we do get to know each other on these forums. And it is from patterns and good will, or lack of same. And, on this thread, our approach to the news events. I certainly consider you a friend.
In fact, even when there's disagreement, or, with a few of my favorites, some grumpiness, I consider everyone here a friend of some kind or other. Even when we disagree on issues.
I wouldn't be here unless I did like all of you. As for the issues, wow, we can go head-to-head on those. So what? Happily, we are not clones :D.
Sure, T, a friend is someone we just haven't met yet don't know exists as an individual somewhere, on some planet, in some universe or time.
I count my friends dear and don't include among them people who post on internet forums. Or my neighbors. Or the people who serve me at Taco Bell.
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such empathy
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Thank you Tony, Sara and Lyle for your kindness.
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LOL.
I am really laughing out loud.
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Oh, good grief :P. ^^^^
Well, now that it's there I have been un-friended, by obtuse definitions, on to a curiosity.
With all the wild coverage of the shooting of the black teen-ager in Ferguson, there was, at roughly the same time, the killing, by police, of a white teen-ager, in Utah. Dillon Taylor. Am no good at providing links, but if someone else wants to, please do.
Two issues. 1) is there a double-standard in news coverage? and 2) is there increasing over-reaction from police ?
I do support the police. They have a dangerous job. And I tend to disbelieve that they are always at fault when black kids get shot. Bill Cosby has spoken up with similar views. But, something is going on. Here in Norfolk, the fuzz tasered an elderly lady for doing a daily hoola hoop on the median strip near a shopping mall. It doesn't make sense. And yet, knee-jerk reactions from the left or the right, are obfuscating that there are genuine problems for the police, and accelerating mis-use of force, by them, as well.
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Yes.
No.
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So, the US has warned Egypt and the UAE to stop their secret attacks in Libya, telling them other countries need to stay out of the conflict.
Countries other than the US that is.
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No, we absolutely could not.
Sure, T, a friend is someone we just haven't met yet don't know exists as an individual somewhere, on some planet, in some universe or time.
I count my friends dear and don't include among them people who post on internet forums. Or my neighbors. Or the people who serve me at Taco Bell.
How about people who give your dog a home :'( :'(
j/k, of course.... ;)
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While I appreciate people who have enough good sense to buy, adopt or even steal one of MY dogs, I don't follow them on twitter or push the Like button on facebook.
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In today's Times newspaper:
"A nine-year-old girl accidentally killed a shooting instructor in the US state of Arizona as he showed her how to use a submachine gun.
Charles Vacca died on Monday shortly after being taken by air ambulance to the University Medical Centre in Las Vegas.
The instructor, 39, was standing next to the girl at the Bullets and Burgers outdoor shooting range in White Hills when she pulled the trigger of the Uzi."
IMO every aspect of this is just sick. No point in posting this really, as I know most people will agree, but I just had to.
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In today's Times newspaper:
"A nine-year-old girl accidentally killed a shooting instructor in the US state of Arizona as he showed her how to use a submachine gun.
Charles Vacca died on Monday shortly after being taken by air ambulance to the University Medical Centre in Las Vegas.
The instructor, 39, was standing next to the girl at the Bullets and Burgers outdoor shooting range in White Hills when she pulled the trigger of the Uzi."
IMO every aspect of this is just sick. No point in posting this really, as I know most people will agree, but I just had to.
This is where I get accused of blaming the victim, I guess, but regardless I think it was a damn-fool thing to do, to hand an automatic weapon to a 9-year-old.
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Here in Norfolk, the fuzz tasered an elderly lady for doing a daily hoola hoop on the median strip near a shopping mall.
That does seem a might excessive, but what on earth was the old girl doing with a hoola hoop in (I presume) a highway median strip? ???
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That does seem a might excessive, but what on earth was the old girl doing with a hoola hoop in (I presume) a highway median strip? ???
Well, it is a large median strip, with trees, shrubbery, etc., and so an oasis from all the concrete thereabouts. She was not disturbing traffic. As for why that style of aerobics, I don't know. She might have been Hawaiian.
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Well, it is a large median strip, with trees, shrubbery, etc., and so an oasis from all the concrete thereabouts. She was not disturbing traffic.
Then it sounds as if she also was not being a danger to herself, so the police can't plausibly make that excuse: She was endangering herself and distracting drivers, refused to desist, etc., etc., etc.
As for why that style of aerobics, I don't know. She might have been Hawaiian.
:D
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Too bad she wasn't hooping it up outside of Bullets and Burgers in the US state of Arizona.
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'Cops' Crew Member Killed by Officers While Show Films Armed Robbery
According to Deputy Chief David Baker of the Omaha Police Department, the incident took place at a Wendy's restaurant at around 9:20 p.m. CT, in the vicinity of 42nd Street and Dodge.
A staffer on the long-running television crime show Cops was shot and killed Tuesday night, reportedly by gunfire from local police, while videotaping an armed robbery in progress in Omaha, Nebraska, that also left the suspect dead. Initial reports said the TV crew member, later identified by Langley Productions (which produces Cops) as audio technician Bryce Dion — had been critically injured. The news of his death broke Wednesday morning, as first reported by the Omaha World-Herald and local NBC affiliate WOWT. The Omaha PD has declined to name the victims or release any further details pending an afternoon press conference, at which Cops creator John Langley is expected to speak.
More than 30 shots were fired, all by officers, according to law enforcement sources that spoke with the World-Herald and WOWT, implying that Omaha police killed both the suspect and the crew member. No officers were injured.
"We are deeply saddened and shocked by this tragedy and our main concern is helping (Dion's) family in any way we can," Langley Productions said later Wednesday morning in a statement. "Bryce Dion was a long term member of the Cops team and a very talented and dedicated person. We mourn his passing. An investigation is ongoing and we are cooperating with local authorities."
Law enforcement sources told the World-Herald that the suspect, a parolee from Kansas, had an Airsoft gun on him, which is not an actual firearm.
"The suspect in the armed robbery has been declared deceased," Baker said. "We ask for your patience in this matter."
According to Baker, the suspect held up a Wendy's employee at gunpoint and demanded cash before walking outside to find police waiting for him. The suspect was wounded and taken to Nebraska Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.
The suspect was described as wearing a "black hoodie and a white bandana" in a police radio call posted by @MeanStreetsOMA on Twitter. The Cops crew member was described as a white male in the police call.
Video shot at the scene by the World-Herald showed a bullet-ridden window of glass at the Wendy's. Cops has been shooting in Omaha there since June.
Cops broadcasted on the Fox network for 25 years before moving to Spike TV in 2013. Yahoo has reached out to both Twentieth Television and Langley Productions, which produces Cops, and Spike TV, but neither has commented.
According to a WOWT reporter, the Omaha police embraced having Cops in town
https://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/-cops--crew-member-killed-by-friendly-fire-while-show-films-armed-robbery-173502495.html
The crew member was white. No word on what color the "suspect" and cops were.
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In today's Times newspaper:
"A nine-year-old girl accidentally killed a shooting instructor in the US state of Arizona as he showed her how to use a submachine gun.
Charles Vacca died on Monday shortly after being taken by air ambulance to the University Medical Centre in Las Vegas.
The instructor, 39, was standing next to the girl at the Bullets and Burgers outdoor shooting range in White Hills when she pulled the trigger of the Uzi."
IMO every aspect of this is just sick. No point in posting this really, as I know most people will agree, but I just had to.
The tragedy here is...... this little girl has now had her happy go lucky childhood stolen.
She will forever be know as the girl who killed a man.
What a crazy irresponsible crackpot he was. No......I have no sympathy for him.
A single shot to his head sounds just about right to me.
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This is so appalling.
It is hard to believe that anyone, let alone a parent would allow a nine year old access to a submachine gun.
What she has done will blight the rest of her life, and it really wasn't her fault.
Speechless really.
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I thought we were done with this. Can we all agree that innocent people dying by guns is terrible? Posting stories like this doesn't serve any purpose - it's horrible, we all know it, we all say the same thing every time.
So, on to this asshole...who has given us yet another reason not to vote for him, as if we needed one.
Perry: 'Folks grouse' so he'll pay his own legal tab
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — Indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry says campaign funds, not taxpayers, will pick up his legal tab to deter complaints.
The possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate told reporters Tuesday in Midland that he had considered it appropriate for state funds to pay his legal fees because a criminal investigation dealt with his official duties as governor.
Perry has pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of abuse of power. At least $80,000 in taxpayer dollars have so far been spent on his defense.
Following questions over who would pay for a new team of high-powered attorneys, Perry announced last week that campaign funds would start footing the bill.
Perry said "to keep having folks grouse about it, we'll pick up the cost as we go forward."
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I don't think even the campaign funds should be used. I think the money should come from his ass, and not the state and not campaign funds.
But I guess if people are stupid enough to contribute to him....
I would be curious to see what the rules are about the use of campaign funds.
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This is so appalling.
It is hard to believe that anyone, let alone a parent would allow a nine year old access to a submachine gun.
What she has done will blight the rest of her life, and it really wasn't her fault.
Speechless really.
Yes, this one was a bump up in the over-all environment. Even some of my conservative friends are getting uneasy.
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I agree, Linda. But politicians are so used to living like kings and getting everything handed to them, he thinks we're "grousing"! to pay his legal bills! You're damn right...
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Yes, this one was a bump up in the over-all environment. Even some of my conservative friends are getting uneasy.
Yeah, I'm getting uneasy too, but probably not about the same things.
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I agree, Linda. But politicians are so used to living like kings and getting everything handed to them, he thinks we're "grousing"! to pay his legal bills! You're damn right...
It amazes me that they think they have the right to feel so entitled!! And for what??
Being an elected official SHOULD make you less so.
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Right - they work for us. It's too bad we don't hold them accountable, as we would be held accountable by those we work for...
Austin is getting so big and spending so much money. Did you know there is a prop on the ballot this year for a $1.2 BILLION dollar, 9 mile long, light rail? I'm voting a big fat NO.
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Article making the rounds today states race problems in the US are because white people don't have black friends. It says white Americans average just one black friend. Well, seems to me, considering the math, black people need to be doing more... a LOT more... to influence their white friends. With 200 million white (non latin) Americans and 45 million plus blacks, each black has a minimum of 4 honkies on their twitter list. The ball's in THEIR court.
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Dad acquitted in slaying of driver who killed sons
Associated Press
By JUAN A. LOZANO
4 hours ago
ANGLETON, Texas (AP) — A southeast Texas man says that despite his acquittal Wednesday for the shooting death of the drunken driver who caused a crash that killed his two sons, there are no winners.
"This was a loss for everybody," said a visibly relieved David Barajas, who cried and hugged his wife, Cindy, after the verdict was read.
Prosecutors had alleged that Barajas killed 20-year-old Jose Banda in a fit of rage after Banda plowed into Barajas and his sons while they were pushing a truck on a rural Southeast Texas road near their home because it had run out of gas. Twelve-year-old David Jr. and 11-year-old Caleb were killed.
Authorities said that after the accident, Barajas, 32, went to his home about 100 yards from the crash site near Alvin, got a gun and returned to shoot Banda.
Defense attorney Sam Cammack said Barajas didn't kill Banda and that he was only focused on saving his sons. The gun used to kill Banda wasn't found and there was little physical evidence linking Barajas to the killing.
The jury deliberated for about three hours Wednesday before acquitting Barajas of murder.
After the verdict, Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne insisted that investigators had correctly zeroed in on Barajas and that the actual killer wasn't still at large, as Cammack had suggested at trial.
"What the state's perspective is and will always be is that if you or I or anyone we know had a horrible collision and killed another human being, that you get the fair review of the criminal justice system, not a roadside execution," Yenne told reporters.
Banda could have been sentenced to up to life in prison, if he had been convicted.
Legal experts said prosecutors also likely had to overcome jury sympathy for Barajas, who had the support of many residents of Alvin, which is about 30 miles southeast of Houston. Further complicating their case was that there were no witnesses who identified Barajas as the shooter, and gunshot residue tests done on Barajas came back negative.
While both sides differed on who might have been responsible for Banda's death, they agreed that this was a tragedy for everyone involved.
"Three sons were lost that day. The state has compassion for every single one of them, the Barajas children and the Banda son," Yenne said.
Barajas said he is hoping to move forward and get closure with regard to his sons' deaths. But he also said that he is praying for Banda's family.
"They lost a son, too," Barajas said.
Banda's family did not speak with reporters after the verdict. Felicia Leija, Banda's common-law wife, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
During the trial, investigators testified that a bullet fragment found in Banda's car could have come from a .357-caliber gun, and that ammunition for such a gun was found in Barajas' home.
A forensic scientist testified blood found on the driver's side door and driver's arm rest of Banda's car was consistent with that of Barajas.
Cammack spent most of his closing argument earlier Wednesday trying to knock down the prosecution's evidence. He said tests showed the bullet fragment found in Banda's car could have also come from another weapon besides a .357-caliber gun. He said the blood found on Banda's car that came from Barajas was spilled when Barajas was attacked by Banda's cousin and half brother, who witnessed the crash but later told investigators they fled the scene.
Cammack also suggested that Banda's cousin or half brother could have been responsible for the shooting. Banda's cousin and half brother testified they did not shoot Banda. Cammack also told jurors that a search of Barajas' home failed to find any evidence that directly linked him to the crime scene.
The defense attorney also used 911 calls to create a timeline that suggested Barajas would not have had enough time to shoot Banda.
Only three defense witnesses were called during the trial, which lasted a little over a week.
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-road-rage-murder-case-coming-close-132319303.html
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A cold topic in hot topics
New Farmers' Almanac says to get ready for another cold, snowy winter
11:40 a.m. EDT August 25, 2014
When it comes to long-range weather forecasts, the folks at the Farmers' Almanac don't get it right every time, but they usually come pretty close. They've just released their forecast for the the winter of 2014–15 and it looks like three-quarters of the country will see below-normal temperatures.
For the eastern third of the country, they are predicting an active storm track with a number of storms delivering large amounts of snow and rain.
If you're planning a Caribbean exit strategy, keep these hot spots in mind for particularly active storm activity, with big bouts of heavy precipitation and strong wind along the Atlantic Seaboard: the first 10 days of January and the first week of February. They are also red-flagging the middle of March for widespread and nasty wintry conditions from the nation’s midsection to the East Coast.
According to the 2015 edition of the Farmers’ Almanac, the coldest winter weather will be found from the Northern Plains into the Great Lakes, with temperatures that could drop to 40 below during the coldest outbreak: the final week of January into the beginning of February.
No region of the country will enjoy prolonged spells of above-normal temperatures, they say. Only near the East and West coasts will temperatures average close to normal.
The Central and Southern Plains are supposed to get above-average precipitation, according to the 2015 edition, and near-normal precipitation is predicted for the Northern Plains and Pacific Northwest, while below-normal precipitation values are forecast for the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest.
The wildcard in the 2015 forecast is a possible El Niño, a warming of the central Pacific that can have world-wide climate implications. Just as the Farmers' Almanac was getting ready to announce their forecast, the National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration issued an official El Niño watch.If it happens, an El Niño could mean more rain for the South and drought-stricken California and a milder winter for the nation's northern tier.
Stay tuned. "We’ll just have to wait and see," according to the press release, "but in the meantime, all of us at the Farmers’ Almanac suggest you stock up on firewood, sweaters, and hot cocoa. It certainly looks like another long winter of shivery and shovelry is on tap."
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I thought we were done with this. Can we all agree that innocent people dying by guns is terrible? Posting stories like this doesn't serve any purpose - it's horrible, we all know it, we all say the same thing every time.
I’m in agreement with you, here, Nancy, but wonder whether the same would apply to, say, the deaths in Gaza, or what’s been going on in the Ukraine—all of which are horrible.
The same could also apply to comments about politicians, or the events in Ferguson (which I’m about to conclude, thank goodness).
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A cold topic in hot topics
New Farmers' Almanac says to get ready for another cold, snowy winter
I'm not surprised by that forecast at all. The weather we have been having here this month of August has been more typical of a September, so I've been expecting an early fall, which I think doesn't augur well for the coming winter.
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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie finally have made it official ... they got married!
In typical Brangelina fashion, it happened very under the radar. In fact ... they did the deed last weekend in France, according to a spokesman for the couple.
They were married in a small private ceremony at Chateau Miraval, which they own. Jolie was walked down the aisle by her oldest sons Pax and Maddox, while Zahara and Vivienne threw petals and Shiloh and Knox served as ring bearers.
The two had said they wouldn't get married until "everyone else in the country" had the right to get married. Guess they jumped the gun a little ...
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3Bh5rDYk0
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Wesley Lowery was also interviewed on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes (http://youtu.be/44_G-ZsM16g) by phone from the lobby of the Ferguson Police Station after his release on Wednesday night.
As I’ve already covered most of the points Lowery made in the Hayes interview I’ll focus now on those which might provide an explanation of why he was arrested, an event which seems to have taken him by surprise. He believed that he wasn’t resisting arrest when he was told he was, but it’s strange (to me, at least) that he didn’t connect his innocent question about whether he could adjust the bag on his shoulder, which had “flipped” while he was being escorted from McDonald’s, with the almost immediate police reaction: “Let’s take him,” after which he was was grabbed, thrown against a soda machine, restrained, taken to the Police Station and placed in a holding cell.
It comes out later that he’d stopped walking when he’d asked the question, something he doesn’t mention to Hayes, but which I suspect wasn’t intentional, simply an oversight due to the rapid sequence of events which had occurred at the time.
About mid-way through his interview Hayes refers to tweets made by Lowery about an hour before his arrest, in which someone had asked him whether he was more afraid of the police or of the protesters.
Lowery tells Hayes that the two moments he’d been most scared were when he’d arrived on Monday night, when he
“was standing watching the full formation of police officers fire rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters who were standing feet away from me as they held these automatic weapons. I couldn’t be sure if the next pull of the trigger would be a bullet or would be a tear gas and these are, you know, people standing next to me were getting hit with these things. And the second most scared I’d been, ah, was today, when I was being told by officers who are trying to take me into custody that I was resisting arrest when I was not resisting arrest. As a black man in America I, I know what that usually leads to.”
Hayes then reads him the statement released by Martin Baron, and asks him whether he was going to stay and cover the events in Ferguson (to which Lowery responds that he was waiting for his phone to recharge before he continues reporting) then concludes:
“I knew as long as they didn’t shoot me I was gonna be fine. Come Hell or high water I was gonna be okay. I’ve got the greatest news organisation in the country has my back. The [people] who are out here protesting in Ferguson, they don’t have that. If I was not a twenty-four year old reporter for The Washington Post, I was just a twenty-four year old black man from Ferguson, Missouri and this had happened to me I would still be in a holding cell right now. [It’s important that this story gets out there] because if this is how they’re treating credentialled reporters, who are wearing their credentials, who had the audacity to snuck into a McDonald’s for, you know, a carton of fries and to charge their phone, if this is how they’re treating us, imagine how, just imagine how, ah, like I said, a twenty-four year old black kid from Ferguson‘s being treated by these police.”
Lowery makes two important basic points here, which I’ll address a little later.
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Lowery was then interviewed on The Rachel Maddow Show (http://youtu.be/Enn6Pgda3q0) at MSNBC later that night:
Maddow: “Can you tell us the circumstances of, of why you were, um, why you were arrested and then why you were released?”
Lowery: “Of course. But I’ll give you the [basics?] because I don’t want to give too much other than what I put out [something] already as I’m now seeing messages from the higher-ups saying that I have to wait until I talk to our lawyers, but I will, will put this out here is that, um, we were working at the McDonald’s, for those who aren’t here in Ferguson, um, it’s about two blocks away from the ground zero, from the, um, from the gas station that was burned down from where these protests have been going on, so essentially it’s been a media center, um, it’s where they’ve got outlets and they’ve got internet, and so, a lot of reporters have been dropping in there to charge up, grab food, you know, that sort of thing. At some point as these happening protests were going on, um, armed officers, ah, some kind of normally dressed, others in more of this riot, ah, riot and SWAT gear, ah, came in initially saying, um, ‘You all should leave, well you should get out of here.’ Um, and eventually some of us were saying, ah, well, can we say what’s goin’ on, are you closing the McDonald’s? um, eventually they said well, ‘Well, we can’t ensure your safety. Ah, if you stay we’re not going to answer 911 calls.’ After that they came back a few minutes later, and then now they decided they were going to forcibly remove us. Um, as I, I tried to pack up my bag, I pulled out my phone to video-record which an officer took exception to and told me to stop video-taping. I did not (unintelligible] ah, then as I was packing my bag and, and video-taping with one hand, um, he was angry that I wasn’t moving fast enough or what-not I put my back pack on and was trying to walk out. From the corner I could see Ryan having the same type of intereaction. Ah, as I, as I turned around the corner I was trying to ask him well my car is parked here when am I going to be able to move my car, can I get out ah, they didn’t want to answer that question for me, um, they directed me towards one door, where I encountered another officer who then tried to direct me towards another door, I said ‘Officers where would you like me to go?’ As I turned, to follow their instruction, my bag flipped off of my, off of my shoulder. I said ‘Officers I’m going to need to stop to adjust my bag, give me one second,’ at which point they said ‘Let’s take him,’ slammed me into the soda machine, um, grabbed my bag, grabbed my phone, um, and then put me in temporary restraints, and took us outside. Moments later I saw Ryan being led out in similar, ah, ah, somewhat similar circumstances.”
Maddow: “Did you identify yourself as Press to these officers?”
Lowery: “My Washington Post credentials were, were on my neck.”
Maddow: “And were you hurt when they hit you into the soda machine?”
Lowery: “Not, not in any, ah, not in any real way. I mean I certainly think that by my standards I’d call it assault but I’ve been out here all week, I’ve seen people really get hurt, so I don’t want to say that. I was not hurt.”
Maddow, interestingly, doesn’t pick him up about his avoiding providing a direct answer to her question about identifying himself as a member of the Press, which he also omitted in his interview with Chris Hayes.
To assume, as Lowery appears to do, that a police officer who’s intent upon evacuating the restaurant and having to deal with a procrastinating black man while also being alert to the behaviour of other patrons of McDonald’s (as he’s shown to be in the video) would be aware of Lowery’s profession as a journalist simply because he was wearing his “credentials” around his neck seems to be more an example of wishful thinking than definite knowledge that the officer was actually aware he was dealing with a member of the press.
Ryan Reilly, apparently, was more “straightforward.” ;)
According to Dylan Byers (http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/08/reporters-arrested-in-ferguson-193914.html) he simply said that he wasn’t sure whether he had or not:
Reilly told MSNBC he was "not 100 percent sure" whether he identified himself as a reporter, but said he identified himself as a journalist after being handcuffed.
That he told MSNBC is news to me. It’s certainly not in the Hayes interview... :D
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I’m in agreement with you, here, Nancy, but wonder whether the same would apply to, say, the deaths in Gaza, or what’s been going on in the Ukraine—all of which are horrible.
The same could also apply to comments about politicians, or the events in Ferguson (which I’m about to conclude, thank goodness).
I suspect this topic is still "live" for the same reason that Gaza and Ukraine are. They are serious problems where people are dying unnecessarily.
Maybe talking together in a spirit of conciliation is the only way any of them will ever be solved.
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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie finally have made it official ... they got married!
Even less of a hot topic than the weather. Should go in Fan Fair with the other fluff for those interested in celeb lives...
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I'm not surprised by that forecast at all. The weather we have been having here this month of August has been more typical of a September, so I've been expecting an early fall, which I think doesn't augur well for the coming winter.
And the summer we've had in Texas has been mild compared to the recent years...only a handfull of days 100 or above. I'm looking forward to cold and snow and ice and wind and sleet...but i guess i'd have to move north for all that :) so I'll settle for cold...cool, even.
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Brad and Angellina's marriage came up on Sky News on my smart phone. If it is good enough for them to regard it as news, I can't see why Bubba can't post it here.
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someone went to the trouble to set up a thread for celeb stuff, that's all. why are you trying to start a fight?
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Joan Rivers has been hospitalized in critical condition after a cardiac arrest during throat surgery.
FWIW
Update:
Joan Rivers Placed in Medically Induced Coma Following Routine Surgery
ET Online 3 hours ago
The legendary comedienne remains hospitalized following routine procedure.
Joan Rivers continues to remain hospitalized in New York City.
Sources close to Joan tell ET that the legendary comedienne is in a medically induced coma following a routine endoscopy. Not long after the procedure started, she stopped breathing and was then rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital.
Joan's daughter Melissa Rivers flew to New York from Los Angeles on a flight that landed at 7:40 p.m. ET, but airport security informed crews that they snuck her out of an alternate entrance.
"I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming love and support for my mother," Melissa said in a statement to ET. "She is resting comfortably and is with our family. We ask that you continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers."
Just yesterday the funny lady was making the rounds at New York City-based magazines to promote her new book Diary of a Mad Woman. She also filmed Fashion Police earlier this week appearing perfectly healthy and on her game.
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/joan-rivers-placed-medically-induced-coma-following-routine-233000579.html
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Brad and Angellina's marriage came up on Sky News on my smart phone. If it is good enough for them to regard it as news, I can't see why Bubba can't post it here.
It was certainly news to me at least; for some reason I'd assumed they were married a long time ago. :D
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someone went to the trouble to set up a thread for celeb stuff, that's all. why are you trying to start a fight?
Not at all. I just couldn't see what the problem was.
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Joan Rivers has been hospitalized in critical condition after a cardiac arrest during throat surgery.
FWIW
This should be on Fan Fair surely ?
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What's fan fare?
(Sue, you're SOOO easy.) ;)
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After CEO Is Caught On-Camera Kicking a Puppy, Outraged Animal Advocates Want Him Fired
By Liz Dwyer | Takepart.com
2 hours ago
When Des Hague, the CEO of sports catering company Centerplate, kicked and choked a Doberman pinscher puppy on an elevator in Vancouver in early August, he thought no one was looking. However, Hague forgot a basic rule of modern life: Big Brother is always watching. The elevator’s cameras captured the horrifying animal abuse, and the footage ended up being leaked to the public last week. Now animal activists are pressuring the $6 billion sports catering company to fire Hague or face a boycott.
Hague was staying at The Private Residences at Hotel Georgia in Vancouver. The scenes in the video above of the puppy named Sade cowering in terror while it’s being mistreated are sickening. As a result, the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took charge of the animal.
In a statement released through his attorney, Hague blamed his abusive behavior on his annoyance with the dog.
“I am ashamed and deeply embarrassed a minor frustration with a friend’s pet caused me to lose control of my emotional response,” wrote Hague. “I would like to extend my apology to my family, company, and clients, as I understand that this has also reflected negatively on them.”
An investigation by the British Columbia SPCA found that the dog belongs to Hague. “The way she behaves certainly gives the indication of fearfulness, and that indicates she has received this treatment before,” Lorie Chortyk, a spokeswoman for the animal welfare organization said in a statement according to WNDU.
The Connecticut-based company that Hague heads up provides concessions for a slew of sports and entertainment complexes, including football powerhouse Notre Dame, the new Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, and the Superdome in New Orleans.
Centerplate’s board of directors released a statement on Wednesday, writing that “the company finds Mr. Hague’s personal behavior unacceptable and outside the bounds of our high standards and expectations of all of our staff. We do not condone nor can we overlook the mistreatment of animals and Mr. Hague’s personal misconduct.”
The company said that they are putting Hague on probation and “as a condition of his continued employment with Centerplate, Mr. Hague will personally donate $100,000.00 USD, which will be donated toward the establishment of the Sade Foundation in honor of the dog he mistreated in the elevator to help support the protection and safety of animals in the city of Vancouver, where the incident occurred.” The company is also “requiring Mr. Hague to serve 1,000 hours of community service in support of an organization that serves to protect the welfare and safety of animals.”
A Change.org petition started by Vancouver resident Erica Perry on Wednesday is calling for Centerplate to fire Hague. It has garnered nearly 50,000 signatures as of this writing.
Perry takes Hague’s apology to task. “He doesn't even call ‘the animal’ by name, and instead focuses on how embarrassed he is to have been caught,” she wrote. Perry’s also not buying Centerplate’s assertion that Hague’s behavior is a personal issue.
“When a corporate CEO is seen on-camera abusing a dog, that is not a ‘personal matter.’ People who are violent to animals often do not stop there,” wrote Perry.
“If they don’t fire him—and that would make them complicit in his actions—perhaps a boycott of the venues that Centerplate caters to would be effective in making them reevaluate their stance,” wrote petition signee Cliff Lawson.
On Thursday, even MTV star Pauly D tweeted the petition to his 4.4 million followers. “PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION & HELP GET JUSTICE FOR THE DOG THAT WAS BEATEN BY #DesHague CEO OF @centerplate,” he wrote.
The calls for Hague’s firing and a boycott of Centerplate have popped up elsewhere across social media.
“Never buying food at the game again, as long as Centerplate has dog abusing Hague as CEO. I'll bring my own food in from here on out,” wrote Yelp user Katharine F. on the page for AT&T Park in San Francisco.
http://news.yahoo.com/ceo-caught-camera-kicking-puppy-outraged-animal-advocates-231523815.html
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Britain poorer than all US states except Mississippi
By James Joyner
4 hours ago
According to one calculation, the United Kingdom would be the second-poorest US state. More than that, Americans are richer at almost every income level. The US just has more money.
Having spent a number of years living in Alabama, I’m well acquainted with the phrase, “Thank God for Mississippi.” While we had a lot of problems, we could always point to our western border for a state that was even more backwards. Perhaps it’s time for that slogan to cross the Pond.
The Spectator's Fraser Nelson did the math and explains “Why Britain is poorer than any US state, other than Mississippi.” His methodology is pretty straightforward:
__You take the US figures for GDP per state (here), divide it by population (here) to come up with a GDP per capita figure. Then get the equivalent figure for Britain: I used the latest Treasury figures (here) which also chime with the OECD’s (here). A version of this has been done on Wikipedia, but with one flaw: when comparing the wealth of nations, you need to look at how far money goes. This means using a measure called Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).__
He then put the calculations into a rank-ordered table. The Washington Post’s Hunter Schwarz uses Mr. Nelson’s data and produces a bar graph that shows the United Kingdom slotting in between Alabama and Mississippi with a GDP per capita of $36,202. The top European country? Norway slots between Massachusetts and New Jersey with a GDP per capita of $65,515. If it were a US state, it would rank eighth.
I’m not an economist but the methodology appears reasonable to me with one small caveat: Nelson seems to be making the PPP adjustments based on national data despite making state-level comparisons. While the 50 states are part of the US national economy and pricing is the same or similar in all states for all manner of products, there are significant differences in the purchasing power of a dollar in Michigan vs. Mississippi or Alabama vs. Arizona. That’s likely not a major deal in terms of his overall point – the average Briton is indeed likely poorer than the average Alabamian – but the rankings are likely off. Indeed, a PPP adjustment for the poorer states would likely put the UK behind even Mississippi given how close they are already.
The impetus for Nelson’s investigation was local commentary on the tragic events in Ferguson, Mo., and the attention it drew to not only the pockets of poverty but the rampant income and social inequality in the United States. But, here, too Nelson sees no room for his fellow Brits to crow. Indeed, Americans at most every level are richer than their UK counterparts; only the bottom 5 percent are better off there than here according to his chart.
In a related piece for The Telegraph, Nelson explains,
__America, being richer, is more unequal than Britain – and has a long list of genuine outrages. A white baby born in America today is likely to live five years longer than a black one, for example. No such racial gap exists in Britain. This is one of a great many statistics that US campaigners have at their disposal to draw attention to inequality. Almost half of black Americans drop out of high school and then tend to earn less. There is much argument about why this is so: racial discrimination and dire education are often cited as causes. “High unemployment and high rates of out-of-wedlock birth leave too many of them without guidance,” according to a piece in the Wall St Journal.
__It’s a passionate debate, which has no real counterpart in Britain. We have our share of problems, but they attract less interest. A boy born in Liverpool is expected to live five years less than one born in Westminster – an outrage, but one which we have grown used to. In fact, you only have to walk across Westminster Bridge and life expectancy drops by five years. As our politicians enjoy summer drinks on Parliament’s terrace, they can hear Big Ben echoing from buildings in a part of the city that badly needs their help. But they will have known this for years, and grown inured to it. Our poverty is hiding in plain sight.__
Of course, the fact that even rich, modern countries like the UK have the sort of troubles we have here in the USA doesn’t make them non-problems. There are genuine outrages in both places, some of which are direct results of conscious policy choices. Still, it’s useful to have perspective.
http://news.yahoo.com/britain-poorer-us-states-except-mississippi-221010624.html
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What's fan fare?
"Fan Fair" is a thread that was started by former moderated Adrian back in the day. We're currently on "Fan Fair 4". It is in the "Jake, Heath & Others We Love" section and was set up with two purposes. To be a chat thread for any posters to the fan section, and to be a place to talk about all things celebrity.
I'm not sure why it's "fan fair" instead of 'fanfare', but Adrian set up the original thread, and I've kept it that way for continuity purposes.
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I'm not sure why it's "fan fair" instead of 'fanfare', but Adrian set up the original thread, and I've kept it that way for continuity purposes.
Perhaps it's just a play on words, like a "county fair" for fans, instead of like a loud piece of music.
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A little like a "Fete worse than Death"!" :D :D
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Or baited breath.
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Or baited breath.
:D
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Cameron promises tough action to fight militants
Associated Press 31 minutes ago
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron pledged Friday to plug gaps in Britain's armory to combat terror, describing the extremist threat posed by the Islamic State group as being more dangerous than even that of al-Qaida.
Cameron's remarks came just moments after authorities raised Britain's terror threat level to severe, the second highest level. The decision was related to developments in Iraq and Syria, but there was no information to suggest an attack was imminent.
"What we are facing in Iraq now with ISIL is a greater threat to our security than we have seen before," Cameron said, using an abbreviation for a longer name the Islamic State previously used: the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.
He told reporters that while the Taliban facilitated al-Qaida terrorism, the Islamic State group is "effectively a state run by terrorists." He said the ambition to create an Islamist caliphate is not something that could be ignored.
"We could be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a NATO member," he said.
Intelligence and security services now believe some 500 Britons have gone to fight in Syria and potentially Iraq. Some of the plots are likely to involve fighters who have traveled from Britain and Europe to take part in fighting in the Middle East.
British police have appealed to the public to help identify aspiring terrorists after the killing of an American journalist focused attention on extremism in the U.K. The involvement of a person of British nationality in James Foley's beheading underscored the need to identify those who might travel abroad to fight or are at risk of being radicalized.
The attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels also underscored the willingness of the members of the group to attack Europeans.
British authorities say around 70 arrests have been made in the first half of the year for a variety of offenses, including fundraising, preparing for terrorism acts and traveling abroad for terrorist training. The police say such arrests are being made at a rate five times greater than 2013.
One action Cameron outlined was the possibility that passports could be taken away. He said further measures would be described in the House of Commons on Monday.
Britain also wants to revive a directive to enable police and security services to share passenger records in the European Union. Concerns about civil liberties have stalled the measure in the European Parliament.
"The root cause of this threat to our security is quite clear," Cameron said. "It is a poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism that is condemned by all faiths and faith leaders."
Britain raised the country's terror threat level from substantial to severe just before Cameron held his news conference. The threat level means a terrorist attack is considered highly likely.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the decision by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center was made on the basis of intelligence and independent of the Cameron and his Cabinet. "Severe" is the second-highest of five levels.
The last time the rate was raised to severe was in September 2010 — in response to the attempt to detonate a bomb on a U.S. passenger plane over Detroit. It was last raised to the highest level, or critical, in June 2007, after a car on fire was driven into the Glasgow Airport terminal building and — separately — two devices were found in cars in central London.
On July 7, 2005, four suicide bombers attacked the London transit system at rush hour and killed 52 commuters and injured hundreds.
http://news.yahoo.com/britain-raises-terror-threat-level-131624318.html
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What's fan fare?
(Sue, you're SOOO easy.) ;)
Thats me ! Easy going...friendly and uncomplicated. I'm happy I'm me ! ;D
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I'm sure many have seen this viral video already but it's absolutely chilling and a good reminder that some (usually religious) families are still not very accepting of their gay children.
WATCH: 'Christian' Family's Terrifying Response to Son Coming Out
When Daniel Pierce told his extended family he was gay, he didn't expect the violent, hateful reaction he received. He is now staying with a family friend, away from his abusers.
[...]
In the opening moments of the video, Pierce's grandmother can be heard telling the young man that she has known since he was a small child that he was gay. Nevertheless, the woman tells her grandson that she believes he has made a choice to be gay, that it is "a path [he has] chosen". When he tries to refute her claims by pointing to "scientific proof" that sexual orientation is innate, she says she believes in "the word of God," not so-called science.
[...]
http://www.advocate.com/youth/2014/08/28/watch-christian-familys-terrifying-response-son-coming-out
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Yeah, I heard that about dinosaurs.
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Florida seems to be "winning" as the most backward state lately.
Florida Mayor Kicks Atheist Out of City Commission Meeting After He Doesn’t Stand for the Invocation or Pledge
At yesterday’s meeting of the Winter Garden City Commissioners (in Florida), Mayor John Rees announced that they would begin with an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, as many government meetings do, and asked everyone to stand up.
John Thoreau, an atheist, remained seated. Normally, that would be irrelevant since he has every right to do that, but Rees had other ideas.
As the first syllable of the invocation was uttered, Rees told everyone to hold up because Thoreau was still sitting down…
[...]
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/08/29/florida-mayor-kicks-atheist-out-of-city-commission-meeting-after-he-doesnt-stand-for-the-invocation-or-pledge/
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We had a city council meeting around here... Greenville... which was going to be pretty contentious because of the one item on the agenda and the mayor or chairman or whatever started by saying people were going to be polite or else. A guy sitting in the back of the room stood up and asked that the mayor speak up. He was immediately arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
Several weeks later, it was thrown out of court.
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What the hell is a trans-vaginal mesh? I just saw a commercial about how dangerous it can be. Maybe this should be in the TV thread?
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Someone could start a companion thread to "Ignorant Straight Gal Wants to Know."
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What the hell is a trans-vaginal mesh? I just saw a commercial about how dangerous it can be. Maybe this should be in the TV thread?
I think it's something to keep internal lady parts from falling out. You have nothing to worry about.
But I agree with you about Ebola and Isis.
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Sorry. I should have remembered you think everyone is out to get you.
It was actually a suggestion, not a put down.
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I posted something in the Fan Fair thread and it's a doozy. Didn't want to offend anyone by posting it here.
http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=35641.msg2502341#new
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He does, however, know how to attend fundraisers...
Obama on ISIS in Syria: 'We don't have a strategy yet'
By Chelsea J. Carter, Catherine E. Shoichet and Hamdi Alkhshali, CNN
updated 8:54 AM EDT, Fri August 29, 2014
(CNN) -- It's too soon to say what steps the United States will take against ISIS in Syria, President Barack Obama said Thursday.
"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Obama told reporters during a White House news briefing. "We don't have a strategy yet."
Obama said he's asked America's top defense officials to prepare "a range of options" about what the United States could do to go after ISIS in Syria, which he described as "a safe haven" for the Sunni extremist group that calls itself the Islamic State.
The President's remarks follow days of speculation about whether the United States had a plan to go after ISIS in Syria.
"We need to make sure that we've got clear plans, that we're developing them. At that point, I will consult with Congress and make sure that their voices are heard," Obama said. "But there's no point in me asking for action on the part of Congress before I know exactly what it is that is going to be required for us to get the job done."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/world/meast/isis-iraq-syria/ (http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/world/meast/isis-iraq-syria/)
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David Cameron Announces New Powers To Revoke Passports As Terror Threat Level Raised
PA/The Huffington Post
Posted: 29/08/2014 15:30 BST Updated: 29/08/2014 16:59 BST
David Cameron has announced new laws to crack down on terror suspects as he warned that extremism in Iraq and Syria poses a greater danger to Britain than al Qaida.
As the terrorist threat to the UK was raised from substantial to severe, the prime minister said legislation would be introduced so it was easier to seize jihadists' passports.
"What we are facing in Iraq now with Isil (Islamic State) is a greater threat to our security than we have seen before," he told a press conference in Downing Street.
Cameron said the intelligence and security services believed that at least 500 Britons had gone to fight in Syria and potentially Iraq.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/29/david-cameron-terrorism-passports_n_5736490.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/29/david-cameron-terrorism-passports_n_5736490.html)
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The new alert level rates the risk of an attack on the UK "highly likely", although Theresa May said there was no evidence to suggest one was "imminent".
It is the second highest of five possible UK threat levels.
:(
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In a previous post I mentioned I’d address the points made by Wesley Lowery when he’d told Chris Hayes that:
“I knew as long as they didn’t shoot me I was gonna be fine. Come Hell or high water I was gonna be okay. I’ve got the greatest news organisation in the country has my back. The [people] who are out here protesting in Ferguson, they don’t have that. If I was not a twenty-four year old reporter for The Washington Post, I was just a twenty-four year old black man from Ferguson, Missouri and this had happened to me I would still be in a holding cell right now. [It’s important that this story gets out there] because if this is how they’re treating credentialled reporters, who are wearing their credentials, who had the audacity to snuck into a McDonald’s for, you know, a carton of fries and to charge their phone, if this is how they’re treating us, imagine how, just imagine how, ah, like I said, a twenty-four year old black kid from Ferguson’s being treated by these police.”
Because there appeared to be no clear justification for the police to grab Lowery the story of his arrest always seemed incomplete.
He initially said the police had given him conflicting information about which door to use to leave the building, and it was when they’d directed him to a different door that his bag had slipped from his shoulder as he turned around.
Another report stated that the bag had slipped when he’d stopped and asked to adjust it; and yet another that he’d not only stopped but had also reached for his bag, at which point an officer said “Let’s take him,” he’d been grabbed, slammed into a soda machine and put in plastic restraints.
Different versions, yes, but it was the last one which seemed more likely to prompt the police response.
But it was only when Lowery mentioned to Hayes that he was “a twenty-four year old black man" (about which I wasn’t initially aware) that things started to fall into place.
That put a different slant on what’d been going on: he’d objected to being instructed to stop video-recording, he’d been slow to pack up and then, when he apparently consented without a fuss to leave the building he then stopped and reached for his back-pack because he said that it had slipped from his shoulder and he wanted to adjust it.
All of this “fits” when the matter of his self-identification as a member of the press is considered. While Ryan Reilly said that he wasn’t “100 per cent sure” he’d identified himself as a reporter when the police had entered McDonald’s and asked for his identification, he did say that he’d done so after being handcuffed.
But it’s unclear whether the police knew that Lowery was a reporter. In his interviews with Hayes and Maddow he referred only to the fact that he was “credentialled” or that his credentials were around his neck. In neither interview did he make it clear that he’d actually identified himself as a journalist. This was especially noticeable when Maddow asked him directly, “Did you identify yourself as Press to these officers?”
As far as the police were concerned they were dealing with a difficult young black man from Ferguson, Missouri.
Lowery didn’t realise the irony of his situation when he said “If I was not a twenty-four year old reporter for The Washington Post [but] just a twenty-four year old black man from Ferguson, Missouri, and this had happened to me I would still be in a holding cell right now.”
That it’s likely the police didn’t know he was a member of the press is borne out by what happened when Matt Pearce contacted the Ferguson Chief of Police and asked “Do you realise that your police just arrested two reporters?”
So it’s all very well for Martin Baron of The Washington Post to trumpet that “there was absolutely no justification for [Lowery’s] arrest. He was illegally instructed to stop taking video of officers. Then he followed officers’ instructions to leave a McDonald’s — and after contradictory instructions on how to exit, he was slammed against a soda machine and then handcuffed. That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news.”
But the “briefing” Baron said he received from Lowery was, of course, only part of the story. ::)
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The new alert level rates the risk of an attack on the UK "highly likely", although Theresa May said there was no evidence to suggest one was "imminent".
Agreed, Sara.
Home Secretary Theresa May said: “JTAC has today raised the threat level to the UK from international terrorism from SUBSTANTIAL to SEVERE. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent.”
There are five levels of threat used by JTAC (the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, responsible for setting the national threat level across the United Kingdom):
• Critical - an attack is expected imminently.
• Severe - an attack is highly likely.
• Substantial - an attack is a strong possibility.
• Moderate - an attack is possible but not likely.
• Low - an attack is unlikely.
That the level of threat from terrorist attack has been raised is a very good thing for the UK.
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Australia's Terrorism Monitoring Level is On Watch as the UK moves to a Severe Threat
Australia’s intelligence services are in close contact with the UK as the terrorism threat level there moves from “substantial” to “severe” over activity by the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.
According to government assessments about 60 Australians are engaged in fighting in Syria and Iraq, with an additional 100 involved in active facilitation and support.
“We remain in close contact with the United Kingdom and other partners about the threat from terrorist groups active in Syria and Iraq and from returning foreign fighters,” Attorney-General George Brandis said.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/australias-terrorism-monitoring-level-is-on-watch-as-the-uk-moves-to-a-severe-threat-level-2014-8
The Australian National Terrorism Public Alert System is a range of four levels that communicate an assessed risk of terrorist threat to Australia:
• Extreme — terrorist attack is imminent or has occurred.
• High — terrorist attack is likely.
• Medium — terrorist attack could occur.
• Low — terrorist attack is not expected.
Australia is currently at a MEDIUM level of alert, where it has been since the four levels of national terrorism alert were introduced in 2003.
http://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/Securityandyourcommunity/Pages/NationalTerrorismPublicAlertSystem.aspx
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Nobody seems very worried here, Paul, though perhaps we should be.... I'll look out for extra security at the airport.
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Nobody seems very worried here, Paul, though perhaps we should be.... I'll look out for extra security at the airport.
Perhaps you should, Sara.
It’s when the radicalised Britons who’ve left the UK to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria decide to return home that problems will arise.
I note that some of Britain’s most influential Muslim leaders have condemned British jihadists fighting alongside the ISIS extremists, and have now issued a fatwa against them.
The Sunday Times describes the “imans as ordering all British Muslims to oppose the poisonous ideology of ISIS, especially when it’s promoted within Britain.”
That PM Cameron proposes cancelling British jihadists’ passports to prevent them from returning to the UK is very sensible.
If they want to go and fight alongside a terrorist group whose behaviour is both sickening and horrifying they can bloody well stay there and not be allowed back home.
They can’t have it both ways—“Oh, sorry. We've now decided we want to come back.”
“Too late, mate. You should have thought about that before.”
Terrorists don’t belong in the UK (or Australia, for that matter).
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Although we are reasonably sanguine about terrorist attacks in the UK, Sara, Sue and I lived through the whole IRA bombing campaign for instance, so we don't necessarily panic or stop going out, it is very worrying.
I also feel terribly worried about the very many good, friendly, hardworking Asian / Muslim families who are being "tarred with the same brush" as the jihadists and who must be having a very hard time of it at present.
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Wonder why? If that's what they believe...
The family members involved in the intervention, which he says was "driven by my grandparents," have not contacted the media, but they left Pierce a voicemail telling him to remove the video of the incident from YouTube.
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/here_s_the_story_behind_the_young_son_who_recorded_the_secret_coming_out_viral_video
I'm sure many have seen this viral video already but it's absolutely chilling and a good reminder that some (usually religious) families are still not very accepting of their gay children.
WATCH: 'Christian' Family's Terrifying Response to Son Coming Out
When Daniel Pierce told his extended family he was gay, he didn't expect the violent, hateful reaction he received. He is now staying with a family friend, away from his abusers.
[...]
In the opening moments of the video, Pierce's grandmother can be heard telling the young man that she has known since he was a small child that he was gay. Nevertheless, the woman tells her grandson that she believes he has made a choice to be gay, that it is "a path [he has] chosen". When he tries to refute her claims by pointing to "scientific proof" that sexual orientation is innate, she says she believes in "the word of God," not so-called science.
[...]
http://www.advocate.com/youth/2014/08/28/watch-christian-familys-terrifying-response-son-coming-out
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Although we are reasonably sanguine about terrorist attacks in the UK, Sara, Sue and I lived through the whole IRA bombing campaign for instance, so we don't necessarily panic or stop going out, it is very worrying.
ISIS makes the IRA look like the Jets & the Sharks in West Side Story. (this doesn't have to go in Fan Fair)
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I'm not sure what your point is?
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IRA bad, ISIS off the fucking chart bad.
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OK.
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ISIS makes the IRA look like the Jets & the Sharks in West Side Story. (this doesn't have to go in Fan Fair)
Not if you are standing next to one of their bombs when it goes off!
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^^^ Penny ante thugs.
ISIS siege of Iraqi town over after U.S. airstrikes, aid drops
By Jomana Karadsheh, Barbara Starr and Holly Yan, CNN
updated 7:55 AM EDT, Sun August 31, 2014
CNN) -- Iraqi security and volunteer forces have broken the siege of Amerli and have entered the town, retired Gen. Khaled al-Amerli, an Amerli resident and member of its self-defense force, told CNN on Sunday.
Iraqi state TV also reported that the siege had been broken.
The news prompted a wave of celebrations across the town, which had been besieged by fighters from the terror group ISIS. Residents waved the Iraqi flag and fired celebratory shots into the air, al-Amerli said.
"Today is a day of victory for Iraq and the resilient people of Amerli," the retired general said.
The breakthrough came after the United States said it carried out airstrikes and dropped humanitarian aid in Amerli to protect an ethnic minority that one official said faced the threat of an "imminent massacre."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/31/world/meast/isis-iraq-syria/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 (http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/31/world/meast/isis-iraq-syria/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)
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Some good news today, at least.
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Joan Rivers remained hospitalised on Sunday, three days after going into cardiac arrest at a doctor’s office in New York City.
Daughter Melissa Rivers, in a statement released by Mt Sinai Hospital, said: “Thank you for your continued love and support. We are keeping our fingers crossed.”
Mount Sinai said it had no updates to release on the 81-year-old comedian’s health. Melissa Rivers said on Friday that her mother was in serious condition.
A spokeswoman for Joan Rivers didn’t immediately respond to messages.
Rivers was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital on Thursday, a day after she spoke at an employee event at Time in New York. Spectators there said she had appeared to be well.
Rivers is the host of Fashion Police on E! and presides over an online talk show, In Bed With Joan. She also co-stars with her daughter on the WEtv reality show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?
Two of her co-stars on Fashion Police tweeted their support for Rivers and her family Saturday.
“Praying for Joan Rivers and Mel Rivers,” said Giuliana Rancic. “Even though Joan’s the strongest woman I know, every single prayer counts. I love you, Joan.”
“4 the first time in years I got down on my knees & prayed tonight!” said Kelly Osbourne. “I encourage U 2 do the same 4 Joan Rivers my grandma!”
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/31/joan-rivers-hospital-cardiac-arrest
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.phrases.org.uk%2Fimages%2Ftwo-short-planks.jpg&hash=52661ffd3006a642598c0a5aa7b9e23e46a3986f)
Burger King Might Save $8.1 Million By Moving To Canada.
Burger King Worldwide will acquire Tim Hortons, the Canadian fast-food chain famous for its coffee and doughnuts. The deal, announced this week and estimated to worth about $11 billion, means Burger King will do a tax inversion — that is, change its domicile to Canada and, potentially, save on corporate income taxes.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/burger-king-might-save-8-1-million-by-moving-to-canada-whats-the-whopper-equivalent/ (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/burger-king-might-save-8-1-million-by-moving-to-canada-whats-the-whopper-equivalent/)
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Although we are reasonably sanguine about terrorist attacks in the UK, Sara, Sue and I lived through the whole IRA bombing campaign for instance, so we don't necessarily panic or stop going out, it is very worrying.
I also feel terribly worried about the very many good, friendly, hardworking Asian / Muslim families who are being "tarred with the same brush" as the jihadists and who must be having a very hard time of it at present.
I go to Turkey in 8 days time ! I ain't scared !!!
Hope the UK let me back in ! ;)
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Jihadist! :D :D :D
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^^
Be afraid.....be very afraid !!! :D :D :D
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^^
Be afraid.....be very afraid !!! :D :D :D
Exactly, I'm more worried about crossing the street than I am of terrorists.
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...
I also feel terribly worried about the very many good, friendly, hardworking Asian / Muslim families who are being "tarred with the same brush" as the jihadists and who must be having a very hard time of it at present.
That's a very good point, Jess.
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A leader with a plan, what a concept....
(202) 456-1111
The White House Phone
1 September 2014
David Cameron outlines new anti-terror measures to MPs
The police are to be given new powers to seize the passports of terrorist suspects and stop British jihadists from returning to the UK, David Cameron has said.
It was "abhorrent" British citizens had "declared their allegiance" to groups like Islamic State, he told MPs.
He said the UK was looking at "specific and discretionary" powers to bar suspects from returning the UK.
Powers to monitor suspects in the UK will also be strengthened.
The statement to MPs comes after the UK's terror threat level was raised to "severe" from "substantial" on Friday.
Some Tories have urged new powers to seize passports from returning fighters but Lib Dems have urged caution.
In a Commons statement and question and answer session which could last two hours, the prime minister is talking about developments in the Middle East and their implications for British security amid concerns about the risk of Britons who have travelled to fight with Islamic State (IS) in Iraq or Syria carrying out an attack on UK soil upon their return.
Mr Cameron, addressing MPs on their first day back since July, is also covering the situation in Ukraine, and the weekend's EU summit.
No 10 has sought to play down reports of a rift with the Liberal Democrats over the measures after the prime minister and his Lib Dem deputy Nick Clegg were locked in talks over the weekend.
It has been reported that new laws are being considered to seize passports and impose temporary bans on fighters travelling home from foreign conflicts.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29008316 (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29008316)
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Billionaire threatens charity donations if Pope continues support for the poor
David Phillips Las Vegas Democrat Examiner
Billionaire Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot issued a warning to Pope Francis during an interview with CNBC which was published this past Monday. In the interview he said that wealthy people such as himself are feeling ostracized by the Pope’s messages in support of the poor, and might stop giving to charity if the Pope continues to make statements criticizing capitalism and income inequality.
Mr. Langone described the Pope's comments about a "culture of prosperity" as "exclusionary" statements that may make some of the rich "incapable of feeling compassion for the poor."
The billionaire, who’s a major donor to the Republican Party, is currently working with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, to raise $180 million for the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Langone said that he told the Archbishop about a wealthy donor who could give millions of dollars to the Cathedral project but was worried about the Pope's "exclusionary" remarks.
“"I've told the cardinal, 'Your Eminence, this is one more hurdle I hope we don't have to deal with. You want to be careful about generalities. Rich people in one country don't act the same as rich people in another country,'" said Langone.”
CNBC also spoke to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who said he told Langone the unnamed donor's concerns seemed based on "a misunderstanding of the Holy Father's message."
"The pope loves poor people. He also loves rich people. So I said, ‘Ken, thanks for bringing it to my attention. We've gotta correct, to make sure this gentleman understands the Holy Father's message properly.' And then I think he's gonna say, 'Oh, OK. If that's the case, count me in for St. Patrick's Cathedral,’” Dolan said.”
During a speech in Brazil this past July, Pope Francis appealed "to those in possession of greater resources," saying that they should "never tire of working for a more just world, marked by greater solidarity. No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world."
A number of people, from Republican Sen. John McCain to conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, have weighed in on Francis' statements, with the latter calling it "pure Marxism."
Dolan calls the Marxist label "hyperbole," telling CNBC that the pope thinks "money in itself is morally neutral. Money, our wealth, is a gift from God. And the morality comes in the way we use it.
"If it becomes a god, if it becomes an idol, Pope Francis is saying, then it's wrong. Because there is only one God. If we use it for our own selves and our families, for a secure and a safe present and future, if we use it to reinvest in the community, to help others, and if we share with the poor, then it's morally good," Dolan said.”
http://www.examiner.com/article/billionaire-threatens-charity-donations-if-pope-continues-support-for-the-poor
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Well, it always does cause a ruckus when a pope is actually Christian :D.
For the record, this pope criticized "unbridled' capitalism", not the free market or profits or the concept of capitalism. Respect for labor, and regulating the process are what he meant. Gee, if we had had more regulations, maybe the Great Recession would not have set us back 5 years.
Also, Pope John Paul II warned that whenever capitalism asserts the absolute primacy of materialism, it is a twin to communism. But Fox news wasn't going to take on that
pope.
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On the other hand, people DO get tired of hearing other people carp all the time on how THEY should do things. (Where's Jamie Oliver these days...?)
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Oh, what a shame. Some rich Republican isn't going to give money to restore St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dolan's cathedra as cardinal archbishop of New York?
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On the other hand, people DO get tired of hearing other people carp all the time on how THEY should do things. (Where's Jamie Oliver these days...?)
Well, it seems to me the carping is coming from the self-serving. Fox news, the Koch brothers, ISIS, Putin, and that regular river. Any "just say no" provokes outrage.
As for Jamie Oliver, he never carped - he showed. The mountain of fats, sugar, and salt, going into our kids lunches, the failure to provide alternatives, and the people getting rich off of unhealthy food. He didn't hug trees, or push trendy organic. And he likes cheeseburgers and tacos, in moderation.
But where is he? Last I heard, getting ready for a new show. But very possibly being drawn, mystically, and inexorably, to some mysterious force in Tennessee ;).
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We'd eat Jamie Oliver as an appetizer. ;D
The Pope is a saint. No one really likes saints. Something Michelle Obama needs to think about.
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Perhaps, harsh, and certainly not completely proven, but, IMO, the spiraling of the Ebola epidemic is a direct result of politically correct news censoring.
Earlier outbreaks were very small, and derivative of very poor people following their custom of handling their dead, for burial, as well as caring for them before death. But I have heard on CNN, and the networks, not to worry, you've got to be exposed to vomiting, blood, and bodily discharges to contract the disease. Something seemed fishy there, with 20,000 cases, and climbing, spreading from nation to nation. Those people weren't following isolated village practices.
And sure enough one news report (Yahoo, I think), noted that the disease is transmissible by sex (think AIDS), by particulates from coughing hitting someone's eyes or mouth, and sweat. In other words, much more caution needs to be used.
But, for humanitarian and politically correct reasons, the media do not want the public to move away from people who show any possible symptoms. They're still pushing the "they gotta vomit on you" story. And the death toll is rising, exponentially.
I do understand the hurts from shunning or taking unusual precautions (masks, etc.), but the expanding death toll is a harsher hurt.
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'I'm back, Obama': ISIS executioner Jihadi John taunts President as he beheads second US journalist, Steven Sotloff . . . and then threatens to kill a Briton next
Steven Sotloff, 31, from Miami, was captured in Syria in August 2013
The video is titled ‘A Second Message to America’
In the video, Sotloff describes himself as 'paying the price' for the Obama administration’s decision to attack ISIS in Iraq
His execution follows the beheading of fellow journalist James Foley last month
Sotloff freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines
Family of Steven Sotloff said they 'know of this horrific tragedy and are grieving privately'
The White House today said: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr Sotloff and Mr Sotloff's family’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2740998/ISIS-release-video-showing-beheading-American-journalist-Steven-Sotloff.html#ixzz3CBq0XXlk
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Perhaps, harsh, and certainly not completely proven, but, IMO, the spiraling of the Ebola epidemic is a direct result of politically correct news censoring.
Earlier outbreaks were very small, and derivative of very poor people following their custom of handling their dead, for burial, as well as caring for them before death. But I have heard on CNN, and the networks, not to worry, you've got to be exposed to vomiting, blood, and bodily discharges to contract the disease. Something seemed fishy there, with 20,000 cases, and climbing, spreading from nation to nation. Those people weren't following isolated village practices.
And sure enough one news report (Yahoo, I think), noted that the disease is transmissible by sex (think AIDS), by particulates from coughing hitting someone's eyes or mouth, and sweat. In other words, much more caution needs to be used.
But, for humanitarian and politically correct reasons, the media do not want the public to move away from people who show any possible symptoms. They're still pushing the "they gotta vomit on you" story. And the death toll is rising, exponentially.
I do understand the hurts from shunning or taking unusual precautions (masks, etc.), but the expanding death toll is a harsher hurt.
I heard that they put a village under quarantine but then a whole bunch of people escaped on boats possibly spreading the disease even more. Sometimes, efforts to contain a virus has the opposite effect. Instead of increasing(!) military spending as Cameron is urging Nato countries to do, perhaps we should put more money, effort & resources in trying to fight this growing horrific plague. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing cases closer to home.
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This one's for you Morrobay. ;)
7-Year-Old Boy Shoots Himself in the Chest at Family's Homemade Shooting Range
His family was 'just shooting at targets' when suddenly the kid had a hole in his chest.
Family fun for one California family—firing at targets at their homemade shooting range—turned scary when their 7-year-old son suddenly clutched his chest and his Dad noticed he was bleeding. The boy was reportedly firing a single-shot, .22 bolt action youth rifle under his father's supervision. When the boy cried out, his father noticed there was a small hole in his shirt, then blood.
[...]
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/7-year-old-boy-shoots-himself-chest-familys-homemade-shooting-range
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ABc was showing a report yesterday about that 9 year old girl who "accidentally" shot
her shooting range instructor, with 9-1-1 calls and all.
It was said, "this has opened up a debate about young children being allowed
to shoot weapons."
YA THINK?
Why is that even a debate?
They were showing ten year olds and under shooting weapons at rifle ranges.
One of the more disturbing things I've seen lately.
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A sub-macihine gun. And the parents.....
When I posted about this before, I was not saying, 'Oh how sad, what a tragic accident!' In my opinion it's legalised child abuse.
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I agree. Parents are acting out their own shooting fantasies through their children.
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(CNN) -- Clearly something is broken when a Missouri man named Jeff Mizanskey can be sentenced to die in prison for purchasing seven pounds of marijuana. With two nonviolent marijuana convictions already on his record, Jeff received life without parole under Missouri's three strikes law.
The punishment of growing old and dying behind bars for offenses like Mizanskey's is extreme, tragic, and inhumane. This should outrage us, but it should not surprise us.
This country has spent 40 years relentlessly ratcheting up the number of people going to prison and dramatically expanding the time we hold them there. We've spent decades criminalizing people with drug dependency, passing extreme sentencing laws, and waging a war on drugs that has not diminished drug use. Small wonder, then, that even less serious crimes like Mizanskey's marijuana purchase result in costly and cruel sentences.
And Mizanskey is hardly the only one...
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/02/opinion/vanita-gupta-marijuana-life-sentence/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
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WE in the US will change the 3 strikes rule when baseball does.
Y'all can change yours whenever you want.
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I agree. Parents are acting out their own shooting fantasies through their children.
At first read, Jess, I didn't agree. But, very quickly, I remembered just how many of my friends have raised their children with a view to their own wanting something of their own life fulfilled. So, I guess, yes, parents really can "act out their own shooting fantasies through their children". It's just part of the syndrome. Entirely possible, in some cases.
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WE in the US will change the 3 strikes rule when baseball does.
Y'all can change yours whenever you want.
If it's just pot, Sherry, and no more, 3 strikes needs to go. And I hope the Prez has the guts to issue a blanket pardon, when he leaves office.
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(CNN) -- Clearly something is broken when a Missouri man named Jeff Mizanskey can be sentenced to die in prison for purchasing seven pounds of marijuana. With two nonviolent marijuana convictions already on his record, Jeff received life without parole under Missouri's three strikes law.
The punishment of growing old and dying behind bars for offenses like Mizanskey's is extreme, tragic, and inhumane. This should outrage us, but it should not surprise us.
This country has spent 40 years relentlessly ratcheting up the number of people going to prison and dramatically expanding the time we hold them there. We've spent decades criminalizing people with drug dependency, passing extreme sentencing laws, and waging a war on drugs that has not diminished drug use. Small wonder, then, that even less serious crimes like Mizanskey's marijuana purchase result in costly and cruel sentences.
And Mizanskey is hardly the only one...
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/02/opinion/vanita-gupta-marijuana-life-sentence/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
While life without possibility of parole does seem a bit extreme, I have little sympathy for this Mizanskey character. The man had two convictions already, and, this is very important, I'm assuming he knew what a third conviction would get him, and he goes ahead and buys seven pounds of pot anyway? That's just stupid. I don't care that it's just pot we're talking about here. If the man were buying a few ounces for personal use, then I might call his situation tragic. But seven pounds of it? Maybe keeping him locked up will keep him from spreading his stupidity any further in the gene pool.
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I see your reasoning, Jeff. But if stupidity were the deciding factor, most of us, if we admitted it, would sooner or later qualify with 3 strikes :D.
But there's more. I don't do drugs, (or even alcohol or cigs), but I do know people buy that much pot. for their personal stash, for themselves and their friends. Also, marijuana is eventually going to be legalized. And what we then face is the hundreds of thousands of dum-dums, living at taxpayer expense, after archaic laws have gone.
The war on drugs has always failed, and one of the reasons is that marijuana was tossed in, and that's an easy scoop-em-up. So now we have meth, and a return of heroin. We always get tough in the wrong ways, IMO.
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There is no law against stupidity. In fact, most laws are to protect us from stupidity, ours and other people's. While some people might have a problem understanding what's legal and what isn't, most can count to three.
And speaking of stupid
I agree. Parents are acting out their own shooting fantasies through their children.
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While life without possibility of parole does seem a bit extreme, I have little sympathy for this Mizanskey character. The man had two convictions already, and, this is very important, I'm assuming he knew what a third conviction would get him, and he goes ahead and buys seven pounds of pot anyway? That's just stupid. I don't care that it's just pot we're talking about here. If the man were buying a few ounces for personal use, then I might call his situation tragic. But seven pounds of it? Maybe keeping him locked up will keep him from spreading his stupidity any further in the gene pool.
According to the DEA, it is about $1,000 a pound, so $7,000 worth of merchandise.............life in prison with no parole?? INSANE!
What does it cost to keep someone in prison for a year........50 thousand, 100 thousand, guess it depends on the state, do the math, for tax payers that is running into the billions to keep people in prison.
It better be for something worth while, like maybe murder!
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In the US we say "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime... and especially don't do it three times."
Here in the US our laws pretty much reflect the general opinion of our citizens.
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We put a moratorium on the discussion of guns and gun control or lack thereof in this thread, due to the volatility of people's opinions, so please move onto other discussions.
Thanks.
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In the US we say "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime... and especially don't do it three times."
Here in the US our laws pretty much reflect the general opinion of our citizens.
Unfortunately, laws and police practices that enforce them are out of step with public opinion. Nationally, nearly half of all drug arrests are for marijuana offenses. At least one person is arrested for marijuana possession every hour in Mizanskey's home state of Missouri, which also wasted nearly $50 million on marijuana enforcement in 2010. Although black people and white people use marijuana at about the same rate, a black person in Missouri was 2.6 times more likely to be arrested for having marijuana than a white person.
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A few final points about the press responses to the arrests of Reilly and Lowery in Ferguson:
• that a SWAT team “invaded” and/or “barged into” the restaurant
a) Neither journalist told Chris Hayes, and Lowery didn’t tell Rachel Maddow, that McDonald’s had been “invaded.” In each case they said that the police “came in.”
b) In their interviews they said that three officers were in full SWAT gear and that there was a total of eight others who were “normally dressed.”
A team of officers in which only 25% were in “riot and SWAT gear” does not constitute “a SWAT team.”
• that Reilly and Lowery were arrested because they were journalists
This claim depends upon whether the journalists had identified themselves as members of the press.
Reilly initially said that he wasn’t sure whether he had or not, but later said that he’d done so after he’d been handcuffed.
Lowery never said that he’d actually done so, relying solely on the fact that he had his “credentials” around his neck.
He assumed that the police knew he was a member of the press.
A few days after their interviews Trymaine Lee of MSNBC wrote (http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/reporters-ryan-reilly-and-wesley-lowery-arrested-ferguson), to his credit, that they were arrested “for reasons which were unclear.”
Lowery told Maddow that he was unable to go into details other than those he’d already “put out” (presumably to Chris Hayes) as he’d received “messages from the higher-ups saying that I have to wait until I talk to our lawyers.”
Which, if nothing else, could indicate that Lee was aware that there was more to the story than was at first evident.
That Lowery knew that The Washington Post had his back does not mean that the police knew he was a reporter. To them he could have been “just a twenty-four-year-old black man from Ferguson, Missouri.”
That they were released without charge only after the Chief of Police was informed two reporters had been arrested indicates that it's at least plausible that their identity as press members was unknown at the time of their arrests.
• that their arrests were “an assault on the freedom of the press”
See the above comments.
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I think [transvaginal mesh is] something to keep internal lady parts from falling out. You have nothing to worry about.
It's an implant intended to control pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, both of which are common in old age (don't want to scare anybody) and/or in years following childbirth.
Of course I'm not a doctor and am not very knowledgeable about technical, scientific terms such as "lady parts".
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Are Marks in Gorham Cave Neanderthal Art?
" 'Is it art? I don’t know. I can’t get into the minds of these people. It looks geometric. It looks like criss-cross patterning. What is clear is that it’s abstract, it’s deliberate, and it speaks to their cognition in a way that brings Neanderthals, once again, closer to us,' Finlayson told Nature."
http://www.archaeology.org/news/2481-140902-gibraltar-gorham-s-cave-neanderthal-art
The story also referred readers to "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Neanderthal"
http://archive.archaeology.org/1209/trenches/neanderthals_cave_painting_el_castillo_spain.html
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At first read, Jess, I didn't agree. But, very quickly, I remembered just how many of my friends have raised their children with a view to their own wanting something of their own life fulfilled. So, I guess, yes, parents really can "act out their own shooting fantasies through their children". It's just part of the syndrome. Entirely possible, in some cases.
I think we all do it, even when we don't mean to, Tony.
I used to paint, my eldest daughter is a lecturer in fine art.
I love music, my youngest daughter is a musician.
I will never be able to paint like my eldest daughter does, or play an instrument as my youngest daughter does.
I didn't make them do any of it, and those sort of talents are to a degree inherited, I believe, but at the slightest show of interest in the things I was passionate about, I encouraged like mad.
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And speaking of stupid
It's where the saying "the sins of the parents are visited upon the children" comes into play.
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We put a moratorium on the discussion of guns and gun control or lack thereof in this thread, due to the volatility of people's opinions, so please move onto other discussions.
Thanks.
Perhaps we should change the thread title to Luke Warm Topics? ;) !
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Oh Lyle! You do make me laugh! :D
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Unfortunately, laws and police practices that enforce them are out of step with public opinion. Nationally, nearly half of all drug arrests are for marijuana offenses. At least one person is arrested for marijuana possession every hour in Mizanskey's home state of Missouri, which also wasted nearly $50 million on marijuana enforcement in 2010. Although black people and white people use marijuana at about the same rate, a black person in Missouri was 2.6 times more likely to be arrested for having marijuana than a white person.
The laws in THIS country reflect majority opinion. If the majority was unhappy with the perception of a crime or how the law was applied, something would change.
Personally, if I belonged to a group that was continually harassed by the cops, whether I was doing something "wrong" or not, I'd be aware of it and make sure I wasn't doing something "wrong." Breaking the law and crying "Profile!" doesn't change the basic fact that the law was broken.
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I think we all do it, even when we don't mean to, Tony.
I used to paint, my eldest daughter is a lecturer in fine art.
I love music, my youngest daughter is a musician.
I will never be able to paint like my eldest daughter does, or play an instrument as my youngest daughter does.
I didn't make them do any of it, and those sort of talents are to a degree inherited, I believe, but at the slightest show of interest in the things I was passionate about, I encouraged like mad.
Boy am I glad I had the parents I had. They let each of us find our own interests and supported us whole heartedly in our pursuits. About the only thing I remember the WHOLE family ever being interested in was reading. Each of us led our folks down paths they never would have explored on their own. And when it comes to my own children, I quit a high paying job, sold my house and spent 4 years of my life living in an 8' x 8' room in a train car, moving from town to town every few days and cramming a week's load of family laundry and grocery shopping into a few hours on my one day off each week because of what MY KIDS were interested in. None of them follow the ponies, none has any interest in genetics, not even one watches television. Our views on politics, religion and the state of the world vary greatly. We have no common interests except we are family and THAT alone is enough to keep us connected.
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The laws in THIS country reflect majority opinion.
We live in a constitutional democracy, which means the consitution trumps the majority
and protects the minority if the majority is in error with the constitution.
Example: The majority passed Prop 8 in California. Result: Unconstitutional.
The majority doesn't always get its way.
Example: Bush v. Gore.
Personally, if I belonged to a group that was continually harassed by the cops, whether I was doing something "wrong" or not
Why is it all right to be "continually harassed" if you aren't doing anything wrong?
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Because that is the way of things until there is a reason for it NOT to be the way of things.
And prop 8 could be rewritten so it IS constitutional. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Even when the cat isn't doing anything illegal.
Just look at gay marriage. Impossible until enough of the "forward" thinking populace got behind it and changed things. Thank god for majority rules, eh?
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Perhaps we should change the thread title to Luke Warm Topics? ;) !
Lyle, if everyone would be adult and discuss some of the hotter topics in a rational manner without it spiraling into insults and personal attacks, I would be more than glad to allow the discussions. But I have had to shut down these discussions numerous times when folks start attacking one another. When that ceases to happen, then there will be no limitations on what is discussed.
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Angelina Jolie's Ex-Girlfriend Jenny Shimizu Marries Michelle Harper
Us Weekly 18 hours ago
She did, too! Angelina Jolie's ex-girlfriend Jenny Shimizu also got married recently, tying the knot last week to socialite Michelle Harper. Photos of Harper the bride wearing her voluminous wedding gown on the couple's big day were released Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Jolie and Shimizu first met on the set of their 1996 film Foxfire. At the time, Jolie was married to her first husband Jonny Lee Miller. Still, the Oscar winner told Girlfriends magazine that the initial spark with model-actress Shimizu was very much palpable.
"I would probably have married Jenny Shimizu if I hadn't married my husband," Jolie, now 39, told the mag in 1997. "I fell in love with her the first second I saw her."
Years later, Jolie opened up about her "very sexual" nature in a 20/20 interview where she discussed her relationship with Shimizu. "[I was] surprised when I suddenly found myself having these feelings I always had for men, but for a woman," Jolie told then-host Barbara Walters. "And wanting to kiss her and wanting to touch her."
Shimizu, a Japanese-American model, and Harper met at a 2012 party. "I didn’t believe it myself until I saw it," the former Calvin Klein model, 47, told the New York Times of meeting Harper. "It’s like so many things about her. There are these misconceptions and generalizations that don’t fit this person who is full of spirit and down-to-earthiness."
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/angelina-jolies-ex-girlfriend-jenny-shimizu-marries-michelle-002000320-us-weekly.html;_ylt=A2KJyxLetAhUABIAp5ybvZx4;_ylu=X3oDMTZzM28xMWJyBGEDMTQwOTA0IGNlbGViIGpvbGllIGV4IHdlZHMgdARhaWQDaWQtMzUwOTQyNQRjY29kZQNnYQRjcG9zAzEEZWQDMQRnA2JkNDFhNTkzLThiZjItM2U3OS1hNWZjLTcyZGNjMTJlOWI4MARpbnRsA3VzBGl0YwMwBHBrZ3QDMQRwa2d2AzgEcG9zAzIEcgNEVkpKT2NBVlZjR29QQjFvczZvK0xiS2R6ejVOZ1JOcVFBPT0Ec2VjA3RkLWZlYQRzbGsDdGl0bGUEdGVzdAM5MDEEd29lAzI1MDMxMjQ-
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True, Linda, I was just trying to inject some levity.
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Because that is the way of things until there is a reason for it NOT to be the way of things.
That's a convoluted way of looking at it.
It's also an excuse for not doing anything about it. "Well, that's just the way it is."
Just look at gay marriage. Impossible until enough of the "forward" thinking populace got behind it and changed things. Thank god for majority rules, eh?
Courts have changed most of the laws regarding gay marriage, despite what the majority think.
And prop 8 could be rewritten so it IS constitutional.
How so?
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Oh, Lyle, you do make me laugh!
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Lyle, if everyone would be adult and discuss some of the hotter topics in a rational manner without it spiraling into insults and personal attacks, I would be more than glad to allow the discussions. But I have had to shut down these discussions numerous times when folks start attacking one another. When that ceases to happen, then there will be no limitations on what is discussed.
Can't the troublemakers themselves be barred from the entire forum instead of you having to forbid discussion of this or any topic, on this or ANY of the many threads? I'm sure there are more rational posters than hateful and argumentative and dogmatic ones.
Throw the bums out! (Look, Lyle! A baseball reference!)
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Joan Rivers, the brash comedian who enjoyed a five-decade career on stage and television, died Thursday.
She was 81.
Daughter Melissa Rivers said she died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, surrounded by family and close friends.
"My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh," Melissa Rivers said. "Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/joan-rivers-dead-in-new-york-at-81-says-daughter-1.2755965
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And our former Virginia governor was found guilty on nearly all counts.
Though I expect, like all people of influence, either through money or connections, that he and his wife will serve very little time behind bars.
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$100,000
Chump change
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Boy am I glad I had the parents I had. They let each of us find our own interests and supported us whole heartedly in our pursuits. About the only thing I remember the WHOLE family ever being interested in was reading. Each of us led our folks down paths they never would have explored on their own. And when it comes to my own children, I quit a high paying job, sold my house and spent 4 years of my life living in an 8' x 8' room in a train car, moving from town to town every few days and cramming a week's load of family laundry and grocery shopping into a few hours on my one day off each week because of what MY KIDS were interested in. None of them follow the ponies, none has any interest in genetics, not even one watches television. Our views on politics, religion and the state of the world vary greatly. We have no common interests except we are family and THAT alone is enough to keep us connected.
You did have an awful lot of adversity in bringing up your children, Sherry,
Thank goodness it all worked out in the end.
I am pleased to say my family is very happy and close too.
Of course we had our own share of adversity too, but we got through it, and both our daughters have married lovely men, have good jobs, and we have three wonderful grandchildren.
I am very proud of them all, and love them dearly.
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Oh Jess, you DO make me laugh!
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Speaking of ebola...
Kentucky Horse Euthanized Due to West Nile Virus
by Natalie Voss | 09.04.2014 | 4:10pm
State health officials reported Thursday that a horse in southwestern Kentucky had been euthanized earlier in the week due to West Nile Virus. The horse, who lived in Calloway County, was discovered down and unable to rise, lethargic and had muscle twitching in its face. Subsequent testing later determined it was suffering from WNV.
The horse had no vaccination history for West Nile, which officials said served as a grim warning to owners.
“The diagnosis, based on detection of WNv IgM by ELISA and with compatible clinical symptoms demonstrated, does serve as a reminder that West Nile virus circulates in this region and that precautionary measures to minimize exposure to the virus should be taken,” said Rusty Ford, equine programs manager for the state veterinarian. “Additionally, horsemen may consider consulting their private veterinarians to determine if there is need to stimulate immunity in their horses to achieve desired protection.”
Elsewhere, a blood samples drawn from a group of state-owned chickens in Delaware came up positive for WNV, although officials there did not know of any cases in horses or humans in the state this year. The chickens are part of a mosquito surveillance program by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to determine whether mosquitos carrying WNV are in the area. The affected chicken was at a monitoring station on the Delaware River in southeast Wilmington.
Mosquito Control operates 20 monitoring stations with caged chickens statewide. The sentinel chickens are humanely kept and tended in the field, according to a state release. Sentinel chickens bitten by mosquitoes carrying WNV or eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) develop antibodies that enable them to survive. They receive routine blood tests to look for the presence of these antibodies.
According to the American Association of Equine Practitioners, horses make up 96.9 percent of the non-human cases of West Nile detected in the United States. The virus travels from birds, which are reservoirs for the illness, to mosquitos to horses or humans. It is not contagious between horses. Affected patients show lack of coordination, depresion, hind-end weakness, muscle twitching, hypersensitivity, disorientation, convulsions and paralysis among other symptoms. About a third of horses with the illness die, and many survivors live with long-term neurological damage.
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/bloodstock/horse-euthanized-due-to-west-nile-in-kentucky/
There IS a vaccine to prevent West Nile in HORSES.
NO vaccine to prevent it in people.
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Bye bye facebook and twitter
'Telepathy' experiment sends 1st mental message
Washington (AFP) - For the first time, scientists have been able to send a simple mental message from one person to another without any contact between the two, thousands of miles apart in India and France.
Research led by experts at Harvard University shows technology can be used to transmit information from one person's brain to another's even, as in this case, if they are thousands of miles away.
"It is kind of technological realization of the dream of telepathy, but it is definitely not magical," Giulio Ruffini, a theoretical physicist and co-author of the research, told AFP by phone from Barcelona.
"We are using technology to interact electromagnetically with the brain."
For the experiment, one person wearing a wireless, Internet-linked electroencephalogram or EEG would think a simple greeting, like "hola," or "ciao."
A computer translated the words into digital binary code, presented by a series of 1s or 0s.
Then, this message was emailed from India to France, and delivered via robot to the receiver, who through non-invasive brain stimulation could see flashes of light in their peripheral vision.
The subjects receiving the message did not hear or see the words themselves, but were correctly able to report the flashes of light that corresponded to the message.
"We wanted to find out if one could communicate directly between two people by reading out the brain activity from one person and injecting brain activity into the second person, and do so across great physical distances by leveraging existing communication pathways," said co-author Alvaro Pascual-Leone, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School.
"One such pathway is, of course, the Internet, so our question became, 'Could we develop an experiment that would bypass the talking or typing part of Internet and establish direct brain-to-brain communication between subjects located far away from each other in India and France?'"
Ruffini added that extra care was taken to make sure no sensory information got in the way that could have influenced the interpretation of the message.
Researchers have been attempting to send a message from person to person this way for about a decade, and the proof of principle that was reported in the journal PLOS ONE is still rudimentary, he told AFP.
"We hope that in the longer term this could radically change the way we communicate with each other," said Ruffini.
http://news.yahoo.com/telepathy-experiment-sends-1st-mental-message-222701481.html
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Giant live millipedes seized at San Francisco airport
By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo News
Talk about a suspicious package.
Customs agents seized 20 live giant millipedes hidden inside a box marked "toy car model" that arrived at the mail facility at San Francisco International Airport last week.
The box was shipped from Germany, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office said, and routed through an X ray machine. That's when “agriculture specialists on duty were quick to notice the deception."
Inside the package was a large plastic foam box and a large mesh bag "containing the foot-long millipedes, along with chunks of soil and paper," the agency said. They were referred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for positive identification.
While it is not illegal to import exotic animals — including giant millipedes — the package "lacked required import permits and was misrepresented in an attempt to bypass federal regulations." It has since been turned over to the USDA Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance office.
It's the second strange animal shipment to be intercepted by customs officials in recent months.
In July, officials at Los Angeles International Airport seized 67 live African snails the size of hams.
The giant mollusks arrived from Lagos, Nigeria, in packages labeled "Achatina fulica for human consumption," the U.S. Customs & Border Protection office said. But the snails were deemed "Archachatina marginata," which the customs agency described as "a very serious threat to our agriculture, natural ecosystem, public health and economy."
The snails were transferred to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
"They can consume more than 500 types of plants and, if vegetables or fruits are not available, will even eat the paint and stucco off of houses," officials added. "They can be carriers of several parasites which are harmful to humans, one of which can lead to meningitis."
http://news.yahoo.com/millipedes-seized-sf-airport-164406131.html
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Lyle, if everyone would be adult and discuss some of the hotter topics in a rational manner without it spiraling into insults and personal attacks, I would be more than glad to allow the discussions. But I have had to shut down these discussions numerous times when folks start attacking one another. When that ceases to happen, then there will be no limitations on what is discussed.
And yet some people are allowed to quote gun control stats in their signature line, where we are forced to look at it on every post they do. Inaccurate stats I may ad. :-\
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Woman beheaded 'with machete' in north London garden
Palmira Silva was decapitated at her home in Edmonton in an indiscriminate rampage before armed police subdued her 'crazed' attacker
By Tom Whitehead, Ed Malnick, Tom Brooks Pollock and Gordon Rayner
An 82-year-old woman was beheaded in a north London suburban garden by a man with a machete.
Palmira Silva, a widow and grandmother described as “such a sweet lady” by one neighbour, was killed outside her home in Edmonton in a random but frenzied assault by a 25-year-old.
Witnesses said they saw the man, wielding a foot-long blade, attack a passing vehicle and a cat before roaming back gardens looking for a victim.
Police believe he also tried to attack two people at another home in the street, but they were able to escape without injury.
The man was arrested after armed officers, who had distracted him to prevent further attacks, cornered him in a house and brought him down with a Taser stun gun. Some officers were injured.
Mrs Silva, who was of Italian descent, was pronounced dead at the scene.
One line of inquiry for detectives is understood to be that the man was inspired by recent footage of terrorists beheading two American journalists in Syria.
Some residents claimed last night that the suspect was a local man who had converted to Islam last year, but those claims could not be verified. Detectives said they had ruled out terrorism.
Witnesses described seeing police smash windows of neighbouring properties, carry screaming children and lead terrified residents to safety.
One neighbour told of her narrow escape. Freda Odame, 30, a catering worker, said she heard a commotion and pulled back her curtains to see a man in his mid-20s with a knife.
“Someone was shouting and the door was banging. I could hear the screaming but I could not hear what he was saying,” she said.
“I could see that he had a big curved knife, about the size of an arm’s length and he was crouching as if frantically searching for something. He had a crazed look in his eyes so I closed my curtains because I was scared.
“My next door neighbour was in his garden but did not seem to realise anything was going on. I have seen him around here all the time, I think he lives on the road. I think he lives with his family. Five minutes after I heard him screaming the police knocked on my door and told me I had to get out.”[/b]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11075380/Woman-beheaded-in-north-London-garden.html
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^^^ I hope the cat is alright!
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Good to see that even the writer in tabloid The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2743468/Is-Britains-angriest-motorist-Jaguar-driver-fined-caught-camera-swearing-cyclist-25-times-35-seconds.html#ixzz3CM6CbkCV) knows what constitutes assault and what doesn’t,
unlike the the writers of The Huffington Post, Martin Baron of The Washington Post and even his employee Wesley Lowery, who declined to call being slammed into a soda machine an assault because “he wasn’t hurt.”
Driver Mark Baldwin hurled a tirade of abuse at 30-year-old cyclist Eddie Bell, saying f*** ten times, w***** eight times, c*** seven and s*** once:
Mark Baldwin, 60, launched the foul-mouthed tirade against cyclist Eddie Bell, 38, who captured the jaw-dropping footage on his helmet cam.
Mr Bell, a father-of-four, was out cycling on a country road in Pevensey, East Sussex, when Baldwin stopped his £45,000 Jaguar XF in a junction box designed for cyclists only.
The shocking incident, which occurred last March, saw Baldwin verbally abuse Mr Bell more than two dozen times during the one minute video.
Baldwin, who lives in a million-pound property in Longfield, Kent, pleaded guilty to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour with intent to cause the victim to think violence would be used against him.
The assault charge was dropped, but during his appearance at Hastings Magistrates' Court Baldwin was fined £505, and ordered to pay £135 costs and victim surcharge.
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A leader with a plan, what a concept....
Having a plan is better, I think, than not having one and, considering the circumstances, it appears to be a sensible one.
There appears to be some debate in the UK press about whether Cameron’s proposal of a ban on British-born jihadists in Iraq and Syria returning home would lose their citizenship.
Passport seizures, as suggested by Cameron, would simply be a temporary measure to prevent suspected jihadists from returning to the UK for “a period of time,” and their citizenship would not be affected, despite comments in the press that such people would be “rendered stateless,” as this SkyNews (http://news.sky.com/story/1328471/key-issue-of-returning-uk-jihadists-unresolved) article suggests:
UK's police and security services broadly welcome the package of new anti-terror measures.
... But one of the key issues over what to do about returning jihadists from Iraq and Syria remains unresolved.
David Cameron has been keen to emphasise the British Government’s response to the emerging threat from the terror group Islamic State should be a considered one and not knee-jerk.
Currently, airlines operating out of UK airports cannot be compelled to provide advanced passenger information to the authorities. Some already pass on this information, but the Government will now introduce new legislation to force all airlines to divulge their passenger manifests to the authorities.
Enhanced powers to seize suspects’ passports is another measure the authorities have been requesting for some time. Although there are powers under the royal prerogative to confiscate someone's passport, it is a fairly cumbersome process which cannot be applied in real time by police and border officials, who might be suspicious about a specific passenger at a port or airport.
The new powers will give police and border officials an instant ability to stop anyone they believe might be travelling abroad for terrorist purposes. But with around 500 British nationals who have already travelled to Syria and Iraq, a significant concern remains about what to do on their return. The Government is actively looking at introducing a targeted discretionary power to enable the UK to exclude British nationals from returning to the country if it is believed they pose a threat.
However, this is a difficult prospect, both ethically and legally - such a power would effectively render any UK citizen, excluded from returning here, stateless.
Gordon Clubb, in The Conversation (http://theconversation.com/removing-citizenship-will-only-encourage-uk-jihadists-30754), raises the possibility that the removal of citizenship (which Cameron hasn’t suggested) would only encourage UK jihadists:
Removing citizenship will only encourage UK jihadists
In the aftermath of James Foley’s killing and the concern that his killer may be from the UK, the right to British citizenship has been placed firmly at the centre of the debate about modern terrorism.
Politicians are clamouring to take citizenship away from Britons who take up arms for militant Islamist groups but this is an ill-advised strategy that could do more harm than good.
... Yet it is unclear whether removing citizenship will help or hinder counter-terrorism efforts. This is an issue that is rarely discussed, except in terms of its implications for human rights. But even if we don’t consider the human rights arguments, taking such drastic steps would simply ne a bad counter-terrorism strategy.
As a form of control, the removal of citizenship may be counter productive to counter-terrorism efforts. If the security services know a militant was involved in extremist activity, their ability to monitor them for intelligence gathering in the UK would actually be strengthened if that person had citizenship and remained in the country or returned to it after fighting abroad.
... it’s important to remember that many of the IS fighters returning may actually be seeking an exit route and disengagement needs to be encouraged through incentives. Many young people have been motivated to join IS for adventure and this feeling tends to pass relatively fast, in many cases to be replaced by feelings of disillusionment and burnout. Many militant groups have been defeated by providing a way out for disillusioned members and removing citizenship reduces that possibility for little in return.
Apparently even a sensible plan can give rise both to red herring issues and to “bleeding heart” arguments which miss the point entirely.
Yet the answer is actually quite simple: tell them to get back to the desert.
They either love their home country, or they don't.
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Armed police kill man threatening woman with knife in London
Number of shots fired during incident after man broke into house in Islington, says Scotland Yard
Matthew Weaver, Vikram Dodd and agency
theguardian.com, Friday 5 September 2014 07.53 EDT
Police have shot dead a 40-year-old man who was threatening a woman with a knife at a house in London, in the first fatal shooting by police in London since the killing of Mark Duggan in 2011.
Several shots were fired during the standoff at Shepperton Road in Islington at around 1am and the man died 20 minutes later while being taken to hospital, Scotland Yard said.
Police had sent a negotiator to the scene at 11.19pm on Thursday following reports the man had broken into a house.
The man and woman involved were believed to have known each other, according to Commander Neil Basu of the Metropolitan police.
The woman was not harmed but was being treated for shock, he said. Photos taken by neighbours show a middle-aged woman in a pink blanket being comforted by a female police officer as she was led away.
Speaking outside Scotland Yard, Basu said the man was pronounced dead en route to hospital at 1.20am.
He added: “We do believe that the man and woman were known to each other but at this stage we cannot confirm the exact nature of that relationship. But no other people are believed to be involved in last night’s incident and there have been no other injuries.”
The police have not named the man as his family have yet to be told of his death.
Basu said: “At this stage all I can confirm is that he is a 40-year-old black man, who I believe was born in Islington.
He added: “As this is a fatal shooting, the police officers of the Met’s directorate of professional standards were immediately informed. They have attended the scene, they are there now and we have made a mandatory referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).”
Rasu stressed that such incidents were rare but demonstrated the “challenging nature” of the work of firearms officers.
A female neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “I heard lots of shots – three or four. Like a bonfire. I’ve never heard anything like it before. It was really scary.
“There were a lot of police with guns. It was very scary. The people who lived there moved in around a year ago – I thought the man was her son.”
Another witness said she was woken by five shots being fired, according to LBC’s Tom Swarbick reporting from the scene.
Neighbours said they were escorted to their homes by police on Thursday night as the incident was taking place.
Rosa Whiteread, 28, a primary school teacher who lives in the street, said: “I was asleep and I heard shouting - it woke me up. It must have been around 12.30 at night.
“I looked out of the window and I saw lots of police, there must have been around a dozen of them. I asked them what was going on, but they said they couldn’t tell me ... It’s shocking.”
Lyssa Barber, a neighbour who works in recruitment for a bank in the City, said: “I was woken up to shouts and immediately afterwards to what sounded like four or five bangs. They were gunshots.
“I think I heard five gunshots, but a gunshot in real life doesn’t sound like it does on TV. It sounded like loud bangs on a door. Bang, bang, bang. Then I realised, if it’s somebody banging on the door, why can I hear it?
“We saw the ambulance and police. There were eight police vehicles I could see from my window, and I saw five armed officers.
“The ambulance arrived as I was looking out of my window. Police came out of the house. We could see someone being led away. I’m fairly sure they were wearing pink and had to be supported by officers.”
Neighbours said police cordoned off the street on Thursday night and were stopping some residents from returning to their homes. Shortly afterwards they heard gunshots.
A 36-year-old man who works in advertising, but did not want to be named, said: “I arrived home and saw police, who escorted me to my house. Some other residents weren’t allowed back into their homes.”
Resident Michaela Fox, 38, heard the shots from inside her home some 100 yards away from where the man was shot.
Officers are believed to have burst into the house fearing the woman’s life was in imminent danger.
Fox said she heard five shots. After the first there was a short pause, with the next four being fired in rapid succession: “My neighbour asked if the bangs were fireworks. I said no.”
“After the first bang there was a hold, then a second shot.”
Some local people thought the woman had moved into the area recently and that the man shot dead has either been let in or broken into the house.
IPCC investigators were at the scene to start their independent investigation. Witnesses differ in their recall of the shots fired with accounts varying from three to ten shots.
The incident is the first fatal shooting by police in England since officers killed Anthony Grainger in a stolen car in Cheshire in March 2012. It is the first fatal shooting by police in London since the death of Mark Duggan sparked widespread rioting in August 2011.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/05/police-shoot-man-dead-in-london
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Today, on the internet at http://www.theguardian.com/us
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Iraq deployment called into question as days wear on
US marines in Iraq.
Critics argue 'unpersuasive theory' but administration says deployment not covered by 1973 resolution
US forming 'core coalition' to fight Isis
West disregards Assad's pitch for anti-Isis pact
Ukraine ceasefire holds so far
Ukraine solder in Mariupol
Obama is 'hopeful' but – with other Nato leaders – expresses scepticism over longer term success of the truce
Heavy shelling in Ukraine hours before ceasefire
Nato cautiously welcomes ceasefire
US adds just 142,000 jobs in August
Unemployment rate drops to 6.1% but analysts had expected a monthly tally of more than 200,000 jobs
How your supermarket can change unemployment
Unresponsive US plane crashes
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Unresponsive US plane
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Al-Shabaab leader confirmed killed
Pentagon press secretary
Pentagon hails 'major symbolic and operational loss' for militant group with killing of Ahmed Abdi Godane in US airstrike
Pornhub to join 'go-slow' protest
Net neutrality go-slow day
Pornhub and Redtube to support 'battle for the net' protest against FCC plan to let some companies pay for faster web access
Large US tech firms plan 'go slow' day
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Democrats: drop immigration reform
US Money undocumented immigration children parents deport
Party officials launch lobbying campaign to convince White House of electoral damage the party could suffer
Rep Luis Gutiérrez: Obama needs to lean in
Oklahoma executions put on hold
Clayton Lockett
Clayton Lockett took 43 minutes to die because of misplaced IV but no single person blamed and no charges recommended
Who witnessed the execution of Clayton Lockett?
Judge orders teen to yearly solitary confinement
Nigerians flee from Boko Haram
Screengrab released by Boko Haram showing alleged members of the extremist group fighting in Nigeria
Islamic extremists have been seizing towns and now control large swath in north-east of Africa's most populous country
Israel to build 283 West Bank homes
Publication of tenders follows announcement of Israel's biggest land grab in West Bank since 1980s
One in 10 girls face sexual violence
A Congolese woman braids the hair of a girl at a residence for rape victims in Goma
Unicef finds 120m young females endure rape and forced sexual acts, with high rates of murder and violence against all children
Gulf workers: 'BP should have to pay'
BP ruling.
Louisianans give emphatic response to ruling that could mean $18bn in additional fines for US's worst offshore oil spill
BP's 'reckless conduct' caused spill
Armed police kill man in London
Man had threatened woman with knife after breaking into house in Islington, says Scotland Yard
Kenya president's ICC trial collapses
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta
Prosecutors at international criminal court ask for case against leader to be adjourned indefinitely due to lack of evidence
Relatives hit out at Qatar World Cup
Relatives of detained human rights workers say country should not host World Cup
NYPD to test body cameras
New York police body cameras
NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton hopes cameras will encourage better behaviour from both officers and civilians
Ebola doctor arrives in Nebraska
Rick Sacra ebola
Dr Rick Sacra was infected with the virus in Liberia, where he went after hearing two other US missionaries were sick
The Ebola burial boys in Sierra Leone
Dalai Lama denied Nobel event visa to South Africa
Hawaii volcano lava nears homes
Lava flowing from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.
Residents of Puna region warned that lava from Kalauea volcano could pose a threat within a week
Rogers: sex abuse claims investigated
TV talkshow host shot dead in Baton Rouge by man believed to be son-in-law and former lover
IVF teacher to have her day in court
ivf
Emily Herx alleges sex discrimination against diocese in Indiana but judge denies claim church fired her because of infertility
Man phoned/texted ex 21,807 times
Text messagign
French man who harassed woman demanding compensation for work on appartment admits behaviour was 'stupid'
McDonnell trial juror speaks out
Virginia governor McDonnell
Lawyer for former Virginia governor and first lady plan to appeal verdict after conviction on multiple corruption charges
Ex-Virginia governor found guilty of corruption
-
A beer and a shot while breastfeeding, and it's bullshit for her to say she was going to drink after not during, as if that makes a difference...maybe they should take the kid away......
Breast-feeding mom slams Virginia bar that tossed her out after she was seen with alcohol
It's a battle of the bottles.
A mother who was thrown out of a Virginia bar when she was seen breast-feeding her baby in front of a beer and a shot has launched an internet firestorm after slamming the establishment as "unfriendly to breast-feeding moms."
The woman identified as "Crystal" says she only had a sip from the beer and planned to finish the rest once she was finished feeding her 11-month-old while dining out on Labor Day.
But a few patrons around them saw the nursing mother and complained to management, who asked her to leave.
"I said there is no law that says I can't breast-feed and drink. I'm not doing anything wrong,
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/breast-feeding-mom-slams-bar-tossed-alcohol-article-1.1928666#ixzz3CUG8nr9G
"The treatment was wrong," she told WTKR News of her failed outing at Big Woody's in Chesapeake.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/breast-feeding-mom-slams-bar-tossed-alcohol-article-1.1928666#ixzz3CUEqBs6f
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IS there a law that says you can't drink and breastfeed?
-
Good to see that even the writer in tabloid The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2743468/Is-Britains-angriest-motorist-Jaguar-driver-fined-caught-camera-swearing-cyclist-25-times-35-seconds.html#ixzz3CM6CbkCV) knows what constitutes assault and what doesn’t,
unlike the the writers of The Huffington Post, Martin Baron of The Washington Post and even his employee Wesley Lowery, who declined to call being slammed into a soda machine an assault because “he wasn’t hurt.”
Driver Mark Baldwin hurled a tirade of abuse at 30-year-old cyclist Eddie Bell, saying f*** ten times, w***** eight times, c*** seven and s*** once:
Mark Baldwin, 60, launched the foul-mouthed tirade against cyclist Eddie Bell, 38, who captured the jaw-dropping footage on his helmet cam.
Mr Bell, a father-of-four, was out cycling on a country road in Pevensey, East Sussex, when Baldwin stopped his £45,000 Jaguar XF in a junction box designed for cyclists only.
The shocking incident, which occurred last March, saw Baldwin verbally abuse Mr Bell more than two dozen times during the one minute video.
Baldwin, who lives in a million-pound property in Longfield, Kent, pleaded guilty to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour with intent to cause the victim to think violence would be used against him.
The assault charge was dropped, but during his appearance at Hastings Magistrates' Court Baldwin was fined £505, and ordered to pay £135 costs and victim surcharge.
What was the w***** word? Wanker?
-
IS there a law that says you can't drink and breastfeed?
law of nature?
-
Court of public opinion.?
Still doesn't make it illegal. As I said a few posts back, there's no law against stupidity.
-
and as Ron White says, you can't fix it....
-
Had to look him up....
I LOVE the Blue Collar guys.
-
IS there a law that says you can't drink and breastfeed?
Law or not the women can still be arrested apparently, at least in the stupid backwards states. #welcometothepolicestate.
Arkansas Mother Thrown in Jail For Breastfeeding While Drinking a Beer
Tasha Adams, a stay-at-home mother of three, has been cleared of child endangerment after she was arrested for drinking while breastfeeding this past November. The charges were dropped last week after the deputy city attorney for Conway, Arkansas determined there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that she had too many drinks to care for her child.
Last fall, Adams had no idea she had done anything to break the law when the police showed up at the restaurant where she was dining with her family. “They said, ‘Ma’am, we’ve got a report that you were drinking alcohol while breastfeeding.’ I said, ‘OK, I didn’t know that was illegal,’” Adams recounted in an interview with ABC’s 20/20 this week.
It’s not illegal in Arkansas. But when a waitress at the restaurant noticed Adams breastfeeding her infant daughter, and saw what appeared to be several alcoholic beverages on the table, she called the police — who decided to make a “judgment call.” They told Adams to call a family member to take her six-month-old baby home, and then arrested her for endangering the welfare of a child.
[...]
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/03/27/3419669/arkansas-mother-arrested-breastfeeding/
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Did you miss the part where the charges were thrown out?
And whether there is a law specific to drinking and nursing, there are definitely laws about child endangerment.
There has been a lot of discussion... not on this thread because it's not hot enough... about TN's law concerning mothers of babies born addicted to drugs. Here, the moms are arrested UNLESS they get/seek help BEFORE the baby is born.
-
Church death: Family, friends remember 'Sarah Smile'
By Marwa Eltagouri, Liam Ford and Blair Kamin, Tribune reporters
September 5, 2014
Sarah Bean was just a few blocks from her South Loop home, walking to lunch with her boyfriend before starting a late shift at Lurie Children's Hospital. After spending years and raising two children together, the couple had decided to marry, her family said..
Several stories above, a piece of decorative metal came loose from the outside wall of Second Presbyterian Church, a century-plus-old architectural jewel that in recent years had been hit with a number of building violations. The metal fell and knocked off a chunk of stone from a gargoyle jutting from a corner of the church's southeast tower, city officials said.
The stone hit Bean, 34, squarely on the head as she walked along the sidewalk outside the church around noon Thursday, killing her almost instantly, according to officials and witnesses to the noontime tragedy.
Her boyfriend, Lance Johnson, fell by her side, screaming and holding his hands to his head, said Broderick Adams, who watched from his fifth-floor apartment across the street before running out to help.
“I saw that crack on her head and thought, ‘She's definitely dead,'“ Adams said.
Bean was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where some family members gathered.
“She was a beautiful person,” Bean's older brother, Michael Willis, said at the hospital's emergency room. “This is not good. This is not something you expect, at all.”
The church, a Gothic revival structure at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. built in 1874, failed a string of inspections between 2007 and 2011 for violations including failing to remove obstruction from building exits and failing to maintain an interior stairway system in safe condition, according to the city's Buildings Department.
All of the building's outside walls had “fractures, washed out mortar at various locations, spalling (flaking) stone at various locations at (north, south, east and west) tower elevations,” according to a citation record from February 2010.
In 2011, the city went to court seeking fines for code violations that included failing to maintain exterior walls from holes or other conditions that might admit rain or dampness. The case was dismissed in court after it was determined that the church had come into compliance, said Buildings Department spokeswoman Mimi Simon, as well as city and court records.
The building passed inspections in 2012 and 2013, according to Simon and records.
The Rev. Robert Reynolds, executive presbyter with the Presbytery of Chicago, said Thursday that individual congregations maintain their buildings and are responsible for their property.
Reynolds was “not aware of any immediate structural issues they were addressing,” he said, adding, “We're grief-stricken over this tragedy. Our prayers are of course with the family and friends of the woman who died.”
At the church on Friday, protective scaffolding was placed around the historic building. A crew of construction workers appeared to be sealing the bricks and working to secure the structure.
"We are mourning and send our condolences to the family," said the Rev. David Neff, the interim pastor of the church.
The church will have services as usual on Sunday, he said, but he would not talk about the incident or the work being done to the building.
"We send our heartfelt sympathy and continual prayers for her family and friends," Neff said in a written statement.
Willis, Bean's brother, said she was a mother of two sons, a fourth-grader and a high school freshman. Johnson was their father, and she and Johnson had decided a few months ago to marry, after years of being together and raising their children.
“She was finally going to get married,” he said, remembering how his sister always maintained a positive attitude. On Facebook, she went by the name “Sarah Smile.”
Bean had worked at the children's hospital in the Streeterville neighborhood for about seven years, in her most recent job providing technical support for nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Nina Desiderio, 29, who said she worked with Bean for about three years at the hospital, learned of her colleague's death on Facebook.
“Why her?” Desiderio said. “I'm pretty sure her family has a lot of questions.”
Bean would often talk about her sons with close friends, her colleague said. “Everything she did was for her boys, for her family,” Desiderio said.
Police and city officials were continuing their investigation.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-woman-dead-after-stone-falls-from-historic-south-loop-church-20140904-story.html
-
Did you miss the part where the charges were thrown out?
And whether there is a law specific to drinking and nursing, there are definitely laws about child endangerment.
There has been a lot of discussion... not on this thread because it's not hot enough... about TN's law concerning mothers of babies born addicted to drugs. Here, the moms are arrested UNLESS they get/seek help BEFORE the baby is born.
The charges were thrown out but she was still arrested and thrown in jail. Talk about a nice day out with the family. I thought you hated the nanny state. You can't stand Jamie Oliver urging people to eat better but it's okay if cops arrest women for drinking a beer while breastfeeding.
-
Church death: Family, friends remember 'Sarah Smile'
By Marwa Eltagouri, Liam Ford and Blair Kamin, Tribune reporters
September 5, 2014
Sarah Bean was just a few blocks from her South Loop home, walking to lunch with her boyfriend before starting a late shift at Lurie Children's Hospital. After spending years and raising two children together, the couple had decided to marry, her family said..
Several stories above, a piece of decorative metal came loose from the outside wall of Second Presbyterian Church, a century-plus-old architectural jewel that in recent years had been hit with a number of building violations. The metal fell and knocked off a chunk of stone from a gargoyle jutting from a corner of the church's southeast tower, city officials said.
The stone hit Bean, 34, squarely on the head as she walked along the sidewalk outside the church around noon Thursday, killing her almost instantly, according to officials and witnesses to the noontime tragedy.
Her boyfriend, Lance Johnson, fell by her side, screaming and holding his hands to his head, said Broderick Adams, who watched from his fifth-floor apartment across the street before running out to help.
“I saw that crack on her head and thought, ‘She's definitely dead,'“ Adams said.
Bean was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where some family members gathered.
“She was a beautiful person,” Bean's older brother, Michael Willis, said at the hospital's emergency room. “This is not good. This is not something you expect, at all.”
The church, a Gothic revival structure at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. built in 1874, failed a string of inspections between 2007 and 2011 for violations including failing to remove obstruction from building exits and failing to maintain an interior stairway system in safe condition, according to the city's Buildings Department.
All of the building's outside walls had “fractures, washed out mortar at various locations, spalling (flaking) stone at various locations at (north, south, east and west) tower elevations,” according to a citation record from February 2010.
In 2011, the city went to court seeking fines for code violations that included failing to maintain exterior walls from holes or other conditions that might admit rain or dampness. The case was dismissed in court after it was determined that the church had come into compliance, said Buildings Department spokeswoman Mimi Simon, as well as city and court records.
The building passed inspections in 2012 and 2013, according to Simon and records.
The Rev. Robert Reynolds, executive presbyter with the Presbytery of Chicago, said Thursday that individual congregations maintain their buildings and are responsible for their property.
Reynolds was “not aware of any immediate structural issues they were addressing,” he said, adding, “We're grief-stricken over this tragedy. Our prayers are of course with the family and friends of the woman who died.”
At the church on Friday, protective scaffolding was placed around the historic building. A crew of construction workers appeared to be sealing the bricks and working to secure the structure.
"We are mourning and send our condolences to the family," said the Rev. David Neff, the interim pastor of the church.
The church will have services as usual on Sunday, he said, but he would not talk about the incident or the work being done to the building.
"We send our heartfelt sympathy and continual prayers for her family and friends," Neff said in a written statement.
Willis, Bean's brother, said she was a mother of two sons, a fourth-grader and a high school freshman. Johnson was their father, and she and Johnson had decided a few months ago to marry, after years of being together and raising their children.
“She was finally going to get married,” he said, remembering how his sister always maintained a positive attitude. On Facebook, she went by the name “Sarah Smile.”
Bean had worked at the children's hospital in the Streeterville neighborhood for about seven years, in her most recent job providing technical support for nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Nina Desiderio, 29, who said she worked with Bean for about three years at the hospital, learned of her colleague's death on Facebook.
“Why her?” Desiderio said. “I'm pretty sure her family has a lot of questions.”
Bean would often talk about her sons with close friends, her colleague said. “Everything she did was for her boys, for her family,” Desiderio said.
Police and city officials were continuing their investigation.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-woman-dead-after-stone-falls-from-historic-south-loop-church-20140904-story.html
Obviously she angered God somehow and had to be punished. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
-
IS there a law that says you can't drink and breastfeed?
I seem to remember drinking quite a lot of beer whilst breast feeding. It made me so thirsty!
Mind you, I know when to stop.
Both of my daughters say they have never seen me drunk.
So I am not advocating drunken binges.
-
Giant live millipedes seized at San Francisco airport
By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo News
Talk about a suspicious package.
Customs agents seized 20 live giant millipedes hidden inside a box marked "toy car model" that arrived at the mail facility at San Francisco International Airport last week.
The box was shipped from Germany, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office said, and routed through an X ray machine. That's when “agriculture specialists on duty were quick to notice the deception."
Inside the package was a large plastic foam box and a large mesh bag "containing the foot-long millipedes, along with chunks of soil and paper," the agency said. They were referred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for positive identification.
While it is not illegal to import exotic animals — including giant millipedes — the package "lacked required import permits and was misrepresented in an attempt to bypass federal regulations." It has since been turned over to the USDA Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance office.
It's the second strange animal shipment to be intercepted by customs officials in recent months.
In July, officials at Los Angeles International Airport seized 67 live African snails the size of hams.
The giant mollusks arrived from Lagos, Nigeria, in packages labeled "Achatina fulica for human consumption," the U.S. Customs & Border Protection office said. But the snails were deemed "Archachatina marginata," which the customs agency described as "a very serious threat to our agriculture, natural ecosystem, public health and economy."
The snails were transferred to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
"They can consume more than 500 types of plants and, if vegetables or fruits are not available, will even eat the paint and stucco off of houses," officials added. "They can be carriers of several parasites which are harmful to humans, one of which can lead to meningitis."
http://news.yahoo.com/millipedes-seized-sf-airport-164406131.html
Are you expecting comments on this article before you provide your opinion, Sherry?
Or should we wait?
-
Woman beheaded 'with machete' in north London garden
Palmira Silva was decapitated at her home in Edmonton in an indiscriminate rampage before armed police subdued her 'crazed' attacker
By Tom Whitehead, Ed Malnick, Tom Brooks Pollock and Gordon Rayner
An 82-year-old woman was beheaded in a north London suburban garden by a man with a machete.
Palmira Silva, a widow and grandmother described as “such a sweet lady” by one neighbour, was killed outside her home in Edmonton in a random but frenzied assault by a 25-year-old.
Witnesses said they saw the man, wielding a foot-long blade, attack a passing vehicle and a cat before roaming back gardens looking for a victim.
Police believe he also tried to attack two people at another home in the street, but they were able to escape without injury.
The man was arrested after armed officers, who had distracted him to prevent further attacks, cornered him in a house and brought him down with a Taser stun gun. Some officers were injured.
Mrs Silva, who was of Italian descent, was pronounced dead at the scene.
One line of inquiry for detectives is understood to be that the man was inspired by recent footage of terrorists beheading two American journalists in Syria.
Some residents claimed last night that the suspect was a local man who had converted to Islam last year, but those claims could not be verified. Detectives said they had ruled out terrorism.
Witnesses described seeing police smash windows of neighbouring properties, carry screaming children and lead terrified residents to safety.
One neighbour told of her narrow escape. Freda Odame, 30, a catering worker, said she heard a commotion and pulled back her curtains to see a man in his mid-20s with a knife.
“Someone was shouting and the door was banging. I could hear the screaming but I could not hear what he was saying,” she said.
“I could see that he had a big curved knife, about the size of an arm’s length and he was crouching as if frantically searching for something. He had a crazed look in his eyes so I closed my curtains because I was scared.
“My next door neighbour was in his garden but did not seem to realise anything was going on. I have seen him around here all the time, I think he lives on the road. I think he lives with his family. Five minutes after I heard him screaming the police knocked on my door and told me I had to get out.”[/b]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11075380/Woman-beheaded-in-north-London-garden.html
See my previous questions.
-
Today, on the internet at http://www.theguardian.com/us
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Iraq deployment called into question as days wear on
US marines in Iraq.
Critics argue 'unpersuasive theory' but administration says deployment not covered by 1973 resolution
US forming 'core coalition' to fight Isis
West disregards Assad's pitch for anti-Isis pact
Ukraine ceasefire holds so far
Ukraine solder in Mariupol
Obama is 'hopeful' but – with other Nato leaders – expresses scepticism over longer term success of the truce
Heavy shelling in Ukraine hours before ceasefire
Nato cautiously welcomes ceasefire
US adds just 142,000 jobs in August
Unemployment rate drops to 6.1% but analysts had expected a monthly tally of more than 200,000 jobs
How your supermarket can change unemployment
Unresponsive US plane crashes
Last updated less than one minute ago
Unresponsive US plane
Jamaican officials say single-propeller plane crashed off the island as Norad suspects occupants succumbed to hypoxia
Latest
“Today’s seeming ghost plane incident appears to be the second of its kind this week. On Saturday Norad launched two fighter jets to follow a…”
Plane crashes near Jamaica – latest
Al-Shabaab leader confirmed killed
Pentagon press secretary
Pentagon hails 'major symbolic and operational loss' for militant group with killing of Ahmed Abdi Godane in US airstrike
Pornhub to join 'go-slow' protest
Net neutrality go-slow day
Pornhub and Redtube to support 'battle for the net' protest against FCC plan to let some companies pay for faster web access
Large US tech firms plan 'go slow' day
The life of the Vegas 'porn slapper'
Democrats: drop immigration reform
US Money undocumented immigration children parents deport
Party officials launch lobbying campaign to convince White House of electoral damage the party could suffer
Rep Luis Gutiérrez: Obama needs to lean in
Oklahoma executions put on hold
Clayton Lockett
Clayton Lockett took 43 minutes to die because of misplaced IV but no single person blamed and no charges recommended
Who witnessed the execution of Clayton Lockett?
Judge orders teen to yearly solitary confinement
Nigerians flee from Boko Haram
Screengrab released by Boko Haram showing alleged members of the extremist group fighting in Nigeria
Islamic extremists have been seizing towns and now control large swath in north-east of Africa's most populous country
Israel to build 283 West Bank homes
Publication of tenders follows announcement of Israel's biggest land grab in West Bank since 1980s
One in 10 girls face sexual violence
A Congolese woman braids the hair of a girl at a residence for rape victims in Goma
Unicef finds 120m young females endure rape and forced sexual acts, with high rates of murder and violence against all children
Gulf workers: 'BP should have to pay'
BP ruling.
Louisianans give emphatic response to ruling that could mean $18bn in additional fines for US's worst offshore oil spill
BP's 'reckless conduct' caused spill
Armed police kill man in London
Man had threatened woman with knife after breaking into house in Islington, says Scotland Yard
Kenya president's ICC trial collapses
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta
Prosecutors at international criminal court ask for case against leader to be adjourned indefinitely due to lack of evidence
Relatives hit out at Qatar World Cup
Relatives of detained human rights workers say country should not host World Cup
NYPD to test body cameras
New York police body cameras
NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton hopes cameras will encourage better behaviour from both officers and civilians
Ebola doctor arrives in Nebraska
Rick Sacra ebola
Dr Rick Sacra was infected with the virus in Liberia, where he went after hearing two other US missionaries were sick
The Ebola burial boys in Sierra Leone
Dalai Lama denied Nobel event visa to South Africa
Hawaii volcano lava nears homes
Lava flowing from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.
Residents of Puna region warned that lava from Kalauea volcano could pose a threat within a week
Rogers: sex abuse claims investigated
TV talkshow host shot dead in Baton Rouge by man believed to be son-in-law and former lover
IVF teacher to have her day in court
ivf
Emily Herx alleges sex discrimination against diocese in Indiana but judge denies claim church fired her because of infertility
Man phoned/texted ex 21,807 times
Text messagign
French man who harassed woman demanding compensation for work on appartment admits behaviour was 'stupid'
McDonnell trial juror speaks out
Virginia governor McDonnell
Lawyer for former Virginia governor and first lady plan to appeal verdict after conviction on multiple corruption charges
Ex-Virginia governor found guilty of corruption
Is this a pic-a-box post where you'd like people to select a topic to discuss?
A clue to its purpose would help. :D
-
What was the w***** word? Wanker?
The article caught my eye because it dealt with the issue of assault, not because of the words used, which it doesn’t explain, presumably for fear of offending readers.
Here’s my interpretation of the mystery words, Mark:
During the video, Baldwin yelled at Mr Bell: “Get off, I’ll show you who’s a fizzing wombat. I can’t deal with that slur. You call me a wombat? You call me a fizzing wombat? Am I a wombat or not? Then why did you give it all that, you clam? I said did you get in the box didn’t I? Don’t fizzing give me all that, you clam. Watch yourself, you clam. Don’t fizzing get clever, I’ll give you a fizzing decking. Don’t fizzing tell me to calm down, you started it, you clam. Now fizz off. Think yourself fizzing lucky.”
I think that would constitute assault in anyone's book ... :D
-
Church death: Family, friends remember 'Sarah Smile'
By Marwa Eltagouri, Liam Ford and Blair Kamin, Tribune reporters
September 5, 2014
Sarah Bean was just a few blocks from her South Loop home, walking to lunch with her boyfriend before starting a late shift at Lurie Children's Hospital. After spending years and raising two children together, the couple had decided to marry, her family said..
Several stories above, a piece of decorative metal came loose from the outside wall of Second Presbyterian Church, a century-plus-old architectural jewel that in recent years had been hit with a number of building violations. The metal fell and knocked off a chunk of stone from a gargoyle jutting from a corner of the church's southeast tower, city officials said.
The stone hit Bean, 34, squarely on the head as she walked along the sidewalk outside the church around noon Thursday, killing her almost instantly, according to officials and witnesses to the noontime tragedy.
Her boyfriend, Lance Johnson, fell by her side, screaming and holding his hands to his head, said Broderick Adams, who watched from his fifth-floor apartment across the street before running out to help.
“I saw that crack on her head and thought, ‘She's definitely dead,'“ Adams said.
Bean was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where some family members gathered.
“She was a beautiful person,” Bean's older brother, Michael Willis, said at the hospital's emergency room. “This is not good. This is not something you expect, at all.”
The church, a Gothic revival structure at 1936 S. Michigan Ave. built in 1874, failed a string of inspections between 2007 and 2011 for violations including failing to remove obstruction from building exits and failing to maintain an interior stairway system in safe condition, according to the city's Buildings Department.
All of the building's outside walls had “fractures, washed out mortar at various locations, spalling (flaking) stone at various locations at (north, south, east and west) tower elevations,” according to a citation record from February 2010.
In 2011, the city went to court seeking fines for code violations that included failing to maintain exterior walls from holes or other conditions that might admit rain or dampness. The case was dismissed in court after it was determined that the church had come into compliance, said Buildings Department spokeswoman Mimi Simon, as well as city and court records.
The building passed inspections in 2012 and 2013, according to Simon and records.
The Rev. Robert Reynolds, executive presbyter with the Presbytery of Chicago, said Thursday that individual congregations maintain their buildings and are responsible for their property.
Reynolds was “not aware of any immediate structural issues they were addressing,” he said, adding, “We're grief-stricken over this tragedy. Our prayers are of course with the family and friends of the woman who died.”
At the church on Friday, protective scaffolding was placed around the historic building. A crew of construction workers appeared to be sealing the bricks and working to secure the structure.
"We are mourning and send our condolences to the family," said the Rev. David Neff, the interim pastor of the church.
The church will have services as usual on Sunday, he said, but he would not talk about the incident or the work being done to the building.
"We send our heartfelt sympathy and continual prayers for her family and friends," Neff said in a written statement.
Willis, Bean's brother, said she was a mother of two sons, a fourth-grader and a high school freshman. Johnson was their father, and she and Johnson had decided a few months ago to marry, after years of being together and raising their children.
“She was finally going to get married,” he said, remembering how his sister always maintained a positive attitude. On Facebook, she went by the name “Sarah Smile.”
Bean had worked at the children's hospital in the Streeterville neighborhood for about seven years, in her most recent job providing technical support for nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Nina Desiderio, 29, who said she worked with Bean for about three years at the hospital, learned of her colleague's death on Facebook.
“Why her?” Desiderio said. “I'm pretty sure her family has a lot of questions.”
Bean would often talk about her sons with close friends, her colleague said. “Everything she did was for her boys, for her family,” Desiderio said.
Police and city officials were continuing their investigation.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-woman-dead-after-stone-falls-from-historic-south-loop-church-20140904-story.html
Here we go again. Another post where we have to guess its purpose.
But, in for a penny, in for a pound, so here goes:
I think it's a wonderful thing that the ”Police and city officials were continuing their investigation.” :)
-
The article caught my eye because it dealt with the issue of assault, not because of the words used, which it doesn’t explain, presumably for fear of offending readers.
Here’s my interpretation of the mystery words, Mark:
During the video, Baldwin yelled at Mr Bell: “Get off, I’ll show you who’s a fizzing wombat. I can’t deal with that slur. You call me a wombat? You call me a fizzing wombat? Am I a wombat or not? Then why did you give it all that, you clam? I said did you get in the box didn’t I? Don’t fizzing give me all that, you clam. Watch yourself, you clam. Don’t fizzing get clever, I’ll give you a fizzing decking. Don’t fizzing tell me to calm down, you started it, you clam. Now fizz off. Think yourself fizzing lucky.”
I think that would constitute assault in anyone's book ... :D
:D :D :D :D
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Refreshing news from the arab world.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fisisflag-01_zps0acb78de.jpg&hash=f320bcbf660dab9010414c14df4a78f4e9509310)
The Arab World's Version of the Ice Bucket Challenge: Burning ISIS Flags
On Saturday, three Lebanese young men in Beirut protested the Islamic State by burning the extremist group's flag, a black banner emblazoned with the Muslim tenet "there is no god but God and Muhammed is his prophet." The teens then posted a video of the flag-burning online, exhorting others to do the same to demonstrate their opposition to the movement led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In recent weeks, the Islamic State has allegedly beheaded a Lebanese army sergeant and kidnapped about 20 Lebanese soldiers. The flag-burning campaign, modeled on the viral "Ice Bucket Challenge," quickly took off on social media under the hashtag #BurnISISFlagChallenge. "I nominate the whole world to #Burn_ISIS_Flag_Challenge. You have 24 hours. GO!!" wrote one Lebanese YouTube user.
[...]
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/09/lebanon-isis-flag-burning-challenge
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Paul, I loved your interpolation of the epithets used in the news story. But was it Brit or Aussie?
"Fizzing wombat" ?
"Clam" ?
These point to Aussie.
As to whether they constituted assault, the rightful charge might be Curse and Abuse, which exists, in the U.S.
I know am being a bit scattered (known Aussie phrase :).....) but now am a little sad.
From here on, I could never call anyone a clam, on this forum, as....they're on to it :D.
Oh, well.
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Yet another Ice Bucket Challenge copy cat: Burn the Cracker Jesus!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fcracker-jesus-01_zps5db75b02.jpg&hash=2bfb0ef21551da7089b65e4f26dca887a677ee3e)
‘Burn White Jesus’ Social Media Campaign Views White Jesus as White Supremacist (VIDEO)
A new social media campaign aims to point out the white supremacy inherent in the popular image of “White Jesus.” People are posting videos of themselves burning pictures of the image of a white skinned Jesus.
You would be hard pressed to find a historian who would claim that Jesus would have the pale complexion of a European man who is the common depiction of Jesus.
Though the European depiction of Jesus is historically inaccurate cultures have a tendency to remake images of Jesus in their image. Below is a photo of a depiction of “Chinese Jesus” from, 1879. This depiction would not be historically accurate at all of a late Iron Age Middle-Eastern Jewish Rabbi. So is “White Jesus,” just another ethnocentric rendition of the religious figure or are there legitimate reasons why certain people might view “White Jesus,” as being a symbol of white supremacy?
[...]
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What was the w***** word? Wanker?
I was wondering that, too.
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Is this a pic-a-box post where you'd like people to select a topic to discuss?
I was wondering that, too.
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Right, there is no war on women...
Pennsylvania mother who gave daughter ‘abortion pill’ gets prison
HARRISBURG Pa. (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison for obtaining so-called abortion pills online and providing them to her teenage daughter to end her pregnancy.
Jennifer Ann Whalen, 39, of Washingtonville, a single mother who works as a nursing home aide, pleaded guilty in August to obtaining the miscarriage-inducing pills from an online site in Europe for her daughter, 16, who did not want to have the child.
Whalen was sentenced on Friday by Montour County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary Norton to serve 12 months to 18 months in prison for violating a state law that requires abortions to be performed by physicians.
[...]
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/06/pennsylvania-mother-who-gave-daughter-abortion-pill-gets-prison/
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Former NSA Official: Edward Snowden Leak Has 'Clearly' Helped ISIL
Adam Chandler
Sep 5, 2014 7:12AM ET / Global
According to a former top NSA official, Islamic State fighters have managed to avoid detection by American intelligence apparatuses because of protocols released in the Edward Snowden leak.
Chris Inglis, the former Deputy Director of the NSA, who retired earlier this year and has since taken up work with a K Street private equity firm, says that ISIL has managed to study up on American surveillance tactics and has evaded detection by the American intelligence community because of the disclosures infamously released by Edward Snowden. The remarks were first reported by Rowan Scarborough:
Mr. Snowden “went way beyond disclosing things that bore on privacy concerns,” said Mr. Inglis, who retired in January. “‘Sources and methods’ is what we say inside the intelligence community — the means and methods we use to hold our adversaries at risk, and ISIL is clearly one of those.
When the reporter asked "if the Islamic State has studied Mr. Snowden’s documents and taken action, Mr. Inglis answered, 'Clearly.'”
This isn't the first invoking of Snowden's name since ISIL began its rampage across northern Iraq and Syria. In the aftermath of last month's failed U.S. raid to spring the since murdered American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Snowden's disclosures were interjected into the debate about whether the mission failed because ISIL now understood how the United States gathers its intelligence.
http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/09/former-nsa-official-edward-snowden-leak-has-clearly-helped-isil/379674/
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Former NSA Official: Edward Snowden Leak Has 'Clearly' Helped ISIL
Adam Chandler
Sep 5, 2014 7:12AM ET / Global
According to a former top NSA official, Islamic State fighters have managed to avoid detection by American intelligence apparatuses because of protocols released in the Edward Snowden leak.
Chris Inglis, the former Deputy Director of the NSA, who retired earlier this year and has since taken up work with a K Street private equity firm, says that ISIL has managed to study up on American surveillance tactics and has evaded detection by the American intelligence community because of the disclosures infamously released by Edward Snowden. The remarks were first reported by Rowan Scarborough:
Mr. Snowden “went way beyond disclosing things that bore on privacy concerns,” said Mr. Inglis, who retired in January. “‘Sources and methods’ is what we say inside the intelligence community — the means and methods we use to hold our adversaries at risk, and ISIL is clearly one of those.
When the reporter asked "if the Islamic State has studied Mr. Snowden’s documents and taken action, Mr. Inglis answered, 'Clearly.'”
This isn't the first invoking of Snowden's name since ISIL began its rampage across northern Iraq and Syria. In the aftermath of last month's failed U.S. raid to spring the since murdered American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Snowden's disclosures were interjected into the debate about whether the mission failed because ISIL now understood how the United States gathers its intelligence.
http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/09/former-nsa-official-edward-snowden-leak-has-clearly-helped-isil/379674/
I call bullshit.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2746321/Jack-Ripper-unmasked-How-amateur-sleuth-used-DNA-breakthrough-identify-Britains-notorious-criminal-126-years-string-terrible-murders.html
Jack the Ripper revealed.
What will all those Ripperologists do now?
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Kate and William to have a second baby, Clarence House announce http://bit.ly/1qwZtEk
Kate Middleton pregnant: What is the rare severe morning sickness condition hyperemesis gravidarum? http://mirr.im/1qw8hKr
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2746321/Jack-Ripper-unmasked-How-amateur-sleuth-used-DNA-breakthrough-identify-Britains-notorious-criminal-126-years-string-terrible-murders.html
Jack the Ripper revealed.
What will all those Ripperologists do now?
Denial, of course! :D
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Kate and William to have a second baby, Clarence House announce http://bit.ly/1qwZtEk
Kate Middleton pregnant: What is the rare severe morning sickness condition hyperemesis gravidarum? http://mirr.im/1qw8hKr
I am really happy for them, but sorry that she is sick again, I hope it isn't as bad this time!
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(CNN) -- Running back Ray Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL on Monday, the same day a shocking video surfaced showing the NFL star knocking out his future wife with a punch in February.
The news release from the Ravens was terse.
"The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon," it read.
Shortly after the team's announcement, the league said the three-time Pro Bowl selection was suspended indefinitely.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who had originally given Rice a two-game ban, increased the suspension after viewing the new video for the first time, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said on Twitter.
The NFL players' union didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
CNN also tried unsuccessfully to contact Rice's agent. The person who answered the phone at Todd France's office said France wasn't in.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/us/ray-rice-new-video/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Can't say I am surprised!
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^^ That video was horrific. Why is that piece of shit not in jail?
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^^ That video was horrific. Why is that piece of shit not in jail?
Well not only did she not press charges, she married him!!
I don't know what is with football players (NFL) you don't see any hockey players (NHL) knocking their girlfriends/wives out. I did watch the video, it really puts a face to domestic violence doesn't it?
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Obama to detail new plans to "hunt down" ISIS in speech
President Obama will address the nation Wednesday to lay out U.S. plans for combating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), promising the U.S. can and will defeat the group.
"Over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of (ISIS)," the president said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press. "We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities. We're going to shrink the territory that they control. And ultimately we're going to defeat them."
"We will hunt down [ISIS] members and assets wherever they are," Mr. Obama added. "I will reserve the right to always protect the American people and go after folks who are trying to hurt us wherever they are."
But that plan will not include putting U.S. troops on the ground in Syria, the president promised, saying that would be a "profound mistake." Some of his critics, especially Republicans in Congress, have pushed for a more aggressive approach to tackling the militants there.
The U.S. strategy will not amount to "the equivalent of the Iraq war," he said, but will instead resemble the kinds of counterterrorism campaigns the nation has conducted against terrorists over the last five to seven years and consist of a broad-based national and regional coalition.
"Keep in mind this is something we know how to do. We've been dealing with terrorist threats for quite some time," he said.
If it's something we know how to do, we should damn well be doing it, he's still talking about talking about it. After, and I can't believe I'm typing these words in this sequence, 2 Americans were beheaded, he's still fucking around.
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Well not only did she not press charges, she married him!!
I don't know what is with football players (NFL) you don't see any hockey players (NHL) knocking their girlfriends/wives out. I did watch the video, it really puts a face to domestic violence doesn't it?
In many jurisdictions charges don't have to be pressed for the agressor to be arrested. Murdered people can't press charges so why should victims of assault.
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In many jurisdictions charges don't have to be pressed for the agressor to be arrested. Murdered people can't press charges so why should victims of assault.
Different in the U.S. I guess and from state to state:
Initially, Rice and Palmer both were charged with simple assault after the Feb. 15 incident. The Atlantic County prosecutor's office later dropped the charge against her. In March, Rice was indicted by a grant jury on the more serious charge of third-degree assault. The charge carried a potential sentence of three to five years in prison. After the indictment, Rice and Palmer married.
In May, Rice entered a program for first-time offenders that would clear his record of the criminal charge if he met certain conditions, including participation in counseling.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/ravens/2014/09/08/baltimore-ravens-cut-ray-rice/15291729/
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Howard Stern, Bagpipes and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus — Joan Rivers’ Funeral Likely Came Close to Measuring Up to Her Wish List
Howard Stern delivered the eulogy, Broadway singer-actress Audra McDonald sang “Smile” and bagpipers played “New York, New York” at Joan Rivers’ funeral Sunday, a star-studded send-off that — like late comedian herself — brought together the worlds of Hollywood, theater, fashion and media.
At a funeral befitting a superstar, the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus sang Broadway hits before six-time Tony Award-winner McDonald sang her tribute to Rivers, a champion of theater for decades. Tributes and reminiscences were delivered by TV anchor Deborah Norville, close friend Margie Stern, columnist Cindy Adams and Rivers’ daughter, Melissa.
Hugh Jackman sang at the end and bagpipers from the New York City Police Department played on the streets as mourners filed out of Temple Emanu-El, many dabbing their eyes....
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/09/07/she-had-a-funeral-wish-list-will-any-of-the-things-she-asked-for-actually-happen/
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If it's something we know how to do, we should damn well be doing it, he's still talking about talking about it. After, and I can't believe I'm typing these words in this sequence, 2 Americans were beheaded, he's still fucking around.
Is the outrage over the manor of the executions? The organization behind them? The fact the victims were American? Obama not personally getting into a bomber and dropping the big one?
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Denial, of course! :D
I suppose for the Ripperologists it is a little like someone telling us here that Jack and Ennis got married and lived long and happy lives.
It would be an end to all our discussions, and we would have to find something else to do!
However, I do hope these DNA tests are "peer reviewed" and confirmed, or not.
Since the finding of the body of Richard III nothing of this kind can surprise me!
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Is the outrage over the manner of the executions?
yes The organization behind them?
yes The fact the victims were American?
no Obama not personally getting into a bomber and dropping the big one?
no
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Home Depot confirms breach of credit card system
Elizabeth Weise, USATODAY 6:37 p.m. EDT September 8, 2014
Home Depot on Monday confirmed a breach of its payment data systems in the United States and Canada.
The attack goes back as far as April, the world's largest home improvement retailer said in a statement
The theft appears to have been limited to credit cards.
"There is no evidence that debit PIN numbers were compromised," the company said.
The breach was originally reported on Sept. 3, but at the time Home Depot could only confirm that it was "looking into some unusual activity," spokeswoman Paula Drake said.
The stolen credit card data appears to have been taken when the magnetic strips on the back of credit cards were swiped at cash registers at the company.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, Home Depot indicated the information was stolen by malicious software (malware) that had infected its computer network.
Credit card security breaches can cause companies significant losses. Target is still recovering from a massive data breach it suffered last holiday season in which 40 million card accounts and the personal information of up to an additional 70 million people were compromised.
"We apologize for the frustration and anxiety this causes our customers, and I want to thank them for their patience and support as we work through this issue," said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/09/08/home-depot-credit-card-breach-april/15302569/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/09/08/home-depot-credit-card-breach-april/15302569/)
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Paul, I loved your interpolation of the epithets used in the news story.
Thanks Tony. :)
But was it Brit or Aussie?
"Fizzing wombat" ?
"Clam" ?
These point to Aussie.
I chose the least offensive words I could which would satisfy the total number of letters indicated by the asterisks, and Mark Baldwin’s use of nouns, verbs and adjectives.
Apart from “wombat” (a native Australian marsupial):
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fwombat_zpsa6b5f172.jpg&hash=6877e9aea81b684e40deac861414fcca150231b1)
...the rest weren’t specifically Aussie terms.
As to whether they constituted assault, the rightful charge might be Curse and Abuse, which exists, in the U.S.
Ah-hah! Thank you. Perhaps it's not used because it's too cumbersome?
Martin Baron would probably receive some strange looks, and sotto voce comments (“Oh dear, he's on the syrup again.”) had he described Wesley Lowery's arrest as “a curse and abuse of the freedom of the press.” ;D
I know am being a bit scattered (known Aussie phrase :) .....)
Not known to me, Tony. But I agree you thoughts are random, dispersed, even perhaps occurring at irregular intervals. :D
but now am a little sad.
From here on, I could never call anyone a clam, on this forum, as....they're on to it :D.
Oh, well.
Never mind. You could always call them a chap or a chic, chit is good, as are colt and chum.
I’d avoid cyst, clog, coon*, coot, crab, curr and clot, though. ;D
Although we do like our Coon Cheese, downunder. :)
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.....Not known to me, Tony. But I agree your thoughts are random, dispersed, even perhaps occurring at irregular intervals. :D
In the immortal words of the greatest philosopher ever produced by these United States....
Moi?
Personally, I prefer creatively peripatetic :).
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she's ok with it....
a) stupid
2) likes the $$
c) victim of NFL "culture" (j/k)
3) all of the above
Janay Rice posts response on Instagram to husband's release
Ray Rice's wife posted a response on her Instagram account Tuesday regarding her husband's release from the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL's indefinite suspension when a video surfaced showing the former All-Pro running back hitting her in a hotel elevator.
"I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend," Janay Rice wrote. "But to have to accept the fact that it's reality is a nightmare in itself. No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing. To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific.
Yeah, THAT'S horrific. Punching you in the face is cool....
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In the immortal words of the greatest philosopher ever produced by these United States....
Moi?
Personally, I prefer creatively peripatetic :).
Or, as Dinah Shore said at the end of her program, MOI!
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Makes sense to me. Didn't Portugal do that?
Decriminalize cocaine and psychedelics, global group urges
Commission of ex-world leaders, activists claims more human approach would be fiscally prudent
Governments around the world should move beyond marijuana and legally regulate all drugs, including psychedelics, cocaine and heroin, a group of former world leaders and activists says in a report.
In its third report, being released Tuesday in New York, the Global Commission on Drug Policy repeats its past calls to end jail time for drug possession. But now the high-profile group recommends that governments take control by regulating the legal use of all drugs — a groundbreaking move it says could curb drug-related violence, improve public health and reap economic benefits.
The panel of commissioners behind the latest report, called "Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies That Work," includes:
Louise Arbour, a former justice at the Supreme Court of Canada and former UN high commissioner for human rights.
Former presidents of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland.
Branson said governments can't go on "pretending" that the war on drugs is working.
"We need our leaders to look at alternative, fact-based approaches. Much can be learned from successes and failures in regulating alcohol, tobacco, or pharmaceutical drugs," he said in a statement. "The risks associated with drug use increase, sometimes dramatically, when they are produced, sold and consumed in an unregulated criminal environment. The most effective way to advance the goals of public health and safety is to get drugs under control through responsible legal regulation."
Dr. Evan Wood, a University of British Columbia drug policy expert who worked as special adviser for the report, said the drug policy climate is evolving rapidly — from declaring a war on drugs, through enforcement, to waging an economic war on drugs by taxing and regulating, an approach that also reduces the associated violence and health risks.
Public health advocates across Canada have released reports with similar findings and recommendations, he said.
"The well-intentioned effort to criminalize the production, sale and use of these substances has not achieved the expected impact in terms of suppressing their availability and use," Wood told CBC News. "The traditional argument that we flip to another scenario where they're advertised and promoted and sold to children is a little bit disingenuous … there's probably a middle ground around the taxation and regulation of these substances that really implies the ability to improve public health and safety through their regulation and control."
Wood said while Canada does not have the same scale of drug-related gangs and violence as Latin American countries, some urban centres are struggling with the same problems fuelled by lucrative economies. Prohibition and mandatory minimum sentences have the adverse effect of creating illicit markets that increase public health and safety problems.
“Hopefully this will contribute to the broadening of the conversation that we need to be more thoughtful about this problem. Promising to crack down is good politics, but it’s actually not good policy,” he said.
While it won’t likely become a ballot box question, Wood expects legalizing marijuana and other drug policies will be issues in the next campaign.Paul Volcker, former U.S. Federal Reserve chair.
Richard Branson, British entrepreneur and Virgin Group founder.
[...]
http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=47165.2700;num_replies=2714
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Gay Groups to March in St. Patrick’s Day Parade as a Ban Falls
By MARC SANTORASEPT. 3, 2014
The organizers of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade said on Wednesday that they were lifting a ban on openly gay groups marching under their own banner, bringing to a close more than two decades of bitter protests and controversy that thrust an annual celebration into the national gay rights debate.
The decision is a striking reflection of the evolution of gay rights in the city and in American society, and is a measure of changing attitudes in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.
Every year, the parade kicks off with a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the most prominent Catholic church in the country, and the policy of banning gay groups from marching has long been seen by gay rights advocates as a reflection of the church’s hostility.
In Irish Enclaves, Support and Relief as St. Patrick’s Parade Lifts Ban on Gay GroupsSEPT. 3, 2014 In recent months, Catholic officials have tried to emphasize the church’s acceptance of gays and lesbians as individuals, while defending the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage. That rhetorical shift has been embraced by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, who will serve as grand marshal for the parade next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/nyregion/new-york-st-patricks-day-parade-organizers-lift-ban-on-gay-groups.html?_r=0
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Inclusion of gay group in St. Patrick’s Day Parade angers both sides
By Cheryl Wetzstein - The Washington Times - Tuesday, September 9, 2014
In the wake of news that a gay broadcast-employees group has been approved to march in the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, three Irish gay groups said Tuesday they are applying too — and if they’re rejected, they want the approved gay group to drop out.
“We want to march up Fifth Avenue as an Irish diaspora that has finally joined Ireland in rejecting religion-fueled bigotry. Let Irish queer groups finally take our place” in the parade, leaders of Irish Queers, the Lavender and Green Alliance, and St. Pat’s for All, said at a news conference in Manhattan.
Their announcement is adding to a growing uproar over the policy change at the centuries-old parade.
Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan has been named parade grand marshal, but he has been urged to step down owing to the mixed messages his leadership would bring. Many Catholics are also upset that the prelate said he had “no trouble” with the decision to permit OUT@NBCUniversal, a group of gay NBC employees, to march in 2015.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/9/inclusion-of-gay-group-in-st-patricks-day-parade-a/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS#!
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Right, there is no war on women...
Pennsylvania mother who gave daughter ‘abortion pill’ gets prison
HARRISBURG Pa. (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison for obtaining so-called abortion pills online and providing them to her teenage daughter to end her pregnancy.
Jennifer Ann Whalen, 39, of Washingtonville, a single mother who works as a nursing home aide, pleaded guilty in August to obtaining the miscarriage-inducing pills from an online site in Europe for her daughter, 16, who did not want to have the child.
Whalen was sentenced on Friday by Montour County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary Norton to serve 12 months to 18 months in prison for violating a state law that requires abortions to be performed by physicians.
[...]
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/06/pennsylvania-mother-who-gave-daughter-abortion-pill-gets-prison/
She should have cited "deeply held religious beliefs": the RWSM would have been all over it like white on rice and the authorities would have caved. >:D
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haven't "they" learned anything in the last 13 years? This is more like a recruiting film...murder is exactly what those psychos want to do...they like it. And the title, fgs...it's like it's aimed at boy scouts.
US State Department Releases Graphic Anti-Islamic State Video
The U.S. State Department released a video to counter the numerous propaganda videos from the Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS. The department’s “Think Again, Turn Away” campaign developed the video with graphic images of the Islamic State murdering people in the streets and beheading bodies. It is meant to dissuade future jihadists from joining the terror group.
“Think Again, Turn Away” is part of the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications department at the State Department. Launched in 2011, it employs 50 people to specifically counter terrorism activity on social media. The YouTube channel was only developed in July after IS conquered Mosul, Iraq.
Despite the money spent on them, these videos, compared to IS propaganda videos, often fail; firms that track terrorism videos criticize the videos from the State Department.
“The problem with this video is the same problem that seems to happen over and over again with these type of initiatives,” said Evan F. Kohlmann, chief information officer of Flashpoint Global Partners. “They don’t seem to have a clear picture of what audience they are trying to reach, or how to influence them.”
According to Kohlmann, the State Department forgets “most of the Westerners trying to join ISIS are actually enthused by videos of executions and suicide bombings, not deterred by them.”
The Islamic State includes pictures and videos of deaths on social media. They clearly reveal to recruits that they murder Muslims who, in their eyes, betray the Islam faith. Khaled Sharrouf took a picture of his son holding a decapitated head in Raqqa, Syria. Sharrouf posted the picture on Twitter and said, “That’s my boy!”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/09/09/State-Department-Releases-Graphic-Anti-ISIS-Video (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/09/09/State-Department-Releases-Graphic-Anti-ISIS-Video)
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OK, just so I'm sure of the party line, we are in favor of people losing their jobs (ala Rice) and private property (Sterling) because of their behavior and/or privately expressed opinions?
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I hope the "coalition" doesn't make fun of obama's speech tonight...I mean, I would...
I'd really like to know how arming syria w/$1b worth of our stuff is a good idea. didn't we think this would work when we armed iraq, and then the other guys took their guns away from them?
another reason whatever he says tonight is bullshit...we don't have nearly as much money as saudi srabia and since they're funding the other guys with money we pay them for oil....we lose...it's kinda funny...
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Wow, everyone (on the news) seems to be all excited as in another-sign-global-warming-is-creating-the-end-of-the-world about the so called Summer Snow in the west. When I lived in the Colorado Rockies in the 60s we often had snow over Labor Day weekend. Didn't seem unusual or worth national tv coverage back then.
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Wow, everyone (on the news) seems to be all excited as in another-sign-global-warming-is-creating-the-end-of-the-world about the so called Summer Snow in the west. When I lived in the Colorado Rockies in the 60s we often had snow over Labor Day weekend. Didn't seem unusual or worth national tv coverage back then.
Except this is not the rockies.
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They moved 'em?
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They moved 'em?
Southern Alberta includes more than the rockies.
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Southern Alberta? Since when is that part of the USA? Damn, I knew I missed something by not watching the Nightly News with Katy Kuric!
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Yeah, southern Alberta just got their second summer snow storm. It makes me happy in an evil way. It gave us our current fascist prime minister after all.
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On another note, aren't Americans war-weary? Are you really getting involved in yet another war? Nothing good comes out of it.
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I'm watching the Oscar Pistorius verdict announcement, live. It's fascinating!
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U S A!
U S A!
U S A!
Keeping the world free of vermin.
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Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murder in girlfriend's death
By Zaheer Cassim and Stephanie Jones-Berry
JOHANNESBURG -- South African athlete Oscar Pistorius was found not guilty Thursday of premeditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, but the judge has not ruled out a possible manslaughter conviction.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, reading a lengthy explanation of the evidence and charges, said state prosecutors failed to provde that Pistorius is guilty of either premeditated murder or second-degree murder, thus ruling out those charges.
Seated in the dock, the 27-year-old Pistorius frequently sobbed and held his head in his hands as the judge issued her findings.
The judge ordered a lunch break before finishing the reading of her verdict. She suggested that a manslaughter conviction was still possible.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2014/09/11/pistorius-murder-trial-verdict/15402167/
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On another note, aren't Americans war-weary? Are you really getting involved in yet another war? Nothing good comes out of it.
A majority are, and don't want $$$ and lives poured down another rathole in the Middle East or anywhere else.
But never underestimate the carefully cultivated contempt for education, including history. Those of us old enough to remember the "advisors" sent into Vietnam in the early 1960s can see the parallels, but remembering anything before you were born requires "book smarts" to some degree (or a family intact enough to pass on a little history, but that's another debacle). Not something Reel Amurrcns are into even one-tenth as much as God&Guns.
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On another note, aren't Americans war-weary? Are you really getting involved in yet another war? Nothing good comes out of it.
A majority are, and don't want $$$ and lives poured down another rathole in the Middle East or anywhere else.
I agree, but, on the other hand, I'm not so sure bombing this so-called caliphate back into the Stone Age--before they start bombing us in one way or another--isn't such a bad idea.
???
I'm also not so sure we should let the recent past guide our actions here. Should we wait until we are attacked? I don't know. I really don't know. ... ???
(I've also been out of the news loop for a week while I was traveling and not observing my usual pattern of news broadcast watching. I didn't even know that Joan Rivers had actually died until I got home yesterday.)
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U S A!
U S A!
U S A!
Keeping the world free of vermin.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.september11-pictures.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F09%2F9-11-images.jpg&hash=3874b57effdbcf8b0a53cd5185a32beda594e70c)
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Remembering.
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Hey Virginians! Do y'all have some kind of state law that requires a public election of some sort every two months? Non stop political ads from your neck of the woods. Enough already.
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Hey Virginians! Do y'all have some kind of state law that requires a public election of some sort every two months? Non stop political ads from your neck of the woods. Enough already.
We are all nearing the November election, but PACS are targeting wherever they believe there are close races. Virginia is only wobbly blue, and the western part of the state is probably getting the most tv commercials.
Fizzings clams - blame it on the Citizens United, or whatever, Supreme Court aberration, unleashing the PACS. Think Scalia, Thomas, etc., when you get annoyed. They done it.
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Not buying it.
TN has a general election in November. Nary a political ad... not on tv, not in people's yards.
Not seeing any tv ads for N Carolina either.
Nor for Kentucky.
Just Virginia and the most prolific races when it comes to tv time seem to be some minor offices... not senate (state or fed,) not house (state or fed,) not governor or vice, not even dog catcher.
Your politicians are sure full of themselves.
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ISIS, the terror group that calls itself the Islamic State, "can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman told CNN on Thursday.
That is two to three times more than the 10,000 fighters previously estimated by the CIA.
"This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity, and additional intelligence," the spokesman said.
The United States has begun surveillance flights over Syria, part of an effort to gather intelligence that will help the decision whether to launch airstrikes against ISIS, a U.S. official told CNN on Thursday.
The news came a day after President Barack Obama laid out his plan to "dismantle and ultimately destroy" ISIS, the terror group that calls itself the Islamic State, including authorizing airstrikes.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/11/world/meast/isis-syria-iraq/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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The UK is currently trying to tear itself apart:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/11046408/Scottish-independence-referendum-the-essential-guide.html
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Same tune, different verse.
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Shame on the MMA!
NYPD Detains Activists for Anti-Koch Light Graffiti at the Met
On Tuesday, three activists were detained by NYPD officers outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art after disrupting a gala honoring David H. Koch. The controversial billionaire was being fêted for his $65 million contribution to the newly reopened museum plaza, which prominently bears his name (see “Protesters Crash Koch Plaza Opening at the Met“). The three activists, Kyle Depew, Grayson Earle, and Yates McKee, were caught projecting images from a customized art truck onto the museum’s façade that read “The Met: Brought to you by the Tea Party” and “Koch = Climate Chaos”—references to Koch’s well-known role in funding right-wing and climate denying groups.
The incident followed a protest earlier in the day by the tenacious Occupy Wall Street spin-off Occupy Museums, which brought a by all accounts good-spirited group of art activists to the newly opened David H. Koch Plaza to stage anti-Koch performances. Early in the evening, the activists unexpectedly had a chance to confront Koch himself on the steps of the museum, chanting “Shame on climate change denier” as he passed by on the way to his car.
After darkness had fallen, the NYC Light Brigade, known for spelling out activist slogans in illuminated lettering, moved into formation with signs that spelled out the phrase “Koch Climate Chaos.”
http://news.artnet.com/art-world/nypd-detains-activists-for-anti-koch-light-graffiti-at-the-met-100321
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Jack the Ripper revealed.
What will all those Ripperologists do now?
Be in no doubt that they will keep the case alive, Jess.
The notion that there is nothing left to solve, no more leads to follow up, no more evidence to dissect, will surely leave their lives empty and seemingly worthless.
One can already see anguished signs of this denial on discussion forums, in which the Edwards-Louhelainen mitochondrial DNA theory is peevishly dismissed.
Why does this sound vaguely familiar, I wonder? :D
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ISIS, the terror group that calls itself the Islamic State, "can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman told CNN on Thursday.
That is two to three times more than the 10,000 fighters previously estimated by the CIA.
"This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity, and additional intelligence," the spokesman said.
The United States has begun surveillance flights over Syria, part of an effort to gather intelligence that will help the decision whether to launch airstrikes against ISIS, a U.S. official told CNN on Thursday.
The news came a day after President Barack Obama laid out his plan to "dismantle and ultimately destroy" ISIS, the terror group that calls itself the Islamic State, including authorizing airstrikes.
I suppose the cynics will find that timing suspicious. :-\
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... I do hope these DNA tests are "peer reviewed" and confirmed, or not...
To give them some credit, all the Ripperologists had to go by at the time were newspaper and police reports.
Eleven prostitutes were murdered in London’s East End between April 1888 and February 1891 but only five (Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly) were attributed, due to the savagery of their deaths, to a single killer, and even that of the fifth is debatable. While many other 19th century British serial killers (such as Dr William Palmer or Sarah Freeman) were each responsible for a greater number of deaths, it was the fact that the five were killed in particularly gruesome ways that led to the Ripper legend.
Aaron Kosminksi was only one of a number of suspects at the time but the savagery of the killings and the details of the victims’ mutilations fanned an industry of fictionalisation in the form of hundreds of articles and novels and, eventually, on television and in films. So it’s pretty mundane to find, 135 years later, that they were the work of a Polish-born hairdresser, a single run-of-the-mill psychotic suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and hallucinations rather than that of a fiend in human form.
An online article on the Whitechapel Murders states that “Speculation inevitably outweighs fact by a considerable margin in an issue such as this,” which is unsurprising considering that what’s now become known as forensic science was basically unknown—fingerprint classification, dental records and blood grouping were basically non-existent until the early 1900s, and DNA profiling wasn’t possible until 1985.
But information is now globally available on a scale which was unimaginable in the late 19th century, and even, prior to the emergence of computers and thence the advent of the internet, most of the 20th. A new breed of online investigators has at its disposal televised and CCTV footage of actual events, something unimaginable in the 1880s.
It’s a thriving business on the internet, where visual information is easily examined by amateur sleuths whose findings, unlike the conjectures of Ripperologists, are based on and supported by visual evidence. Films of crime scenes and online news interviews with the injured, bystanders are others are scrutinised for discrepancies and photographic images are investigated for evidence of manipulation to discern whether official versions of events are watertight.
In other words, the evidence of criminal activity is now no longer restricted to that put out, for instance, by official bodies (such as Police Departments, as in the case of the Ripper killings), but available to all.
Direct coverage of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, for example, has enabled convincing alternate versions of official conclusions of these events to surface. Even images of the alleged death of James Foley are open to legitimate scrutiny for evidence of misinformation.
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Be in no doubt that they will keep the case alive, Jess.
The notion that there is nothing left to solve, no more leads to follow up, no more evidence to dissect, will surely leave their lives empty and seemingly worthless.
One can already see anguished signs of this denial on discussion forums, in which the Edwards-Louhelainen mitochondrial DNA theory is peevishly dismissed.
Why does this sound vaguely familiar, I wonder? :D
I feel quite sure you are right about this, Paul.
There have been a number of hoaxes over the years, and the
Ripperologists will take some convincing.
We did a guided "Ripper" walk around Whitechapel a few years back, and our guide, who was excellent and scared the living daylights out of us, was also an author, and told us Kosminski was his favourite suspect.
There is also a lot of interesting social history going on here because of the large immigrant Jewish population in the East End at the time, so I suspect the "Ripper" fans will still find plenty to speculate about.
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I agree, but, on the other hand, I'm not so sure bombing this so-called caliphate back into the Stone Age--before they start bombing us in one way or another--isn't such a bad idea.
Yep, remember that one too. It was attributed to Curtis "Old Iron Pants" LeMay, who was George Wallace's running mate in 1968. He was among our many military leaders who tried to fight a guerrilla war as if it was WWII with tackier clothes and louder music.
People are still falling for it.
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Yep, remember that one too. It was attributed to Curtis "Old Iron Pants" LeMay, who was George Wallace's running mate in 1968. He was among our many military leaders who tried to fight a guerrilla war as if it was WWII with tackier clothes and louder music.
People are still falling for it.
Sarcastic and glib as always and as expected but not quite correct. LeMay's advice regarding Vietnam was ignored by Johnson. LeMay "retired" in 1965 and, therefore, his ideas,which you associate with tacky clothing and loud music, were never part of the official Vietnam strategy until Nixon implemented strategic bombing in 1972. I am not qualified to either defend or prosecute LeMay but since the subject of "learning from history" has been broached, we might as well attempt to adhere to at least a bit of historical veracity.
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Be in no doubt that they will keep the case alive, Jess.
The notion that there is nothing left to solve, no more leads to follow up, no more evidence to dissect, will surely leave their lives empty and seemingly worthless.
One can already see anguished signs of this denial on discussion forums, in which the Edwards-Louhelainen mitochondrial DNA theory is peevishly dismissed.
Why does this sound vaguely familiar, I wonder? :D
Of course no one finds the provenance of the shawl the least suspect. I mean everyone takes a bloody shawl from a crime scene and gives it as a present to a loved one who then never tries to clean it up but bags it and keeps it for... generations.
Right.
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Right on cue.
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Of course no one finds the provenance of the shawl the least suspect. I mean everyone takes a bloody shawl from a crime scene and gives it as a present to a loved one who then never tries to clean it up but bags it and keeps it for... generations.
Right.
Well, I do, but I still find it extremely interesting, and I would like to see further research and to have the scientific work "peer reviewed."
But then I already said that.
Perhaps you missed my comments.
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Interesting. Agreed.
But hardly case closed.
I've watched a couple Law and Orders and know one bit of dna does not a serial killer prove.
Maybe he killed her. Maybe he killed all of them.
Maybe this filthy shawl survived intact and uncontaminated for over a hundred years.
Maybe the dna is hers. Maybe the other dna is from him... but, according to the article, it is probably NOT from blood... and maybe it got on the shawl because one dark night he stumbled across her already dead, cold body and got all excited.
Stranger things have happened. After all, the Earth used to be flat.
And before that, it was covered stem to stern in ice which all melted due to non human induced global warming.
Yes, definitely interesting.
Back to you, Lyle.
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We are all nearing the November election, but PACS are targeting wherever they believe there are close races. Virginia is only wobbly blue, and the western part of the state is probably getting the most tv commercials.
Fizzing clams - blame it on the Citizens United, or whatever, Supreme Court aberration, unleashing the PACS. Think Scalia, Thomas, etc., when you get annoyed. They done it.
Love the euphemism, Tony. :D
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I feel quite sure you are right about this, Paul.
You might have missed my sub-text, Jess. :D
There have been a number of hoaxes over the years, and the
Ripperologists will take some convincing.
We did a guided "Ripper" walk around Whitechapel a few years back, and our guide, who was excellent and scared the living daylights out of us, was also an author, and told us Kosminski was his favourite suspect.
Did you ever watch the 2009 UK TV series Whitechapel, starring Phil Davis and Rupert Penry-Jones?
The three episodes of Season 1 involved a modern-day copycat killer bent on recreating the Ripper murders, with Steve Pemberton as a “Ripperologist” and tour guide of the original murder sites.
Engrossing stuff, far more so than, say From Hell, the 2001 film with Johnny Depp, Heather Graham and Ian Holm, which went a bit haywire with its Masonic references, the involvement of Queen Victoria, its lobotomies and Holm's completely black eyeballs, although I liked the idea that it wasn’t Mary Kelly (Graham) who was killed by the Ripper (Holm, as Sir William Gull) but the Belgian lesbian Ada (Estelle Skornik), and the ambiguity of Mary’s escape to Ireland (with Alice, the child of the syphilitic HRH Prince Edward Albert Victor), which could have been Depp’s character’s death-bed opium-induced fantasy. (The gore was pretty good, too.)
There is also a lot of interesting social history going on here because of the large immigrant Jewish population in the East End at the time...
Agreed. That was also raised in Whitechapel.
...so I suspect the "Ripper" fans will still find plenty to speculate about.
Some discussion sites have been pretty busy since Edwards aired his 2014 shawl/DNA claim.
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Well, I do, but I still find it extremely interesting, and I would like to see further research and to have the scientific work "peer reviewed."
But then I already said that.
Perhaps you missed my comments.
So do I Jess. History often throws up some most unlikely and astounding discoveries. Who, for instance, would ever bet on Richard 111 turning up under a Leicestershire car park with all the evidence of his deformity and death intact? Never write off an interesting lead.
Janie
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What no Rob Ford post? :D
The unprecedented Rob Ford (Open Rob Ford’s policard) era ended Friday as dramatically as it unfolded: Ford, the mayor whose scandals roiled city hall and captured global attention, withdrew from the mayoral election because of his abdominal tumour — and asked Toronto to vote for his brother, Councillor Doug Ford (Open Doug Ford’s policard), who scrambled to register as a candidate just minutes before the deadline.
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/toronto2014election/2014/09/12/rob_ford_withdraws_replaced_on_mayor_ballot_by_doug.html
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ISIS appears to have beheaded British hostage
The video was posted to a website associated with the group. Haines would be the third Western captive killed by the Islamist extremist group in recent weeks.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/13/world/meast/isis-haines-family-message/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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If Obama was president in '41, we'd be speaking German now...
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Not Japanese?
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not English.........well, most don't anyway
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Finally. The real question. Why wasn't/isn't he in jail??? Because money talks, NFL wife beaters walk...
In Ray Rice case, where were the prosecutors?
The NFL and the Baltimore Ravens richly deserve the criticism heaped on them for bungling the Ray Rice domestic violence case.
But overshadowed in all the outrage over football's handling of Rice is a more important question: Where were the prosecutors? After all, if Rice were in prison this NFL season, the length of his suspension would have been a non-issue.
Domestic violence cases can, of course, be challenging for prosecutors. Some victims recant. Some, like Rice's wife, Janay, stand by their man. The situation is often "he said she said." But Rice's case was as close to a slam dunk as it gets.
As the nation now knows, a video camera captured Rice punching his then-fiancée Janay Palmer, and then dragging her like a rag doll out of an Atlantic City casino elevator. It would have been pretty tough to find a jury to acquit Rice on a charge of aggravated assault. And pretty easy to drive a hard plea bargain.
Instead, Rice is walking around free — though unemployed as of Monday — after he was accepted in May into a New Jersey "pretrial intervention" program. If he stays clean for a year, the charge could be dismissed, poof, as if the beating never even happened.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/09/09/ray-rice-nfl-domestic-violence-tmz-janay-palmer-editorials-debates/15362761/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/09/09/ray-rice-nfl-domestic-violence-tmz-janay-palmer-editorials-debates/15362761/)
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fucking sad and pathetic. Fame is a drug worse than heroin, to those who will never be famous.......
Ray Rice receives warm welcome at New Rochelle HS with wife Janay at side
Several hundred fans watched the game and many of them expressed support for Rice. Dozens of fans wore Rice’s No. 27 Ravens jersey and some held signs, including one that read: 'We love you Ray,' and 'New RO loves you.'
He may be a disgraced NFL running back who was caught on video punching his wife in the face, but Ray Rice never has to feel bad about showing his own face at New Rochelle HS.
That was the message from New Rochelle varsity football coach Lou DiRienzo, who welcomed his former star player back onto the sideline for Saturday’s home game against Ramapo.
“He made a mistake in his life but New Rochelle is a very proud program, and once you’re a member, you’re a member for life,” DiRienzo said. “Even though Ray made a mistake doesn’t mean we throw him out of the house. Ray’s one of my sons in my football family and we’d never throw him out of the house.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/ray-rice-wife-side-receives-hero-new-rochelle-hs-article-1.1938704#ixzz3DJ8XeDWX
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Doesn't really surprise me, there are people out there who still think OJ Simpson is wonderful (and innocent)..
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some (lame, deluded) might think oj is wonderful, but everybody knows he's guilty...talk about racism.....
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An actress from "Django Unchained" claims she was the victim of classic racism and police brutality ... just because she was showing affection to a white man.
Daniele Watts and her boyfriend Brian were making out in a parked car Thursday outside the CBS studios in the San Fernando Valley. Daniele had just left a meeting at CBS with a director. Brian tells us ... he was told a resident of a nearby apartment saw them making out and called the cops.
Brian -- a celebrity chef -- says cops demanded to see their IDs -- he complied but she refused. Brian tells TMZ ... Daniele walked away, only to be confronted by cops a short distance later, cuffed, thrown in the back of the patrol car and taken back to the scene.
She says the cuffs were so tight they tore through her wrists, causing them to bleed.
Cops say they received a 911 call from a concerned citizen saying a male and female were involved in "indecent exposure" inside their vehicle ... with the door open.
Brian says they've retained a lawyer and will file a complaint with the LAPD ... and more.
Brian tells us LAPD officers came up to them with a suspicious eye. Brian believes it's because cops saw "a tatted rocker white boy and a hot bootie shorted black girl and thought we were HO & a trick."
::)
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3DKVPyLO0
Maybe I am crazy but when the police ask for your ID, just show it to them. And do people really still make out in cars?
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Her fault.
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You might have missed my sub-text, Jess. :D
Did you ever watch the 2009 UK TV series Whitechapel, starring Phil Davis and Rupert Penry-Jones?
The three episodes of Season 1 involved a modern-day copycat killer bent on recreating the Ripper murders, with Steve Pemberton as a “Ripperologist” and tour guide of the original murder sites.
Engrossing stuff, far more so than, say From Hell, the 2001 film with Johnny Depp, Heather Graham and Ian Holm, which went a bit haywire with its Masonic references, the involvement of Queen Victoria, its lobotomies and Holm's completely black eyeballs, although I liked the idea that it wasn’t Mary Kelly (Graham) who was killed by the Ripper (Holm, as Sir William Gull) but the Belgian lesbian Ada (Estelle Skornik), and the ambiguity of Mary’s escape to Ireland (with Alice, the child of the syphilitic HRH Prince Edward Albert Victor), which could have been Depp’s character’s death-bed opium-induced fantasy. (The gore was pretty good, too.)
Agreed. That was also raised in Whitechapel.
Some discussion sites have been pretty busy since Edwards aired his 2014 shawl/DNA claim.
We love "Whitechapel" in this house. Mostly because I can watch Phil Davies in anything!
The whole Prince Albert Victor thing is fascinating, but not much more than a fantasy, in my opinion.
I read a wonderful book once, long before I ever came to the forum, called "Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld" by Theo Aronson, which was about the "Cleveland Street scandal" all very entertaining.
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So do I Jess. History often throws up some most unlikely and astounding discoveries. Who, for instance, would ever bet on Richard 111 turning up under a Leicestershire car park with all the evidence of his deformity and death intact? Never write off an interesting lead.
Janie
As a new Ricardian convert since this incredible find, I wouldn't write off any possibility.
I am going to a study day about the Richard III find in November.
It should prove interesting.
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As a new Ricardian convert since this incredible find, I wouldn't write off any possibility.
I am going to a study day about the Richard III find in November.
It should prove interesting.
That sounds fascinating! What a neat way to spend a day!
Have you ever read Alison Weir's book on the princes in the Tower?
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Yes, I have, but I didn't find her "evidence" very sound.
I can't say from the reading I have been doing recently, (once they found the skeleton, and I realised there was a big hole where my knowledge of medieval history should be), that I am convinced one way or the other about the "Princes in the Tower" having been murdered, or not by Richard III. However, I am completely convinced that Richard was not the personification of evil as portrayed by Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's take was to a great extent based on the history created by St Thomas More, and which the majority of historians now discount, but Allison Weir treats More's words as more or less gospel.
Lots still to find out, and places to visit, anyway.
A lot of the people who found the skeleton under the car park will be speaking at the study day, so I am looking forward to learning a lot.
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Yes, I have, but I didn't find her "evidence" very sound.
I can't say from the reading I have been doing recently, (once they found the skeleton, and I realised there was a big hole where my knowledge of medieval history should be), that I am convinced one way or the other about the "Princes in the Tower" having been murdered, or not by Richard III. However, I am completely convinced that Richard was not the personification of evil as portrayed by Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's take was to a great extent based on the history created by St Thomas More, and which the majority of historians now discount, but Allison Weir treats More's words as more or less gospel.
Lots still to find out, and places to visit, anyway.
A lot of the people who found the skeleton under the car park will be speaking at the study day, so I am looking forward to learning a lot.
It's been a long, long time since I read Weir's book on the subject (it was the first of her books that I read, actually). Maybe I'll get around to re-reading it some day. Meanwhile, I envy you the opportunity of the study day. :)
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Shakespeare's take was to a great extent based on the history created by St Thomas More, and which the majority of historians now discount, but Allison Weir treats More's words as more or less gospel.
How odd! Has that ever happened before? I wonder if it will ever happen again.
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An actress from "Django Unchained" claims she was the victim of classic racism and police brutality ... just because she was showing affection to a white man.
From just reading what you posted -- the line above is absurd.
What have I posted before? When the police tell you to do something. You do it.
You don't refuse. You don't walk away. THAT'S why she was handcuffed and put
in the police car. Racism and police brutality?
Once I had some trouble with the washing machines here and a friend of mine a few blocks
away said I could come over there and do a load. I was on his street with a duffel bag of clothes
and I'd put on a cap because it was misty out. It was night. From behind me a cop car appeared
and told me to stop. They told me to put down what I was carrying and remove my cap. They
asked me what I was doing and looked in my bag. Etc.
After about ten minutes they let me go. They said that they'd received a call from a woman a few
minutes earlier about someone in her back yard and her description of the person fit me.
What if I had kept walking, refused to do what hey said, or whatever. Things wouldn't have gone
well, I'd say. At the very least it would've taken longer than ten minutes.
I don't know why a "resident" would've called the police, especially since they were outside CBS Studio
Center which has it's own guards etc. if something were inappropriate, but a resident did call and the police
investigated. It wasn't their notion to investigate.
Brian says they've retained a lawyer and will file a complaint with the LAPD ... and more.
And more?
What are they going to complain about? That the police got a call and investigated it?
And then THEY didn't like that?
Brian tells us LAPD officers came up to them with a suspicious eye. Brian believes it's because cops saw "a tatted rocker white boy and a hot bootie shorted black girl and thought we were HO & a trick."
If they were just "kissing" in the car I don't see how a nearby resident would've seen enough to
call the police. But we know the general public calls 911 for stupid reasons, too. It's the police's job
to investigate the calls. If the "tatted rocker white boy" and "hot bootie shorted black girl" want to
complain they should find the person who called the police. But, really, how classless is it to describe
yourself like that?
Maybe I am crazy but when the police ask for your ID, just show it to them.
People want to feel offended by everything nowadays.
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Lyle,
I'm offended by that comment.
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Lyle mark this day on your calender, I agree 100 %!
And FYI I am glad you stopped! ;)
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what a surprise....
Vikings running back Adrian Peterson deactivated after indictment on child abuse charge
Updated September 12, 2014 10:31 PM
Without Peterson, Vikings go down meekly to Patriots
Updated: September 15, 2014 - 5:54 AM
Adrian Peterson reinstated by Vikings, expected to play at Saints
USA TODAY Sports 6:23 p.m. EDT September 15, 2014
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How odd! Has that ever happened before? I wonder if it will ever happen again.
Thomas More never published this particular document in his lifetime. It is regarded as an interesting piece of writing, but a great deal of it is not backed up by supporting evidence, as far as I understand it.
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What, no post on the recent Palin Brawl?!
You Want the Palin Brawl? Here it is.
[...]
Most of the details of the drunken rumpus are known at this point, and take but a few minutes of googling and following links, but I did talk to my own source who had a couple things to add to the growing body of first person accounts. Sarah and Todd Palin were invited to a birthday party for Mark and Matt McKenna, twin brothers who own McKenna’s Paving, a successful business in Anchorage. The party was held at an address in the South Anchorage community of Oceanview. I lived in Oceanview once upon a time. It’s nice. There are tree-lined streets, and lilac bushes, and lots of little cul-de-sacs where kids ride bikes in circles and play hopscotch. Nothing much happens there, and that’s why people like it. When people throw parties, they are usually subdued back yard affairs. I never saw the police once in the five years I lived there. And if I lived there still, I might be sitting on some sweet cell phone video right now which I could share with you. Wouldn’t that have been something… But, alas.
The Palins arrived at the party, but not just Sarah and Todd who were the only actual invitees from the clan – the whole fan-damnily and some other tagalong friends from Wasilla turned up in a stretch Hummer limo. Because, of course they did. The party was an adult and relaxed event, with most guests at least in their 30s. Reports have come in that Track got into a fight with an ex-boyfriend of Willow’s. But according to my source, the initial fight started when Track and his buddy were aggressively pursuing… how shall I put this… “romantic relations” with some female guests. They were allegedly explicit and crude in their depictions of what they’d like to do with and to the ladies, expressing a desire to “bend them over on the lawn,” according to my source. Apparently the lawn was large enough to include places one could be “bent over.”
Hey. You guys wanted this… don’t look at me.
As Track and his companion were wooing the ladies with honeyed words, certain individuals took exception to it – namely the husbands of the women in question, whose presence right there with their wives the whole time was no deterrant to our confident and ambitious Casanovas from the Mat-Su.
Track did not fare well in the ensuing confrontation with the spouse. The irate husband punched Track with the full force of his annoyance, and the young Palin ended up “spread eagle lying on the grass.” You could say someone did end up bent over on the lawn, but not in the way he first envisioned.
Track’s buddies then got involved in the fracas to defend the honor of their fallen comrade, others followed, and soon Bristol Palin began to punch the host in the face for reasons we do not fully understand. Repeatedly. Then Todd showed up and joined the scrum, ending up with a bloody nose out of the deal. Did I mention that it happened to be his 50th birthday? He probably won’t forget the big 5-Ohhhh.
Then Sarah shrieked, “Don’t you know who I am?” and other such things making clear the importance of the Palins, and the lack of importance of the non-Palins to whom she was speaking. She then apparently tried to fling herself on top of the giant dog pile into the middle of the melée.
If there’s one thing the Palin’s have learned from the last six years it’s that the darned media is ruthless, and every little thing you do is scrutinized, so you keep your nose clean, and walk on eggshells. Oh, and “keep the children out of it.” Don’t forget that one.
After tiring of being punched in the face, our host informed the Palins it was time for them to go home. Bristol’s young son Tripp was apparently sleeping in the back of the Hummer limo at the time, blissfully unaware of intoxicated mommy’s raging fists of fury.
The fight ended up involving about 20 people, but eventually the police arrived, and the marauders piled into their limo and headed north to the wild lands from whence they came. But not before Track ripped his shirt off and stood in the road giving the one finger salute to departing guests. Ok, I kind of loved that part.
“Alcohol may have been a factor,” said the police report filed later.
[...]
http://www.themudflats.net/archives/44433
Sweet!
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Jeez Louise on a crutch. Where the hell do these people come from?? ??
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We love "Whitechapel" in this house. Mostly because I can watch Phil Davies in anything!
I liked him very much in Rose and Maloney (with Sarah Lancashire), and also in Notes on a Scandal (with Judi Dench), too, Jess.
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Of course no one finds the provenance of the shawl the least suspect.
The shawl’s provenance is admittedly unclear, Sherry.
Police records list Eddowes’ clothing and effects in some detail but don’t mention a shawl, let alone one which is 8ft long, and neither does the East London Observer of 6 October 1888 (http://www.casebook.org/press_reports/east_london_observer/elo881006.html):
“The murdered woman ... was dressed in shabby dark clothes. She wore a black-cloth jacket, with imitation fur collar, and three large metal buttons. Her dress was made of green chintz, the pattern consisting of Michaelmas daisies. In addition, she had on a thin white vest, light-drab lindsey skirt, a very old dark-green alpaca petticoat, brown-ribbed stockings mended at the feet with white material, black-straw bonnet trimmed with black beads and grey-and-black velvet and a large white handkerchief round the neck.”
Even the 2007 catalogue description from Lacy Scott & Knight Auctions in Suffolk includes the gentle admonition to potential buyers that “according to the vendor’s family history this shawl is purported to have belonged to Jack the Ripper victim Catherine Eddowes,” and Russell Edwards also queried the shawl’s provenance: “There was no evidence for its provenance and a previous forensic test had proved inconclusive, but ... it was obvious Catherine wouldn’t have owned the shawl herself because she was too poor,” he said.
Then there’s the alleged connection to the owner’s family to consider, and “... the owner’s belief that it was kept and passed down through the generations from one of his family’s ancestors.”
I mean everyone takes a bloody shawl from a crime scene ...
The auction catalogue description also states that the owner/vendor, David Melville-Hayes, “is a descendant of Police Sergeant Amos Simpson, who was the first on the crime scene when Catherine was butchered in Mitre Square near Aldgate. Forensic testing last year for a [2006] TV documentary was unable to prove conclusively that the shawl belonged to her.”
Police records show, though, that Acting Sergeant Amos Simpson was not actually the “first on the crime scene” but that Constable Edward Watkins of the City Police # is recorded as having discovered the body.
Mitre Square was in the jurisdiction of the City Police and some have questioned the likelihood of Amos Simpson (an officer of the Metropolitan Police) having strayed some 300 yards out of the Met’s territory. But had he done so, is it likely that he’d have picked up the shawl and left without notifying anyone that a body was also present? Or could he have been present after the body had been found and the alarm raised? Yet he’s not mentioned in any report of those who were then present in the square.
There’s also the problem of timing to consider.
According to police records PC Watkins saw nothing unusual when he walked through Mitre Square at 1:30 am; and PC James Harvey (also of the City Police) similarly noticed nothing out of the ordinary when he entered and left the Square ten minutes later, after which PC Watkins found Eddowes on his return at 1:44 am.
That leaves a four minute window during which someone had entered the square without being seen by PC Harvey, slashed Eddowes’ thoat, disfigured her nose, cheeks, ears and eyes, pulled up her clothing, disembowelled her and draped her intestines over her right shoulder, placed a two-foot long piece of her intestines on the ground between her body and left arm, removed her left kidney and part of her womb and left the square without being seen by PC Watkins on his return.
That Amos Simpson was also in Mitre Square during this time and had left with the shawl without being seen stretches credulity.
There’s also some confusion about the shawl’s location; some reports say that it was near the body, some state that it was on the body.
Either way, though, they contradict the matter of the description of Eddowes’ clothing and effects in police records.
... and gives it as a present to a loved one who then never tries to clean it up but bags it and keeps it for... generations.
I share your healthy scepticism, Sherry.
This appears to have been derived from press reports (such as this (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jack-ripper-murder-mystery-how-4180390)) that vendor David Melville-Hayes “was a relative of Acting Sergeant Amos Simpson, who accompanied Catherine’s body to the morgue and was given the material for his seamstress wife.”
This is an issue which is being legitimately questioned, and with some vigour, on Ripper Casebook discussion boards (http://www.casebook.org/intro.html).
An image of the shawl in the auction catalogue shows that some sections had been removed, “reputedly because [they were] blood-stained.”
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Feddowes_shawl_catill_zps3172a69c.jpg&hash=77a2ce8f69eebcffec114069733f575177ce7333)
# One interesting feature of the case is that not one, but two police forces carried out investigations.
The Metropolitan Police, known as Scotland Yard, was responsible for crimes committed in all the boroughs of London except the City of London proper. The single square mile in the heart of London known as the City of London had its own police force. When Eddowes was killed, it was in their territory and this brought them into the Ripper case. It is believed that the rank and file of the two forces got along and worked well together, but there is evidence that the seniors in each force did not. To what degree, if any, their failure to cooperate fully had on solving the case is not known.
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Not Japanese?
"Too Shinto."
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Scotland - please don't leave us!
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If they were just "kissing" in the car I don't see how a nearby resident would've seen enough to
call the police.
Ready for part deux Lyle?
http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/17/django-unchained-actress-racism-lapd-daniele-watts-pictures-photos/
P.S. Agreed Scotland don't go!!
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Scotland - please don't leave us!
Ditto Glen
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If Scotland does vote to leave the U.K., will the queen still be the head of state of Scotland?
That's something I haven't heard addressed in news reports that I've heard over here.
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Scotland - please don't leave us!
It's rough when the kids grow up and want to move out on their own.
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Jeff, am not sure, but my understanding is that the vote is whether to leave the UK, a yes or a no. Other questions settled later. If it is a yes, there is a minority that would want a republic, and a majority who would retain the Queen as head of state (similar to Canada, Australia, etc.).
Given that the majority, even of those who want independence, are ok with the monarchy, she isn't going anywhere.
The genealogy of the Queen derives from the Scottish Stewart/Stuart dynasty, although through wiggles and waggles. There would be Scots with a more direct lineage, but they are unlikely candidates.
Which brings to mind the identification of Richard III's bones, recently. They found a few Plantagenets, including a carpenter in London, to compare DNA, but the carpenter, though he might have a better claim, is still a carpenter ::).
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It's rough when the kids grow up and want to move out on their own.
True, especially when the "kids" are contributing significantly to the parents extravagant expenses and get nothing much in return except a few home cooked meals, a small room in the basement, and "if you live in my house, you live with my rules". Probably time to create their own mess.
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Andy Murray says 'Yes' to Scottish independence: Wimbledon champion comes out at last minute to say 'No campaign negativity' has pushed him over the edge - as millions vote to decide UK's fate
Ex-Wimbledon champion appears to have taken a side early this morning
Olympic gold medallist told his 2.7million followers that it was a 'huge' day
In the past he has carefully avoided coming out in favour of either side
He has said: 'I am proud to be Scottish, but I am also proud to be British'
Millions will head to the polls today to decide the fate of Great Britain
Polls opened at 7am today and people will have until 10pm to vote
Thousands of police officers are at polling stations amid fears of violence
For the first time in history 16 and 17-year-olds will have their say
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2760229/Has-Andy-Murray-come-favour-Scottish-independence-Tennis-star-tweets-No-campaign-negativity-totally-swayed-view.html#ixzz3DfZmwzh3
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Scary negativity can sway a vote the other way. :-\
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I seem to remember reading somewhere that after the Act of Union passed in 1707, the clerk of the last Scottish Parliament closed the minute book and said, "An' there's ane end of an auld song."
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I sympathise, Jess.
And it’s sad that (according to press reports) there’s so much bullying and intimidation from the “Yes” side going on at the polls.
The country will take some time to get over such divisiveness, irrespective of what the final vote turns out to be.
Such yob-like carrying-on is all so irrelevant, too.
In the end all that really matters is what people vote for when they actually cast their votes, in private.
Thank you, Paul.
I worry that however it turns out there will be unrest on the streets tomorrow night.
I pray not, but nationalism is a subject that is dangerous if it is accorded too much attention.
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Andy Murray says 'Yes' to Scottish independence: Wimbledon champion comes out at last minute to say 'No campaign negativity' has pushed him over the edge - as millions vote to decide UK's fate.
Murray’s just a “Sports Personality of the Year” living in England in a £6 million mansion in Surrey—who's unable to vote.
Who cares what he thinks?
Oh, I forgot ... 16 and 17-year-old lads and lassies will be able to vote for the first time today.
I hope they’ll be able to make up their own minds without some “sports star’s” last-minute advice. ::)
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I know, Jess. Just didn't see the relevance.... :)
Oh Sara, that wasn't aimed at you!
I didn't see the relevance either.
As Mr Janjo likes to say, most of the Scots / English wars were their French against our Germans. :D
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The Scots are not England's children, and I don't think they would thank you for regarding them in that way.
They are "us" and we are "them" and that is why I wouldn't want to lose them.
It is like having your heart ripped out.
My husband's grandmother was from Aberdeen, I am descended on my mother's side from a Scottish family, my son in laws family were solicitors in Glasgow, so my grandchildren have a lot of Scottish ancestry.
This is a very painful day for many of us.
True and my post was needlessly facetious. I do not have a decent grasp on the situation. The New York Times ran a series of in-depth articles last week which went a good way in laying out the issues and it all appears to be very complicated in a combination of emotion, nationalism, and even common sense. I just hope it all turns out for the best, whatever the best is, and, most importantly, that violence does not enter into the equation.
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It is hard to completely grasp the situation here, too.
It can be a case of politicians saying one thing, and meaning another.
I can see that possibly 1000 years ago there may have been tribal differences, but although there are some differences in culture, it really doesn't apply now.
I can understand the nationalist point of view, it is good to be proud of who and what you are, but that becomes more difficult when what you are has enormous plurality as it does in the British Isles.
The referendum is causing such instability politically that it is affecting the exchange rate of the pound, and devaluing the stock exchange, at least temporarily.
The Scots don't even have a settled currency to use after independence if such a thing were to come about.
Our nuclear submarines would have to be moved from a base in Scotland to one in England.
There would have to be a Scottish Defence force created.
Apparently they would need 25,000 young immigrants every year just to have enough taxes to pay pensions, which could lead to England having to set up a "border force" between England and Scotland.
In such a tiny island is all of this really necessary?
I really feel that half of my heritage is being torn away.
Just praying for a no vote really.
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Paul:
Can you expand on this?
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/australia-raids-foil-alleged-beheading-plot-support-isis-n205986 (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/australia-raids-foil-alleged-beheading-plot-support-isis-n205986)
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Rochester, New York, man charged with aiding ISIS planned to kill soldiers returning from Iraq
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/rochester_man_indicted_isis_mufid_elfgeeh.html
A Rochester man has been indicted on charges of trying to aid the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria known as ISIS or ISIL.
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Ready for part deux Lyle?
http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/17/django-unchained-actress-racism-lapd-daniele-watts-pictures-photos/
This girl is completely delusional. The way things are nowadays she'll be rewarded for it.
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Scotland - please don't leave us!
In other news:
Ballot initiative to Split California Into Six Separate States Fails to Qualify
A ballot initiative that would have called for splitting California into six separate states has failed to qualify for an upcoming election.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fsamuel-warde.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F07%2FSix-Californias.jpg%3Fresize%3D500%252C308&hash=1d89b752d7d42813dc282a2a2c016cf5e0c9f8ca)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/us/california-six-state-proposal-fails.html?_r=0
Every once in awhile there's been efforts to split it into North and South Caifornia, but
not into six different states. It would create so many more jobs! Ten more senators, five
more Governors, U.S. flag manufacturers and the like. Lawyers fighting over whether Prop 8
would or wouldn't apply to what areas, if any. Among other things.
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Paul:
Can you expand on this?
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/australia-raids-foil-alleged-beheading-plot-support-isis-n205986 (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/australia-raids-foil-alleged-beheading-plot-support-isis-n205986)
Authorities thwart 'beheading' plot in Australia's biggest ever counter-terrorism raid
The emerging reality of terrorism in Australia struck home just before dawn on Thursday when more than 800 police launched synchronised raids on houses and vehicles across Sydney's west and north-west, and Brisbane's south.
Commonwealth prosecutor Michael Allnutt told Sydney's Central Local Court the alleged offence was "clearly designed to shock, horrify and terrify the community".
Mr Allnutt said there was "a plan to commit extremely serious offences" that involved an "unusual level of fanaticism". He said the plot involved the "random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute" and said there was an "irrational determination to commit that plan" because those allegedly involved continued to plot the attacks even though they knew they were under police surveillance.
"It's been an immediate reaction to a clear, imperative danger," Mr Allnutt said. "There is still an enormous amount of material for police to assess."
There was heightened security at the court for Azari's appearance.
The prosecution opposed bail, saying the unusual level of fanaticism meant Azari would be unlikely to adhere to any court orders.
...
The charge relates to activity from May this year, well before the Federal Government publicly spoke about sending troops to fight IS in Iraq.
"The law enforcement authorities became aware of information in May of this year that a group of people in Sydney were at least talking about plans to carry out random attacks on individuals in Australia and they were kept under surveillance," Federal Attorney-General George Brandis told Macquarie Radio.
"I want to stress that the Australian Federal Police acted at the earliest opportunity that they could when they had sufficient evidence to charge an individual."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-18/authorities-thwart-beheading-plot-in-australias-biggest-raid/5754276
Links to related news items are at the end of the article.
Hope this helps, Gary. All I know is what's in the news. :)
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Southern Oregon's desire to separate itself from the rest of the state is an old idea. The State of Franklin has been long in the planning and is because the south part of the state feels cut off from and unconsidered by the rest... probably the same way northern California feels.
Then there's Idaho.
Not to mention Carolina....
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This girl is completely delusional. The way things are nowadays she'll be rewarded for it.
If I was a director (and saw this latest) I wouldn't touch her for a part with a 10 foot pole!
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I just deleted the contentious posts from the last two pages (and also the quotes of those posts) regarding the vote in Scotland.
So if you are missing some posts and responses this is why.
PM me if you'd like.
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(CNN) -- A Florida man shot and killed his daughter and six grandchildren Thursday afternoon in the small north-central Florida town of Bell in what authorities called a murder-suicide.
Gilchrist County Sheriff's Robert Schultz identified the shooter as Don Spirit, 51.
The sheriff told reporters the children ranged in age from 3 months to 10 years. He didn't name the daughter or the grandchildren because not every relative had been notified of their deaths.
Schultz said Spirit, who called 911 around 4 p.m., killed himself after a deputy arrived on the scene.
Deputies had previously responded to calls from the home, owned by Spirit, on "numerous" occasions, officials said. Spirit had a criminal history, Schultz said.
The sheriff wouldn't disclose what kind of firearm was used.
Bell is about 30 miles west of Gainesville.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/us/florida-deadly-shooting/index.html
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^^^ I'm very glad the ages of the children were bolded, so no one misses that.
A Happy Ending To A 13 Year Quest To Find The Owner Of This Photo Found At Ground Zero
September 13, 2014
Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, one dedicated woman has tried to find the owner of a crumpled wedding photo she discovered at Ground Zero in New York.
Elizabeth Stringer Keefe has been posting the photo online every year around 9/11 in hopes of finding its owner.
After years of getting nowhere, this time the picture finally took off. Since Thursday night, it was retweeted more than 58,000 times and led to a Reddit post where thousands of users tried to help locate the owner. It worked.
On Friday evening, Keefe posted this:
Attention wonderful world: ALL SIX PEOPLE ARE ALIVE AND WELL AND I HAVE JUST SPOKEN TO ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!! #Happyending #911photo
6:51 PM - 12 Sep 2014
"The picture was at my desk in the World Trade Center, Tower Two, on the 77th floor," Fred Mahe told Boston Magazine. He said that the photo was originally taken during a friend's wedding in Aspen, Colorado, in 2001.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxTVvN7IMAAOaKe.jpg:large)
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Time to Vote!
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington seeks nominations for the National Film Registry. Public nominations play a key role when the Librarian of Congress and Film Board are considering their final selections. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at least 10 years old and be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
For consideration, please forward recommendations (limit 50 titles per year) via email to: dross@loc.gov . Please include the date of the film nominated (i.e. 2005) , and number your recommendations:
(i.e. 1. Brokeback Mountain), please; alphabetizing would be nice, too. No need to include justifications for your nominations unless the films are not well known (not listed in IMDb, for example). And if you would, please tell us how you learned of the Registry.
http://www.loc.gov/film/vote.html
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Good news, Jess:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi412.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fpp201%2Frasalgethi_photo%2FNews%25202014%2Fno_zpsb6998f15.jpg&hash=deec37445c9b2d2ceae66e1679b3567350febf04)
Scotland rejects independence with decisive No vote and chooses to stay within the United Kingdom
With the results in from all 32 council areas, the “No” side polled 2,001,926, votes to 1,617,989 for “Yes.”
This margin of victory for the Better Together campaign - 55% to 45% - was greater by about 3% than that anticipated by the final opinion polls. The winning total needed was 1,852,828.
Speaking in Downing Street, Mr Cameron said the result was decisive.
“Now the debate has been settled for a generation, or as Alex Salmond has said: ‘Perhaps for a lifetime.’ So there can be no disputes, no re-runs; we have heard the will of the Scottish people."
The referendum had “stirred strong passions, electrified politics in Scotland and caught the imagination of people across the whole of our United Kingdom,” he said.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-29270441
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I was listening and watching the results for half the night.
I am just so relieved.
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I feel in some ways i should explain further my reasonably extreme reaction to the Scottish referendum.
I have already stated why I felt so strongly about the possible loss of the union, and my reasons for it, but it does go even deeper than that. The world is a very dangerous place at the moment, in so many ways.
The feeling in the UK amongst many people is the urge to fragment and become more tribal, to "circle the wagons" and just protect our own.
There is not only strong nationalism in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, there is also a right wing push to ban immigrants and to leave the European Community, this is seen in the rise of UKIP and in the fact that the right wing of the Conservative Party is exerting far more power on the party than is altogether healthy.
What happened to the notion of the brotherhood of man?
In many ways it is why I am here on this forum. I don't believe in hating people because they are different.
We are all "different."
Unity is strength.
Have they not heard of "divide and rule?"
We would have broken up the union at our peril.
We will leave the European Community at our peril too.
The Conservatives have promised a referendum if they are re-elected on that subject too.
It is time to wake up and to lead opinion to a much more inclusive society, instead of ruling by referendum.
Scotland, independent or part of the union, is a reasonably straightforward decision, and the referendum was honestly held.
The complexities of membership of the European Union, its faults and benefits is not really a subject that can be easily understood by the average voter, especially if that person is not terribly well educated and is feeling threatened and emotionally upset by the way the country has changed due to immigration, and sees leaving Europe as the answer to that problem.
The union of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales has stopped us on the whole from persecuting and fighting with each other.
The EC was set up to do the same thing.
Whatever its disadvantages the European Union has on the whole stopped us fighting and killing each other.
It is time for us all to understand what we have in common and not to concentrate on our differences.
I want to live in a world where we love, respect and care for each other, not one in which we fragment and fight for our own tiny piece of turf.
I am so glad that the union has been preserved, and I take pride in living in our tiny island which has all sorts of different terrain, all sorts of different ways of life, and where in some parts they talk and sing in in Welsh, Gaelic and even Cornish, and celebrate many immigrant customs too.
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I feel in some ways i should explain further my reasonably extreme reaction to the Scottish referendum.
I have already stated why I felt so strongly about the possible loss of the union, and my reasons for it, but it does go even deeper than that. The world is a very dangerous place at the moment, in so many ways.
The feeling in the UK amongst many people is the urge to fragment and become more tribal, to "circle the wagons" and just protect our own.
There is not only strong nationalism in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, there is also a right wing push to ban immigrants and to leave the European Community, this is seen in the rise of UKIP and in the fact that the right wing of the Conservative Party is exerting far more power on the party than is altogether healthy.
What happened to the notion of the brotherhood of man?
In many ways it is why I am here on this forum. I don't believe in hating people because they are different.
We are all "different."
Unity is strength.
Have they not heard of "divide and rule?"
We would have broken up the union at our peril.
We will leave the European Community at our peril too.
The Conservatives have promised a referendum if they are re-elected on that subject too.
It is time to wake up and to lead opinion to a much more inclusive society, instead of ruling by referendum.
Scotland, independent or part of the union, is a reasonably straightforward decision, and the referendum was honestly held.
The complexities of membership of the European Union, its faults and benefits is not really a subject that can be easily understood by the average voter, especially if that person is not terribly well educated and is feeling threatened and emotionally upset by the way the country has changed due to immigration, and sees leaving Europe as the answer to that problem.
The union of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales has stopped us on the whole from persecuting and fighting with each other.
The EC was set up to do the same thing.
Whatever its disadvantages the European Union has on the whole stopped us fighting and killing each other.
It is time for us all to understand what we have in common and not to concentrate on our differences.
I want to live in a world where we love, respect and care for each other, not one in which we fragment and fight for our own tiny piece of turf.
I am so glad that the union has been preserved, and I take pride in living in our tiny island which has all sorts of different terrain, all sorts of different ways of life, and where in some parts they talk and sing in in Welsh, Gaelic and even Cornish, and celebrate many immigrant customs too.
This is the most heart-warming post I've ever read here, Jess.
Thank you so much. :)
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I am proud to call you a friend, Paul.
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Great post, Jess!
I'm generally relieved. But still, nearly 45% Yes votes indicated a large strength of feeling. It will be interesting to see what changes may follow. And also how David Cameron's 'English MPs voting on English issues' will develop.
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I do hope you are having a good holiday!
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I certainly am, thanks!
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Great post, Jess!
I'm generally relieved. But still, nearly 45% Yes votes indicated a large strength of feeling. It will be interesting to see what changes may follow. And also how David Cameron's 'English MPs voting on English issues' will develop.
Aaaaaaaahhhh! The West Lothian Question.
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I am proud to call you a friend, Paul.
Thank you, Jess. :"> :)
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On my way to work this morning, I was listening to an interview of two canadians who had been involved with the "yes"
campaign. They were so upset with the "no" vote winning, like somehow the majority vote was wrong and if they had more time they would have convinced everyone to vote "yes". They just will not believe their eyes. I am happy that Scotland stayed with the UK, just like I was that Quebec stayed with Canada. :)
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Aaaaaaaahhhh! The West Lothian Question.
It does appear as though the U.K. is inexorably moving toward Federalism. Probably not such a bad thing in my opinion but, of course, not my call.
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I suspect it will happen, but we will all go through a lot of grief in the process, Gary.
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Re: the Scottish referendum's 'No' win. I guess the second pregnancy of the Duchess of Cambridge did the trick. Hat's off to the Windsors on a very strategic move, lol!
(Yes I'm a Quebecer who would like to separate from Canada. Especially with the teabagger PM we have right now. In fact, that POS is the reason i moved to Quebec.)
Linda, PM me if this post qualifies as contentious. ;)
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i doubt it was the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy, Oilgun, I suspect it had more to do with Gordon Brown appearing like the tartan messiah!
I have to say his speech was one of the best and most passionate I have ever heard!
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Not exactly a hot topic but I’m pretty pissed at APD. I got a ticket today for wearing my seatbelt under my arm...I’m short, and the seatbelt, worn as designed, rubs, and digs into my neck.
I guess Austin is crime-free (NOT!) if they have cops sitting at stop lights watching for seat belt offenders.
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ok, I admit it...we're too stupid to live. I'm moving to Canada....
(CNN) -- Three Afghan National Army soldiers, who were in Massachusetts for training, have gone missing after a trip to a shopping mall, authorities said. It's the second time in a week that Afghan security trainees in the United States have disappeared.
The three soldiers do not appear to pose any threat to the public, the Massachusetts National Guard said.
Earlier this month, two Afghan police officers training with the DEA wandered off during a sightseeing trip to Georgetown, CNN affiliate WJLA reported
The Massachusetts National Guard is apparently stupider than anyone alive.
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California's King Fire Grows to 80000 Acres, Destroys At Least 32 Structures
http://www.weather.com/safety/wildfires/california-wildfires-update-20140920
Fires are happening ever more frequently each year in California, especially because
nature has dried out the land and lightning strikes can quickly light up the dry brush
and such, but this fire is particularly galling because, for one, it seems the more they're
trying to fight it the larger and larger it is getting, but most infuriating is that it was
deliberately set by someone. Some a-hole started it himself and then broke into a
home and called 9-1-1 to report it.
He's sitting in jail with a ten million dollar bail, but at this point what kind of punishment
could you give to someone like this person or others who do this on occasion? The simple
act of lighting match can cause weeks of trauma for the land and the people on it and
those tryin to stop it.
There seems to be no deterrent to these people who do these things.
It is so saddening.
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I don't know who these people are, but them seem very nice to "newcomers". I like Canada!
RBC makes it easy for newcomers to settle in faster:
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A small safe deposit box (lock box) with fees waived for one year6
A cost-effective way to send money overseas with RBC International Money Transfer7
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LOTS of great info out there.
Find out how you can immigrate to Canada, how to protect yourself from fraud and what to expect after you arrive in Canada.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/EnGlish/immigrate/index.asp (http://www.cic.gc.ca/EnGlish/immigrate/index.asp)
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Ohhhh, immigration programs! Great! 10 minutes....nice. I got nothing holding me in the US, I don't even own a gun......
Do you want to come to Canada
Answer a few questions to find out what immigration programs you can apply for. Each immigration program has different application and eligibility requirements. You will need about 10-15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.[/i]
http://www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-vac/getting-started.asp (http://www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-vac/getting-started.asp)
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No wonder the world is laughing at us.....I'm laughing with them... :'(
WASHINGTON — The man who managed to get in the front door of the White House on Friday had a cache of ammunition and weapons in his car at the time of the incident, and he had been arrested by the Virginia State Police in July with several weapons and a map of the White House in his possession, according to law enforcement officials.
On Monday, federal prosecutors said that officers found 800 rounds of ammunition, two hatchets and a machete in the car of Omar Jose Gonzalez, 42, of Texas, after they searched it on Friday. The prosecutors made their disclosure before a judge as they argued that Mr. Gonzalez should continue to be held in jail because he posed a danger to President Obama
Figures he's from Texas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/us/white-house-intruder-was-arrested-in-july-with-trove-of-weapons.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/us/white-house-intruder-was-arrested-in-july-with-trove-of-weapons.html?_r=0)
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a nice little puppy dog is scoping out the grounds....don't have hamburger in your pocket, he might attack...ammo - np
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guy jumps the white house fence, afghans go shopping at a cape cod mall and disappear....and the top news story is Chelsea Clinton's baby?
GO CANADA!!!
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What??? Somebody was awake?? Maybe it was on the Canadian side that they were stopped...
Three senior Afghan military officers who failed to return to a U.S. training base in Cape Cod, Mass., were taken into custody Monday while trying to cross into Canada, according to a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police.
State police spokesman David Procopio said federal authorities were interviewing the officers at Rainbow Bridge checkpoint in Niagara Falls, N.Y., but provided no further details.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/22/3-afghan-officers-cape-cod-training-exercises-missing-hyannis/16039663/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/22/3-afghan-officers-cape-cod-training-exercises-missing-hyannis/16039663/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories)
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President Barack Obama says the Secret Service does "a great job."
After a 15-minute hearing, Facciola ordered Gonzalez held until Oct. 1, pending revocation of bond by authorities in an unrelated July 19 incident in Wythe County, Va. In that case, he was arrested while allegedly carrying a sawed-off shotgun, two sniper rifles and several other firearms, as well as a map of the Washington area with the Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Va., circled and a line pointed toward the White House, a local prosecutor said.
Earlier, on Aug. 25, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Mudd said, U.S. Secret Service officers saw Gonzalez carrying a hatchet in the back waistband of his pants along the south fence of the White House and questioned him. Gonzalez agreed to let them search his vehicle, parked nearby on New York Avenue NW, but at that time they found only camping gear and two dogs, and released him.
Yeah. Good job...no, great job...
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The CIA and the White House declined to give comment. yes of course they did.....
US admits there is a much scarier terrorist group than ISIS
Published time: September 21, 2014 12:23
Edited time: September 21, 2014 13:17
New intelligence has emerged warning Washington that its upcoming confrontation with the Islamic State may leave it blind to a more sinister and direct threat from a much lesser known terrorist group that has arisen from the ashes of the Syrian war.
Very little information is being released at the moment by anyone within American intelligence circles, but the group calling itself Khorasan is said by officials to have concrete plans for striking targets in the United States and Europe as a chosen modus operandi – more so than the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIS.
The first ever mention of the group occurred on Thursday at an intelligence gathering in Washington DC, when National Intelligence Director James Clapper admitted that “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.”
According to the New York Times, some US officials have gone as far as saying that, while the Islamic State is undoubtedly more prominent in its show of force in the Middle East, it is Khorasan who's intent on oversees campaigns in a way Al Qaeda usually is.
In this sense, the US air strike campaign and the coming actions by the anti-IS coalition might just be what coaxes the IS into larger-scale attacks on American and European soil – what Khorasan is essentially all about.
This brings up another issue seen in the current Western stance on terrorism: it is so focused on the terror spread by the IS that it’s beginning to forget that the destruction and mayhem of civil war across the Middle East is spawning a number of hard-to-track terrorist factions with distinct missions.
“What you have is a growing body of extremists from around the world who are coming in and taking advantage of the ungoverned areas and creating informal ad hoc groups that are not directly aligned with ISIS or Nusra,” a senior law enforcement official told the NY Times on condition of anonymity.
The CIA and the White House declined to give comment.
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The mention of the ultra-extremist terrorist group, Khorasan, in one of the posts above, is yet another example that unless you watch the networks, cable news, and internet news, you don't get a serious up-dating.
I never heard of this group except here, on this forum. Today, it's on CNN and Huffington Post. (And I appreciate the news wherever it comes from, so, thanks...).
As my own contribution, in a different area, the flu season has started earlier than at any time in the last 30 years. On the Eastern Shore, schools have been shut down. I had just gotten my own flu shot, and felt it was too early, but did it anyway. So, am feeling a little better since the unusually virulent outbreak is very close by.
I don't know how we can be expected to keep up, but, am glad there's some who close some of the gap.
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I'd like to know what we're giving the "five arab allies". They don't care about the US or Europe, the rich are safe, they don't care if their own people get killed...there's something in it for them - from us.
And what exactly is their participation? What are they giving, and what are they getting?
The White House ordered air attacks on Islamic State militants in eastern Syria within 72 hours after five Arab allies agreed to participate in the attacks, the Pentagon’s top officer said Tuesday..
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ISIS-linked militants behead French hostage within minutes of Obama's call for UN to join in the fight against jihadists
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2768239/BREAKING-NEWS-Algerian-militants-linked-ISIS-behad-French-hostage-saying-die-country-did-not-stop-bombing-Iraq.html#ixzz3EHtZUGmy
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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To revert to a previous topic, I have just finished reading the book "Naming Jack the Ripper" by Russell Edwards, it was a compulsive read, I read it in a day, and is quite convincing, but I still feel that I want to see further peer reviewed research before I am convinced that it is not a hoax.
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Update on terrorist activity in Australia:
Two weeks ago Australia’s threat level was raised from Level 2 (Medium—a terrorist attack could occur) to Level 3 (High—a terrorist attack is likely). (The final level is Extreme—a terrorist attack is imminent or has occurred). As mentioned previously synchronised counter-terrorism raids occurred in Sydney and Brisbane last week as a result of Australia’s most senior IS member (Mohammad Ali Baryalei) calling for a campaign of random kidnappings and public beheadings of Australian citizens.
This week Abdul Numan Haider, an eighteen-year old Afghani refugee and Muslim extremist living in Narre Warren in Melbourne’s east, was shot dead on Tuesday night outside Endeavour Hills Police Station in south-eastern Melbourne.
The following is a “fair” summary of events from numerous reports# about the incident:
Haider and his family had arrived in Australia some ten years ago and the teenager had been a “person of interest” to counter-terrorism officers for three months as a result of his involvement with the radical Islamic group Al-Furqan (although it is understood that he’d recently moved away from the group). Haider was under investigation for his radical views and while counter-terrorism police did not consider him a major threat they had visited him in May to discuss his behaviour.
The police have said that they asked Haider to meet with them at Endeavour Hills police station to answer some questions about what they called “some concerns” about his recent behaviour. This included unfurling an Islamic State flag at a shopping centre in nearby Dandenong, posting inflammatory statements on Facebook (that the Australian Federal Police and ASIO were “declaring war on Islam and Muslims”) and posting photographs of himself in military camouflage, balaclava and holding a jihadist flag.
This “escalation of his activity” in recent days had led to his passport being confiscated as part of a counter-terrorism sweep involving 40-60 individuals who’d recently had their passports cancelled over concerns they would join the small but prominent legion of Australians fighting with IS in the Middle East. In Haider's case it became known that he’d been in contact with Australian jihadists in Iraq and Syria, had made potential threats regarding Parliament House in Canberra and had been following the movements of Government officials, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, online.
Earlier on Tuesday night Haider's parents had tried to prevent their son from leaving the house over concerns for his safety, but despite their attempts he left and went to the interview.
On his arrival he called the police and told them he did not want to meet them inside the police station. They agreed to meet him outside as at this stage there was no intention of arresting him and the plan was “to keep it all low key.”
Haider arrived at the meeting with the police, one from the AFP and one from the Victorian Police, both members of the joint counter-terrorism taskforce, carrying two knives and an Islamic State flag.
He was greeted cordially and the police shook his hand, after which Haider attacked both officers savagely and without warning.
The Victoria Police officer’s forearm was stabbed twice and the AFP officer was stabbed multiple times in the face, neck and abdomen during the frenzied attack after which Haider was fatally wounded by the first officer with a single gunshot.
It’s alleged that Haider’s plan was to follow instructions from IS to behead the officers, cover the bodies in the Islamic State flag, take photos and post them online on Facebook. It’s also suggested that the confiscation of his passport could have prompted the stabbing of the two officers.
Onlookers - who did not want to be named - said the dead man had been shouting insults at the Prime Minister and the Australian government in general in the moments before he was shot.
Both of the injured officers were rushed to hospital. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said “the stab wounds to both police officers were signfificant and required surgery but [they] were [now both] in a stable condition.”
The Victorian police officer was discharged from Dandenong Hospital this afternoon.
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Am I alone in thinking the image on the left looks a bit “fishy?”
# Attempting to disentangle these reports in order to provide a clear picture was time-consuming, and even then some inconsistencies might have remained.
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That is terrible, and so scary for ordinary Australians just going about their business. It is the same in the UK, we just don't know what we are harbouring in our midst and what or where the next atrocity will take place.
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It is the same here!
....In the nearly 42-minute long meandering propaganda speech uploaded to Twitter, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani encourages Muslims to kill “disbelievers” in countries, including Canada, currently supporting American and French-backed military action against the group in Iraq “in any manner.”
Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, seen in this image taken from a video on July 8, 2012, issued fresh threats against Westerners in a speech released on audio. (CBC)
“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State … kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” said Adnani.
In a statement released Sunday evening, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesman condemned the recording and said Canada will continue to support efforts to defeat ISIS...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/stephen-harper-condemns-isis-audio-urging-attacks-on-canadians-1.2773636
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It is the same here!
....In the nearly 42-minute long meandering propaganda speech uploaded to Twitter, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani encourages Muslims to kill “disbelievers” in countries, including Canada, currently supporting American and French-backed military action against the group in Iraq “in any manner.”
Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, seen in this image taken from a video on July 8, 2012, issued fresh threats against Westerners in a speech released on audio. (CBC)
“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State … kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” said Adnani.
In a statement released Sunday evening, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesman condemned the recording and said Canada will continue to support efforts to defeat ISIS...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/stephen-harper-condemns-isis-audio-urging-attacks-on-canadians-1.2773636
We can thank Stephen Harper for making Canada a target with his dogmatic support of Israel and his confrontational and one sided views of world events.
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I don't know anything about Canadian politics, but I don't think IS need any logical reason to attack, behead or torture people. They are at present threatening to behead an Englishman who travelled to. Syria with Muslim colleagues to bring relief supplies.
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Washington (CNN) -- Chelsea Clinton has given birth to a daughter, according to a post on her Twitter and Facebook accounts.
The baby was born Friday, a Clinton spokesman said.
"Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky," Clinton's message read.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said they feel "blessed, grateful and so happy to be the grandparents of a beautiful girl."
"Chelsea is well and glowing. Marc is bursting with pride. Charlotte's life is off to a good start," the elder Clintons said in a statement.
Chelsea Clinton waited for the birth to find out the gender of her baby. "There are so few mysteries in life ... in which any answer is a happy one," she recently told CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, announced in April they were expecting their first child.
Chelsea is Bill and Hillary Clinton's only child, and her baby is their first grandchild.
Family pressure
Chelsea Clinton married Mezvinsky, the son of two former members of Congress, in 2010.
Ever since their daughter's nuptials, Bill and Hillary Clinton have applied good-natured public pressure on her to make them grandparents.
In April 2012, Hillary Clinton told ABC it wasn't "really up to" her whether she would ever earn the grandma title, but added, "I would like to have that title. ... I think I'd be pretty good."
Chelsea Clinton has regularly said that her parents were "unapologetic" in their pleas for grandchildren. "(They) are not shy about saying that in public and private," she told ET in 2013.
Bill Clinton also said last year on CBS that if Hillary Clinton could be president or a grandmother, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016 would say grandmother.
"If you ask her, I think she'd say grandmother, but I have found it best not to discuss that issue," said the former president. "My goal is to live to be a grandfather. The rest of it's out of my hands."
Why Chelsea Clinton is waiting to know the sex of her baby
Own family ambitions
Chelsea Clinton has stoked some of the baby talk, too.
In an October 2013 interview with Glamour, she said she and her husband want "to start a family." "So we decided we were going to make 2014 the Year of the Baby," Clinton said.
She later told the reporter: "Call my mother and tell her that. She asks us about it every single day."
For the last month, the baby has somewhat overshadowed the Clintons' everyday activities. When Hillary Clinton, who recently published her latest memoir, "Hard Choices," would travel to book signings, a number of well-wishers mentioned her becoming a grandparent.
"I must have shaken 70,000 hands and over half of them mentioned something about being a grandparent," Clinton said last week during a panel discussion with CNN's Sanjay Gupta at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting.
Chelsea Clinton baby watch upstages celebrities at Clinton nonprofit meeting
Hillary Clinton later added: "Most of us, when we have our children, we're still younger, we're still striving, we're still preoccupied with what's going to happen in our lives, and I think a lot of people look back and say, 'I did the best I could,' but...being a grandparent you just have that freedom, at least that's what I'm told, and I'm anxious to find out."
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I don't know anything about Canadian politics, but I don't think IS need any logical reason to attack, behead or torture people. They are at present threatening to behead an Englishman who travelled to. Syria with Muslim colleagues to bring relief supplies.
Sure, like any other "infidel", we would be targets if we went to the middle east but this is the first time that the country itself has been targeted and our dishonorable Prime Minister played a major part in that.
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Nice!
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More Americans Killed By Police Than By Terrorists: With Crime Down, Why Is Police Aggression Up?
We're safer than ever. So why are we seeing an ever increasing militarization of policing?
You might not know it from watching TV news, but FBI statistics show that crime in the U.S.—including violent crime—has been trending steadily downward for years, falling 19% between 1987 and 2011. The job of being a police officer has become safer too, as the number of police killed by gunfire plunged to 33 last year, down 50% from 2012, to its lowest level since, wait for it, 1887, a time when the population was 75% lower than it is today.
So why are we seeing an ever increasing militarization of policing across the country?
Continues:
http://www.alternet.org/more-americans-killed-police-terrorists-crime-down-why-police-aggression?akid=12302.1151017.DYzEGW&rd=1&src=newsletter1021060&t=21
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More Americans Killed By Police Than By Terrorists: With Crime Down, Why Is Police Aggression Up?
We're safer than ever. So why are we seeing an ever increasing militarization of policing?
You might not know it from watching TV news, but FBI statistics show that crime in the U.S.—including violent crime—has been trending steadily downward for years, falling 19% between 1987 and 2011. The job of being a police officer has become safer too, as the number of police killed by gunfire plunged to 33 last year, down 50% from 2012, to its lowest level since, wait for it, 1887, a time when the population was 75% lower than it is today.
So why are we seeing an ever increasing militarization of policing across the country?
Continues:
http://www.alternet.org/more-americans-killed-police-terrorists-crime-down-why-police-aggression?akid=12302.1151017.DYzEGW&rd=1&src=newsletter1021060&t=21
You'd think stories like that would keep more people out...sadly, no...
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No coverage here of George Clooney's wedding?
;D ;)
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Don't mention that! I'm in mourning.
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CNN exclusive: ISIS fighter says U.S. airstrikes aren't effective
By Arwa Damon and Holly Yan, CNN
updated 10:00 AM EDT, Mon September 29, 2014
Gaziantep, Turkey (CNN) -- The United States may be touting its strikes on ISIS targets in Syria, but one of the terror group's fighters says the hits are trivial at best.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, a Syrian ISIS fighter using the pseudonym Abu Talha said the militant group has been preparing for such attacks.
"We've been ready for this for some time," Abu Talha said. "We know that our bases are known because they're tracking us with radars and satellites, so we had backup locations."
He taunted the U.S.-led coalition that has been pummeling ISIS targets in Syria over the past week, including attacks on mobile oil refineries and vehicles.
"We have revenues other than oil. We have other avenues, and our finances are not going to stop just because of oil losses," the 28-year-old militant said.
"They thought they knew everything. But thank God, they don't know anything. And God willing, we will defeat the infidels."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/29/world/meast/isis-fighter-and-defector-interviews/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 (http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/29/world/meast/isis-fighter-and-defector-interviews/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)
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You'd think stories like that would keep more people out...sadly, no...
If you're referring to immigrants, you didn't read the story.
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Keeping the late night comics going with new material....I guess it's too much to hope that people get fired for this.
Fence-jumper got farther into White House
USA TODAY 5:44 p.m. EDT September 29, 2014
WASHINGTON — A man who scaled a White House fence earlier this month and breached the mansion's front doorapparently rushed past a Secret Service agent inside and was only stopped after reaching the building's East Room, a government official confirmed Monday.
New details of the incident involving Omar Gonzalez, whose breach involved a deeper penetration of the mansion than was previously known, were first reported Monday by the Washington Post.
The government official, who is not authorized to comment publicly about the incident, did not dispute the contents of the Post account.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan, citing an ongoing investigation, declined to comment on the report.
The disclosure comes as Secret Service Director Julia Pierson prepares to testify Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Pierson is expected to address the Gonzalez incident, along with a 2011 shooting incident which, according to a separate Post report, the Secret Service failed to recognize as an attack on the White House until days after discovering damage left by multiple rounds fired by a high-powered rifle.
In the more recent incident, Gonzalez reportedly overpowered a Secret Service officer and ran through the main floor.
An alarm box near the front entrance apparently had been muted.
Gonzalez, who was armed with a knife, made it into the East Room before he was taken down by an agent.
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No coverage here of George Clooney's wedding?
;D ;)
I was going to do a post, but figured no one on here would really care.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2773559/George-Clooney-Amal-Alamuddin-make-union-legal-10-minute-civil-ceremony-cost-600-euro.html
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I was going to do a post, but figured no one on here would really care.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2773559/George-Clooney-Amal-Alamuddin-make-union-legal-10-minute-civil-ceremony-cost-600-euro.html
Actually, I owe ol' George a debt of gratitude for making me feel like a real guy. Why? Because I don't "get" him. Not at all. I'm hoping you have to be a woman in order to "get" him. He's fair enough, but somehow I wouldn't buy a used car from him. ;D
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You want to know something odd, I never really "got him either", I mean very handsome man (obviously) fair enough actor I guess, was never a big fan of most of his movies. Then I saw him in The Descendants and it was like a light bulb went off. I "got it"! :D
Anyway his new wife is stunning, I wish them much happiness!
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If there's one actor out there I really don't care about AT ALL, it's G.C.
He - and his movies - leave me totally indifferent.
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You want to know something odd, I never really "got him either", I mean very handsome man (obviously) fair enough actor I guess, was never a big fan of most of his movies. Then I saw him in The Descendants and it was like a light bulb went off. I "got it"! :D
Anyway his new wife is stunning, I wish them much happiness!
Yes, she is. Absolutely stunning. And a lawyer, too!
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I knew it was inevitable. All it took was for someone to get on a plane. I hear that a case of Ebola has now been diagnosed in the U.S. :(
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Report: Obama Rode Elevator With Armed Man
WASHINGTON — Sep 30, 2014, 7:21 PM ET
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President Barack Obama rode an elevator this month with an armed security contractor who had three criminal convictions, a violation of Secret Service security protocols, according to published reports.
The latest embarrassment for the Secret Service comes after agency Director Julia Pierson on Tuesday took full responsibility for a Sept. 19 breach of security when a man carrying a knife got into the White House. The Washington Examiner and The Washington Post reported that the elevator incident took place during Obama's Sept. 16 visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The Post said agents questioned the contractor and discovered his criminal history after he refused to stop video recording the president with a phone camera.
Agents didn't know he was armed until a supervisor fired the contractor on the spot and the man turned over his gun, the newspapers said.
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I knew it was inevitable. All it took was for someone to get on a plane. I hear that a case of Ebola has now been diagnosed in the U.S. :(
Even worse, they are still playing the bodily fluids/close contact explanation, to prevent politically incorrect shunning. It IS transmissible through the air if someone coughs and a tiny droplet hits your eyes. That's why we see medical staff using goggles.
And sweat carries the virus.
It isn't primitive funeral customs, which is the CDC and other cover stories. Not with 1.4 million cases projected.
We are in better shape to contain a serious outbreak, but the doctor on CNN saying the case in Dallas will be the only one......needs to go.
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they didn't ask.......he didn't tell........but all the talking heads say we're prepared for this....right.
Source: U.S. Ebola patient didn't give travel history, hospital didn't ask
Atlanta (CNN) -- It's a lapse that has Americans concerned and health officials asking how it could happen.
A man who had Ebola but didn't know it walked into a Dallas emergency room September 26. Although his symptoms could have indicated Ebola among other things, no one at the hospital asked him if he had recently traveled, a source close to the case told CNN.
The man, who had just flown from Liberia to the States didn't offer the information either, the source said, and the man left the hospital. A spokesman for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital says it's investigating whether he was questioned.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/01/health/ebola-us/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 (http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/01/health/ebola-us/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)
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A man who had Ebola but didn't know it walked into a Dallas emergency room September 26. Although his symptoms could have indicated Ebola among other things, no one at the hospital asked him if he had recently traveled, a source close to the case told CNN.
Well, that was just plain stupid. Asking a patient if he or she has traveled recently is one of the most basic infectious disease questions that the patient should be asked.
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Well, that was just plain stupid. Asking a patient if he or she has traveled recently is one of the most basic infectious disease questions that the patient should be asked.
Well according to the national news tonight, he was brought in by ambulance by 3 EMTs and was asked the question if he had traveled in Africa and he answered yes. He was sent home even after having answered yes. They have tested the EMT's who have tested negative, but are being isolated and monitored, and the ambulance that transported him has been quarantined for decontamination.
12 to 18 people who had direct contact with him are being monitored, this includes 5 children, who are not allowed back to school. None have symptoms yet.
The CDC has said this is an extremely serious breakdown.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fnews%2F141013%2Fjoran-vandersloot-435.jpg&hash=52ce218a714c57cb4da80f87930e7707cfee2097)
Imprisoned Dutch killer Joran van der Sloot is now a father.
Van der Sloot attorney Maximo Altez says the baby girl was born Sunday in Lima, Peru – far from the remote prison where van der Sloot is serving a 28-year sentence for killing a Peruvian business student in 2010. He also remains the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
Altez says the child is named Dushy after van der Sloot's grandmother.
Van der Sloot married 24-year-old Leidy Figueroa in July. A month later, authorities sent him to a prison high in the Andes, saying he had threatened to kill the warden of the lockup near Lima.
??? I think my head just exploded!
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Well according to the national news tonight, he was brought in by ambulance by 3 EMTs and was asked the question if he had traveled in Africa and he answered yes. He was sent home even after having answered yes. They have tested the EMT's who have tested negative, but are being isolated and monitored, and the ambulance that transported him has been quarantined for decontamination.
12 to 18 people who had direct contact with him are being monitored, this includes 5 children, who are not allowed back to school. None have symptoms yet.
The CDC has said this is an extremely serious breakdown.
I heard that this evening, too.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fnews%2F141013%2Fjoran-vandersloot-435.jpg&hash=52ce218a714c57cb4da80f87930e7707cfee2097)
Imprisoned Dutch killer Joran van der Sloot is now a father.
Van der Sloot attorney Maximo Altez says the baby girl was born Sunday in Lima, Peru – far from the remote prison where van der Sloot is serving a 28-year sentence for killing a Peruvian business student in 2010. He also remains the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
Altez says the child is named Dushy after van der Sloot's grandmother.
Van der Sloot married 24-year-old Leidy Figueroa in July. A month later, authorities sent him to a prison high in the Andes, saying he had threatened to kill the warden of the lockup near Lima.
??? I think my head just exploded!
What a hottie and he seems nice.
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What a hottie and he seems nice.
He does seem nice. I saw him in an interview years ago, I think with Diane Sawyer, polite, articulate...seems very sweet...
Now that he's a father maybe he'll settle down...or maybe someone will brutally attack him in his cell...
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On CNN, some more news about the Dallas Ebola case.
It looks like:
* the guy KNEW he had been exposed, and returned to the U.S. for better medical treatment, if it developed.
* He did not quarantine himself. He socialized.
* when vomiting outside his apartment, he did not tell the arriving health care it was possibly Ebola.
The me-only syndrome. And it's the best friend of this or any other epidemic.
Worse, they had a do-gooder analyst who said, even if there were sporadic outbreaks in the U.S., the solution was to focus on West Africa. Idiot. HOW could we help West Africa, if we have outbreaks here?
Finally, they are admitting : sweat is a carrier. And, the virus survives up to 78 hours outside a body.
It's not just Ebola, where we are poorly protected. With these mentalities, it's any epidemic or pandemic.
Over 20 people quarantined in Dallas. Knock it off, Obama ! Shut down the flights from the hot zone. We are behind the curve, and if it goes nowhere, all that does is reinforce the mentality for the future of staying behind the curve.
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On CNN, some more news about the Dallas Ebola case.
It looks like:
* the guy KNEW he had been exposed, and returned to the U.S. for better medical treatment, if it developed.
* He did not quarantine himself. He socialized.
* when vomiting outside his apartment, he did not tell the arriving health care it was possibly Ebola.
I hadn't heard he'd been throwing up outside of where he was staying.
The me-only syndrome. And it's the best friend of this or any other epidemic.
Boy, howdy. :(
Finally, they are admitting : sweat is a carrier. And, the virus survives up to 78 hours outside a body.
Hadn't heard that, either, but neither point surprises me.
Over 20 people quarantined in Dallas. Knock it off, Obama! Shut down the flights from the hot zone. We are behind the curve, and if it goes nowhere, all that does is reinforce the mentality for the future of staying behind the curve.
I agree that's a start, but I'm concerned it's not enough if it's possible for someone to leave the Hot Zone and go somewhere else first--say, Europe or South America--and then get a flight to the U.S. Until this thing is controlled, I'd close the borders to anyone originating from anywhere in the Hot Zone, regardless of where their flight is coming from.
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They're at it again. Whipping up fear and paranoia to justify another war.
THE FAKE TERROR THREAT USED TO JUSTIFY BOMBING SYRIA
BY GLENN GREENWALD AND MURTAZA HUSSAIN
(...)
There are serious questions about whether the Khorasan Group even exists in any meaningful or identifiable manner. Aki Peritz, a CIA counterterrorism official until 2009, told Time: “I’d certainly never heard of this group while working at the agency,” while Obama’s former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said: ”We used the term [Khorasan] inside the government, we don’t know where it came from….All I know is that they don’t call themselves that.” As The Intercept was finalizing this article, former terrorism federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review that the group was a scam: “You haven’t heard of the Khorosan Group because there isn’t one. It is a name the administration came up with, calculating that Khorosan … had sufficient connection to jihadist lore that no one would call the president on it.”
What happened here is all-too-familiar. The Obama administration needed propagandistic and legal rationale for bombing yet another predominantly Muslim country. While emotions over the ISIS beheading videos were high, they were not enough to sustain a lengthy new war.
So after spending weeks promoting ISIS as Worse Than Al Qaeda™, they unveiled a new, never-before-heard-of group that was Worse Than ISIS™. Overnight, as the first bombs on Syria fell, the endlessly helpful U.S. media mindlessly circulated the script they were given: this new group was composed of “hardened terrorists,” posed an “imminent” threat to the U.S. homeland, was in the “final stages” of plots to take down U.S. civilian aircraft, and could “launch more-coordinated and larger attacks on the West in the style of the 9/11 attacks from 2001.”"
As usual, anonymity was granted to U.S. officials to make these claims. As usual, there was almost no evidence for any of this. Nonetheless, American media outlets — eager, as always, to justify American wars — spewed all of this with very little skepticism. Worse, they did it by pretending that the U.S. government was trying not to talk about all of this — too secret! — but they, as intrepid, digging journalists, managed to unearth it from their courageous “sources.” Once the damage was done, the evidence quickly emerged about what a sham this all was. But, as always with these government/media propaganda campaigns, the truth emerges only when it’s impotent.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/28/u-s-officials-invented-terror-group-justify-bombing-syria/
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(CNN) -- A short video released by ISIS on Friday shows the apparent beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning, with the executioner blaming the death on the United Kingdom for joining the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the group.
Before he is killed, Henning speaks to the camera, referencing the British Parliament's decision to participate in coalition of more than 40 countries who have banded together to go after the so-called Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria.
At the end of the video, ISIS shows American aid worker Peter Kassig and threatens his life.
There is no reason to believe the video is not authentic, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN, adding that American officials are studying it.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/03/world/meast/isis-alan-henning-beheading/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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I have such a man crush on Jeremy Scahill! And not just because he's so damn sexy.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2FJeremy-Scahill-01_zps5cd3c6ff.jpg&hash=aac3e14e6510599fffa62153810a491ba2cd1a9e)
Jeremy Scahill on Obama’s Orwellian War in Iraq: We Created the Very Threat We Claim to be Fighting
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/3/jeremy_scahill_on_obamas_orwellian_war
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The perfect actor to portray Jeremy Scahill in a biopic, should he ever be assassinated, and he will be, is Matthias Schoenaerts.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fmatthias-schoenaerts-08_zps613512b3.jpg&hash=a7f580fcb007763634e1d2db392ee6a8dd98b1e4)
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No, the sky is not falling. But there is so much stupid going on, sooner or later, it just might.
A passenger from Liberia begins vomiting on a flight to the U.S. The plane is quarantined, in Newark. Hours later, the passengers sent out into the world.
The sick guy surrounded by Hazmat types, but the assumption reported on CNN was that he was tested, and did not have Ebola. This news story came only hours after hearing a report that tests for Ebola aren't 100% accurate.
A relative of one of the other Liberians released said "Isn't America a great place? If you get Ebola here, you live.". Right now, yes. But if we keep doing stupid, the hospitals cannot keep up with ever-widening 21 day concentric circles, that, eventually cannot be tracked.
And we STILL have not banned passengers from the hot zones.
Anybody who does want to prepare against risk, should know, in an epidemic, the first product to sell out will be Tyvek coveralls. Some stores and internet sites are already sold out. Am seeing them on Dallas police and medical, near trouble zones. They aren't the space suit thingies, but, with goggles and a mask, are considered safe.
The point is, by the time stupid stuff goes one way or another, Tyvek suits will be unavailable. probably by next week.
Whatever. There is still no explanation of why the quarantine was lifted. And they should give one.
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Obama's War on ISIS an 'Epic Formula for Blowback': Jeremy Scahill
Through a deadly mix of incompetence, ignorance, and misinformation, "we’ve created the very threats we claim to be fighting," reporter claims
The Obama administration employed "flimsy justification" to enter a war that will only exacerbate the crisis in the Middle East, investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, co-founding editor of the The Intercept and author of the book Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield, said on Democracy Now! Friday.
"What I’m saying is that the United States, through its policies, created the very threat that it claims to be fighting now, and in continuing this policy, what President Obama is doing is embracing the very lies that made the Cheney-Bush Iraq War possible," Scahill argued. "And in the process, he’s creating yet another generation of people in the Islamic world who are going to grow up in a society where they believe that their religion is being targeted, where they believe that the United States is a gratuitous enemy. And so, this is sort of an epic formula for blowback."
The issue is not whether the latest U.S.-led war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria will make things worse in those countries, but to what extent, Scahill told interviewer Amy Goodman.
After describing the U.S. military's drone program as "kabuki theater," Scahill encouraged viewers to consider who benefits most from war.
"You know, Lockheed Martin is making a killing off of the killing, every Tomahawk cruise missile that’s launched," Scahill said. "You know, the next generation of drone aircraft is going to be coming out. They’re working on jet-propelled drones that are going to be able to stay in the air for a very long time. The war industry is in its twilight right now, under Mr. Transformative Presidency Barack Obama. His administration has been an incredibly great friend to the war industry. And outside of some small groups of loony bins that are in Syria and Iraq, the war industry is the greatest beneficiary of this policy."
The LA Times reported Friday that due to the renewed air strikes in Iraq and Syria, "many analysts foresee a boost to bottom lines for munitions manufacturers, weapons producers and other military contractors."
Scahill also spoke out in support of his colleagues in the media, both at home and internationally.
"You know, the age that we’re living in now, where there’s this war on journalists abroad by every possible force, and then this war at home, where journalists are being surveilled—their sources are being threatened with prosecution under the Espionage Act—the Obama administration is in league with some of the most ruthless violators of human rights in the world in a campaign against the press."
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/03/obamas-war-isis-epic-formula-blowback-jeremy-scahill
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The perfect actor to portray Jeremy Scahill in a biopic, should he ever be assassinated, and he will be, is Matthias Schoenaerts.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fmatthias-schoenaerts-08_zps613512b3.jpg&hash=a7f580fcb007763634e1d2db392ee6a8dd98b1e4)
Oh. Another blue-eyed blond.
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^^ I'm not sure what your point is, please explain.
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^^ I'm not sure what your point is, please explain.
He's quite fine, but we seem to have a plethora of blue-eyed, blond, young (or young-ish) leading men right now.
And they're somewhat interchangeable.
I was reading last week that Chris Pine got into a club in London because the manager thought he was Bradley Cooper. :D
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Raven-Symone came out of the closet to Oprah Winfrey Sunday night, but made one thing very clear -- she's not down with putting a label on herself ... and that includes being called African-American.
During Symone's interview with the Big O ... Raven spoke for the first time about her tweet celebrating the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage last year -- and explained she's in a relationship with a woman, but added, "I don't want to be labeled gay, I want to be a human who loves humans."
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3FOFJxVKE
:)
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Raven-Symone came out of the closet to Oprah Winfrey Sunday night, but made one thing very clear -- she's not down with putting a label on herself ... and that includes being called African-American.
During Symone's interview with the Big O ... Raven spoke for the first time about her tweet celebrating the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage last year -- and explained she's in a relationship with a woman, but added, "I don't want to be labeled gay, I want to be a human who loves humans."
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3FOFJxVKE
:)
Good luck with that. :-\
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(CNN) -- A nurse's assistant in Spain is the first person known to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa in the current outbreak.
Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato announced Monday that a test confirmed the assistant has the virus.
She had helped treat a Spanish missionary who contracted Ebola in West Africa.
The missionary died after returning to Spain.
The news came amid growing fears in the United States that the disease could spread.
www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/health/ebola-us/index.html
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He's quite fine, but we seem to have a plethora of blue-eyed, blond, young (or young-ish) leading men right now.
And they're somewhat interchangeable.
I was reading last week that Chris Pine got into a club in London because the manager thought he was Bradley Cooper. :D
I just thought he looked a lot like Jeremy Scahill. Plus this guy can act, unlike Chris Pine and his ilk.
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I just thought he looked a lot like Jeremy Scahill. Plus this guy can act, unlike Chris Pine and his ilk.
You want them to act, too? Picky, picky, picky. ... ;D
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Plus this guy can act, unlike Chris Pine and his ilk.
Kitty has claws...
That reminds me of the Will & Grace episode where Jack is teaching an acting class
and is berating a student's monologue and in trying to explain to the student why
their performing isn't up to par, calls upon a guy to go up on stage, He then tells
him to take off his shirt and we find an amazingly built and hndsome guy just standing
there smiling to which Jack says, "Now that's acting."
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Kitty has claws...
That reminds me of the Will & Grace episode where Jack is teaching an acting class
and is berating a student's monologue and in trying to explain to the student why
their performing isn't up to par, calls upon a guy to go up on stage, He then tells
him to take off his shirt and we find an amazingly built and hndsome guy just standing
there smiling to which Jack says, "Now that's acting."
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia3.onsugar.com%2Ffiles%2Fupl2%2F0%2F88%2F19_2009%2FINFphoto_969792WTMK.JPG&hash=9f0921cab89cda7a9090cafa55e138141395eb30)
Jack is just so smart! :D
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http://www.tmz.com/2014/10/07/stephen-collins-pedophile-child-molestation-documents-divorce-investigation/
Anyone remember Stephen Collins, 7th Heaven? This is a news story and a half, unreal!
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http://www.tmz.com/2014/10/07/stephen-collins-pedophile-child-molestation-documents-divorce-investigation/
Anyone remember Stephen Collins, 7th Heaven? This is a news story and a half, unreal!
Here's a link to his taped confession with audio:
http://www.tmz.com/2014/10/07/stephen-collins-molested-child-molestation-victim-wife/
I guess he'll soon be in 7th Hell.
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He sounds so calm and matter of fact. Just goes to show, white hetrosexual male, isn't that what they usually are? Just would never have figured him!
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2784047/Free-British-man-sentenced-four-months-Moroccan-jail-gay-way-home.html
Gay images on a "locked" phone.
Was he foolish ? Should he have checked out the laws of the country on homosexuality ??
Is it an insult to be deemed necessary to do so ?
Was shocked there were these kind of restrictions in Morocco. It was where all the Bohemian
and gay people went to years ago knowing they were "safe"....to be who they are.
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Yep, that's acting! :D
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Anyone remember Stephen Collins, 7th Heaven? This is a news story and a half, unreal!
Yes, I never watched 7th Heaven, but I remember him when he was doing movies in the 80's,
one was Loving Couples with Shirley MacLaine, I believe (?) and from the Indiana Jones inspired
TV series called Tales of the Gold Monkey which I have on dvd. Lordy, how can I watch it now
without all this coming to mind?
He sounds so calm and matter of fact.
It was in a therapy or counseling session, it was discussing things he had already submitted in some
kind of court documents his wife had received and he didn't know it was being taped, so what were
you expecting? Some kind of tortured ranting and raving?
Just goes to show, white hetrosexual male, isn't that what they usually are?
I don't even know what to make of that statement. ::)
Just would never have figured him!
Would you have figured Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, R. Kelly or Jeffrey Jones or Michael Jackson?
From what the news has sad about his wife, she seems like a real piece of work, too.
Wonder who made money off releasing this recording?
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Australian deal to settle refugees in Cambodia slammed as 'new low'
(CNN) -- Cambodia will accept refugees seeking asylum in Australia in return for A$40 million ($35 million) in aid, under a controversial, open-ended deal that has been criticized as "a new low" in Australia's treatment of asylum seekers.
Australia's Immigration Minister Scott Morrison was in Phnom Penh Friday to sign the agreement, as protesters there demonstrated outside the Australian Embassy.
"Cambodia is poor... can't help the refugees from Australia," read one placard.
Before his departure, Morrison told Australian public broadcaster ABC that the deal would initially apply to refugees being held on Australia's offshore detention center on Nauru, more than 200 of whom had been granted refugee status.
Instead of finding refuge in their target destination, asylum seekers who agreed to the terms would instead be settled in Cambodia, one of southeast Asia's poorest nations.
It would be "an ongoing arrangement" with no caps on total numbers involved, said Morrison.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/26/world/asia/australia-cambodia-refugee-deal/ (http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/26/world/asia/australia-cambodia-refugee-deal/)
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2784047/Free-British-man-sentenced-four-months-Moroccan-jail-gay-way-home.html
Gay images on a "locked" phone.
Was he foolish ? Should he have checked out the laws of the country on homosexuality ??
Is it an insult to be deemed necessary to do so ?
Was shocked there were these kind of restrictions in Morocco. It was where all the Bohemian
and gay people went to years ago knowing they were "safe"....to be who they are.
I was pleased to see that they have set him free and let him come home to his family.
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Would you have figured ... Michael Jackson?
Are you kidding? You bet!
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Yes, I never watched 7th Heaven, but I remember him when he was doing movies in the 80's,
one was Loving Couples with Shirley MacLaine, I believe (?) and from the Indiana Jones inspired
TV series called Tales of the Gold Monkey which I have on dvd. Lordy, how can I watch it now
without all this coming to mind?
It was in a therapy or counseling session, it was discussing things he had already submitted in some
kind of court documents his wife had received and he didn't know it was being taped, so what were
you expecting? Some kind of tortured ranting and raving?
I don't even know what to make of that statement. ::)
Would you have figured Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, R. Kelly or Jeffrey Jones or Michael Jackson?
From what the news has sad about his wife, she seems like a real piece of work, too.
Wonder who made money off releasing this recording?
Well since posting this all sorts of questions come to mind, like who leaked the tapes and why, his wife it seems had motive, a nasty divorce. Also reading these incidents were 40 years ago... what has he done lately if anything? Is this him on the tapes for sure, so many questions?
I mean we have to be careful not to ruin a mans career and life. Can they even charge him now, is it too late? Have any of the victims ever spoke out??
And what I meant aboout hetrosexual males, is there is still a portion of society that things gay men are pedophiles!
As for your list, Woody married his "girl" they are still married with a family. R Kelly, wasn't she a teenager who lied about her age?
Roman was a young girl for sure, one time that I ever read about, wasn't he ran out the country?
As for MJ, I don't think he ever molested anyone!
Any other questions? :D
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He was first person diagnosed with disease in U.S.
Thomas Eric Duncan, the man with Ebola who traveled to the U.S. from Liberia, died this morning, the hospital said.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/08/health/ebola-us/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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And what I meant aboout hetrosexual males, is there is still a portion of society that things gay men are pedophiles!
Well, considering that there is a portion that is still convinced that we "choose" it, I'm sure there's a portion that still thinks we're pedophiles. >:(
As for MJ, I don't think he ever molested anyone!
Just to avoid any misunderstanding as to my meaning, I took the question to mean, Would you ever suppose that Michael Jackson molested anyone? and my answer meant, Yes, I would suppose he did--which isn't the same thing as MJ actually doing it, only that he was so weird, a grown man sharing his bed with young boys, etc., etc., that, yes, I would suspect him of being a pedophile.
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He was first person diagnosed with disease in U.S.
Thomas Eric Duncan, the man with Ebola who traveled to the U.S. from Liberia, died this morning, the hospital said.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/08/health/ebola-us/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
:(
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Well, considering that there is a portion that is still convinced that we "choose" it, I'm sure there's a portion that still thinks we're pedophiles. >:(
Just to avoid any misunderstanding as to my meaning, I took the question to mean, Would you ever suppose that Michael Jackson molested anyone? and my answer meant, Yes, I would suppose he did--which isn't the same thing as MJ actually doing it, only that he was so weird, a grown man sharing his bed with young boys, etc., etc., that, yes, I would suspect him of being a pedophile.
Agreed, 100 percent, to look at MJ, you would think that for sure, but knowing him (or what we knew of him, and even more so since his death) no I don't believe he molested anyone.
I missed a name on Lyle's list, I had to look him up, the guy from Ferris Bueller and yes totally looks like he would be and is a registered sex offender.
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Well since posting this all sorts of questions come to mind
Yes, lots of questions.
Agreed, 100 percent, to look at MJ, you would think that for sure, but knowing him no I don't believe he molested anyone.
What have we found out since that you come to that conclusion?
I'm not going to write an article about it, but MJ used to visit the video stores I worked at
in the late 80's and early 90's. I spent an hour alone with him one time after closing. I could name
you a video company that exclusively distributed the kinds of films he was interested in renting and
keeping and if he didn't molest anyone, he was surely interested in these gay themed foreign films
with sexualized young boys.
This reminds me of the Law & Order: SVU they once did where they took all the facts
of what we know about MJ and the cases against him and they did a story about it. They
made the character a white 40 year old man, without the trappings of MJ's craziness, and
you'd be hard pressed not to believe it. People believe what they want to believe,
regardless of what's right in front of them. Like OJ; like Robert Blake.
I beliieve it with no doubt in my mind.
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Yea well OJ killed Nicole and Robert Blake had his wife killed!
Lyle Lyle Lyle, my funny Valentine... I can not dispute your claim, I mean I could say I had sex with MJ and it was great, who is going to dispute it?
I think he was a product of a very unhappy childhood, a horribly abusive Father. He saw himself as a child in many ways, he never had a childhood. Anyway any time you want to discuss him, meet me in Fan Fair, I have plenty to say.
NOT a pedophile, not in my opinion, which I am entitled to!
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I can not dispute your claim, I mean I could say I had sex with MJ and it was great, who is going to dispute it?
If you are insinuating I made up what I wrote because "anyone can say anything" then there is no reason
to discuss anything else.
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Is all this news ???
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It was originally a legitimate news story about Stephen Collins, 7th Heaven, that went a little off course, but originated with the story, so yes it is. It seems as if the discussion here is over and will maybe continue in Fan Fare.
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Is all this news ???
To quote Gilbert & Sullivan:
The case may, any day,
Be yours, my dear, or mine.
Let us make our hay
While the sun doth shine.
Let us compromise
(Our hearts are not of leather):
Let us shut our eyes,
And talk about the weather.
Yes, yes, let’s talk about the weather.
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Cally and Linda, so sorry I am trying to get Lyle over to Fan Fair! :D MJ is one of my favourite subjects and I don't mean to derail this post, so Lyle........meet you over there, or not, up to you.
Anyone have a bee phobia, I don't really, but this could give me one:
(CNN) -- One bee after you is bad enough. What about thousands?
A man in Arizona died after being stung more than an estimated 100 times.
An exterminator said based on the size of the hive, there were about 800,000 bees.
Douglas Fire Chief Mario Novoa said his department answered a call Wednesday morning and when the crew arrived they found five people stung by bees and the bees still swarming.
While some of the emergency responders treated the victims, other firefighters went around the neighborhood warning residents to close their windows and stay inside.
Two of the victims were stung many times, the chief said. One of the men died later. He has not been identified and the chief didn't know what the other man's condition was.
Novoa said an exterminator found a 3-foot by 8-foot hive on an eave of a house. To get to the hive, the exterminator had to cut through part of the ceiling of the house.
The 90-year-old owner of the home wasn't injured.
"We get calls about bees fairly often but I've never seen anything to this extent. This is the first time we have recorded a death in our community from bees," Novoa said.
Douglas is near the border with Mexico, about a two-hour drive from Tucson.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/08/us/bees-kill-man/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
the news clip is scary!
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Enjoy yourselves over in FF! :)
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Not exactly a hot topic, but a lot of people might remember this lady, one of the most successful alumnae of Atlanta's Wits End Players.
Jan Hooks, Best Known For Her Roles On SNL, Dies At Age 57
Jan Hooks, best known for her performances on Saturday Night Live, died on Thursday.
Hooks was 57.
The Chicago Sun Times reports that Hooks joined SNL in 1986 and stayed until 1991. She played key characters like Hillary Clinton and Sinead O'Connor.
The paper reports:
"'Man, she was good,' former 'SNL' writer Bob Odenkirk said in an email, calling Hooks 'the best there could be at sketch.' After 'SNL,' Hooks became a regular on 'Designing Women' and did guest spots on 'The Simpsons' as well as '3rd Rock From the Sun.' In 2010 she appeared as Jenna Maroney's scheming mother Verna on '30 Rock.
The Hollywood Reporter adds that in 1998 she was nominated for an Emmy for her role in 3rd Rock.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/09/354961003/jan-hooks-best-known-for-her-roles-on-snl-dies-at-age-57
(includes a video clip, "The Sinatra Group")
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IMO, the funniest line she ever said was, "Demonic raisins I rebuke you."
Some of you may remember.
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IMO, the funniest line she ever said was, "Demonic raisins I rebuke you."
Some of you may remember.
"Well, isn't that special".
;D ;D ;D
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I posted it in the TV thread, wasn't sure where to put it. I don't actually remember her from SNL, but I do remember her from Designing Women.
They aren't saying what happened, much too young to die that's for sure..
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-3.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2014%2Fnews%2F141020%2Fangelina-jolie-800.jpg&hash=17cc3900755ce2235ce1d45160cb05a475e5773e)
Newly married Angelina Jolie made it a family outing as she went to Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth on Friday.
The actress and humanitarian, 39, had a private audience with the Queen, 88, who presented her with the physical symbol of her recently bestowed title of honorary dame – the Insignia of an Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George.
They met for about 20 minutes, a palace source tells PEOPLE, with most of the time taken up by the presentation and a following conversation the Queen had with Jolie. Then, in what must have been a memorable moment for the family, Pitt, 50, and the couple's six children – Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox – were ushered in to the grand 1844 Room to be presented to the Queen.
Unfortunately, no media – or spokespeople for the royal family – were in attendance, so there are no details of the meeting. A royal source says that while there was a "serious nature" to the visit, the atmosphere at the palace meeting "was a happy family one."
It was revealed in June that Jolie was being made an honorary dame in the list of recipients issued to mark the Queen's birthday. The title recognizes Jolie's work in founding of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) and the contribution she has made toward the British foreign policy objective of ending sexual violence in conflict.
The Jolie-Pitts have had much to celebrate of late. In August they were toasting their secret wedding at their countryside home in France.
Audiences with the Queen are not announced, so it had not been made public that Jolie had an appointment at the palace Friday.
The family is thought to have come in from Gozo, one of the Maltese islands, where they are living during the making of the upcoming film By the Sea.
Honors such as the conferring of knights and dames, and others like CBE and OBE medals, are normally given in public ceremonies. But sometimes they take place in private at home or abroad – especially if the recipient, like Jolie, is not British.
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Gay Republican congressional candidate accused of sexual harassment
San Diego (CNN) -- Charges of sexual misconduct, plagiarism and burglary have pitted a former staffer against a high-profile congressional candidate just weeks before the midterm elections.
The drama is unfolding in a city that just weathered a sexual harassment scandal ending the career of its Democratic mayor. The latest accusations by a former campaign aide could derail the career of up-and-coming Republican Carl DeMaio.
In a story of charges and counter charges, the one constant is this: they both insist the other is lying.
DeMaio has won national name recognition as a "new generation Republican," calling on his party to ditch social issues and winning plaudits for helping the Grand Old Party shed what many see as its intolerant image.
The openly gay, former San Diego city councilman has won support from GOP heavyweights like Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and even former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
But behind the scenes, things are much messier. DeMaio's former campaign policy director is accusing the candidate of sexual harassment, even saying DeMaio masturbated in front of him. DeMaio vehemently denies the allegations, saying they're the cover story of a plagiarist and suspected criminal.
This is not the first time DeMaio has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. Last year, a fellow city councilman said he twice caught DeMaio masturbating in a city hall restroom -- an allegation DeMaio denied....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/10/politics/carl-demaio-sexul-harrassment-allegations/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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ROME (CNN) – Using strikingly open language, a new Vatican report says the church should welcome and appreciate gays, and offers a solution for divorced and remarried Catholics who want to receive Communion.
At a press conference on Monday to present the report, Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines said Catholic clergy meeting here have largely focused on the impact of poverty, war and immigration on families.
But the newly proposed language on gays and civil marriages represents a “pastoral earthquake,” said one veteran Vatican journalist.
“Regarding homosexuals, it went so far as to pose the question whether the church could accept and value their sexual orientation without compromising Catholic doctrine,” said John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service.
The Rev. James Martin, an author and Jesuit priest, called the report's language on gays and lesbians "revolutionary."
“This is a stunning change in the way that the Catholic Church speaks about gay people.”
"The synod said that gay people have 'gifts and talents to offer the Christian community.' This is something that even a few years ago would have been unthinkable," Martin added.
The Catholic Catechism calls homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and calls on gays and lesbians to live in chastity. Under Pope Benedict XVI, the church had tried to purge men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from the priesthood.
But Pope Francis, while hewing to Catholic teaching, has signaled a gentler tone, famously saying in 2013 "Who am I to judge?" gays and lesbians. The report released on Monday, a summary of a week of closed-door discussions of nearly 200 bishops, cardinals and priests, together with Pope Francis, continues that trend.
The discussions continue this week and a final report will be issued at the end of the week.
The goal of this meeting, officially called the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, is to present working proposals for a larger meeting to be held next October 2015.
Here’s a summary of where the church may be heading on hot-button issues...
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/10/13/vatican-proposes-stunning-shift-on-gays-lesbians/?hpt=hp_t2
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Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has hinted that he experimented with his sexuality while boarding at an all-boys private school.
The actor makes the admission in a new cover shoot for gay lifestyle magazine Out.
Talking about his time at Brambletye School in West Sussex, the 38-year-old explained: 'While there was experimentation [at Brambletye], it had never occurred to me as "Oh, this is that."
'It was just boys and their penises, the same way with girls and vaginas and boobs. It wasn’t out of desire.'
The topic of sexuality is at the forefront of Benedict's next major film, The Imitation Game, in which he plays mathematician and logician, Alan Turing.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2793632/benedict-cumberbatch-talks-sexual-experimentation-boys-boarding-school.html#ixzz3GFiz9vob
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has hinted that he experimented with his sexuality while boarding at an all-boys private school.
The actor makes the admission in a new cover shoot for gay lifestyle magazine Out.
Talking about his time at Brambletye School in West Sussex, the 38-year-old explained: 'While there was experimentation [at Brambletye], it had never occurred to me as "Oh, this is that."
'It was just boys and their penises, the same way with girls and vaginas and boobs. It wasn’t out of desire.'
The topic of sexuality is at the forefront of Benedict's next major film, The Imitation Game, in which he plays mathematician and logician, Alan Turing.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2793632/benedict-cumberbatch-talks-sexual-experimentation-boys-boarding-school.html#ixzz3GFiz9vob
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Don't all boys experiment with other boys during puberty. I certainly did. And most of the guys I experimented with were straight.
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Don't all boys experiment with other boys during puberty. I certainly did. And most of the guys I experimented with were straight.
Well, I wouldn't say "all", but from what I've read, it's more common than thought.
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An enormous mistake is still being upheld by the Obama administration, and being supported by commentators. And that is that there has to be a global joint effort to fight Ebola at its source, in West Africa, and that quarantining flights from hot zones is counter-productive.
This is the most dangerous stupid I have heard in years. How can the wealthy nations help, when they are experiencing sporadic cases, to which they must eventually turn their attention? A failed policy like this will destroy any help we can give.
IMO, it's a case of people considering quarantines too harsh. Collapse would be harsher.
And here, we now have the new Nancy Snyderman syndrome : "What? Quarantines apply to ME?".
Well, we now know that the great health system here has a total of.....11 beds for correct Ebola care. And nurses in some hospitals are considering strikes, unless they are provided appropriate training and gear.
But, some odds and ends:
* The biggest cover-up may emerge after these times - that the West Africans are quietly killing the sick, to prevent further spread.
* The Russians are claiming they will have not one, but three different vaccines within 6 months.
* A product made in Texas, E-mist, is showing promise in containing contamination. The hand-held mist gun has an electrostatic charge which makes a disinfectant (bleach, etc.), bond to any infected surfaces, and can last for days. It's already been used in Dallas.
All of this may fade away, but there have been so many stupids unfolding, if we dodge this bullet, we still would have the unacceptable attitudes into the next threat.
It's looking Darwinian, to me :P .
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I am not sure that there will be an answer to this epidemic. or any others coming out of Africa, until the life of an African is regarded as as important as that of a European or an American citizen.
No one was that bothered whilst only poor Africans were dying.
Shocking, but somewhat true.
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I am not sure that there will be an answer to this epidemic. or any others coming out of Africa, until the life of an African is regarded as as important as that of a European or an American citizen.
No one was that bothered whilst only poor Africans were dying.
Shocking, but somewhat true.
Same thing happened with AIDS.
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Absolutely.
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http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/students-hold-big-kiss-in/ss-BB9qlh1
:) Nice one !
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" Humor is the good natured side of a truth."
Some Fear Ebola Outbreak Could Make Nation Turn to Science
by Andy Borowitz
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—There is a deep-seated fear among some Americans that an Ebola outbreak could make the country turn to science.
In interviews conducted across the nation, leading anti-science activists expressed their concern that the American people, wracked with anxiety over the possible spread of the virus, might desperately look to science to save the day.
“It’s a very human reaction,” said Harland Dorrinson, a prominent anti-science activist from Springfield, Missouri. “If you put them under enough stress, perfectly rational people will panic and start believing in science.”
Additionally, he worries about a “slippery slope” situation, “in which a belief in science leads to a belief in math, which in turn fosters a dangerous dependence on facts.”
At the end of the day, though, Dorrinson hopes that such a doomsday scenario will not come to pass. “Time and time again through history, Americans have been exposed to science and refused to accept it,” he said. “I pray that this time will be no different.”
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/fear-ebola-outbreak-make-nation-turn-science
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Biden's son discharged from Navy after testing positive for cocaine
By Eric Bradner, CNN
updated 3:03 PM EDT, Fri October 17, 2014
Washington (CNN) -- The Navy Reserve discharged Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter this year after he tested positive for cocaine, U.S. officials confirmed.
The discharge of Biden, a 44-year-old lawyer and managing partner at an investment firm, was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. He confirmed the report in a statement to CNN.
"It was the honor of my life to serve in the U.S. Navy, and I deeply regret and am embarrassed that my actions led to my administrative discharge. I respect the Navy's decision. With the love and support of my family, I'm moving forward," he said.
Biden was commissioned as an ensign in May 2013 and assigned as a public affairs officer in a Norfolk, Virginia-based reserve unit. A month later, he tested positive for cocaine, and he was discharged in February, according to the report.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/politics/hunter-biden-discharged-from-navy/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 (http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/politics/hunter-biden-discharged-from-navy/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)
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Like one of the commenters says, it's getting really hard to tell the difference between real news and the Onion.
BREAKING: Man NOT WORRIED about Ebola!
Man not worried about Ebola after visiting same bridal shop as Amber Joy Vinson
AKRON, Ohio -- Peter Pattakos spent 20 minutes Saturday in an Akron bridal shop, getting fitted for a tux for his friend's wedding. Thursday, his friend sent a text message, telling him that Ebola patient Amber Joy Vinson had been in the store around the same time.
Vinson, the nurse who treated now-deceased Liberian national Thomas Duncan, the only person in the U.S. to have died from the disease, has tested positive for Ebola and is currently quarantined. She had spent the last weekend with her family in Tallmadge, Ohio, a suburb of Akron, planning her wedding, which is when she apparently stopped in to the Coming Attractions, Bridal and Formal store on East Tallmadge Avenue.
Summit County Health has asked anyone who happened to patronize the store to call the state health department so as to be screened for possible infection. Pattakos, a local Cleveland attorney, immediately complied, but, shockingly, says he isn't at all worried:
"I didn't exchange any bodily fluids with anyone, so I'm not worried about it," he said. "I'm much more likely to be mistakenly killed by a police officer in this country than to be killed by Ebola, even if you were in the same bridal shop."
(...)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/17/1337271/-BREAKING-Man-NOT-WORRIED-About-Ebola?detail=email
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Lynda was in too much pain... I wasn't able to look after her': Heartbroken husband of Lynda Bellingham, 66, reveals her final battle against cancer before she died in his arms
Star had been battling cancer but was planning to end her chemotherapy
She didn't want her family to see her go through the gruelling treatment
Her agent told today how she died peacefully with husband Michael
Grieving husband says he wants people to remember her as an actress
Son Michael Peluso thanks well-wishers for their 'love and compassion'
Mother-of-two had been hoping to spend one last Christmas with family
Actress best known for role as mother in long-running Oxo adverts
She was also a presenter of ITV's Loose Women daytime chat show
The 66-year-old recently returned to the show to film one last programme
When presenter was moved to tears, she said: 'Don't cry. It will be fine'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2799796/actress-lynda-bellingham-dies-husband-s-arms-bowel-cancer.html#ixzz3GihbPNwm
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
:'(
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Never heard of her.^^^^
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me neither....and again, perfect for HT, not "Mourning someone" or FF....well, there's not much going on in the world these days...
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Not exactly a hot topic, but a lot of people might remember this lady, one of the most successful alumnae of Atlanta's Wits End Players.
Jan Hooks, Best Known For Her Roles On SNL, Dies At Age 57
Jan Hooks, best known for her performances on Saturday Night Live, died on Thursday.
Hooks was 57.
The Chicago Sun Times reports that Hooks joined SNL in 1986 and stayed until 1991. She played key characters like Hillary Clinton and Sinead O'Connor.
The paper reports:
The Hollywood Reporter adds that in 1998 she was nominated for an Emmy for her role in 3rd Rock.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/09/354961003/jan-hooks-best-known-for-her-roles-on-snl-dies-at-age-57
(includes a video clip, "The Sinatra Group")
If deaths are not to be reported in here, then someone should have said something.....news to me!
And here a poor woman dies and people can't just say something nice like.............so sorry to hear that!! >:D
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me neither....and again, perfect for HT, not "Mourning someone" or FF....well, there's not much going on in the world these days...
Well, she was certainly well known and much loved, and is much mourned in the UK,
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If deaths are not to be reported in here, then someone should have said something.....news to me!
And here a poor woman dies and people can't just say something nice like.............so sorry to hear that!! >:D
I can certainly say something nice about her. She was a wonderful inspirational person and a very brave lady. She spoke out candidly about her cancer and never once let self pity rule her life or her final days. She'll be much missed and I can't express how much I admired her cheerfulness and courage.
Janie
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So sad about Lynda Bellingham . A brave and lovely lady. I could write chapter and verse about her......but apparently ....I'm not supposed to.
Shame that our few words about her here have been marred by pettiness.
Will the death of a First Lady be allowed to be reported here ??
Bet she...who ever it may be...... will never give or gave as much pleasure to people as what Lynda did.
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Awww I am so glad to hear she had some fans on the board!
After being inundated with messages of support, her son Michael Peluso later tweeted: 'Thank you everyone! Your love and compassion is overwhelming', followed by a picture of a broken heart.
He later wrote: 'In honour of mum! She always said...Tomo son is another day, onwards & upwards and don't let the buggers get u down Xxx'
Couldn't put it any better than that! ;)
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Some local news stories that cause some wondering if local police are going into the NSA's whacky stuff.
* A report a month ago that there were several cell towers (which are expensive), locally, that don't relay your phone calls, the question being then, what do they do ? No answers.
* Tonight, local news reporting on something called "Hampton Roads Telephone Analysis Sharing Network". Under this program, local cities are collecting and sharing "pen registers", which were defined as phone numbers called, how often, how long, without listening in.
Well, we snoozed through the feds tracking every call, but now, local snooping? Police agencies are saying it's legal. The ACLU says no.
It just seems to me to be incremental over-use of technology, and to what end? Also, where's the money for this coming from, and who reviews for abuse :P ?
Years ago, some local police abused their authority, and got into neighborhood feuds, in return for sexual favors from their girlfriends. This gets even creepier, as far as possibilities.
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You know, the thought just popped into my head as I read Tony's post, If individuals are being driven by technology--doing things just because they can, rather than because they need to--why not government institutions? It suddenly doesn't surprise me at all that governments local and otherwise would abuse their power in ways involving technology just because they now have the technological ability to do it.
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Surprisingly, Jeff, I hadn't gotten that point in my thinking, clear, until reading your post.
If people do stuff just because they can, it's there for institutions as well, because they are staffed with....people :P.
Well, at least some of the federal spooks are seeing the same, and are arguing the point they are awash in too much information. That leaves the issue of abuse unsettled, but it's a possible start.
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Surprisingly, Jeff, I hadn't gotten that point in my thinking, clear, until reading your post.
If people do stuff just because they can, it's there for institutions as well, because they are staffed with....people :P.
Well, at least some of the federal spooks are seeing the same, and are arguing the point they are awash in too much information. That leaves the issue of abuse unsettled, but it's a possible start.
And I didn't take my own thinking to that next, logical, point until I read your follow-up. :P Thanks, Tony. I think you're absolutely right.
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So sad about Lynda Bellingham . A brave and lovely lady. I could write chapter and verse about her......but apparently ....I'm not supposed to.
Shame that our few words about her here have been marred by pettiness.
Will the death of a First Lady be allowed to be reported here ??
Bet she...who ever it may be...... will never give or gave as much pleasure to people as what Lynda did.
I don't think the moderators have made any comments regarding us posting what was front page news here.
We are not here to censor each other.
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I can certainly say something nice about her. She was a wonderful inspirational person and a very brave lady. She spoke out candidly about her cancer and never once let self pity rule her life or her final days. She'll be much missed and I can't express how much I admired her cheerfulness and courage.
Janie
Lynda Bellingham was well-known, not just in the UK. I well remember her from the charming television series 'All Creatures Great & Small', from the 80s. She was lovely. So sad to hear this news.
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I don't think the moderators have made any comments regarding us posting what was front page news here.
We are not here to censor each other.
Well, as the lady herself apparently said (see Bubba's post, above), "Don't let the buggers get you down."
She wasn't known on this side of the pond, but I gather she was what we would call one of the hosts of a daily talk show? Was she very public about her illness?
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Yes. She faced death very bravely and with a smile. Quite inspirational.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29724907 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29724907)
Gunshots in the Canadian parliament.
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We have been watching this on Sky News, stay safe all of you in Canada.
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We have been watching this on Sky News, stay safe all of you in Canada.
Just terrible, I have a sister in law that lives and works in Ottawa, she was about 1 km from where it happened, their building was on lock down.
The whole thing is just so incredibly sad. :'(
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Just terrible, I have a sister in law that lives and works in Ottawa, she was about 1 km from where it happened, their building was on lock down.
The whole thing is just so incredibly sad. :'(
My niece's building was on lockdown as well and it isn't even close to downtown. Welcome to the new hysterical reality.
It's awful about the young reservist who was murdered, he wasn't even armed. He was essentially a tourist attraction "guarding" a war monument.
It's the second military to be murdered in three days by alleged radicalized (French Canadian) islamist converts. Is it terrorism if these guys turn out to not have had any links to radical islamist groups or were they just mentally ill?
In any event, I'm sure our Dear Leader Stephen Harper, who has fascist tendencies, walked around all day with an erection.
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It sounds as little to me like radical Islamist ideas together with mental health problems. People like that are so easily influenced and corrupted.
It is absolutely terrible.
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Canadian reservist's beloved dogs wait for him to return home a day after he was shot dead
Corporal Nathan Cirillo was gunned down as he stood guard at Canada's National War Memorial on Parliament Hill
The Hamilton, Ontario native was rushed to the hospital but later died
Cirillo, a fitness fanatic and animal lover, served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and worked as a personal trainer and bouncer
His mother, who is traveling to Ottawa, is 'completely broken', relatives said
Another constable Samearn Son was shot in the leg but is expected to make a full recovery
Cirillo's killer, Muslim convert Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, was shot dead after opening fire while wearing a scarf at Parliament Hill on Wednesday
Bibeau is the son of Susan Bibeau a high-ranking official on the Immigration and Refuge Board of Canada
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2804280/Pictured-final-moments-Canadian-reservist-soldier-father-Nathan-Cirillo-24-photographed-SECONDS-shot-dead-Michael-Zehaf-Bibeau.html#ixzz3H1VMLsq2
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Russell Brand weighs in on the "Ottawa Shooting". It's a bit long but well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALEaAAU3KAE&feature=youtu.be
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Canadian reservist's beloved dogs wait for him to return home a day after he was shot dead
I saw film of the dogs on TV news. Poor things looked so sad. :(
Can't say where or why or how, but I've heard of Cirillo's regiment.
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In the pictures in the link their little faces say it all. :'(
Looks like Rosie O'Donnell is in hot water, over some comments on The View (in regards to the shooting).
On Wednesday, Teigen tweeted: "active shooting in Canada, or as we call it in america, wednesday."
She agreed with this comment and that's where the trouble started.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Rosie+ODonnell+makes+controversial+remarks+Ottawa+shooting/10318310/story.html#ixzz3H4uF7dAE
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It's to be expected. Just as gun fanatics like to paint anyone that abuses them
as "fanatics" -- not "one of us law-abiding gun owners" -- they try to portray anyone
that speaks out about it as not in the majority and over-reacting and a nut as well.
Rosie can't even "agree" with someone without her views being shot down.
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It's to be expected. Just as gun fanatics like to paint anyone that abuses them
as "fanatics" -- not "one of us law-abiding gun owners" -- they try to portray anyone
that speaks out about it as not in the majority and over-reacting and a nut as well.
Rosie can't even "agree" with someone without her views being shot down.
Agreed!
And the girl who did the original tweet/comment, has quit twitter over "multiple" death threats!
I am telling you people are nuts!
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I am telling you people are nuts!
Increasingly it would seem, by the day.
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Russell Brand weighs in on the "Ottawa Shooting". It's a bit long but well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALEaAAU3KAE&feature=youtu.be
Russell Brand sparks backlash after admitting he is open minded about conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 terror attacks and asks 'Do you trust the American Government?'
Comedian was asked about 9/11 because he said it was 'controlled' in book
He told BBC Newsnight: 'We have to remain open-minded to any kind of possibility. Do you trust the American government?'
He added: 'I do think is very interesting is the relationship that the Bush family have had for a long time with the bin Laden family'
Accused BBC of building 'anti-Islamic narrative' over Ottawa terror attack
Victim's relative says it shocks her that 'he would be that stupid'
Star was sacked by MTV after he dressed as bin Laden on day after 9/11
Critics branded him a 'ranting idiot' and told him to 'stick to comedy'
Viewers make complaints to BBC over his 9/11 conspiracy rant
Corporation defends his appearance and says: Love him or loathe him he voices anti politics mood’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2806376/Russell-Brand-open-minded-conspiracy-theories-surrounding-9-11-terror-attacks-asks-trust-American-Government.html#ixzz3H605Vsyf
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
::)
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And yet another school shooting!
(CNN) -- The shooter who opened fire Friday morning at Washington state's Marysville-Pilchuck High School played football and was recently named to the homecoming court.
Freshman Jaylen Fryberg was in the school's cafeteria, went up to a table with students, "came up from behind ... and fired about six bullets into the backs of them," witness Jordan Luton told CNN. "They were his friends, so it wasn't just random," Luton said.
The attacker shot five people, killing one, authorities said. A federal law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators "are confident that there is only one single shooter," Marysville police spokesman Robb Lamoureux told reporters.
Three people were in surgery at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, and one person was being transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Providence spokeswoman Erin Al-Wazan said.
Three are "very critically ill" with "very serious" injuries, she said. One is in serious condition.
Investigators are tracing a Beretta .40-caliber handgun, the weapon believed used in the attack, a federal law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
Authorities first learned about the shooting after getting a 911 phone call around 10:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) from someone inside the school, which is north of Seattle and Everett, Lamoureux said.
It was an early lunch break at the school of about 2,500 students that sits in the heart of Marysville, a small city bisected by the major thoroughfare connecting the region with Vancouver, British Columbia.
Once dubbed "Strawberry City'' because of its berry farms, today Marysville is better known as the home of the Native American Tulalip Resort Casino....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/24/us/washington-school-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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And yet another school shooting!
Or, as we call it, Friday.
(I think Russell Brand was involved.)
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Or, as we call it, Friday.
Jesus, Lyle, just when I think you're............
don't quit your day job
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Or, as we call it, Friday.
(I think Russell Brand was involved.)
Good thing you can joke about it I guess, we aren't as desensitized to it yet, so I cried real tears, oh well..
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Russell Brand sparks backlash after admitting he is open minded about conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 terror attacks and asks 'Do you trust the American Government?'
Comedian was asked about 9/11 because he said it was 'controlled' in book
He told BBC Newsnight: 'We have to remain open-minded to any kind of possibility. Do you trust the American government?'
He added: 'I do think is very interesting is the relationship that the Bush family have had for a long time with the bin Laden family'
Accused BBC of building 'anti-Islamic narrative' over Ottawa terror attack
Victim's relative says it shocks her that 'he would be that stupid'
Star was sacked by MTV after he dressed as bin Laden on day after 9/11
Critics branded him a 'ranting idiot' and told him to 'stick to comedy'
Viewers make complaints to BBC over his 9/11 conspiracy rant
Corporation defends his appearance and says: Love him or loathe him he voices anti politics mood’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2806376/Russell-Brand-open-minded-conspiracy-theories-surrounding-9-11-terror-attacks-asks-trust-American-Government.html#ixzz3H605Vsyf
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
::)
Maybe you have said what think of what he had to say on the the video I posted, instead of dredging up something from 2001. ::)
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Maybe you have said what think of what he had to say on the the video I posted, instead of dredging up something from 2001. ::)
Mmmm this interview is current and he even speaks about the incident in Ottawa, so not sure what you are referring to? ???
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Have done a couple of posts on Ebola, without anything provocative; just remarking on some inconsistencies. More and more, have seen regular mocking or teasing, about alarmist and chicken-littles. I get their point of view, but am still on my own track.
And, after weeks, that track leads to what I call Patient X. Who may or may not show up.
Patient X would be the development of all previous mistakes, including:
* The continued party line that bodily fluid contact is necessary. Which is true, but we are hearing concessions, that sweat can transmit, and can contaminate a surface for up to a day.
* The virus is not air-borne. Not to worry. Except....it IS air-borne if a symptomatic patient coughs, releasing thousands of particles.
And so we should look at these middle-class medical people, returning from the hot zones. No symptoms. And we see the doctor in NYC about as peripatetic as anybody could ever be. He went around everywhere. And continued, as the early symptoms began to show up.
We will be very lucky if he, or some other risky behavior person, (the next one), infects just ONE person by sweat, say, on a subway pole support. That person would be....Patient X.
Someone who doesn't know the flu from Ebola, never went to West Africa, and, as symptoms appear, continues with their family and friends, and co-workers, exponentially expanding the contact base.
Patient X is likely to be low-income, slow to get medical help with the early symptoms, and therefore the one that overloads and breaches the defense lines.
The CDC continues to be over-confident, and behind the curve. This does not mean we will have an epidemic. It means the risk of a Patient X is higher than it should be.
CDC is doing poorly with word-definitions. They are absolutely clueless as to the variations of social behavior and personality traits. The fact the doctor in NYC went freaking everywhere, and using subways, just tells them...nothing, about the behavioral variations that are a critical component of threat.
The chances of a Patient X are, right now, unknowable. What is known is....they don't get it. Ebola is now going to be around, sporadically, for years. This outbreak will not die down in the hot zones to zero, as always happened before. Patient X is a possibility, now, even if all U.S. cases drop to zero. Because CDC will not get ahead of the curve.
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This was part of a larger US ceremony. I think it's something to be glad about - certainly from the point of view of military casualties.
UK ends Afghan combat operations
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29776544 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29776544)
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this is a ridiculous statement, to say that "the bulk" of al qaeda is gone from afghanistan...they've just transitioned to another group and moved camp...the US thinks the same.....idiots, both....maybe the next terrorist group that overruns the Afghan "security forces" will capture UK as well as US military arsenal to use against us...
And to say it is "worth it" is an insult to the families who lost soldiers in this fight...US, UK, all of us, came away with nothing to show for the lives lost...
Rear Adm Chris Parry, who helped plan the role of UK troops in Afghanistan, told the BBC that Britain's involvement had been "worth it", saying the country was now "more stable", was improving economically and had 40% more children going to school.
"We've got rid of al-Qaeda and the bulk of the Taliban from the country," he said.
The Afghan security forces are a lot better than most people give them credit for, and most of the people I talk to say that they are well capable of actually holding down most of the major cities and centres of population."
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29776544 (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29776544)
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Good thing you can joke about it I guess, we aren't as desensitized to it yet, so I cried real tears, oh well..
Just a couple days ago you posted this:
Looks like Rosie O'Donnell is in hot water, over some comments on The View (in regards to the shooting).
On Wednesday, Teigen tweeted: "active shooting in Canada, or as we call it in america, wednesday."
She agreed with this comment and that's where the trouble started.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Rosie+ODonnell+makes+controversial+remarks+Ottawa+shooting/10318310/story.html#ixzz3H4uF7dAE
My comment was tieing in to this; just a couple days later and there's more gun violence; a school shooting.
Unfortunately it's becoming routine news along with car accidents and was highlighting that notion with my
comment. I referenced Russell Brand because I cannot abide that guy and could really care less what he has
to say about anything. When one goes to comedians for news analysis, I'll stick to Bill Maher or John Stewart.
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Mmmm this interview is current and he even speaks about the incident in Ottawa, so not sure what you are referring to? ???
Sorry, I guess I mis-read. I assumed you posted those 9/11 quotes and the ::) to show that his opinions are not worth listening to. I think he's pretty much bang-on as far as the Otawa shooting is concerned.
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Well there is two differing opinions on Russel one right after the other.
I don't know what to make of the guy to tell you the truth, of late he seems to be more of an activist. But the fact that he is an actor, doesn't make me discount his opinions. I think he is a complicated guy, and he seems to have a lot to say, so why not listen as we would listen to anyone.
People think Rosie is a big mouth, I don't, I have actually always valued her opinions, but she "explains herself" and that always helps!
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I must say that I'm cooling off on Russel Brand. His latest rant is about the Renee Zellweger thing and he actually says that she doesn't look much different and chastises the media for saying that she does. ::)
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http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/26/cbc_fires_jian_ghomeshi_over_sex_allegations.html
A Canadian sex scandal! Not sure what to think, I like his show...
Remember him, he interviewed Jake.
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http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/26/cbc_fires_jian_ghomeshi_over_sex_allegations.html
A Canadian sex scandal! Not sure what to think, I like his show...
Remember him, he interviewed Jake.
He was a good interviewer and I loved his show but if these allegations are true he sounds like a real dick and the CBC was right to fire him.
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He was a good interviewer and I loved his show but if these allegations are true he sounds like a real dick and the CBC was right to fire him.
Hmmm....the suspiciously wide leather wrist band might have been a clue as to his preferences, I would think :P ....
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I mean his sexual preferences have nothing to do with his job, or employer!
And police say no one has filed any complaints against him that they are aware of. I kind of smell a rat (a woman scorned) but surely CBC isn't that stupid.
If they are, it is going to cost them!
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Bubba, I do agree his sex preferences have nothing to do with his job. And it is suspicious no charges have been filed. He seems to admit to kinks, but for all we know, the women felt they were his one and only. Looks messy, to me.
Meanwhile, I have to say this : I miss a certain poster on this thread very much, despite regular disagreements. Am always the last one to know what's going on around here. And I know it can get over-the-line. But, subject to the rules, I've always liked to see other points of view. It's always a mystery to me how things go frazzled :-\.
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Can't get any national news, because a rocket from across the Bay, at Wallops Island has exploded and crashed after launch. No reports of casualties, but NASA has taken a hit.
I don't recall this happening before, locally :P
Edited to note : the local stations were saying we should go outside to watch the arc. Yeah, right. If they had not aborted, there would have been clutter all over Norfolk.
Also, the Orwellian slang continues. They're calling it "a vehicle anomaly". That ranks with the new fashion of saying someone is "pronounced', instead of pronounced dead.
Meanwhile, a lot of hopping around because the rocket had secret stuff on it ::).
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I must say that I'm cooling of on Russel Brand. His latest rant is about the Renee Zellweger thing and he actually says that she doesn't look much different and chastises the media for saying that she does. ::)
I've been fed up with Russel Brand for a long time............................
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I've been fed up with Russel Brand for a long time............................
EEEEVERYONE has been fed up with Russel Brand here......for the longest time !!!!!! >:(
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Also, the Orwellian slang continues. They're calling it "a vehicle anomaly". That ranks with the new fashion of saying someone is "pronounced', instead of pronounced dead.
More like bureaucratese: staccato, rattled-off speech appeals to that kind of mentality.
I once interviewed the manager of a family planning clinic and she kept talking about women coming in "who are five months or more denying". Finally asked her what that meant and she answered that it meant 'not admitting she was pregnant.' But then again the bureaucratic creed ("let no useful work be done!") is endemic to the world Orwell was thinking of.
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http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/man-attacks-15-year-old-poppy-seller/ar-BBcwBWt
Words fail me >:(
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....More like bureaucratese: staccato, rattled-off speech appeals to that kind of mentality.
.....But then again the bureaucratic creed ("let no useful work be done!") is endemic to the world Orwell was thinking of.
And it begins with mangled words :">
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The line between lingo and mangled words is a thin one, that's a fact.
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What did y'all think of the elction returns in your neck of the woods?
Watching the election returns last night was scarier than Halloween.
Especially when states like MD and MA elect Republican Governors!
And Iowa sends Jodi Ernst to the Senate. I was hoping at least one
insane Republican would be upset, like Scott Walker or Mitch McConnell.
At least there was a happier ending to the evening's insanity and it didn't
reach California. All EIGHT Statewide Offices went to the Democrats. Jerry
Brown won his 4th term as Governor. No one else has accomplished that
before.
Now if we just had some rain, too.
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Here in Pennsylvania the incumbent Republican Governor Tom Corbett got his head handed to him on a plate. ;D
NBC reported enormous percentages of respondents, both Republican and Democrat, as being dissatisfied with Congress. The numbers were in the 70s percentages. I thought that was interesting.
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Nationally, despite what appeared to be a resounding victory for Republicans, it mostly seemed to be that people were in an ornery mood. Which may partly explain the incredibly thin margin for Mark Warner (D. Va.).
And, people usually get tired of any President after 6 years, so, a lot of anti-Obama sentiment.
Even so, there is a moderate window for better. Most of the new Republicans are moderates, so, GOP leadership can now cut deals without fear of the Tea party.
And, it does seem like we've been in an new era, where the demographics give the Senate and White House to Dems, for the next decade, but, in mid-terms, low turn-out brings in minority obstructionists.
It's a wait and see :P.
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My condolences to the Americans on this site. :-\
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My condolences to the Americans on this site. :-\
thanks!
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Amen.
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Cosmic 1st: European spacecraft lands on comet
DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) — The European Space Agency celebrated a cosmic touchdown Wednesday by successfully landing a spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history.
The agency said it has received a signal at 1603 GMT (11:03 a.m. EST) from the 100-kilogram (220-pound) Philae lander after it touched down on the icy surface of the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
"We definitely confirm that the lander is on the surface," said flight director Andrea Accomazzo.
http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-set-historic-comet-landing-attempt-072512433.html
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Amazing - a 10 year, 6 billion km journey!
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Everyone is very excited about it. The problem is that they are not sure how long the probe will be able to stay attached to the comet. They are hoping for a year, but it could be much less time. They do consider it a success just by being able to land on it.
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Fantastic!
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The information they are hoping to get from it, Fritz, is to give us some insight in to how to prepare against a comet collision with the earth.
Oh and I heard or read the other day that in 5 billion years the sun will begin to die.
As the Sun grows old, it will expand. As the core runs out of hydrogen and then helium, the core will contract and the outer layers will expand, cool, and become less bright. It will become a red giant star. It will encompass the inner plants, including the earth.
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Yep. It's always good to be prepared.
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Yep. It's always good to be prepared.
There's not much that can be done in 5 billion years though, when the sun goes out!!
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I hate to think of what some of us will look like by that time. :D
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That's not much time to pack to go colonize another planet. :D
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Might be the scariest picture ever! >:D
Mass murderer Charles Manson has gotten a license to marry a 26-year-old woman who visits him in prison.
The marriage license, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, was issued Nov. 7 for the 80-year-old Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, who left her Midwestern home nine years ago and moved to Corcoran, California – the site of the prison – to be near Manson. She maintains several websites advocating for Manson's innocence.
The license does not specify a wedding date and indicates the couple has 90 days to get married or they will have to reapply.
Burton, who goes by the name "Star," told the AP that she and Manson will be married next month.
"Y'all can know that it's true," she said. "It's going to happen."........
http://www.people.com/article/charles-manson-gets-marriage-license-prison
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I heard about this over the weekend, I can't believe anyone would want to marry him.
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I heard about this over the weekend, I can't believe anyone would want to marry him.
It would be strange enough at the best of times, 26 and 80?
Ad in the fact that he is Charles Manson and you gotta figure the girl is not all there. And look at him, trying to look like a tough guy!
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In talking to others about marriage equality in the past I'd always bring up things like this.
So, it's all right for him to get married, but you don't think I should be able to?
The voting rights of prisoners can be taken away, but not marriage?
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This is a true abomination!!
Wonder who her Parents are??
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It would be strange enough at the best of times, 26 and 80?
Ad in the fact that he is Charles Manson and you gotta figure the girl is not all there. And look at him, trying to look like a tough guy!
I heard on the radio on the way home from work that she's been communicating with him for the past 10 years, and is trying to get him exonerated.
:o
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Fat chance.
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Yes, from that same article:
Burton said she was interested in working on his case and helping him obtain possible release. Marrying him would allow her to get information not available to non-relatives, she said without elaborating.
"There's certain things next of kin can do," she said.
She said she believes Manson is innocent and will get a new trial.
And the article is saying moved 9 years ago to be near him, so when she was 17?
Another Manson follower, all these years later... must be a good stroke to his ego.
But he is never getting out, that we know for sure!
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We will settle the score in this battle for Jerusalem: Israeli PM's chilling vow as thousands gather in grief after Palestinian fanatics massacre five people in synagogue axe horror
Two Palestinians stormed a Jerusalem synagogue, attacking worshippers with knives, axes and guns
Eight people were wounded in the attack which took place in the ultra-Orthodox Har Nof neighbourhood
The attackers, Uday and Rassan Abu Jamal aged 22 and 27 were both killed by Israeli police yesterday afternoon
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will 'respond harshly' to the attack and said he would demolish the attacker's homes
Hamas leader Mushir al-Masri described the slaughter as a 'heroic act' leading to condemnation across Israel
US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned attack on 'innocent people who had come to worship'
A fifth man, believed to be an Israeli police officer, has also died following yesterday's terrorist attack
More than ten people were arrested after a several hundred Jewish youths held a demonstration in Jerusalem
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2838891/This-cruel-murder-Jews-came-pray-Thousands-gather-grief-four-rabbis-massacred-fanatics-Jerusalem-synagogue-axe-attack-laid-rest.html#ixzz3JXBI9ZkO
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
:'( :'( :'(
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-29936619
The 40th Anniversary of the IRA Birmingham bombings. |(My home town)
First.....they jailed the wrong men. Then released them.
Second.....they have never found the ones who did do it.Gave up looking. Case closed.
Third...... a good chance of the IRA members who did do it.......all IRA members were in receipt of a pardon letter from
the British Government.
:-\
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I flew home from London in early November of that year. I had been in Europe since July, my first overseas trip. I remember many of the bag searches etc due to IRA fears. It was new to me then but of course , commonplace today.
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First thing I thought when I saw that photo was that she looks amazingly like his original followers; hairstyle, facial expression and all.
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Asking Bill Cosby If He Is A Serial Rapist
November 20, 2014 6:07 PM ET
Did host Scott Simon unfairly—and sordidly—ambush Bill Cosby by raising rape charges in a Weekend Edition interview that was otherwise about art?
The 77-year old comedian and wife Camille—she was present—were being interviewed on air Saturday about the many pieces of art that they are lending to the Smithsonian Museum when Simon, at the end, changed the subject:
SCOTT SIMON: This question gives me no pleasure Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.
BILL COSBY: [SILENCE, 2 SECONDS]
SIMON: You're shaking your head no. I'm in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?
COSBY: [SILENCE, 2 SECONDS]
SIMON: Shaking your head no. There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance.
COSBY: [SILENCE, 5 SECONDS]
SIMON: All right. Camille and Bill Cosby — they have lent 62 pieces from their collection of African and African-American artists to create an exhibit called 'Conversations: African and African-American Artworks In Dialogue.' It's now on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art through early 2016. Thank you both for joining us.
CAMILLE COSBY: Thank you. Thank you.
The number of responses by listeners has been overwhelming, but, curiously, they differ by medium. This suggests a generational divide, both in the appreciation of Cosby, once known as "America's Dad," and over how journalists should interview subjects and treat sexual abuse.
Emailers, who presumably trend older, were mostly critical of Simon.
Allegations of sexual abuse by Cosby have lingered for years, but never got much traction. No criminal charges were ever brought, and a 2005 civil suit was settled out of court. But as Cosby has been making a comeback in recent months through a new biography and planned television shows, the allegations resurfaced too.
Six accusers have now publicly come forward, most claiming that Crosby drugged them first. Over a dozen unnamed alleged victims were listed in the settled suit. The incidents were said to have occurred between the 1960s and 2004. Spokesmen for Cosby have denied the claims, saying the incidents were either misunderstandings or didn't happen.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2014/11/20/365278923/asking-bill-cosby-if-he-is-a-serial-rapist (http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2014/11/20/365278923/asking-bill-cosby-if-he-is-a-serial-rapist)
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Bill Cosby has recently received standing ovations at his last two performances in the Bahamas and Florida amid new rape allegations that span decades. Now, the comedian-actor appears to be receiving support from his Cosby Show producers Tom Werner and Marcy Carey.
"The Bill we know was a brilliant and wonderful collaborator on a show that changed the landscape of television," Cosby's former coworkers said in a joint statement on Thursday, Nov. 20, via Variety. "These recent news reports are beyond our knowledge or comprehension."
Earlier this week, Cosby's former costar Raven-Symone also reacted to the scandal, slamming "disgusting" rumors that he allegedly assaulted her while filming in the late '80s. "I was NOT [taken] advantage of by Mr. Cosby when I was on the Cosby Show!" the 28-year-old wrote via Instagram on Nov. 19. "I was practically a baby on that show and this is truly a disgusting rumor that I want no part of! Everyone on that show treated me with nothing but kindness. Now keep me out of this!"..
https://ca.celebrity.yahoo.com/news/cosby-show-producers-react-bill-cosby-rape-allegations-182000318-us-weekly.html
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First thing I thought when I saw that photo was that she looks amazingly like his original followers; hairstyle, facial expression and all.
She does, I thought the exact same thing!
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Bill Cosby has recently received standing ovations at his last two performances in the Bahamas and Florida amid new rape allegations that span decades. Now, the comedian-actor appears to be receiving support from his Cosby Show producers Tom Werner and Marcy Carey.
"The Bill we know was a brilliant and wonderful collaborator on a show that changed the landscape of television," Cosby's former coworkers said in a joint statement on Thursday, Nov. 20, via Variety. "These recent news reports are beyond our knowledge or comprehension."
Penn State and Joe Paterno made the same type of lame comments about jerry sandusky, until they couldn't...
money talks...
NBC said on Wednesday it has canceled an upcoming project with veteran comedian Bill Cosby, his second show to be pulled after accusations that he sexually assaulted women resurfaced in recent weeks.
Netflix Inc said it was postponing Cosby's stand-up comedy special "Bill Cosby 77," which was due to be released on Nov. 28.
Comcast Corp-owned NBC said in a statement that "the Cosby project is no longer in development," while declining to comment further.
A spokeswoman for Viacom Inc's basic cable channel TV Land said the show is being pulled from its schedule, without commenting further.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-bill-cosby-nbc-comedy-project-20141119-story.html# (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-bill-cosby-nbc-comedy-project-20141119-story.html#)
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and some people will actually attend this...
He is scheduled to go ahead with a performance on Friday at a sold-out show in Florida, the King Center for the Performing Arts said on its website on Wednesday.
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Three Bill Cosby stand-up performances canceled
Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas spiked his Nov. 28 show and will give ticket holder refunds. A casino rep said it was a "mutual agreement."
His appearance at Tuscon's Desert Diamond Casino has also been canceled. No reason was given by the casino for the canceled date, which had been scheduled for Feb. 15.
Finally, Cosby's April 11 performance in Champaign, Ill., has also been canceled. In that case, it was the theater's idea, not Cosby's.
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Asking Bill Cosby If He Is A Serial Rapist
Did host Scott Simon unfairly—and sordidly—ambush Bill Cosby by raising rape charges in a Weekend Edition interview that was otherwise about art?
Interesting post, what is your own opinion about this?
Reporters always ask questions like this of those involved with something topical in the news.
I don't see why it would be unfair to ask him about it when you have the subject right there
in front of you and it's on people's minds. That's what reporters do, no?
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Bill Cosby has recently received standing ovations at his last two performances in the Bahamas and Florida amid new rape allegations that span decades. Now, the comedian-actor appears to be receiving support from his Cosby Show producers Tom Werner and Marcy Carey.
The above means nothing about the truth of the allegations or not. Cynical as I might be about some
things, if I were those show producers, I'd not want my hit tv series reputation and money making ability
tarnished, either, nd try to put the best spin on things.
I, of course, have no idea about the veracity of these claims, but the more smoke there is I am
more ready to believe there's fire, too. Does it make sense that this many women would all just
come out and make up lies against such a huge icon of the entertainment business? The statute
of limitations on any lawsuits is over and they cannot make money off this in any way.
I will mention why I have never cottoned to Bill Cosby. One night back in 1982 Bill Cosby was the guest
host of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. As he sat at the desk he told us he was making a pitcher of
margaritas and he poured himself one. (I don't know if he was really drinking alcohol during the show
or not, but he was drinking whatever was in that pitcher. And he seemed to be acting a bit weird, even
for him, but...?) Eleven year old Aileen Quinn was his first guest. She was the star of the film "Annie"
soon to be in theaters that year. (Yikes, that makes her about 43 this year!) Anyway, when she
was out there Cosby's interview with her was, in my opinion, disgusting. He asked a lot of inappropriate
questions for an 11 year old, talking about if she had a boyfriend and worse and mentioning her "panties"
and the girl was obviously uncomfortable and didn't know how to respond to most of this. It was not amusing.
Even before this there was always just something undefinable I didn't care for about Bill Cosby, but
whatever the specifics of that long ago program, it turned me off to Bill Cosby ever after. I never
watched his tv series or anything else he did after that. (I do wonder on occasion if I were to see
that actual program again, what my opinion would be.) All of this current controversy just seems
to confirm in some way these feelings I've always had about him.
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I can't comment about him one way or the other, the only thing I know of him is from The Cosby show, which my kids were big big fans of.
My only question right now is what about his wife?? She is an educated women, wonder what she is thinking?
I see Kathie Lee is speaking out in his defense, not that that means anything! :D
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This can hardly be called "speaking out in his defense"...she's not that much of an airhead...well, she is, but maybe Hoda wouldn't let her...
"If we were at Harrah's in Las Vegas, Mr. Harrah always had a house for Bill and we'd settle into our hotel rooms and Bill would call me and my sister and my backup singer and say, 'Why don't you girls come over, we'll play some tennis,' " she recalled. "So we would play tennis when we weren't working, we would sit and have meals, every time we came offstage after opening for him he had made us cappuccinos – and yet, at the same time, you hear the rumors. I never saw it personally, so I can't say yay or nay."
Gifford spoke alongside her Today cohost Hoda Kotb, who turned to Gifford during the interview and asked: "You're not saying he's a terrific guy all around?"
"No, no, no," said Gifford in response. "Nobody is – nobody's perfect. You know, it's ugly. It's just ugly."
http://www.people.com/article/kathie-lee-gifford-bill-cosby-sexual-abuse-allegations (http://www.people.com/article/kathie-lee-gifford-bill-cosby-sexual-abuse-allegations)
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Interesting post, what is your own opinion about this?
Reporters always ask questions like this of those involved with something topical in the news.
I don't see why it would be unfair to ask him about it when you have the subject right there
in front of you and it's on people's minds. That's what reporters do, no?
cosby is not so naïve as to think that Simon wouldn't bring it up, even NPR can't duck a good juicy scandal...I don't think it was unfair at all. Of course, I think, especially in this day and age, that celebrities sell their privacy for $20M a picture...
I don't know much about Jennifer Lawrence, never saw her movies, but for some reason I LOVE her...but when her nude photos were hacked, I just thought she was dumb (and young/inexperienced) to send them to her boyfriend on "the cloud", whatever that is...you just can't do something like that and then act surprised when they get out...hackers spend their time trying to do that, it's what they do for a living...once it's out there, it's out there and out of your control...
anyway, re: Scott Simon being unfair, no - cosby and the allegations are fair game.
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I have no idea of the veracity of the accusations surrounding Bill Cosby, but we do know here in the UK of the absolute shock of finding that a much loved public figure may have a previously unknown dark side.
We have had so much of it here recently, but the one that shook us all to the core was the (previously) much loved Rolf Harris.
No one could believe it.
A close artist friend of my elder daughter's had posed for him as a life model for one of his more well known paintings, and she said he had been a "perfect gentleman."
My God! He even painted the Queen!
But he did have a dark side, and now he is in prison.
Life can be very strange, and a bit of a let down sometimes.
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A Complete List of the Women Who Have Accused Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/11/21/bill_cosby_accusers_list_sexual_assault_rape_drugs_feature_in_women_s_stories.html?wpsrc=fol_fb
Total so far: 18
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BREAKING: Michael Brown Grand Jury Declines To Indict Officer Darren Wilson
The grand jury investigating the August 9 shooting death of Ferguson, Missouri, unarmed teenager Michael Brown has returned a "no true bill" - clearing Officer Darren Wilson of any state charges.
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/uncucumbered/michael_brown_grand_jury_announces_decision
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(CNN) -- The sparks of outrage that started in Ferguson, Missouri, have ignited a firestorm of protests across the country and beyond.
But the furor isn't just about one grand jury's decision on one shooting case. To many protesters, the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown -- and the lack of an indictment for the officer who shot him -- are symbolic of racial injustice in America.
"I think that it's important for people to know that the decision not to indict (Officer) Darren Wilson means that the system does not value black lives," one protester marching through Los Angeles told CNN.
Complete coverage of what's happening in Ferguson
"I think that it means that a cop can kill a black or brown kid when he's defenseless and unarmed and not get charged. I think that it means that we either fight back and stand up and end police terrorism."
More than 170 protests sprouted up across the country Tuesday. Some crowds blocked bridges, tunnels and major highways. But unlike the violence that erupted in Ferguson on Monday night, most of the demonstrations were peaceful.
In New York, a protesters spanning an array of races and ages filled Times Square with their hands up, some chanting, "Don't shoot." In Washington, a crowd including prep school students lay silently on a sidewalk, as if dead. And in Boston, even jail inmates joined in the protest silently from a window.
Here's what the country looked like late Tuesday:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/national-ferguson-demonstrations/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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New protests in St. Louis, Mo.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, protests began late Sunday over the brutal killing of Zemir Begic, by black and Hispanic youths, with hammers. He died, fending off the blows also aimed at his girlfriend.
The small Bosnian community say they are regularly bullied and assaulted by minority youths.
We will never have justice until hate-crimes, or prejudice, against any human being are reported equally.
So far, no news of the Reverend Al Sharpton joining the peaceful protesters.
And, BTW, this is not atypical. In my old home neighborhood, two whites beaten to death by black gangs, who came from middle-class families. Never made the national news. One was a poor alcoholic, Shorty, beaten to death and tossed into a dumpster. The other, a young sailor, weighing all of 125 lbs., who left the neighborhood tavern and walked down the wrong street.
America's dirty little secret - hate crimes are not equally reported.
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St. Louis Rams Protest Ferguson Decision With 'Hands Up'
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Before trotting onto the field for their pregame introductions, five St. Louis Rams players stood with their hands raised in a show of compassion and solidarity for Ferguson protesters.
Cook said players have been too busy to go to Ferguson, plus "it's kind of dangerous down there and none of us want to get caught up in anything."
Way to stand by your convictions...shows exactly how "united" they really are...but they did get headlines, which was the object of their little game...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/30/rams-ferguson-hands-up_n_6245294.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/30/rams-ferguson-hands-up_n_6245294.html)
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Totally unrelated to any hot topic, but I think it's been brought up here before. DNA analysis again assisting historians:
It's Really Richard: DNA Confirms King's Remains
Battled-scarred bones found under an English parking lot two years ago really do belong to the medieval King Richard III, according to a new analysis of genetic and genealogical evidence.
"The evidence is overwhelming that these are indeed the remains of Richard III," University of Leicester geneticist Turi King said during a press conference.
Just how overwhelming? King and colleagues put pretty astounding odds on their claim: Taken together, the genetic, genealogical and archaeological evidence show that there's a 6.7 million to 1 (or 99.99 percent) chance that the 500-year-old skeleton is the king's.
http://news.yahoo.com/really-richard-dna-confirms-kings-remains-163712761.html
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I agree Tony!
(CNN) -- Authorities are investigating whether Michael Brown's stepfather intended to incite a riot last week when he urged a crowd in Ferguson, Missouri, to "Burn this bitch down" after the grand jury's decision was announced, the city's police chief said Tuesday.
No charges have been filed against Louis Head in the incident, but police have interviewed people who know Head and who were with him November 24, the day a prosecutor announced that Officer Darren Wilson (who has since resigned) would not be indicted in the August 9 shooting of Michael Brown, Police Chief Tom Jackson said.
Shortly after St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch's announcement, Head stood above a crowd of demonstrators -- some of them shouting "F--- the police!" -- and yelled, "Burn this motherf---er down!" and "Burn this bitch down!"
:">
Ferguson, already tense from weeks of awaiting the grand jury's decision, erupted following McCulloch's news conference.
Obama, Holder talk Ferguson
A row of businesses on West Florissant Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the St. Louis suburb, was engulfed in flames. Police cars and vehicles at a nearby dealership were turned into fireballs. There were so many blazes that firefighters couldn't reach all of them.
Police have not spoken to Head about his actions, but they intend to do so, Jackson said, adding that multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the investigation.
The police chief told TV and radio host Sean Hannity something similar Monday, but he didn't classify the probe as formal.
"We are pursuing those comments, and there's a lot of discussion going on about that right now, but I really can't get into that at this time," he said....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/02/justice/ferguson-protests-investigation/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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I know that there will be those who just think that the police officer is "lying,"
but there is enough corroborating testimony that what the officer said in his
interview with George S. on ABC is accurate to one degree or another.
When George asked him if there was anything he could have done differently
without shooting his gun, his answer wasn't the whole story. I was wondering
if the target of his gun might have done anything differently?
I have watched enough COPS the last thirty years to know that if the police
give directions to or ask questions of anyone that the instant you resist,
things will get worse for you if you don't comply.
Nothing else (your own perception if you did anything or not, or if you think you're
right or wrong or any personal feelings you may have) is relevant in that moment.
Some of what I believe happens in instances like this is that there is a notion
among blacks that they're unfairly targeted by the police (true or not in each
instance is not relevant), so they have less inclination to do or want to do what
the police say, which leads to escalation and things become worse immediately.
No, it's not as simplistic as I may have written, but the cycle is self-perpetuating.
Nor is the news surrounding this whole episode which is often just portrayed as
"White officer shoots unarmed black teenager."
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.....I agree Tony!
Thanks, Bubba :). I was, of course, limiting that post, severely, to the issue of the imbalance in reporting of hate crimes, and really left the Ferguson wildness out of it.
But, since the President said we should have dialogue, will do a brief post on Ferguson.
It looks to me like the opposite of the Trayvon Martin case, yet one that taps into the same pool of knee-jerk reaction.
I have tried to keep an open mind on both cases, and am open to new evidence in both, but, I am, for now, satisfied with the fundamentals:
* Trayvon Martin was going about his lawful business and was stalked by a self-appointed vigilante. IMO, it was 2nd degree murder.
* Michael Brown, on the other hand, was engaged not only in larceny, but in bullying the little store clerk (which may constitute assault, in some states). Officer Wilson was aiding a baby with respiratory problems, and, done there, responded to the nearby call. The evidence shows Brown had entered his hands into the police car, and the gun went off in the struggle. The officer suffered minor bruises, later mocked by the analysts, but, an assault is an assault.
The remaining question was whether, in pursuit, Brown gave up and held his hands up. Witnesses claiming that...changed their story. Remaining witnesses testified Brown did not assume an arrest posture, but lunged forward.
For me, it's still possible there is more evidence yet to come out.
But for now, the question in each case, IMO, rests on who was the aggressor/bully. Under that formula, Martin was murdered; Brown was a direct and immediate threat, and the officer's response lawful.
And, in both cases, those trying to enforce a lie, are damaging us all. There are many entangled issues, other than the central ones. But I don't think we can get those solved, by going along with whatever the party line is, right wing or left.
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I agree with you 100% Lyle. If a policeman tells me, "freeze, put your hands in there air, face on the ground, whatever" I am going to do it! But then maybe we can't relate.
What put me off about this guy is seeing the way he pushed that poor store clerk after robbing him. If he could do that, you know he is not someone who is anyway respectful of the law.
I mean who knows what happened. But I was surprised to read his Step Fathers reaction to the verdict, not at all the way he came off in interviews.
oops didn't see you there Tony, and again gotta say I agree!
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This is undoubtedly not news for the rest of you, but in Los Angeles it
has rained (I almost forgot how to spell it!) to one degree or another
for three days in a row! I can't remember the last time it rained two days
in a row or rained much at all...heh...so this is news!
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Of course, it's been so dry this means:
Rainstorm Lashes Southern California: Power Out, Mudslides, Streets Flooded
Storm Drains Clogged with Debris, 9 Miles of Pacific Coast Highway Shut Down,
BikeTrails Washed Away, Dozens of Highway Accidents, Flood Channels Closed
December 2, 2014
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-storm-season-mudslides-socal-20141202-story.html
Forecasters on Tuesday were predicting up to 6 inches of rain over two days.
To give you an idea of what that means, our entire rainfall for last year, 2013, the
lowest ever recorded since records began in 1877, was: 3.60 inches (a normal
year has been about 14.56) and this year hasn't been any better...until this weekend!
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I had to blow the dust off my umbrella.
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Congratulations, Lyle. I know how bad it has been!! I am glad!
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I hope some of that water goes into reservoirs. As climate change continues, we should take a cue from the ancient Romans, and build an aqueduct system, but this time, funneling water to new reservoirs. Less expensive than crop losses !!!
*****
Meanwhile, best wishes to Anderson Cooper, after his appendectomy.....get well soon !
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According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, protests began late Sunday over the brutal killing of Zemir Begic, by black and Hispanic youths, with hammers. He died, fending off the blows also aimed at his girlfriend.
That's terrible. Just terrible. :(
And, BTW, this is not atypical. In my old home neighborhood, two whites beaten to death by black gangs, who came from middle-class families. Never made the national news. One was a poor alcoholic, Shorty, beaten to death and tossed into a dumpster.
Geezus! Nobody deserves that. Nobody. :(
The other, a young sailor, weighing all of 125 lbs., who left the neighborhood tavern and walked down the wrong street.
Oh, my. ... :(
America's dirty little secret - hate crimes are not equally reported.
Agreed.
And there is the corollary: When a blonde, blue-eyed white girl goes missing, it makes national news. When a dark-haired, dark-eyed, minority girl goes missing, not so much. :(
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Hope the mountains of California and the West in general get a lot of snowpack from these systems too.
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.
.....And there is the corollary: When a blonde, blue-eyed white girl goes missing, it makes national news. When a dark-haired, dark-eyed, minority girl goes missing, not so much. :(
Nationally, Jeff, this is still holding true. But I have noticed, it's ended, in the Norfolk media. The city is 35% black, but the broadcast area to surrounding cities is 90% white, and yet they get every story out, black, poor, elderly.
Except on my original subject, fair reporting on hate crimes against whites, am proud to say, my home region is very advanced. It took me months to notice WTKR, the CBS affiliate, has 3 black anchor persons, and even the weatherman is black. And it works.
There are many regional variations. Except for the hate crime designation. That seems to be a threat to real dialogue, everywhere, and finally making a surge forward for everyone.
Locally, we have had a black female reporter, BTW, who mesmerized everyone some 15 years ago, with her coy, entre nous, side looks to the camera. Barbara Ciara. Since she arrived, we really don't notice who's black and who's white :D. It's more like, what's her take on that story, and everybody follows her lead.....
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Nationally, Jeff, this is still holding true. But I have noticed, it's ended, in the Norfolk media. The city is 35% black, but the broadcast area to surrounding cities is 90% white, and yet they get every story out, black, poor, elderly.
That's good news to hear. :)
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I hope some of that water goes into reservoirs. As climate change continues, we should take a cue from the ancient Romans, and build an aqueduct system, but this time, funneling water to new reservoirs. Less expensive than crop losses !!!
Talk about this very thing on a lot of local news last night. That we have to start trying to keep the water
we do get. (Actually, there's always been a lot of talk about it, but now it's a crisis.) Also talk about the
money concerns, but that it's going to be cheaper to do it than not doing it in the long run.
Watching news reports last night, another of my thoughts is that so much time, expense and manpower is
used on protecting houses from mudslides and water runoff in SO many places and I keep wondering, why are
all these housing developments being allowed to be built in areas where geologists know this will occur? And,
if it is known, why aren't these developments and communities built with some infrastructure in place that
would avoid this? Or, if not, the people who live in these places should pay some kind of fees or taxes for
their constant/regular need of help in these areas.
Hope the mountains of California and the West in general get a lot of snowpack from these systems too.
Our local NBC weatherman said the good news in all this is that the mountain areas were getting
snow (because the snowpack is where a lot of water we actually use comes from), a good start
to the season if it keeps up this winter.
Probably the best thing about this rainfall is psychological for so many people. It just feels good. Our
streets and driveways and cars and yards and buildings have not been watered because of the drought
and restrictions for so many months...it feels like a much needed and long overdue cleansing of the city.
Some people I know with garages are parking their cars on the street or driveways just to let the rain
pour down on them!
Not only the rain, but months and months of harsh sunlight beating down with no days of clouds or
overcast can take a toll! The last few days we've had a break from it all. The air is thick with moisture
and our bodies feel so good breathing that for a change...it makes us drowsy and happy and just plain
feels good! I haven't slept so well in months!
Except for those dealing with the weather related problems, all the people I know and the rest of
Los Angeles seems in a very good mood and very high spirits indeed!
It's been drizzling all morning...awaiting another forecast of a huge blast of rain this afternoon in a few hours.
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Michael posted this over on FB.
Hundreds of homicides committed by police reportedly not included in national crime statistics
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/03/hundreds-officer-involved-homicides-not-recorded-by-police-report-says/
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Michael posted this over on FB.
Hundreds of homicides committed by police reportedly not included in national crime statistics
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/03/hundreds-officer-involved-homicides-not-recorded-by-police-report-says/
Am not surprised at the story told on the link above, only that Fox news was a partial source.
Things are so messed up. I am stubbornly keeping an open mind, and so, based on the 3 big cases, IMO: Unless there is new information,
* Trayvon Martin was murdered, and the system failed us all.
* Michael Brown was justifiably killed, although the police officer should have had better training.
* The NYC officer who was not charged today by a grand jury, for killing with a choke hold, almost certainly knew the dangers and should have been indicted, at the very least, for manslaughter.
Three different cases, all gone wrong. And my reading of each shows only a belief that knee-jerk ideology will never serve justice. Each case is different, although against a toxic background that allowed for each.
In that 3rd case, the grand jury apparently had more information than the tape we all saw, but it does not over-ride no choke holds. Am glad the Justice Department is avoiding the Ferguson case, but pursuing the NYC case. They were different.
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"After all, what is Barack Obama doing flying around in the president’s plane? Who does he think he is?" (He almost acting like he thinks he's white, forcryingoutloud.)
The Post’s latest report (http://http://tinyurl.com/kpdr7y9) about negotiations among congressional Republicans on how to proceed with a budget and striking back against President Obama’s immigration actions contained this colorful nugget:
Late Tuesday, Rep. Paul C. Broun (R-Ga.) called for Boehner to not invite Obama to deliver the State of the Union address next year. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) suggested that the budgets for White House operations, including for Air Force One, should be decreased. Other conservatives have mentioned censuring the president, impeaching him or suing the administration over its immigration actions.
“I’d rather defund Air Force One,” Huelskamp said. “Congress took a 19 percent cut on its budgets — we should do the same for the White House.” On the State of the Union, he added: “In the spirit of George Washington, he could send it to us in writing. It’d save some time.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/12/03/why-some-republicans-want-to-cancel-the-state-of-the-union-address/
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Save time. Yeah. From fundraising.
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^^^^^^
We know right from the get go that the conservatives have loathed this President.
That any such things that are mentioned in this article are even being discussed is
disgusting.
And they try to tell us they don't hate/loathe the President, they just disagree with
his policies, but then you read this:
This is not a fringe belief held only by a few. One poll taken just after the 2012 election found that 49 percent of Republicans believed that ACORN had stolen the election for Obama. That would have been a remarkable feat for any organization, but particularly so for ACORN, since it went out of business in 2010. The absurdity of that particular idea aside, a simple refusal to accept that Barack Obama is legitimately the president is common from the bottom to the top of the conservative movement, among ordinary voters, activists, media figures, and even elected officials.
And as of yesterday, since Mary Landrieu lost her Senate seat in Louisiana, I believe I heard the
"South" -- from North Carolina to Texas is solidly "RED" with no Democratic Governors or Senators
among them. And pardon me, my friends in any of those states, but this time, if they all want
to secede, I say let 'em go.
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^^^^^^
And as of yesterday, since Mary Landrieu lost her Senate seat in Louisiana, I believe I heard the
"South" -- from North Carolina to Texas is solidly "RED" with no Democratic Governors or Senators
among them. And pardon me, my friends in any of those states, but this time, if they all want
to secede, I say let 'em go.
It'd give me the perfect reason to move back to Cali...as if I need another one...
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And as of yesterday, since Mary Landrieu lost her Senate seat in Louisiana, I believe I heard the
"South" -- from North Carolina to Texas is solidly "RED" with no Democratic Governors or Senators
among them. And pardon me, my friends in any of those states, but this time, if they all want
to secede, I say let 'em go.
God, no. Too many important military installations in the South, and the North would be overwhelmed with a flood of refugees.
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It'd give me the perfect reason to move back to Cali...as if I need another one...
Incoming residents have to bring their own water, though. :D
and the North would be overwhelmed with a flood of refugees.
I hadn't thought about that!
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The Senate report on torture is out, not that that will lead anywhere. It's almost certainly just the tip of the iceberg, but, at least it's now on record.
My own thoughts are these:
* By lying to Congress, and, allegedly, even the White House, George Tenant committed multiple, serious felonies. The incoming congress has no interest in prosecuting. Lack of accountability, and the hijacking of government by a very few, is now the norm.
* Tenant says the practices, (one of which led to death), were not torture. So then, why did he lie to congress ?
* The argument over whether torture is warranted, to save lives, is the big lie, meant to distract. The feds have drugs for interrogation, (far past the old "truth serums"). Because the few wanted to be macho tough guys, they actually put us all at risk by not using those drugs. They wanted to inflict pain, no more, no less. As a consequence, we lost critical information.
* CNN reports that the 2 psychologists who advised and monitored the torture, as sub-contractors, were paid 80 million $. Aside from their creepy overturning of their medical ethics, the question remains, why so large a sum?
This will blow over. And we are, as usual, ever less safe.
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As the US tears itself apart over torture of terrorists, let's just remember who we're up against: ISIS throws man off roof to his death for being gay.
An Islamic court ruled that he should be flung from the highest building
They posted the graphic images on a jihadist website
It is unknown whether the man died instantly from his injuries
This is the third execution for homosexuality in less than a month
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2868419/Thrown-roof-gay-ISIS-release-chilling-new-images-brutal-execution-man-guilty-sodomy.html#ixzz3LWFtH8ml
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Sorry I had planned to post that today and didn't realize yours was about the torture (I thought no one was mentioning that) and then when I posted mine, I went back and read yours.
I am against torture of any kind. If someone did my family wrong, could I kill them, maybe, but it would be quick.
Could torturing someone have prevented 9/11, who knows and if it could have, would it have been justified, again who knows..
I guess the point is these people are barbarians and they are, but how do you stop them? And there are already boots on the ground, but I don't envy the President his job and the decisions he has to make.
I always suspected torture went on (I mean we just saw a movie about it) but I guess it is a dirty little secret.
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Sydney siege: Hostages held in Lindt cafe
15 December 2014 Last updated at 07:03 ET
A gunman is holding staff and customers hostage at a cafe in Sydney, Australia.
The Lindt cafe in the city centre is surrounded by armed police. Officers have made contact with the gunman.
Five people have been seen running from the building. It is not clear how many remain inside. A black Islamic flag has been displayed at the window.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was "profoundly shocking" that people were being "held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation".
He was speaking after chairing a meeting of the national security committee in Canberra.
Earlier Mr Abbott said: "Australia is a peaceful, open and generous society - nothing should ever change that and that's why I would urge all Australians today to go about their business as usual."
Senior police officers say they are on a footing "consistent with a terrorist event".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30473983 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30473983)
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Armed police surrounded Martin Place after it emerged hostages were being held in the building at the start of Sydney's working day.
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it has just been announced that 3 died, the gunman and sadly 2 hostages. Several others were injured, one policeman and several hostages but no injuries are life threatening.
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'Children were forced to watch as their teacher was burned alive': Survivors reveal horror inside Pakistan school as nine Taliban gunmen bomb and shoot to death 132 children
Gunmen in Peshawar entered school and started shooting at random
One terrorist blew himself up in a classroom containing 60 children
Teacher set on fire in front of pupils, with the children forced to watch
Army commandos quickly arrived at the scene and exchanged fire
School was stormed by nine gunmen in military fatigues, it was reported
After hours of fighting the terrorists were killed by special forces soldiers
MailOnline heard harrowing eyewitness accounts of the massacre
Taliban accepted responsibility for the attack, claiming it 'was just a trailer'
David Cameron described the attack on the school as 'deeply shocking'
The massacre is the worst ever in the deeply troubled region
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2875729/Up-20-dead-500-children-teachers-taken-hostage-Taliban-gunmen-storm-military-run-school-Pakistan.html#ixzz3M5GcfLo4
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
:'( I am actually speechless.
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The slaughter of the school children in Pakistan is almost beyond belief. This is something even animals do not do.
There has been some condemnation from rebels in Afghanistan. calling it "Un-Islamic", but there is too much silence from the rest of the Muslim world. To some degree, because the Muslim world is widespread and focused on local vendettas. Still, too much silence.
And that's something going around a lot.
The west did speak up about the dysfunctional and malevolent attack on Gaza, with so many civilian casualties (which was an attempt to undermine Hamas, but reckless, and displaying a strangely unimaginative method). But those shocked by Gaza, are all too often silent about Hamas, which is a violent resistance movement, far short of Isil, but hardly careful of safety for Israeli or Palestinian civilians.
It is a world full of violent passions, and, too often, silence, for the many victims, on every side. We've let ideologues lead us into ever worse.
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As ugly as current events are, it seems to me, we are risking yet new disasters for the coming year.
* We completely failed to learn anything from the Ebola scare. First, the CDC swamped us with reassurances it was not air-borne. Then, much later, CDC conceded the spray from coughs could infect. Hair-splitting on a definition of "air-borne". Then, too, the concept of quarantine meaning quarantine, has faded into an unsafe zone. This is begging for trouble.
* The Prez is making concessions, but the show-down on immigration reform, in the new congress, will likely be very destructive.
* But the big one is the possible collapse of the Russian economy. With their government relying on half its income, on oil, and the latter headed to half earlier prices, the domino effect has already begun. Even without sanctions, Russia's currency is nearly at free fall. So what? Well, that could severely damage the world economy. At the very least, it will all lead to Vladimir Putin trying to distract the public with some kind of serious military conflict with the West.
As if we ain't got enough problems already :P .....
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Oh it's coming and you can almost sense that people are becoming desensitized to these events, viruses, terrorists.... I mean 132 children killed, while at school! If that doesn't make people sit up and pay attention and shed some real tears, I don't know what to say.
So much going on in the world, you can barely keep up.
the collapse of the Russian economy will affect us, it has actually already had an effect on my life financially, long story...
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God, no. Too many important military installations in the South, and the North would be overwhelmed with a flood of refugees.
The likes of the Duggars would stay put, and the refugees from the Neoconfederacy would, if anything, raise the US' average IQ by a few points. And Medicare and Social Security would benefit from all the confiscated accounts.
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The Cafe manager who tackled the gunman in the Sydney siege, was killed and has been hailed as a hero. It has finally been made clear that his partner is male. I have suspected it for quite a while. The news just kept saying partner without naming.
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I can't help but wonder if, should they have been interested in getting married, the fact that they could not might shame the Federal government into at least taking a free vote about marriage equality in Parliament.
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I'm surprised there hasn't been any talk here of Sony pulling The Interview...I think they were right, and George CLooney in his ivory tower is wrong.
Remember the lawsuits against the Colorado movie theatre for the shooting spree by a nutcase a few years back, in itself ridiculous, as it reads: "whether the theater should have been better prepared for a violent attack like the July 20 fatal shootings." ? They left a door unlocked.
North Korea is run by crazy men.
From HRW: North Korean refugees living in exile—some of whom fled after Kim Jong-Un took power—told Human Rights Watch that people arrested in North Korea are routinely tortured by officials seeking confessions, bribes, and obedience. Common forms of torture include sleep deprivation, beatings with iron rods or sticks, kicking and slapping, and enforced sitting or standing for hours. Guards also sexually abuse female detainees.
The theatres who refused to show the movie were right. Sony couldn't afford the lawsuits if a theatre was blown up, and NK is crazy enough to do it.
Releasing that film would be like telling ISIS that we're not getting out of the middle east, and whatrya gonna do about it, behead an American citizen?
We were/are totally unprepared for this level of hacking, and shame on us.
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I'm afraid I have to disagree with that.
SONY says they pulled the film because theater owners didn't want to show it.
And the theater owners didn't want to show it because of "money" issues, not
because of the threat of violence. They were afraid that people might choose
not to go to any movie in their theatre complexes. It's all about money as usual.
I think it was a really bad decision to pull the film. I mean, what kind of backbone
do we have in this country? Paramount won't even let theatre owners show Team
America, as some wanted to do just to protest this. Are we a nation of wimps?
Fear is never a reason NOT to do something. N. Korea might be run by "crazy
men" but you don't feed their craziness by cowering in front of them.
Maybe it's because I've seen movies like Selma and Unbroken and American Sniper
the past couple weeks, but these people stand up to crazy and against what's wrong.
And our country is better for it.
What SONY should really do with that film is just put it out everywhere online for free.
And to show you just how crazy Kim is...some of us were talking to a person who has seen
The Interview. Kim is portrayed as the smartest person in the room in this film. The two
Americans are portrayed as complete bumblers. It's a film where Americans make fun of
themselves.
Sometimes people (and hasn't it been decided that corporations are people?) have to
do the right things despite the risks and especially the cost, and I vehemently believe
SONY (and the theatre owners) did the exact wrong thing.
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P.S.: I applaud George Clooney (wherever he's currently residing) for calling out
everyone who's cowering in their boots.
In other areas of this forum we're always applauding and advocating the idea that
GLBT people accept who they are and come out of the closet and be themselves
which is ultimately the right thing to do. And over the years more and more are doing
just that on the shoulders of those, who at great personal risk and sacrifice and often
their own well being, have done so. In my mind what SONY did is so wrong that it
raises my hackles and feels much the same as telling gay people not to be gay or hide
in their closets. The SONY thing doesn't feel like any shade of gray to me. It's just wrong.
I mean, people in London still went to see theatre shows while the Germans were bombing
London during World War II. You do the right thing don't you?
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I was hoping you'd give your opinion, Lyle, as you seem to be an 'insider" w/Hollywood & the entertainment industry. And I agree with some of your points...and it is about money.
Don't think it makes me happy to say that a soulless place like NK has outsmarted us, but it seems that way to me, probably along with information and help from insiders. Banks and high volume stores have been hacked over the years and it's as if we don't take it seriously...i'll be the first to admit I don't know what the gov't is doing behind the scenes to foil hackers, but we are not the strong self-sufficient country we were 40 years ago...if we were we wouldn't be in this position at all, it wouldn't even be an issue.
What would United have done on 9/10 if they had gotten a threat not to fly the next day? And even after all we know now, we still act as if our enemies, who can be named, are playing with the same set of moral values that we have...
Going to see a movie after being threatened with death doesn't strike me as doing "the right thing"...but the US, sadly, is not strong enough anymore to do the right thing & we've let ourselves be pushed around, and we've rolled over to show we are docile...our talk is tedious and our threats are empty, and we're too squeamish to fight a war to win...now we just want to make friends and not offend anyone...not even the guy swinging the knife at the neck of one of our citizens.
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P.S.: I applaud George Clooney (wherever he's currently residing) for calling out
everyone who's cowering in their boots.
In other areas of this forum we're always applauding and advocating the idea that
GLBT people accept who they are and come out of the closet and be themselves
which is ultimately the right thing to do. And over the years more and more are doing
just that on the shoulders of those, who at great personal risk and sacrifice and often
their own well being, have done so. In my mind what SONY did is so wrong that it
raises my hackles and feels much the same as telling gay people not to be gay or hide
in their closets. The SONY thing doesn't feel like any shade of gray to me. It's just wrong.
I mean, people in London still went to see theatre shows while the Germans were bombing
London during World War II. You do the right thing don't you?
I hear what you're saying and on some level agree and feel the same...on another level i'm pissed that we've fallen so low that we are even able to be threatened by these people...sony is culpable for its own problem; I think, had they released the film, they knew people would go to see it to say "fuck you" to NK, and they feared the lawyers...
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probably along with information and help from insiders.
Yes, that's what many are saying.
On hindsight of a few weeks it does seem that the entire film community didn't rally around SONY
and offer support in any way, not even with words. It seems everyone let them twist in the wind.
The news centered on the problem being with "SONY" and they had to deal with it. Some in the news
media thought that since this is a terrorist attack, which many are calling it, the government should have
had a role in this from the start. New territory. Hope the solutions are out there somewhere. Maybe we
can be glad this somewhat first of a kind situation was over something silly and can be learned from
exponentially.
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...on another level i'm pissed that we've fallen so low that we are even able to be threatened by these people...
The internet/media is a giant megaphone previous time periods didn't have. It exaggerates what
people say into meanings of one's own choosing. (The SONY emails, for example. How many jokes
have people made about many things to each other that they would never make in a group or
publicly. Then people find out and suddenly you're the worst person on earth. You're a racist or
a homophobe or stupid. Then people use it for their own agendas, like Al Sharpton. It BECOMES
a problem for thoe who want it to become one.)
One of the biggest problems in our current communications reality is that thee are so many people
actually and actively "looking" to find offenses from everyone else and capitalize on those.
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I only saw a news clip of this yesterday, but Rudolph Guiliani was on and
blaming Obama for the violence perpetrated on two NYC police officers.
He said there'd been 4 months of "all policemen are bad" rhetoric. This
is the same Giuliani who got mad that current NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio
wouldn't respond to Rudy's insults against him. Does Rudy even have
a job right now?
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Interesting news :
* The Pope has blasted the Curia, (the government of the Catholic Church), and called for reforms.
* Same Pope just said that spirituality is the road to heaven, not belonging to a denomination.
* Same Pope excommunicated the Mafia en masse
Do we finally have an answer to the old question: "Is the Pope Catholic?" :)
And there's more:
The New Yorker has gone after "The Torture" queen, a CIA woman who refused to share warnings of the 9/11 attack with the FBI, and then flew around to observe torture sessions, which even the torturers said was kind of weird. Allegedly, she can't be identified owing to some fatwah of the CIA, and yet Wikipedia says she is Alfreda Bikowsky, which may or may not be true, but sure will continue, as it has, all over the internet. So much for her latest cocktail parties in Georgetown.
And now, the venerable New York Times is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate Dick Cheney and others for war crimes. And blasting the Prez for not having the guts to do so.
Do we see some whiff of some end to zero accountability in powerful institutions?
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Apparently much of NK's internet has gone down today. Sorry I don't know details. It seems there's more than one way to skin a cat.
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And now, the venerable New York Times is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate
Dick Cheney and others for war crimes. And blasting the Prez for not having the guts to do so.
Do we see some whiff of some end to zero accountability in powerful institutions?
After every President people want to bring them up on one charge or another.
Has any President ever done anything like what is being suggested?
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Not any time that comes to mind, Lyle. Plenty of scandals, but I'd need to do some research. Nixon was extremely vulnerable, but, he got a pardon.
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Apparently much of NK's internet has gone down today. Sorry I don't know details. It seems there's more than one way to skin a cat.
Two things after this happened. The US is strangely quiet about this and Sony is going to release the movie on Christmas Day.
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Christmas Day showings of "The Interview" sold out in Austin
The controversial film "The Interview" premieres today at four Alamo Drafthouse theaters in Austin. Already all the showings for today have sold out.
Nationwide it will play in 300 theaters and it's already streaming online for a price.
Sony Pictures decided to release the film despite the terrorist threats from the group responsible for the cyber hacking scandal.
The FBI says North Korea is behind the hack attack. The communist country denies any involvement. The country is calling for a joint investigation with United States to see who is behind the cyber attack. There's no word yet if that will happen.
Meantime, here's a look at the different ways you can see the movie, "The Interview".
Four Austin area Drafthouse locations are showing the film.
You can also see the movie online through Google play, YouTube and X-Box Video for $5.99 to rent or $14.99 to buy.
There's also a website where you can download the movie for 48 hours. It costs $6.00. The website is www.seetheinterview.com.
Erring on the side of caution, Austin police confirm the Drafthouse has hired extra security at theaters that are showing the film.
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CDC: Flu at epidemic level; 15 children dead this season
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/31/health/flu-epidemic/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
I hope everyone is staying healthy!
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Did anybody notice the recent news about the fire in Dubois, Wyoming? Did it ring a bell?
“That summer,” said Ennis. “When we split up after we got paid out
I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke,
thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois. Took me about a year
to figure out it was that I shouldn’t a let you out a my sights.
Too late then by a long, long while.”
Yep, that's the town...
...located between Riverton (real) and Brokeback Mountain (fictional)
...a town of 1000, where, as they say, real cowboys work and play
...Native Americans, fur traders, homesteaders, outlaws, and Scandinavian tie hacks
are all part of the area's diverse cultural heritage.
...do you ever wonder why Brett Favre's name is pronounced "farve"?
In Dubois, nestled below the Absaroka Mountains,
they call them the "Absorkas". Same reason.
...and they pronounce their town "du boys" (unaccented)
They have a lovely website:
http://duboiswyoming.org/index.html (http://duboiswyoming.org/index.html)
A shame about the fire.
~~~fia
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Did anybody notice the recent news about the fire in Dubois, Wyoming? Did it ring a bell?
“That summer,” said Ennis. “When we split up after we got paid out
I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke,
thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois. Took me about a year
to figure out it was that I shouldn’t a let you out a my sights.
Too late then by a long, long while.”
Yep, that's the town...
...located between Riverton (real) and Brokeback Mountain (fictional)
...a town of 1000, where, as they say, real cowboys work and play
...Native Americans, fur traders, homesteaders, outlaws, and Scandinavian tie hacks
are all part of the area's diverse cultural heritage.
...do you ever wonder why Brett Favre's name is pronounced "farve"?
In Dubois, nestled below the Absaroka Mountains,
they call them the "Absorkas". Same reason.
...and they pronounce their town "du boys" (unaccented)
They have a lovely website:
http://duboiswyoming.org/index.html (http://duboiswyoming.org/index.html)
A shame about the fire.
~~~fia
Looks a great place. I had never heard of someof these places mentioned in the short story
so I Googled them and was thrilled to see that most of the places were real....alive....breathing.
Not just madeup places printed on a page.
Hope the fire didn't cause too much damage.
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We did see signposts pointing to Dubois when we did our tour of the National Parks in 2013, We didn't actually go there though. The general area was beautiful.
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Looks a great place. I had never heard of someof these places mentioned in the short story
so I Googled them and was thrilled to see that most of the places were real....alive....breathing.
Not just madeup places printed on a page.
Sue, you may be interested in this website:
http://www.findingbrokeback.com/ (http://www.findingbrokeback.com/)
It was started in (I think) 2006, and many Brokies added their stories and pictures to it
as time went on. It has many great pictures of the real locations, some of which are only
weathered boards today. But a lot of effort and time was spent putting it together.
~~~fia
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^^
May I just reply to foreverinawe although it is OT.
I saw the film and fell in love with Alberta so much I drove my husband bananas
to take me there . So we hired an RV.....and camped in and around The Rockies
for 3 weeks looking and going to the locations. We missed quite a few. I needed an excuse to go back for a second time......some time soon !!
Sorry....I know ...OT.
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Arlington waiter fired after racist remarks show up on receipt
2:11 am - 01/02/2015
ARLINGTON -- It was supposed to be a night of new memories in a new year with six old friends.
"At the end it kinda ruined it for us," said Ta'les Russell.
And what ruined it is spelled out in black and white on paper.
"All capital letters, just right there. I just did a double take. I was like, 'Wow.' It was just a shock to me," said Justyce Hill.
The word "N---" was typed on receipts to describe six black friends who came to Shatila Lebanese Grill and Hookah for New Year's celebrations.
News 8 sat down with an embarrassed owner of Shatila.
"I'm just sorry man…I'm just sorry," said Mike Salame.
"It's very very improper. There is no exceptions at all. That's why when I found out, on the spot, I terminated him…on the spot," Salame said.
He adds that he has reached out to the friends and apologized. News 8 contacted the server whose first name is printed on the receipt as "Ragheed." Salame described him as an 18-year-old of Syrian descent.
When News 8 posed questions to Ragheed, he told us his only comment would be "My bad."
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Owners of cargo ship stricken off the Isle of Wight say it was deliberately grounded to stop it from capsizing after it began listing on leaving port
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2895837/Car-transporter-cargo-ship-runs-aground-Isle-Wight.html#ixzz3NuS0kleP
This is close to where Andy lives.
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We did see signposts pointing to Dubois when we did our tour of the National Parks in 2013, We didn't actually go there though. The general area was beautiful.
We stopped in Dubois on the "Roundup" tour in 2008, on our way from Riverton to Grand Teton National Park. Nice little place. I liked it. We got ice cream at the drug store, and I bought a t-shirt (which I just happened to wear the very day of the fire :o ). I took a picture of the Episcopal church, which is built of logs. I also took a picture of a motel sign as a reference if I ever got back there again and wanted to stay the night. I feel very sorry for the people who lost their businesses and thus their livelihoods. Hell of a way to begin a new year. :(
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7 January 2015 Last updated at 07:37 ET
12 Dead in Attack on Paris Newspaper; France Goes on Alert
Gunmen have attacked the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring seven, French officials say.
At least two masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside before escaping by car.
President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been aterrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity".
A major police operation is under way in the Paris area to catch the killers.
The latest tweet on Charlie Hebdo's account was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The satirical weekly has courted controversy in the past with its irreverent take on news and current affairs.
The magazine was fire-bombed in November 2011 a day after it carried a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
People had been "murdered in a cowardly manner", President Hollande told reporters at the scene. "We are threatened because we are a country of liberty," he added, appealing for national unity.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in a tweet: "The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press."
Two of those killed are police officers, France's AFP news agency reports, and several of the wounded are in a critical condition.
Police and rescue services near the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, 7 January Police and rescue services near the office of Charlie Hebdo An eyewitness, Benoit Bringer, told French TV channel Itele: "Two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs.
"A few minutes later we heard lots of shots."
The men were then seen fleeing the building.
"It's carnage," French police official Luc Poignant told another French channel, BFMTV.
Police have warned French media to be on alert and pay attention to security following the attack.
The country was already on the alert for Islamist attacks after several incidents just before Christmas.
Cars were driven at shoppers in two cities, Dijon and Nantes, and police were attacked by a man wielding a knife in Tours.
While the French government denied the attacks were linked, it announced plans to further raise security in public spaces, including the deployment of around 300 soldiers.
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Mr S and I are in a state of shock after this terrible terrorist attack in Paris. This is sickening.
-
7 January 2015 Last updated at 07:37 ET
12 Dead in Attack on Paris Newspaper; France Goes on Alert
Gunmen have attacked the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring seven, French officials say.
At least two masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside before escaping by car.
President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been aterrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity".
A major police operation is under way in the Paris area to catch the killers.
The latest tweet on Charlie Hebdo's account was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The satirical weekly has courted controversy in the past with its irreverent take on news and current affairs.
The magazine was fire-bombed in November 2011 a day after it carried a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
People had been "murdered in a cowardly manner", President Hollande told reporters at the scene. "We are threatened because we are a country of liberty," he added, appealing for national unity.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in a tweet: "The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press."
Two of those killed are police officers, France's AFP news agency reports, and several of the wounded are in a critical condition.
Police and rescue services near the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, 7 January Police and rescue services near the office of Charlie Hebdo An eyewitness, Benoit Bringer, told French TV channel Itele: "Two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs.
"A few minutes later we heard lots of shots."
The men were then seen fleeing the building.
"It's carnage," French police official Luc Poignant told another French channel, BFMTV.
Police have warned French media to be on alert and pay attention to security following the attack.
The country was already on the alert for Islamist attacks after several incidents just before Christmas.
Cars were driven at shoppers in two cities, Dijon and Nantes, and police were attacked by a man wielding a knife in Tours.
While the French government denied the attacks were linked, it announced plans to further raise security in public spaces, including the deployment of around 300 soldiers.
That's horrific!
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War in Europe....
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Cameron to be briefed by security chiefs after 'barbaric' gun attack as British tourists are warned to take 'extra care' in Paris
12 dead after masked gunmen storm Paris offices of satirical magazine
Prime Minister insists terrorists cannot harm free speech and democracy
Cameron expected to order a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee
Foreign Office escalates travel advice to France in the wake attack
Terrorists were armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades
Men fled in stolen car after a 'mass shoot-out' with police officers
Office previously firebombed for publishing cartoon of Prophet Mohammed
Nick Clegg says Britain stands with Paris 'in aftermath of this vile attack'
Ed Miliband expresses 'horror and outrage' at the unfolding events in Paris
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2900377/Cameron-condemns-barbaric-Paris-gun-attack-vows-Britain-stand-united-France-defence-free-speech.html#ixzz3O9juBcvU
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Just reading about it now!
:'( :'(
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2900259/Gunmen-kill-11-Charlie-Hebdo-attack.html
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France is in a state of shock.
Tenthousands of people are demonstrating all over the country.
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France is in a state of shock.
Tenthousands of people are demonstrating all over the country.
French Muslims must be shaking in their boots. This will get worse before it gets better, if it ever does.
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I have been following it on CNN.This is just horrific. No one is safe in any country, in any part of the world.
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French Muslims must be shaking in their boots. This will get worse before it gets better, if it ever does.
Yep. The worst is yet to come.
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No one is safe in any country, in any part of the world.
Yes, exactly. That is today's message: This can happen every day now, everywhere on this planet.
No need for a belief or a conviction. Just have a go at it, kill people, and that's it.
And afterwards they reach a maximum of attention all over the world. So - in the end - they got everything they wanted!
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The French philosopher Michael Onfray said today:
'January 7th is our nine eleven."
:'(
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And all of these people are using religion as an excuse to perform the mayhem that they are inclined to do anyway. If it weren't Islam it would be Christianity or Communism.
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I think this is the biggest issue with all the murder and suppression. Everyone doing it in the name of some religion, thinking whatever their own individual interpretation of their religion's holy writ, gives them permission to do any and all of this stuff, and I can't think of one religion that would condone any of these acts.
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No - not one of them.
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SALMAN RUSHDIE'S STATEMENT
'Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms.
'This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today.
'I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity.
'"Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion."
'Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.'
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Very well put.
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If it wasn't religion, it would be something else. Killers are killers. And yet, some seem to have some tipping point.
They do have names of the suspects, and I can only hope they harm no one else, as they are pursued.
This is a very rough go for France, and Europe, as they struggle with underlying issues.
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Very well put.
We are so sorry to hear this awful news from France today. Now is the time for all good people of whatever religion to stand together against this evil and division.
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This is a very rough go for France, and Europe, as they struggle with underlying issues.
Yes. This is only the beginning of a terrible and dangerous period, I can sense it.
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Thank you, Jess.
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If it wasn't religion, it would be something else. Killers are killers. And yet, some seem to have some tipping point.
They do have names of the suspects, and I can only hope they harm no one else, as they are pursued.
This is a very rough go for France, and Europe, as they struggle with underlying issues.
I disagree, this is all about religion.
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It's a set of beliefs that in some people becomes distorted and transformed in to an excuse for hatred. The fact that it is 'religion' gives them a sense of self-righteousness. In the case of the Nazis it wasn't exactly religion, but the results were on the same lines.
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I agree, Sara. It's not about believing something, it's about USING belief.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd145%2Fcccccarol%2Fed9eee0c-ae36-4f0a-8594-bc5b9cef146b-1020x612_zps80be8a4e.jpeg&hash=bb93d321adb4cdf42546371743df318453db99ac)
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One reason why the term "Islamist" is quite useful, as opposed to Muslim.
An Islamist may be a true believer, or may not be, but uses the religion to gain power or money for him or herself or his or her side, so as to exercise it over others for his or her own benefit.
The equivalent term in Christianity is Christianist and Christian.
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In some ways psychopaths attach themselves to destructive movements and these are often associated, but not necessarily, with religion. The "troubles" in Northern Ireland were rife with this on both sides. Killing, destroying, bombing, and drug dealing in the name of Catholicism or Protestantism.
It iis not religion so much as a manifestation of evil and sickness.
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I disagree, this is all about religion.
Oilgun, you are right - this one was about religion. But my post said, killers are killers, and if it wasn't religion, it would be something else. Race, political grievances, sexism, homophobia. On and on. Killers will find a reason.
Unfortunately, religious beliefs are disproportionally that reason, at certain times in history. And I share your disgust there.
But atheists, of some branches, are equally murderous. The communist elites were/are atheist-materialists, a distinct branch, and Stalin casually slaughtered over 30 million Russian kulaks.
Killers are killers. And we need to identify the way they organize and justify and disrupt that. Singleing out only the religionists would not be comprehensive enough.
Maybe one day humanity will track the variations and suppress them all, and even with no loss to liberty.
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One reason why the term "Islamist" is quite useful, as opposed to Muslim.
An Islamist may be a true believer, or may not be, but uses the religion to gain power or money for him or herself or his or her side, so as to exercise it over others for his or her own benefit.
The equivalent term in Christianity is Christianist and Christian.
Yep.
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Excellent and insightful article about the current situation in France, and its possible background/explanations.
Please read it entirely and throughly, and also read the readers' comments at the bottom of the page.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/01/sharpening-contradictions-satirists.html
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And here's another comment - insightful, readworthy, thought-provoking.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/07/charlie-hebdo-murderers-cannot-define-islam
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Well written too, but I strongly disagree with several aspects.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/blame-for-charlie-hebdo-murders?mbid=social_twitter
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Thank-you for the links, Ingmar - have read the New Yorker one, and will go to the others later.
Meanwhile, it's a big story over here, and we are all in sympathy with what must be a great shock to the people of France.
Wishing courage and strength to all of you there !
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It does feel a bit like 9/11 here right now, though on a somewhat smaller scale, of course. American friends have been emailing me asking how I'm doing, and whether I'm near Paris (like Ingmar I live about as far from the capital as you can be). On 9/11 my French friends were sending the same kinds of messages. There is also a feeling of dread, that it's a turning point for the worse.
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And, in this atmosphere, the people of France must watch that
their Government doesn't do things in the name of protection
that will be regretted later on.
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Looks like the one guy (the kid) turned himself in and they are closing in on the other two, thank God!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2901570/Hunt-Charlie-Hebdo-gunmen-killers-revealed-brothers-trained-Yemen-assassins-links-terror-groups-going-TEN-YEARS-free-roam-Paris.html
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It does feel a bit like 9/11 here right now, though on a somewhat smaller scale, of course. American friends have been emailing me asking how I'm doing, and whether I'm near Paris (like Ingmar I live about as far from the capital as you can be). On 9/11 my French friends were sending the same kinds of messages. There is also a feeling of dread, that it's a turning point for the worse.
The feeling of dread, of there being some turning point for the worse, seems to be almost prescient, and certainly is spreading.
Have just read the 2nd of Ingmar's links, (juancole.com), and it does warn, yet again, that these attacks are not so much symptoms, as they are calculated strategies to polarize 2 different cultures. Osama Bin Laden had said that was his strategy, from the start. They can't get the carnage they want on a larger scale, unless they can get recruits. And they can't get recruits if there isn't wide-spread counter hatred. And yes, the comments below the article were to that point.
I don't think we were prepared for a War on Terror, as we didn't know the baiting strategy. I really wish we could go full-stop, and re-assess, so that this isn't a 100 year war.
Off-point, maybe, CNN has reported that the original grievance of one of the suspects was the Abu Graib molestations of prisoners.
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I think that it is quite inspiring to see so many people, in Paris and in other cities of the world, peacefully supporting and honoring those who were killed by holding up signs: Je suis Charlie Hebdo. Unfortunately, this is a multiheaded dragon, one that is so very difficult to eradicate. As others have said above, killers are killers. Armed with modern technology and modern communications, they can cause terrible and widespread damage that is difficult to control, much less prevent.
Thanks for the links to those in pieces, ingmarnicebbmt. Let’s hope that this horrific provocation doesn’t lead France down the deadly path designed by the perpetrators. It must resist the impulse to make scapegoats of the innocent, while coming down hard on the guilty.
As someone posted above, these “killers” may be using religion as an excuse for their murderous rampage. And people may equate terrorism with religious extremism. But these “killers” may use anything as their excuse. In Canada, there was an event known as the École Polytechnique massacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre) where a man killed 14 women at a Montréal University, blaming “feminists.”
There’s an excellent quote from the recent movie version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The protagonist, George Smiley, says: the fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt. This seems to define the religious fundamentalist, a person who will not allow anyone to question (much less satire, as Charlie Hebdo did) their beliefs – lest somebody reveal the weakness, the flaw. Like closeted gay people who are public homophobes, they hide their insecurity behind attacks. Rather than being the true believer they claim, these religious leaders hide behind hatred in a desperate attempt for power.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2903950/First-chilling-image-shows-murdered-hostage-dramatic-standoff-ends-deaths-terororist-four-captives.html
Oh these images are hard to take, those poor terrified hostages! :'( :'(
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Some random thoughts on the grotesque events in France:
* I read a powerful statement from a prominent Frenchman, where he said - "Je ne suis pas Charlie." He went on to say that the magazine was vulgar, deliberately incendiary, and meant to polarize. That, in no way, he said, justified the barbaric slaughter - and on that, he grieved for the loss of life, and the assault on free speech. Solidarity against animals, he supported, but he would not support the tactics and agendas, of Charlie. It was an interesting distinction.
* The attack on the kosher store in Paris, has so much more than the obvious. Many customers, because of similar food rules, were Muslim. A small enclave of peace. Now, much more hostility to all Muslims, and, beyond the assault on Jews, the terrorization of European Jews has jumped to a level of psychological cruelty not seen before in the post-Nazi era. I hope if any of us have reservations about identifying with the politics of Charlie, while defending his freedom of speech and right to live, we would have no reservations in saying : I, too, am Jewish, in solidarity.
* CNN showed a piece on the Western women joining up with terrorists, and it suddenly struck me - this isn't ideology, this is the Charles Manson syndrome. Sick women, deriving some fulfillment in sleeping with devils. That new development makes legitimate profiling right down the tubes.
It is very, very sad - the victims lives were stolen, and those who want polarization for a much-expanded war, have won this battle.
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There is a very strong right wing national front in France. The world needs a lead against all movements that seek to hate and blame any groups of "others."
It should not be about Jews or Muslims, Christians or any other group.
It is good people against bad, and a stop to the exploitation of the ignorant and the frightened.
I pray this awful episode will bring people to their senses before evil engulfs us all.
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If 9/11 didn't, I doubt that this will make much difference. And there have been quite a few horrific terrorist attacks in many countries since then? It's hard to be anything but pessimistic. What is abhorrent to the majority of humankind is A matter of the highest aspiration for a small minority.
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Unfortunately I can't argue with that, Sara.
It is all most depressing.
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Jess, I was aware there is a right-wing front in France. So, I was very much on the alert, reading the words of that very distinguished Frenchman who said : "Je ne suis pas Charlie."
But he spoke firmly about those who sought to polarize people based on race, religion, and ethnic origin, and he also condemned the use of violence against free speech. Yet it was his opinion that the magazine sought that polarization, and was incendiary, as well as vulgar. In short, he condemned the murders, but refused to follow the herd into supporting a subtle agenda, with which he could not agree.
Then, checking Wikipedia, I discovered the earlier version of the magazine, Hara-Kira, was generally condemned from all sides as "dumb and nasty", with the French phrase actually entering into the public slang.
Is he right? I do not know. but he is not part of a right-wing front.
I do agree with you, so very much, that it is good people vs. bad. And with Sara, that the bad are only a small %. But Jess, I've grown old, (or better said, older), and one of my dorky pains is that people who have seemed to be good were not. In the fog of this world, I can only have some confidence in those who work for peace and tolerance, and have no skulky, hidden agendas.
Sometimes we never find them out until too late.
We are on the same page, Jess. I just have no confidence in always, and in every case, discerning what is in that fog.
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I really think we should not be depressed.
I was born at the end of World War 2 but my parents and even my older sister lived day by day, fearing that the Japanese could invade at any time. My sister's best friend, as a a little girl, hid in a cellar with her mother and 3 younger brothers during the bombing of Dresden having fled from their home in Lithuania.. Imagine what it was like living in much of Europe in those days.
I remember, as a teenager, we thought that at any moment Russia and the USA would go to war and, even if our city was not bombed, the radiation unleased would lead to the death of all mankind.
The only difference today is that news is instantaneous. However our normal lives go on.
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Jess, I was aware there is a right-wing front in France. So, I was very much on the alert, reading the words of that very distinguished Frenchman who said : "Je ne suis pas Charlie."
But he spoke firmly about those who sought to polarize people based on race, religion, and ethnic origin, and he also condemned the use of violence against free speech. Yet it was his opinion that the magazine sought that polarization, and was incendiary, as well as vulgar. In short, he condemned the murders, but refused to follow the herd into supporting a subtle agenda, with which he could not agree.
Then, checking Wikipedia, I discovered the earlier version of the magazine, Hara-Kira, was generally condemned from all sides as "dumb and nasty", with the French phrase actually entering into the public slang.
Is he right? I do not know. but he is not part of a right-wing front.
I've been sort of wondering about this. Like, probably, a huge number of U.S. citizens, until this terrible tragedy, I'd never heard of Charlie Hebdo. Over the past day or two, I've been wondering, who or what else does the magazine attack? Does it attack the French the government, too? All I've been hearing is that the magazine satirized the Prophet Muhammad.
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Apparently, Jeff, they mock (which is a better word, I think, than attack or satirize), everybody.....except secular humanists. But they do have an underlying current of trying to severely provoke Muslims, and, again, had been accused before of trying for polarization. They were generally ignored by French Muslims.
Some countries do have laws against certain types of speech or writing. Germany has laws against anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi stuff. The UK had laws not that long ago against some news about the royal family. And the U.S., arguably, can enforce incitement to riot, or, in civil law, slander or libel. The French take pride in a wide area of free speech.
*****
Brian's post was very true - the news cycle makes us more on edge.
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I've been sort of wondering about this. Like, probably, a huge number of U.S. citizens, until this terrible tragedy, I'd never heard of Charlie Hebdo. Over the past day or two, I've been wondering, who or what else does the magazine attack? Does it attack the French the government, too? All I've been hearing is that the magazine satirized the Prophet Muhammad.
As Tony said Jeff, they satirize EVERYTHING.
This is just a small sampling of their covers.
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Linda, thanks for posting some of the magazine covers. Actually, those ones seem pretty tame. But the net has been scrubbed, apparently, of others, which mocked gays, blacks, and religious Jews.
I think they're pretty dumb and nasty (as the French called them, in a phrase that has entered their language). But, clearly, satire is a fundamental part of freedom of expression. If you don't like it, don't buy the rag.
But given the circumstances in France, the endless mocking of Mohammed, did suggest contempt for the Muslim minority, as well as some attempt to force a clash between cultures that had been, there, in some semblance of peace.
I would, myself, have considered it incendiary, for a Ferguson newspaper to have a cartoon of Martin Luther King as a monkey, regardless of the rights or wrongs in the wildly chaotic beliefs after the police shooting there. Lawful, but, in that climate, (or really in any instance), ugly, ignorant, and vulgar. Had the editor of such a rag been murdered, I would have called it just that - murder. But I would not have cloaked myself in self-identification with his agenda.
Those who killed so very many at the French rag's office were terrorists, and expanded their crime to attacking innocent Jews at a kosher store.
All of the killing was grotesque. But given the particulars, I am not willing to do the "Je suis Charlie" bit, because I do not think going past hating the murders to subscribing to the victim's agenda is for me. Am much more comfortable saying, in solidarity, I am Jewish, as those victims weren't trying to provoke anybody, and had been at peace with their Muslim neighbors.
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All of the killing was grotesque. But given the particulars, I am not willing to do the "Je suis Charlie" bit, because I do not think going past hating the murders to subscribing to the victim's agenda is for me. Am much more comfortable saying, in solidarity, I am Jewish, as those victims weren't trying to provoke anybody, and had been at peace with their Muslim neighbors.
Very interesting Tony..
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Tony, I agree with much that you say, I actually can't see any pleasure in insulting peoples beliefs.
However, I do think we must just shrug off insults, a cartoon is not deserving of a death sentence however offensive.
I am, at least some sort of a Christian, but we went to see "Jerry Springer the Opera," (in a performance that was sparsely attended especially by "the great and good" of our town), and thought it hilarious.
I think what worries me more is the exploitation of vulnerable individuals by puppet masters for political ends, either for power or money.
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'We are here to support freedom. We will not be beaten': Paris sees ONE MILLION people stage defiant march alongside world leaders including David Cameron in moving tribute to 17 terror victims
Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande are among 40 world leaders taking part
Giant letters attached to statue in Place de la République spell 'Pourquoi?' as small groups sing national anthem
2,000 police officers and 1,400 soldiers deployed in Paris as officer describes atmosphere as 'extremely tense'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2905307/Charlie-Hebdo-march-Cameron-join-French-president-one-million-people-prepare-march-Paris.html#ixzz3OWjCNJkQ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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I say this without agenda, and don't want to provoke anti or pro gun comments (please) but...when what happened in Paris happens (again) in the US, it could be on a larger scale. It's not known how long the killers have been actively recruiting losers to come and join them, but they're using what's available to them, FB & twitter, to reach out to them.
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Shreyas Navare
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Al-Jazeera leak reveals staff split over response to Charlie Hebdo killings
Emails show some journalists branded French satirical magazine racist while others defended Muhammad cartoons
The emails, published in full by the National Review, begin with one sent to staff by Salah-Aldeen Khadr, the London-based editor and executive producer, on Thursday suggesting a list of questions that should guide their coverage of events.
He said it should be “the best it can be” but asked staff to question whether the terrorist attack was “really an attack on free speech”, asking if an “attack by 2-3 guys” on “a controversial magazine” was equal to a “civilizational attack on European values”.
He suggested that the massacre could be viewed as a “clash of extremist fringes” – implying Islamic fundamentalists were on one side and staff at the magazine on the other.
Mohamed Vall, based in Qatar, who reported for the TV station’s Arabic-language service before joining its English wing, said supporting Charlie Hebdo risked encouraging more killings. “And I guess if you encourage people to go on insulting 1.5 billion people about their most sacred icons then you just want more killings because as I said in 1.5 billion there will remain some fools who don’t abide by the laws or know about free speech.
“What Charlie Hebdo did was not free speech it was an abuse of free speech in my opinion,” he said. “Go back to the cartoons and have a look at them! It’s not about what the drawing said, it was about how they said it.
“I condemn those heinous killings, but I’M NOT CHARLIE,” he wrote.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/11/al-jazeera-leak-charlie-hebdo-emails (http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/11/al-jazeera-leak-charlie-hebdo-emails)
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This just makes me think of Joan Rivers, so much dispute about whether she was funny or just plain cruel. People disagree, she said terrible things about people in her stand up and in interviews, but no one tried to kill her!!
Look on this very board, people are free to say what they want pretty much uncensored, it's called freedom of speech!
Those latest cartoons are offense, so I just glance at them and move on.. not a big deal. What these terrorists did was unforgivable, just unforgivable.
I could see people being angry at the cartoons, maybe doing something drastic, but not this!
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^^^ Yeah, compare him to a comedian...I think you missed the point. He's not trying to be funny...
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I think you missed the point, I was referring to Charlie Hebdo, I am assuming they were trying to be funny!
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I say this without agenda, and don't want to provoke anti or pro gun comments (please) but...when what happened in Paris happens (again) in the US, it could be on a larger scale. It's not known how long the killers have been actively recruiting losers to come and join them, but they're using what's available to them, FB & twitter, to reach out to them.
I just hope it never happens, morrobay,
Apparently guns are somewhat easier to obtain, and rather more, the ammunition, in France than in the UK. It would be nice to think that the number of people gathering in Paris today, will show the terrorists at least what they are up against.
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Saudi Arabia, our partners in peace (need an emoticon for sarcasm)...and shouldn't "ally" be in quotes?
Unusual Criticism of Verdict Against Opposition Blogger Highlights Disagreements With Arab Ally
Jan. 8, 2015 7:44 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration publicly called on Saudi Arabia to rescind its sentencing of a political activist that includes the punishment of 1,000 lashes.
The unusual diplomatic rebuke is expected to further strain Washington’s relations with the Arab monarchy at a time of serious disagreements over strategic and economic policies.
A Saudi court sentenced blogger Raif Badawi last year to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for his political activism. The lashes are expected to begin this week, according to U.S. officials.
On Thursday, State Department officials criticized Riyadh for meting out such a brutal punishment on Mr. Badawi for “exercising his rights to freedom of expression and religion,” and called on the Saudi government to cancel his sentence and review Mr. Badawi’s case.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-rebukes-saudis-for-lashing-sentence-1420764258 (http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-rebukes-saudis-for-lashing-sentence-1420764258)
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I just hope it never happens, morrobay,
Apparently guns are somewhat easier to obtain, and rather more, the ammunition, in France than in the UK. It would be nice to think that the number of people gathering in Paris today, will show the terrorists at least what they are up against.
I hope so, too, but I fear the worst from those who cannot be reasoned with. An anchor on CNN said guns were very hard to get in France, not sure if that's true or not...
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I think what worries me more is the exploitation of vulnerable individuals by puppet masters for political ends, either for power or money.
I totally agree, Jess. This is more dangerous than any of the highly organized groups, because the people they exploit often travel under the radar, and thus are almost impossible to track, because you never know when they are going to strike.
And to add to your statement either for power or money
in the name of religion.
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"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire
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Thanks, Tony and Linda.
Tony, indeed, mock, would have been a better choice of words.
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It’s Monday and maybe a bit late to put in my 2 centimes, but I was too busy watching the events unfold to come in here.
Yes, Charlie Hebdo mocks everyone and everything. French people don’t care about being liked as much as Americans do, and CH is an extreme example of this. The magazine wasn’t widely read before now (in fact, it survived on subsidies) but you couldn’t help noticing the provocative covers on the newsstand and I think many people liked the fact that its nose-thumbing was out there in public and that nothing was sacred. The editorial director knew his life was at risk, and said that he lived his life with as few attachments as possible (no children, few possessions, but he did have a partner). The offices were firebombed in 2011 and since then he had a full-time police bodyguard. But if he had been shot on the street there would have been no marches or vigils. I’m sure he never imagined so many others would be taken down with him, people like the building maintenance man or a visitor to the offices. That the killers attacked they way they did, not caring who else died, means it was all about themselves and making a big impact psychologically. They succeeded in that, though maybe not in the way they’d anticipated.
Here is an interesting interview about it all with the cartoonist Robert Crumb, who lives in France :
http://observer.com/2015/01/legendary-cartoonist-robert-crumb-on-the-massacre-in-paris/
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That the killers attacked they way they did, not caring who else died, means it was all about themselves and making a big impact psychologically. They succeeded in that, though maybe not in the way they’d anticipated.
I agree. That's what acts of terrorism are all about.
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Interesting, provocative article:
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/unmournable-bodies (http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/unmournable-bodies)
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Re Fox TV Station US. I know this was said on TV.....but it's now a very HOT TOPIC here in UK.
I live not too far away from Birmingham UK.....and I DO NOT take kindly that some dickhead in USA has
said that only Muslims live in Birmingham and that it is all a * no go " area. Like most of us all over the world..... at the moment.....I am wary about going into crowded shopping malls at certain times of the year
eg Christmas.....but that is my choice and I certainly wouldn't call it a *no go * area by the number of thousands that go there still..... to shop and visit the cafes and restaurants.
We do have quite large communities of all Nationalities and Religions...... and we all mostly get along with each other. Christianity still out numbers all other faiths in and around Birmingham.
Who fed this idiot all this crap anyway ?? He has had to withdraw this statement and apologise to the UK. Now he needs to resign. >:(
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I heard that reported on Radio 4 Sue and it was met by howls of utter derision in the studio because it was so utterly ridiculous. We regularly go and enjoy the Curry Mile in Bradford when we're up there and also visit friends in Leicester both of which have big, peaceful and integrated Muslim communities. We've never felt intimidated or unwelcome and wouldn't think twice about going where we want to when we want to. I never heard such hysterical rubbish. But then when was that particular news station noted for the integrity of its reporting?
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Thank-you for the links, Ingmar - have read the New Yorker one, and will go to the others later.
Meanwhile, it's a big story over here, and we are all in sympathy with what must be a great shock to the people of France.
Wishing courage and strength to all of you there !
Thank you, Tony!
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There is also a feeling of dread, that it's a turning point for the worse.
This is, alas, absolutely true.
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I don't think we were prepared for a War on Terror, as we didn't know the baiting strategy. I really wish we could go full-stop, and re-assess, so that this isn't a 100 year war.
1. We are certainly NOT prepared. 2. Commentators in Europe have compared the events to the beginning of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).
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IThere’s an excellent quote from the recent movie version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The protagonist, George Smiley, says: the fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt. This seems to define the religious fundamentalist, a person who will not allow anyone to question (much less satire, as Charlie Hebdo did) their beliefs – lest somebody reveal the weakness, the flaw. Like closeted gay people who are public homophobes, they hide their insecurity behind attacks. Rather than being the true believer they claim, these religious leaders hide behind hatred in a desperate attempt for power.
Very good thought and insight.
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It is very, very sad - the victims lives were stolen, and those who want polarization for a much-expanded war, have won this battle.
And many Jews seriously consider leaving France now.
On the other hand, there have been and there are multiple anti-Muslim attacks all over the nation.
So it's damage on all sides.
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It's hard to be anything but pessimistic. What is abhorrent to the majority of humankind is a matter of the highest aspiration for a small minority.
Yep & yep.
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the news cycle makes us more on edge.
I agree - we are instantly up-to-date... and yet helpless.
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This is fantastic.
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"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire
So very true.
If only.
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Here is an interesting interview about it all with the cartoonist Robert Crumb, who lives in France :
http://observer.com/2015/01/legendary-cartoonist-robert-crumb-on-the-massacre-in-paris/
Thanks for this.
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Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam tells fellow Muslims who do not appreciate the 'freedoms' of living in the West to 'pack your bags and f*** off' on live TV
Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Moroccan-born Muslim, spoke after Paris attack
The mayor said Dutch Muslims who 'don't like freedom' can f*** off
He added: 'Vanish from the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here'
Aboutaleb became the first immigrant mayor in the Netherlands in 2008
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2907941/Moroccan-born-mayor-Rotterdam-tells-fellow-Muslims-not-appreciate-freedoms-living-West-pack-bags-f-live-TV.html#ixzz3Ojm5DLG4
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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There is also a feeling of dread, that it's a turning point for the worse.
It's interesting that when some bad things happen people veer toward their worst imaginations.
A lot of this is due to the news media. It's all based on fear. If they can ratchet up the
news to make you fearful, that's what they'll do, The more you're afraid the more you'll
tune in. They project it.
I stopped watching as much news as I used to when, during the week of 9/11 when everyone
was on edge and then anthrax powder was suddenly showing up to poison people in letters mailed
around, when our local news, during an evenings programming, kept announcing that in a downtown
office building that white powder had been found and authorities notified and workers were on alert
and on and on. On the 11:00 news it was revealed that this white powder was from a couple donuts
the night security guard had been eating.
That's when I said, "Ok, that's it, stop getting hoodwinked by news fear mongering.
Just recently they kept warning us about all the horrible things that can happen to you
if you eat food from the deli counters in supermarkets. Every possible code violation and
again, on and on. Then I sat back and thought, have you "ever" had a problem with
anything you've bought in a deli section like that? Except for not liking something, absolutely
not. I read a study that would not surprise anyone: The more news that people watch on
television, the more they are afraid of almost any subject.
-
Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam tells fellow Muslims who do not appreciate the 'freedoms' of living in the West to 'pack your bags and f*** off' on live TV
Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Moroccan-born Muslim, spoke after Paris attack
The mayor said Dutch Muslims who 'don't like freedom' can f*** off
He added: 'Vanish from the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here'
Aboutaleb became the first immigrant mayor in the Netherlands in 2008
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2907941/Moroccan-born-mayor-Rotterdam-tells-fellow-Muslims-not-appreciate-freedoms-living-West-pack-bags-f-live-TV.html#ixzz3Ojm5DLG4
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
And the Netherlands has had its own problems with Muslim extremists killing people who say things they don't like.
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Re Fox TV Station US. I know this was said on TV.....but it's now a very HOT TOPIC here in UK.
I live not too far away from Birmingham UK.....and I DO NOT take kindly that some dickhead in USA has
said that only Muslims live in Birmingham and that it is all a * no go " area. Like most of us all over the world..... at the moment.....I am wary about going into crowded shopping malls at certain times of the year
eg Christmas.....but that is my choice and I certainly wouldn't call it a *no go * area by the number of thousands that go there still..... to shop and visit the cafes and restaurants.
We do have quite large communities of all Nationalities and Religions...... and we all mostly get along with each other. Christianity still out numbers all other faiths in and around Birmingham.
Who fed this idiot all this crap anyway ?? He has had to withdraw this statement and apologise to the UK. Now he needs to resign. >:(
I heard that reported on Radio 4 Sue and it was met by howls of utter derision in the studio because it was so utterly ridiculous. We regularly go and enjoy the Curry Mile in Bradford when we're up there and also visit friends in Leicester both of which have big, peaceful and integrated Muslim communities. We've never felt intimidated or unwelcome and wouldn't think twice about going where we want to when we want to. I never heard such hysterical rubbish. But then when was that particular news station noted for the integrity of its reporting?
A lot of this is due to the news media. It's all based on fear. If they can ratchet up the
news to make you fearful, that's what they'll do, The more you're afraid the more you'll
tune in. They project it.
Lyle stated it exactly, Sue and Janie, and Fox News is the worst war mongering, hate mongering, homophobic mongering network out there. It surprises me how they can call themselves a "NEWS" network. News is supposed to be reported honestly and without bias, and Fox News is the exact opposite. They are always have to retract what they and issue apologies. There are a lot of people who live in the US who feel the same way you do. And yes I believe the reporter should be fired.
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Re Fox TV Station US. I know this was said on TV.....but it's now a very HOT TOPIC here in UK.
I live not too far away from Birmingham UK.....and I DO NOT take kindly that some dickhead in USA has said that only Muslims live in Birmingham and that it is all a * no go " area. Like most of us all over the world..... at the moment.....I am wary about going into crowded shopping malls at certain times of the year eg Christmas.....but that is my choice and I certainly wouldn't call it a *no go * area by the number of thousands that go there still..... to shop and visit the cafes and restaurants.
We do have quite large communities of all Nationalities and Religions...... and we all mostly get along with each other. Christianity still out numbers all other faiths in and around Birmingham.
Who fed this idiot all this crap anyway ?? He has had to withdraw this statement and apologise to the UK. Now he needs to resign. >:(
Many people here in the US would react with some variation of "well, it's FOX news." No coincidence that it's often referred to via nicknames like "Faux" or "Fuxed" News. It's our own hee-haw version of Pravda.
In the meantime, non-Muslims on both sides of the pond are grossly overestimating the percentage of Muslims in their countries.
Europe: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/01/daily-chart-2
US: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/02/american-muslim-population_n_6076872.html
The latter is an opinion piece, but provides links and an interesting graph. A few numbers:
Belgium: average guess 29% actual percentage 6%
Italy: average guess 20% actual percentage 4%
Canada average guess 20% actual percentage 2%
US average guess 15% actual percentage 1%
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It's our own hee-haw version of Pravda.
Thank you for that laugh!
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Thank you for that laugh!
Yeah, that was a real good 'un. :D Thank you, Marge!
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Pope Francis said Thursday there are limits to freedom of speech, especially when it insults or ridicules someone's faith.
Francis spoke about the Paris terror attacks while en route to the Philippines, defending free speech as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one's mind for the sake of the common good.
But he said there were limits.
By way of example, he referred to Alberto Gasparri, who organizes papal trips and was standing by his side aboard the papal plane.
"If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch," Francis said half-jokingly, throwing a mock punch his way. "It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others."
His pretend punch aside, Francis by no means said the violent attack on Charlie Hebdo was justified. Quite the opposite: He said such horrific violence in God's name couldn't be justified and was an "aberration." But he said a reaction of some sort was to be expected.
Many people around the world have defended the right of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish inflammatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed in the wake of the massacre by Islamic extremists at its Paris offices and subsequent attack on a kosher supermarket in which three gunmen killed 17 people.
Others, though, have noted that in virtually all societies, freedom of speech has its limits, from laws against Holocaust denial to racially motivated hate speech.
Recently the Vatican and four prominent French imams issued a joint declaration that, while denouncing the Paris attacks, urged the media to treat religions with respect.
Francis, who has called on Muslim leaders in particular to speak out against Islamic extremism, went a step further Thursday when asked by a French journalist about whether there were limits when freedom of expression meets freedom of religion.
"There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others," he said. "They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasparri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit."
In the wake of the Paris attacks, the Vatican has sought to downplay reports that it is a potential target for Islamic extremists, saying it is being vigilant but has received no specific threat.
Francis said he was concerned primarily for the safety of the faithful who come to see him in droves, and said he had spoken to Vatican security officials who are taking "prudent and secure measures."
"I am worried, but you know I have a defect: a good dose of carelessness. I'm careless about these things," he said. But he admitted that in his prayers, he had asked that if something were to happen to him that "it doesn't hurt, because I'm not very courageous when it comes to pain. I'm very timid."
He added, "I'm in God's hands."
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pope-charlie-hebdo-limits-freedom-expression-faith-insulted-122042999.html
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I do support the Pope's statement, but believe it should be taken in the context that no one should be provoking anyone else, on their hot buttons, for anything. That in no way decreases the grotesque response of those provoked, when it is murder.
But, then, Charlie's original partner said that he split with the latter as he believed Charlie wanted trouble. And that was the cause of his dropping out.
My further belief is, if you know some are animals, mocking them could be part of an agenda, very subtle, of wanting a prolonged war between different cultures. Which is manipulation, and puts others at risk.
Am very glad, though, to hear the words of Prime Minister Cameron, today. I've long believed we lose meaning to phrases and words. "War on Terror" and "Radical Islamists", IMO, have become bug-words, with too little meaning and begin to bore the public. Cameron introduced a profoundly more damaging description of the killers, say they were part of a Cult of Death. The semantics, there, are such that the killers can't squeeze out any sense of righteousness, there.
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Lyle stated it exactly, Sue and Janie, and Fox News is the worst war mongering, hate mongering, homophobic mongering network out there. It surprises me how they can call themselves a "NEWS" network. News is supposed to be reported honestly and without bias, and Fox News is the exact opposite. They are always have to retract what they and issue apologies. There are a lot of people who live in the US who feel the same way you do. And yes I believe the reporter should be fired.
I hear you Linda and it's to be deplored. Thanks.
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I've found one good thing on Fox, Red Eye, it's on at 3am eastern...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT7G7YA0nlU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT7G7YA0nlU)
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Pope Francis said Thursday there are limits to freedom of speech, especially when it insults or ridicules someone's faith.
Francis spoke about the Paris terror attacks while en route to the Philippines, defending free speech as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one's mind for the sake of the common good.
But he said there were limits.
By way of example, he referred to Alberto Gasparri, who organizes papal trips and was standing by his side aboard the papal plane.
"If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch," Francis said half-jokingly, throwing a mock punch his way. "It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others."
His pretend punch aside, Francis by no means said the violent attack on Charlie Hebdo was justified. Quite the opposite: He said such horrific violence in God's name couldn't be justified and was an "aberration." But he said a reaction of some sort was to be expected.
Many people around the world have defended the right of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish inflammatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed in the wake of the massacre by Islamic extremists at its Paris offices and subsequent attack on a kosher supermarket in which three gunmen killed 17 people.
Others, though, have noted that in virtually all societies, freedom of speech has its limits, from laws against Holocaust denial to racially motivated hate speech.
Recently the Vatican and four prominent French imams issued a joint declaration that, while denouncing the Paris attacks, urged the media to treat religions with respect.
Francis, who has called on Muslim leaders in particular to speak out against Islamic extremism, went a step further Thursday when asked by a French journalist about whether there were limits when freedom of expression meets freedom of religion.
"There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others," he said. "They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasparri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit."
In the wake of the Paris attacks, the Vatican has sought to downplay reports that it is a potential target for Islamic extremists, saying it is being vigilant but has received no specific threat.
Francis said he was concerned primarily for the safety of the faithful who come to see him in droves, and said he had spoken to Vatican security officials who are taking "prudent and secure measures."
"I am worried, but you know I have a defect: a good dose of carelessness. I'm careless about these things," he said. But he admitted that in his prayers, he had asked that if something were to happen to him that "it doesn't hurt, because I'm not very courageous when it comes to pain. I'm very timid."
He added, "I'm in God's hands."
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pope-charlie-hebdo-limits-freedom-expression-faith-insulted-122042999.html
HFS, I'm glad I'm not Catholic. (bolding added)
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That's when I said, "Ok, that's it, stop getting hoodwinked by news fear mongering. Just recently they kept warning us about all the horrible things that can happen to you if you eat food from the deli counters in supermarkets. Every possible code violation and again, on and on. Then I sat back and thought, have you "ever" had a problem with anything you've bought in a deli section like that? Except for not liking something, absolutely not. I read a study that would not surprise anyone: The more news that people watch on television, the more they are afraid of almost any subject.
I don't think this started with 9/11; if I had to pick a time period, it would be sometime in the 1980s: so much news reporting, whether it's actually news or what the print media used to call "features", the overall message is Be Afraid. Of Everything. And if there's nothing to be scared s**tless of right now, we'll invent something, bygawd.
The most recent bizarrity has been the flurry of solemn faced warnings about "the dangers lurking in those reusable grocery bags." The 'dangers' reflect the fact that disposable plastic or paper bags are used to transport groceries only once; re-usable bags get -- duh! -- re-used. So to keep them sanitary, when you do laundry just include the bags in the load.
But consider yourselves warned. That pretty red bag with "Hy Vee" on the front might just be out to get you.
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I do support the Pope's statement, but believe it should be taken in the context that no one should be provoking anyone else, on their hot buttons, for anything. That in no way decreases the grotesque response of those provoked, when it is murder.
But, then, Charlie's original partner said that he split with the latter as he believed Charlie wanted trouble. And that was the cause of his dropping out.
My further belief is, if you know some are animals, mocking them could be part of an agenda, very subtle, of wanting a prolonged war between different cultures. Which is manipulation, and puts others at risk.
Am very glad, though, to hear the words of Prime Minister Cameron, today. I've long believed we lose meaning to phrases and words. "War on Terror" and "Radical Islamists", IMO, have become bug-words, with too little meaning and begin to bore the public. Cameron introduced a profoundly more damaging description of the killers, say they were part of a Cult of Death. The semantics, there, are such that the killers can't squeeze out any sense of righteousness, there.
Thanks for your well thought out response Tony, I am always interested in what you have to say. And for the record I agree with you and the PM!
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2914129/Separate-schools-gays-not-answer-claims-campaigner-Peter-Tatchell-fears-LGBT-plans-create-ghetto.html
Makes you wonder who these people are trying to protect ! :-\
Good idea ? Bad idea ? What do you think ?
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I don't think this started with 9/11; if I had to pick a time period, it would be sometime in the 1980s: so much news reporting, whether it's actually news or what the print media used to call "features", the overall message is Be Afraid. Of Everything. And if there's nothing to be scared s**tless of right now, we'll invent something, bygawd.
The most recent bizarrity has been the flurry of solemn faced warnings about "the dangers lurking in those reusable grocery bags." The 'dangers' reflect the fact that disposable plastic or paper bags are used to transport groceries only once; re-usable bags get -- duh! -- re-used. So to keep them sanitary, when you do laundry just include the bags in the load.
But consider yourselves warned. That pretty red bag with "Hy Vee" on the front might just be out to get you.
I agree with you, I didn't mean to suggest that's when it started, but when it ratcheted up even higher.
And, yes, we've had those same reusuable grocery bag horror stories!
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I saw a discussion on this last night on "Newsnight".
Hard to know whether it is a good idea or not. The head of a school in, I think, New York, said it was quite successful, and although it was place of safety for gay kids, 40% of the students were heterosexual. I Suppose it could be a good idea for children who are being very badly bullied, but I would have thought that driving the bullying aspect out of main stream schools was the vital thing to do.
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The trouble with the Pope's use of the words mock and insult is that those
words mean different things to different people.
Everything nowadays has to be looked at as an offense. What gets the most talk
about the oscar nominations all the time? Not what was honored, but what wasn't.
It's not that you weren't chosen to be one of the nominees, but that you were
snubbed. Like it was a deliberate act to demean you or lessen your accomplishment.
Every year all the biopic films now get trounced on for every single inaccuracy (real or
imagined) or for things not included or left out and the like.
SELMA: Everyone got in an uproar about LBJ not being portrayed as a saint. Never mind
the fact the important thing is that he pushed through civil rights legislation, but that
he was perceived to be slighted in the characterization of the events. By the way, I
grew up during Johnson's tenure and no one was ever praising him for much of anything
during his entire administration.
UNBROKEN: Louis Zamparini was an alcoholic and wife beater.
AMERICAN SNIPER: Chris Kyle was a liar and self-aggrandizing manipulator with his wife as co-conspirator.
IMITATION GAME: The events in connection with Alan Turing Being gay were whitewashed and diminished, for starters.
THEORY OF EVERYTHING: His wife was portrayed as saintly inspiring a guilt-free zone for her husband to be unfaithful for the sake of her religious faith and family.
There are singular articles and websites dedicated to fact-checking all these films.
The Pope may say that people should not be mocked or insulted for their faith, but when you
have faith in some things that get others harassed or killed then how can you not address those
things.
With the electronic mass media we have that creeps into every crevice of our daily lives
to remind us of everything we should feel offended or fearful about, people need to be
reminded that they don't have to participate in that game, and no one needs to hear that
more than organized religions.
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Thanks for your well thought out response Tony, I am always interested in what you have to say. And for the record I agree with you and the PM!
Thank-you, Bubba. Your post comes at a time when I am seeing a great deal of disagreement, often acerbic, and words losing their meaning, and a toxic fog settling in, reminding me of whatever poem that was that ended "where ignorant armies clash by night".
In your case, am sure you do not agree with much of what I have posted. (Sometimes, upon review, I don't, either :P ). But I've noticed, you always choose to find a way to be polite, and to look for the best.
That is the mark of a well-bred person, and I wish there were more of that going around !
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The trouble with the Pope's use of the words mock and insult is that those
words mean different things to different people.
........
The Pope may say that people should not be mocked or insulted for their faith, but when you
have faith in some things that get others harassed or killed then how can you not address those
things.
I do agree, Lyle. It's a word problem. And just before reading your post, I was listening to someone on CNN, who had done an op-ed on the "Necessary Blasphemy". When asked about the Pope, though, he mellowed out, smiled, and said, that this Pope often gets mis-translated :D.
As for faiths that have tenets that lead to harassment or death, every Pope of modern times has condemned extending a belief to the injury of others. Though some have not said that forcefully enough, this Pope has. People just choose not to hear him.
Those tenets should be addressed, and challenged. Am eager to see that done. But the most vociferous have a further agenda, sometimes, one of a hate of their own. And when they do achieve "Yes" for an answer, they won't accept it.
FWIW, Lyle, we're on the same page. I've never seen hate in any of your posts, and you don't distort. Thanks for that !
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I found the poem that I referred to above. "Dover Beach", by Matthew Arnold. Am a do-do bird on cut and copy, so, it's there on Wikipedia.
Turns out, the entire poem has a relevance to our own turmoils now.
BTW, my being troubled is primarily from Facebook, where my news feed is loaded with anti-Obama stuff, as well as "kill them all" as far as Muslims. can't unfriend them, as they are childhood friends. But it's accelerating.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Beach
:) :)
I have a lot of American friends who have deleted members of their own family over comments about the President, I guess it can really get nasty. I am Canadian, can't say we discuss politics too much on facebook! :D
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Thanks for the link, Bubba. I really think this poem reflects our times more than before, and the analysis is good, for each stanza.
As for Facebook, I have probably the whackiest friends list there could be. But some of my younger day friends are now unexpectedly political. And I just stay out of it. The absence of a "like" can be more telling than the presence of one !
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BTW, my being troubled is primarily from Facebook, where my news feed is loaded with anti-Obama stuff, as well as "kill them all" as far as Muslims. can't unfriend them, as they are childhood friends. But it's accelerating.
I am afraid I would have no truck with people who sent me messages like that, childhood friends or not.
I was surprised on my recent travels in the USA when one of my very pleasant coach companions said she would not go to Washington while the present President was there. Being a foreigner, I made no comment. However later I was discussing the medical care I receive in Australia and New Zealand and she said "But that is socialism" My reply "Yes, I am proud to be a socialist" We discussed other things from then on. ;D
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I am afraid I would have no truck with people who sent me messages like that, childhood friends or not.
I was surprised on my recent travels in the USA when one of my very pleasant coach companions said she would not go to Washington while the present President was there. Being a foreigner, I made no comment. However later I was discussing the medical care I receive in Australia and New Zealand and she said "But that is socialism" My reply "Yes, I am proud to be a socialist" We discussed other things from then on. ;D
Brian, I have been tempted to drop them. But, as far as I can tell, it's been a predisposition that has, I hope, just revved up, temporarily. The "kill all Muslims" wasn't them, but they allowed it on their topics.
Like you, I have found it better to discuss other things. I really have hopes they are just volatile, and will simmer down, and be embarrassed later :"> .
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I found the poem that I referred to above. "Dover Beach", by Matthew Arnold. Am a do-do bird on cut and copy, so, it's there on Wikipedia.
Turns out, the entire poem has a relevance to our own turmoils now.
BTW, my being troubled is primarily from Facebook, where my news feed is loaded with anti-Obama stuff, as well as "kill them all" as far as Muslims. can't unfriend them, as they are childhood friends. But it's accelerating.
Just 'hide' them on your newsfeed, Tony.
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Just 'hide' them on your newsfeed, Tony.
That's an idea :) !
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I found the poem that I referred to above. "Dover Beach", by Matthew Arnold.
Thanks for bringing up this poem. There is a documentary I like and have watched a few times.
It's narrated by Jason Robards and he recites a couple verses from this poem in it and i never think
to look it up any time afterwards, but now have thanks to you and the subsequent link.
In the documentary he says that his generation was the last generation that was taught to
read and memorize a lot of poetry in school. It's a shame, really, because when I just read
that poem it was like a breath of fresh air. It used to be said that songs are poetry set to music,
but I find little of poetry in the lyrics of today's songs.
I remember when growing up some talk shows and even variety shows had occasional guests who
read poetry. Even comedians like Nipsey Russell used poetry as pat of their act! And who can forget
Maya Angelou or Richard Blanco reciting their new poems when Clinton and Obama were sworn in,
respectively? Poetry's always seen as a chore to have to read by young people. And yet, poems
aren't long...and they can be profound in just a few lines. They can make you laugh out loud, too.
I remember people writing Brokeback Mountain poetry when the forum started and alot of it was
heatfelt and pure pleasure.
Off topic, I guess, but the world needs to have more poetry in it. If I were a teacher, I think I'd
have now gotten the idea to start each day (or class) off with a poem!
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^^^
P.S.: I was amused that "spell check" wanted to make sure I spelled
Robards, Obama, Blanco and even Clinton correctly, but had no problem
with "Nipsey" or "Maya Angelou!" :)
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2914785/Thrown-death-gay-s-latest-abomination-one-expert-argues-images-betray-radical-Muslims-new-thirst-killing-justice.html
If I wrote what I wanted to say about this latest abomination....I would surely be banned from the Forum.....so.....
I am lost for words. :'(
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You want to think it is fake, it can't be true! But I was listening to CBC radio the other day (as always) and there was a man talking about when he had came out. He was a Sikh, he came out at school to classmates and friends first, they were very accepting. So then his Parents found out about that, confronted him. Wanted to know "who he had been gay with" he hadn't "been gay with anyone".
Then his Mom tells him he will stop this or he will have to move out, live someplace else. He is shocked, thinks, well where can I go......then his Dad talks to him and tells him, he will stop it or.......he will kill him/have him killed.
Just imagine how he felt?
I saw that same article posted the other day (also on the same site) they stoned a woman to death for adultery and "crucified" two men for stealing. All these "crimes" are accusations of course.
Reminds me of burning witches at the stake!
And who turns up to watch these things take place!! :'(
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Some 10-15 years ago, a female sailor went missing, here in Norfolk. Odd thing was, she was from some foreign culture or other, and had been warned not to go modern. And I detected a sullen silence from interviews with her family.
Even before I had learned of "honor" killings, I smelled a rat. But not NCIS. No, same old, same old, from the Norfolk office. Who are so whacked out, they're dangerous. Anyway, am fairly certain....the family did it.
Why they would shun, I guess I could, at a stretch, understand. But, kill?
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Meanwhile, in other news, Michael Sam proposed to his semi-Italian boyfriend, at the top of St. Peter's Basilica, in Vatican City. There were (ahem) no swat teams of Swiss guards, and no condemnation from the Vatican press.
Good timing. Gay press had just zoomed right past the Pope's homily in the Phillipines, where he said all love is good and condemned exclusions. And went to some hook-up of the words much later saying families, sex, and marriage were under fire from relativism against God's will, as proposing the Pope backsliding and condemning gay marriage as an evil. Short memory there, as the Pope had said before, unions between same-gender that reinforced companionship and love were not a bad idea.
I predicted, as usual, the knee-jerk reaction would vanish. That's already started. One gay news site said he was backsliding on upholding no artificial birth control, said there were inconsistencies there with reducing poverty (with which I agree), but dropped the earlier "Pope against gay marriage !" gig.
I'll need more before I drop this Pope.
meanwhile, congrats to Michael Sam, for bagging a nice Catholic young man :) ! I wish them well !
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Yes, they make such a beautiful couple.
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Some 10-15 years ago, a female sailor went missing, here in Norfolk. Odd thing was, she was from some foreign culture or other, and had been warned not to go modern. And I detected a sullen silence from interviews with her family.
Even before I had learned of "honor" killings, I smelled a rat. But not NCIS. No, same old, same old, from the Norfolk office. Who are so whacked out, they're dangerous. Anyway, am fairly certain....the family did it.
Why they would shun, I guess I could, at a stretch, understand. But, kill?
Yea no "honour" in it is there? Here was the big story around here a few years back, man killed his first wife and his three daughters, with the help of his second wife and his son, unreal...
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/27/give-me-away-if-he-is-a-good-man-an-excerpt-from-without-honour-the-true-story-of-the-shafia-family-and-the-kingston-canal-murders/
I was also kind of surprised the Pope back tracked, but also not ready to give up on him. Did you see that mass, 6 million people!!
and the happy couple!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2913992/He-said-yes-Michael-Sam-reveals-proposed-longtime-boyfriend-atop-Catholic-church-overlooking-Vatican-City.html
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So has anyone read what Michael Sam is doing now that he is not playing football?
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Not really. No team has picked him up.
But, we can assume he's doing ok in his personal life, which is more than can be said for some of them ::).
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Meanwhile, in other news, Michael Sam proposed to his semi-Italian boyfriend,
That sounds funny -- a semi-Italian boyfriend!
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Italian semi-freddo ice cream is good.
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" 'Le Petit Journal,' France's version of Jon Stewart's 'The Daily Show,' continued its campaign of mocking and ridiculing Fox News after the U.S. cable news giant last week put guests on-air who lied repeatedly about supposed 'no-go zones' in Europe. . . . Fox, in an extremely rare move, issued several apologies over the weekend for the false reporting. The existence of supposed 'no-go zones,' which, according to Fox News 'experts' are populated solely by Muslims who follow Islamic, not French or English law, has been debunked."
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/france_s_daily_show_continues_to_hilariously_mock_fox_news_coverage_of_paris_no_go_zones
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" 'Le Petit Journal,' France's version of Jon Stewart's 'The Daily Show,' continued its campaign of mocking and ridiculing Fox News after the U.S. cable news giant last week put guests on-air who lied repeatedly about supposed 'no-go zones' in Europe. . . . Fox, in an extremely rare move, issued several apologies over the weekend for the false reporting. The existence of supposed 'no-go zones,' which, according to Fox News 'experts' are populated solely by Muslims who follow Islamic, not French or English law, has been debunked."
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/france_s_daily_show_continues_to_hilariously_mock_fox_news_coverage_of_paris_no_go_zones
I thought that segment was so funny when I saw it that it inspired my signature. I've had a major crush on the charming host of Le petit journal, Yann Barthès, for quite a while now. I just read that he's getting into acting.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Fyann-barthes-02_zpsnzoso3sd.jpg&hash=796588668f96b8646e3f80899fe0133806ca9f84)
Here is a link to the video spoofing Fox "journalists" visiting Paris "The Most Dangerous City in the Universe". The introduction is in French only but the actual bit is in English and it's hilarious.
http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/c-le-petit-journal/pid6811-eric-et-quentin.html?vid=1198956&sc_cmpid=SharePlayerEmbed
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About Fox News: Doesn't anyone remember this case involving Fox News, about reporting honestly?
___________________
In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.
During their trial appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre’s claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so.
In a stunningly narrow interpretation of FCC rules, the Florida Appeals court claimed that the FCC policy against falsification of the news does not rise to the level of a "law, rule, or regulation," it was simply a "policy." Therefore, it is up to the station whether or not it wants to report honestly.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/07/31/364678/-Fox-News-wins-in-court
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That's appalling. Why would anyone watch the trash? Having said that, you only have to listen to the average Party Political Broadcast here to get a thoroughly distorted slant so I suppose honest unbiased reporting's an endangered species.
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Pope Frank's statement about excessive reproduction might have opened a hatful of rabbits (take note of their facial expressions!):
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi135.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq135%2Ftalkstocoyotes%2FPopeFrankandrabbits_zpsc1d3a3d9.jpg&hash=51dfb2e96eabd550245fb728a821a198d8262077)
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That's appalling. Why would anyone watch the trash? Having said that, you only have to listen to the average Party Political Broadcast here to get a thoroughly distorted slant so I suppose honest unbiased reporting's an endangered species.
I think the people that listen to FOX are the people that believe anything and especially the conservative crap FOX talks about all the time. People believe as Gospel what they want to hear.
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Sanaa, Yemen (CNN)Yemen's President resigned Thursday night shortly after his Prime Minister and the Cabinet stepped down -- seismic changes in the country's political scene that come just one day after the government and Houthi rebels struck a tentative peace deal meant to end days of turmoil.
The resignations of Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and other officials are the latest fallout from the Houthis' move in recent days to gain power in the capital, which included kidnapping Hadi's chief of staff on Saturday and taking over the presidential palace on Tuesday.
The chaos in Yemen is cause for concern far beyond the country's borders. For the United States and its allies, Yemen's government has been a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based group linked to attacks such as the recent slaughter at French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The Cabinet and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned before Hadi did on Thursday night, with Bahah telling Hadi in a letter that they essentially wanted to wash their hands of "destructive political chaos," an apparent reference to the deal that was to give Houthis more power.
"(We resigned) so that we are not made party to what is going on and what will happen," Bahah wrote in the letter, which Yemeni Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf posted on Twitter.
Hadi's resignation followed soon afterward. It wasn't immediately clear who would succeed Hadi....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/world/yemen-violence/index.html
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Pope Frank's statement about excessive reproduction might have opened a hatful of rabbits (take note of their facial expressions!):]
Good cartoon :) ! But am happy for even little whiffles of progress. I do not believe this planet can support, in a healthy way, even 1/2 of the present numbers.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2920856/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-Stench-conspiracy-Chilcot-growing.html
The truth...the whole truth....and nothing but the truth.......pleeeease ?
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'Historic' storm set to slam Northeast
(CNN) Go home. Stay there. Seriously.
That's the message government officials across the Northeast offered residents Monday ahead of what could be a blizzard of historic proportions bearing down on the region...
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/26/us/weather-storm/index.html
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Good cartoon :) ! But am happy for even little whiffles of progress. I do not believe this planet can support, in a healthy way, even 1/2 of the present numbers.
Totally agree with the second half. As to the first, Nature is going to address that problem one of these days and I doubt whiffles will be taken into consideration. :P
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As to the first, Nature is going to address that problem one of these days. :P
Yes. I just hope she waits until I'm gone, and the thought of it makes me glad I'm not leaving any descendants.
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Survivors Return to Auschwitz for 70th Anniversary of Liberation
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-3.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2015%2Fnews%2F150209%2Fauschwitz-1-1024.jpg&hash=f2af8ed9166807fff9ffe876858e754f614cd802)
http://www.people.com/article/auschwitz-survivors-mark-70th-anniversary-of-liberation
Very moving article! :'(
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CBS had a spot showing little children in the camps. They had a slight hopeful smile, as little children do, to appeal for help. One had a tear in one eye, as if half-knowing. And the world keeps doing this, one way or another, still.
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The little boy is towards the end......
http://youtu.be/KghGSpERwHs
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I visited Auschwitz in 2000.
I did not go on an organised tour but found my own way from where I was staying in Krakow by train then public bus and a longish walk back to the train. I am so glad I did as I was not rushed round in a group but spent many hours there and the memories of that day still bring tears. I stood up to the piles of shoes and the mound of hair along with the photos and the actual gas ovens but went into one barracks which had been turned into a Jewish memorial and Jewish chants were playing and I sobbed my heart out. I had already visited Dachau near Munich and many Jewish museums and memorials (the one in Berlin since) but none had as much emotional impact on me as Auschwitz.
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The little boy is towards the end......
http://youtu.be/KghGSpERwHs
I just can't watch it, Tony.
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Yes. I just hope she waits until I'm gone, and the thought of it makes me glad I'm not leaving any descendants.
That's where a belief in reincarnation gets inconvenient. But as many believers of various varieties will tell you, belief doesn't depend on convenience.
Couldn't watch that video of the little boy either, but IMO there's a lot some of us have to 'watch' in that sense.
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I just can't watch it, Tony.
Me either.
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I just can't watch it, Tony.
Yeah, Sara, (and Linda, and Marge), it's heart-breaking. The little Polish boy has made a wound in my heart. But, we still keep doing this. Different wars, new extremism....and that's scary, to me.
BTW, I posted it so I could return to that sweet face, and remember how he jumped out, of his own. I didn't want him to just fade off. Something about him, especially, got to me.
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The day after I visited Auschwitz, I took a tour of the Wieliczka Ice Caves and remember a discussion with a lady about Auschwitz. She told me she would not go there. I enjoyed my tour of the Ice Caves and did not "enjoy" Auschwitz. Yet the Ice caves are now just one of many wonderful places I have visited and remember, details disappearing with time, but Auschwitz is very clearly etched on my mind as one of the most memorable days of my life.
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It really would be an amazing experience.. amazing you went Brian. I am still trying to recover from watching The Boy in the Striped Pajamas!
I didn't look at the video and then was at a clients early this morning, they had the news on and it was showing footage... and yep showed the little kids and their faces, half grins. Mothers carrying babies, toddlers walking a long.
It is mind boggling - and an interview with a man who survived the camps, has dedicated his life to speaking about the horrors and he is very concerned history is doomed to repeat itself.
He specifically mentioned Europe and all the hate and anger going on right now, what have we learned? It was done in a CBC broadcast where he went back to the camp, so I may go look that up.
:'(
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The day after I visited Auschwitz, I took a tour of the Wieliczka Ice Caves and remember a discussion with a lady about Auschwitz. She told me she would not go there. I enjoyed my tour of the Ice Caves and did not "enjoy" Auschwitz. Yet the Ice caves are now just one of many wonderful places I have visited and remember, details disappearing with time, but Auschwitz is very clearly etched on my mind as one of the most memorable days of my life.
Brian, it says a lot about you, that you even made the journey. And have never forgotten. And bring the experience with you, these years later.
For me, it's a starting point, again, on an off-again, on-again journey. A jolt to keep looking, whether I want to or not. Gets me into trouble, too, because, if I do see an extreme, I say something, and there's always somebody who doesn't like that.
For example, given all the oppression of black people in the U.S., where I live, there are no white against black extremes, but I have seen and read of iconic, brutal, bullying of whites, and murder from blacks. And you can't speak up, easily.
It's those particularly cruel events that we tend to want to box in and file away, denying others, still going on.
And children are still getting brutalized in political and military world events. In general, the German people did not know of the extremes, and were also experiencing some of their own, (the fire-bombing of Dresden and Cologne). But we know about extremes, and, for whatever reason, lessen the equivalence.
Again, there's just something about that little Polish boy, that jumps past the de-sensitivation of holocaust films and photos. At least, for me, it's not compassion - that's my kid.
Also, I wish I knew how to do screencaps. It's only a 1 minute video, and CBS will take it down, soon enough. He has such a sweet face....
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My sister's best friend, she was her bridesmaid over 50 years ago, will not go to any war based movie. I can understand. As a 10 year old, she sheltered with her mother and three younger brothers in a cellar during the bombing of Dresden.
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I nearly clicked on the video a moment ago - I sort of feel I should, for the sake of those children. But I would just see my own children/grandchildren - and of course the children were sons, daughters and grandchildren - and I couldn't bear it.
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I visited the Dachau concentration camp when I was 15 years old, in 1978.
It had such a devastating effect on me, that I can/could never visit anymore a similar place of horror and human abjection.
However, I visited My Lai in Vietnam (in the late 90s) and last year the killing fields in Phnom Penh/Cambodia.
I figured that it was "good" that I did it, but now I've decided that I can't take any more of this.
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I was just giving myself a little history lesson and found this:
Introduction to the Holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.
During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority": Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143
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Went to Dachau back in 1967, back then that was about the only one of the places opened to people on the western side of the Iron Curtain.
Powerful experience.
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....I figured that it was "good" that I did it, but now I've decided that I can't take any more of this.
Ingmar's post made me think - a lot, about my original post, with a link.
It is the way of civilized, decent people, to go look, as Ingmar did, but to understand, sometimes we are powerless against repeated atrocities, and, for our own journey in life, must oppose them, but not live them.
And I am similar. I see, I shrink back, I distance myself, and speak up when there's a shred of a chance it might make a difference. So, I wasn't having a Sally Struthers episode. Nor was it political/ethical. In that case, I would have brought up Bibi and Hamas, the kids in North Korea, the orphans in Russia. All I did, on that line was to say: we are still doing this.
No, Ingmar's post caused me to remember, this is a Bbm forum, and I could explain what struck me. With the shirts scene, we went past a moving story into some kind of epiphany, that moved past the tragedy to the intensely personal.
And that's what happened, for me, with the Polish kid at the end of the 1 minute video. No distancing, for safety. No wave of compassion. For me, that little boy was someone I knew. And so, the post.
And since I had that reaction, of family, am still dorking around trying to do a screencap. Too many people in my life where I don't have photos. And CBS will take it down, soon enough, and he's gone. Sometimes, there's some kind of connection past tragedy, that we don't understand. It's past the historical. It's personal. So, that might further explain why I even did the post. On a Bbm forum, some of you are bound to understand, that something else was/is going on. We share that little target area where an arrow can hit.
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I understand completely, I actually tried several times to do a screen capture, I don't know how to do it, but someone has to know how!!
I would love to keep a picture of his little face. Maybe find out who he was, what was his fate??
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi34.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd145%2Fcccccarol%2FUntitled_zpsae16cb35.png&hash=b60ef9be19aaedc18ac6339e07b0fb895ac74ad0)
Best I could do, but I will try it again!
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Bubba - I owe you big-time !!!
Thank you, so very much !!!
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I will try to improve the quality and get rid of the captions! Sooo happy to help, look at that face!
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and now for something completely different.
Ooooops! KidzBop makes "R rated" song?
For those who don't know, "KidzBop" is a series of records/CDs that are sung by kids, for kids. They cover original songs, and (if necessary) water down/change the lyrics to make sure everything is "G-rated" for young years.
The most recent KidzBop CD contains a cover of Meghan Trainor's smash from last year, "All About That Bass".....a song about being proud of being a full figured woman. Some of the changes are:
"I got the boom boom that all the boys chase and all the right junk in all the right places" is changed to "I got the dance moves that all the boys chase and all the right moves in all the right places"
"My mama she told me don't worry about your size, boys like a little more booty to hold at night" is changed to "my mama she told me don't worry about your size, don't let it keep you at home in your room all night."
The problem happened with the following lyric...."I'm bringing booty back, go 'head and tell those skinny bitches that"
That lyric was changed to "I'm bringing it all back, go 'head and tell them other haters that." HOWEVER.......the kids sing "it all" very fast, which makes them sound like they're singing "I'm bringing anal back!" A number of listeners have posted to twitter to comment on hearing "anal" and not "it all".
If you want to compare, here's Meghan's original song (as if you haven't heard it already).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk
and here's a link to the story, that has the kidzbop version at the end.
http://www.complex.com/music/2015/01/kidz-bop-all-about-that-bass-anal-back
(or, if you don't want to listen that long, just skip to 1:20 into each song)
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That lyric was changed to "I'm bringing it all back, go 'head and tell them other haters that." HOWEVER.......the kids sing "it all" very fast, which makes them sound like they're singing "I'm bringing anal back!" A number of listeners have posted to twitter to comment on hearing "anal" and not "it all".
:D :D :D
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Transgender man: I met with Pope Francis
By Al Goodman, CNN
Updated 4:34 PM ET, Fri January 30, 2015
Diego Neria Lejarraga says he had a private audience with the Pope in January
Catholic doctrine holds sex change procedures don't change person's gender in church's eyes
Neria: "If this Pope has a long life, which all of his followers hope, I think things will change"
Plasencia, Spain (CNN) Has Pope Francis taken another step to push for tolerance in the Catholic Church?
Yes, says Diego Neria Lejarraga, a transgender man who says he had a private audience with the Pope in late January, reportedly a first for the pontiff. Neria was born as a girl in Spain and raised as a devout Catholic.
But after his sex change operation eight years ago, many people scorned him in church in his hometown of Plasencia in western Spain. Neria recalls heated discussions with a parish priest and some others in town. Afterward, he started staying away from Mass.
"I've never lost faith, ever," Neria says. "But the other thing is the rejection."
He wrote to Pope Francis last year, saying his local bishop helped get the letter noticed. Next, according to Neria, came two phone calls from Francis. And then, a discreet audience on a Saturday evening, January 24, at the papal residence, Casa Santa Marta.
Vatican spokesmen and the local Spanish bishop's office declined to comment on the meeting, insisting the Pope's private meetings are just that.
Neria, a civil servant, told CNN that he's not an activist for transgender people and doesn't expect changes overnight.
"This man loves the whole world," Neria says of Pope Francis. "I think there's not -- in his head, in his way of thinking, discrimination against anyone. I'm speaking about him, not the institution."
Catholic doctrine holds that sex change procedures do not change a person's gender in the eyes of the church.
"But if this Pope has a long life, which all of his followers hope," Neria says, "I think things will change."
And he's already seen changes at home. The downside: Neria says he's unaccustomed to the sudden media interest in him since the story broke in the local paper, Hoy, of Extremadura. He says he's gotten queries from journalists as far afield as India and Colombia. But he also sees a positive side.
"Just the fact that you've met the holy father, without knowing what was said," Neria says, "people now seem to look at you in a different way."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/30/living/pope-transgender-man/index.html
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This is pretty hard to read...not sure if they'll have child protective services after this guy...
"He claims to be acting in the best interests of their children but it is the children who are being penalized by his insistence on withholding the support to which they are accustomed and entitled under Illinois law," a spokesperson for Dias said.
Anne Dias is demanding that her billionaire husband, Ken Griffin, who is seeking a divorce, provide her with round-the-clock access to a private jet costing as much as $300,000 a month, as well as office space and staff for the children, costing $60,000 a month, and $160,000 a month for vacations, according to a new court filing.
"Anne's continued demands (come) under the guise of 'child support,' " Griffin's filing said.
Griffin has said that she has already received about $40 million under their prenuptial agreement, which she is seeking to have invalidated.
Talk about a dead-beat dad...
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Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's daughter was found unconscious in a bathtub in her home -- and taken to a hospital where she is now breathing ... TMZ has learned.
Bobbi Kristina Brown's husband Nick Gordon and a friend found her in the tub ... according to police in Roswell, GA. We're told her husband and friend immediately started CPR on her ... until police and paramedics arrived.
We're told police took over life-saving measures on the scene -- and then she was taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Doctors have now stabilized her breathing, and we're told she is in ICU.
Still unclear why Bobbi fell unconscious. We're told a friend made the call to 911 from Bobbi's house.
The circumstances are especially eerie -- Whitney died in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton on February 11 ... three years ago.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2015/01/31/bobbi-kristina-brown-found-unconscious-bathtub-whitney-houston/#ixzz3QQhGdARI
I hope this girl makes it, thing is when Whitney messed up her life, she messed up her daughters too. Of course she was an addict, if only she could have seen what lay ahead, right up to this!!
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This is pretty hard to read...not sure if they'll have child protective services after this guy...
"He claims to be acting in the best interests of their children but it is the children who are being penalized by his insistence on withholding the support to which they are accustomed and entitled under Illinois law," a spokesperson for Dias said.
Anne Dias is demanding that her billionaire husband, Ken Griffin, who is seeking a divorce, provide her with round-the-clock access to a private jet costing as much as $300,000 a month, as well as office space and staff for the children, costing $60,000 a month, and $160,000 a month for vacations, according to a new court filing.
"Anne's continued demands (come) under the guise of 'child support,' " Griffin's filing said.
Griffin has said that she has already received about $40 million under their prenuptial agreement, which she is seeking to have invalidated.
Talk about a dead-beat dad...
Someone should set up a Kickstarter account to raise money to help that poor woman and her children.
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This is interesting. I'd love to visit Iceland:
Iceland to build first temple to Norse gods since Viking age
A modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in recent years as followers see the stories as metaphors for life not worship of the gods
Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island’s first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age.
Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland.
“I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” said Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of Ásatrúarfélagið, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods.
“We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.“
Membership in Asatruarfelagid has tripled in Iceland in the last decade to 2,400 members last year, out of a total population of 330,000, data from Statistics Iceland showed.
The temple will be circular and will be dug 4 metres (13ft) down into a hill overlooking the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, with a dome on top to let in the sunlight.
“The sun changes with the seasons so we are in a way having the sun paint the space for us,” Hilmarsson said.
The temple will host ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. The group will also confer names to children and initiate teenagers, similar to other religious communities.
Iceland’s neo-pagans still celebrate the ancient sacrificial ritual of Blot with music, reading, eating and drinking, but nowadays leave out the slaughter of animals.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years
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Iceland to build first temple to Norse gods since Viking age
That would certainly be something interesting to see.
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I want to go there too. Perhaps I should wait till this is built.
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I want to go there too. Perhaps I should wait till this is built.
I have vague, very vague plans for late 2016. It is the only country in Western Europe I have not visited (well except Andorra and San Marino :) )
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I went again last year. It's a fascinating place. Go if you can, you'll love it and the people are wonderful. :)
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That lyric was changed to "I'm bringing it all back, go 'head and tell them other haters that." HOWEVER.......the kids sing "it all" very fast, which makes them sound like they're singing "I'm bringing anal back!"
Which raises the question, "where did it go?" :)
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Randy Quaid is back in the news unfortunately. Aguirre is really off the rails.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Frandy-quaid-01_zpszpjpirtb.jpg&hash=7c342c504bb23f99afabee5bc295555950409a3a)
https://www.tytnetwork.com/2015/02/04/actor-randy-quaid-fcks-rupert-murdoch-in-this-bizarre-video-video-included/
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"Refusing to get your children immunized against measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, whooping cough, hepatitis, diphtheria, fuckin' polio, and other nasty shit is one of the great expressions of bourgeois decadence in the latter days of this dying empire. It is a ludicrous convergence of voodoo-like pseudoscience, worship of individuality, and selfish helicopter parenting."
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2015/02/people-who-doubt-vaccines-need-to-be.html
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Karak, Jordan (CNN)Two days after news emerged that ISIS had burned a captive Jordanian pilot to death, the Middle Eastern nation hit back.
Fighter jets carried out airstrikes Thursday, then returned to fly over the home of the slain 27-year-old pilot, Lt. Moath al-Kasasbeh, in the village of Ay in Karak governorate.
"This is just the beginning and you shall know who the Jordanians are," the armed forces said in a statement on state TV.
They claimed hits on ISIS training centers, arms and ammunition depots: "All targets were completely destroyed and all the planes returned to their bases safely."
The air mission was named "Moath the Martyr." State TV aired exclusive video footage of warplanes striking unspecified ISIS positions in Syria.
The pilot's father, Safi al-Kasasbeh, told CNN that King Abdullah II had promised him that Jordan would avenge his son's death and bombard ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. On Thursday, he said that the King told him 30 Jordanian fighter jets participated in the strikes.
....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/05/world/isis-jordan/index.html
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Canada’s Supreme Court strikes down assisted suicide ban
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/02/06/supreme-court-rules-strikes-down-assisted-suicide-ban.html
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Waiting to see if NBC cans Brian Williams. He has admitted to conflating experiences. His helicopter did come under small arms fire, but he embellished the facts. Even so, they pick anchors, these days, for likeability. And I do like him. What bothers me is the rush to enjoy his troubles. It's as if large numbers of people are in pitiful need of someone, anyone, to gloat over.
On another subject, the war in Ukraine is very, very dangerous. Putin's original goal was to cause divisions in NATO, hoping for new power for Russia. Despite huge losses for the Russian economy, due to embargos, he still has the public's support.
Putin is dangerous, and now, to everyone.
Finally, it's beginning to look like events everywhere are no longer Newtonian, meaning one thing follows another. It's more like a Quantum era, where anything could happen.
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Someone should have smelled a rat when he referred to the French Quarter being flooded. "Conflating" is the currently popular term for "making up shit."
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Flooding in the French Quarter? I don't get that reference.
Waiting to see if NBC cans Brian Williams. He has admitted to conflating experiences. His helicopter did come under small arms fire, but he embellished the facts. Even so, they pick anchors, these days, for likeability. And I do like him. What bothers me is the rush to enjoy his troubles. It's as if large numbers of people are in pitiful need of someone, anyone, to gloat over.
Random thoughts about this:
--With all the lies our Government told us about Iraq and getting into that rathole, Brian Williams
is the one people want to hold accountable for "telling the truth" about Iraq?
--I happened to see that newscast where what Williams said got him into trouble. He wasn't
reporting "news" in that segment, he was remembering something that had happened. Not
news. I know news is purported to be "anything" nowadays, but I don't think this is really a
big deal.
--Remember that post I did here recently about the Fox News trial where it was ruled that
they didn't have to report things accurately to call it news?
I mean, Tom Brokaw has been spreading around the notion that the World War II era folks
were THE greatest generation and now it seems to be taken as fact as you hear that term all
the time now. You know, the generation that got the country into a huge depression in the
first place. The generation that put Japanese American citizens into POW camps. Witch hunted
American citizens into communist fear baiting and tried to keep minorities from exercising their
civil rights. Spent billions on armaments and got us into Korea and Vietnam. Yes. They did. For
starters. This greatest generation. See? It's all in how you look at it. Maybe Tom Brokaw should
be strung up, too.
--I did read once, probably a few years ago, something about Brian Williams at some kind of an event
in New York City where he was giving a speech somewhere about honoring someone and a person
in attendance said that his speech was, of course, all about Brian, implying that he had a big ego and
was always in self-aggrandizing mode. (But have I remembered all this correctly? Maybe.) In an age of
News People as superstars, ego can be a problem I guess. Barbara Walters has always straddled the
"news" and "entertainment" line. If someone complained about something she said she could say,
"Oh that was under my 'entertainment' reporting guise." I mean, I recall she once was talking about
Joel Schumacher. She said, "You know, that great film director Joel Schumacher..." I never believed
her about anything again. Even as to what animal she'd like to be.
--I do agree that "the rush to enjoy his troubles" is common now. People want to get online or twitter
or instagram or youtube and pounce on anyone and find OFFENSE in nearly anything. It's the "I WILL
NEVER EVER FORGIVE OR FORGET YOU" for that one thing you did or said. The "mountains out of
molehills" syndrome."
--Even Al Gore cannot live down the "I invented the internet" lie -- AND HE NEVER EVEN SAID THAT.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/12/al-gore-never-said-he-invented-the-internet/
--ANY of us could find ourselves in Brian Williams' situation and completely not deserve it. Sometimes
things like this go away immediately because some other trite news story comes along immediately and
America's attention span of gnats moves on and forgets. Other times no other story appears and it
lingers, festers and grows into a monster.
--Didn't Hillary Clinton have an episode during her 2008 campaign of misremembering her helicopter
being under fire? So, I guess she's out, right?
--Lying and not remembering something correctly are two entirely different things.
Look at all the controversy EVERY year about biopic films and the articles about
the truth and lies of all of them.
--How quickly people forget. From a few months ago: HERE (http://twitchy.com/2014/06/20/presidents-approval-rating-hits-9-year-high-pres-bush-that-is/)
"President's Approval Rating Hits 9 Year High: President George W. Bush, That Is."
-- ???
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I mean, Tom Brokaw has been spreading around the notion that the World War II era folks
were THE greatest generation and now it seems to be taken as fact as you hear that term all
the time now. You know, the generation that got the country into a huge depression in the
first place. The generation that put Japanese American citizens into POW camps. Witch hunted
American citizens into communist fear baiting and tried to keep minorities from exercising their
civil rights. Spent billions on armaments and got us into Korea and Vietnam. Yes. They did. For
starters. This greatest generation. See? It's all in how you look at it. Maybe Tom Brokaw should
be strung up, too.
I think this is a mischaracterization, Lyle, or perhaps I'm the one who's confused. I've always thought Brokaw meant the people who fought the war--unless I've misunderstood him. But most of those people who fought the war were hardly more than kids when they went off to fight. At least up till you bring in Vietnam, I think just about everything in your litany of accusation is more properly blamed, if blame is to be apportioned, on the generation of the parents of the men and woman who fought World War II. The 18-year-olds who went off to fight did not bring about the Great Depression or decide to imprison Japanese Americans. Responsibility for those things lies with their parents' generation.
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I think this is a mischaracterization, Lyle, or perhaps I'm the one who's confused. I've always thought Brokaw meant the people who fought the war--unless I've misunderstood him. But most of those people who fought the war were hardly more than kids when they went off to fight. At least up till you bring in Vietnam, I think just about everything in your litany of accusation is more properly blamed, if blame is to be apportioned, on the generation of the parents of the men and woman who fought World War II. The 18-year-olds who went off to fight did not bring about the Great Depression or decide to imprison Japanese Americans. Responsibility for those things lies with their parents' generation.
Well, I was trying to make a point about group think, what if Tom Brokaw had done a book with
other viewpoints instead of all the ones he chose to put in? There's no gay people in it, for example,
there is no conscientious objectors, etc. There is a high proportion of politicans for some reason. But
if I mischaracterized this, here are some other viewpoints:
The Greates Generation?
http://www.progressive.org/0901/zinn1001.html
The Greatest Generation? What Malarkey!
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/201112/ (http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2011/12/greatest-generation-what-malarkey.html)
Rethinking Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation": Was It Really the Greatest?
http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
The Not-Always Greatest Generation
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles.html (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/12/the-not-always-greatest-generation.html)
David Margolick on one soldier's vividly honest writing
about the crimes of American GIs during WWII.
Debunking the Greatest Generation
http://www.antiwar.com/bock/b071200.html
Rethinking Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation": Was It Really the Greatest?
http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
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Brian Williams canned, without pay, for 6 months.
Fine. Their call. But I like the guy, and I wish there was some way to send him encouragement.
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Brian Williams canned, without pay, for 6 months.
Fine. Their call. But I like the guy, and I wish there was some way to send him encouragement.
I was surprised this morning to learn the length of his suspension; maybe they're trying to force him to quit?
He kinda grew on me. He's no Tom Brokaw, but I guess you get used to somebody when you see him in your living room five nights a week. ...
And my heart goes out to the family of Kayla Mueller, but I wasn't at all surprised to learn that she's dead. :(
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Family and friends, as well as President Barack Obama, paid tribute to the late American ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller after her family revealed the heartbreaking news on Tuesday that they had received confirmation of her death.
"Kayla has touched the heart of the world," her aunt Lori Lyon told reporters gathered in her hometown of Prescott, Arizona, the New York Times reports.
Added Kathleen Day, who heads the United Christian ministry at Northern Arizona University, where Mueller, 26, graduated from college in 2009: "It's not that she's so angelic. She saw things and did what she could, whatever she could, however she could."
President Obama offered his condolences to the family and noted Mueller's impact and spirit of service. "
She "was an outstanding young woman and a great spirit – and I think that spirit will live on," he said. "The more people learn about her, the more they appreciate what she stood for – and how it stands in contrast with the barbaric organization that held her captive."
Vice President Joe Biden, in a Tweet, described himself as "Deeply moved by the life of Kayla Mueller."
He added of U.S. solidarity against evil: "Our nation is stronger than any enemy can understand."
Mueller had been captured on Aug. 4, 2013, as she left a hospital in Aleppa, Syria, that is run by Spanish Doctors Without Borders. Her death was confirmed by U.S. intelligence authorities who reviewed three photographs of her body sent to her parents from her ISIS captors, according to The Times.
Even as Mueller had been held jailed for more than a year, her focus remained spiritual, it was shown in a handwritten letter released by her family, reports ABC News.
In it, she apologized for her capture and said she didn't want to burden her family with worry.
"All and all, in the end, the only one you really have is God. Even in prison one can be free," wrote Mueller. "By God and by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in free fall."
:'(
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3 students shot to death in apartment near UNC Chapel Hill
By Saeed Ahmed, CNN
Updated 11:57 AM ET, Wed February 11, 2015
(CNN)A 46-year-old man has been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of three students in an apartment near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
Police said "an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking" may have been a factor in the shootings Tuesday evening.
The suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, turned himself in to police later in the night and is being held in the Durham County Jail without bond. He was cooperating with investigators, police said Wednesday morning.
"Our investigators are exploring what could have motivated Mr. Hicks to commit such a senseless and tragic act. We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case," said Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue.
But given the victims' religion -- they were Muslims -- and comments the alleged shooter apparently left on a Facebook page, many social media users wondered what role, if any, the victims' faith played.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/11/us/chapel-hill-shooting/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/11/us/chapel-hill-shooting/index.html)
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But given the victims' religion -- they were Muslims -- and comments the alleged shooter apparently left on a Facebook page, many social media users wondered what role, if any, the victims' faith played.
That was the first thing I thought of when I heard this on TV news this morning. :(
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Brian Williams canned, without pay, for 6 months.
Fine. Their call. But I like the guy, and I wish there was some way to send him encouragement.
Some pundits on TV think he's officially gone because of this.
I don't know, but what can you do? I find it all very worrisome if you look at the big picture.
I suppose that because of MEDIA now that this was becoming a huge JOKE story with the meme
of him exaggerating things and NBC is trying to stop it by having him out of sight. They understandably
don't want their news broadcasts to become a joke and all the shows were starting to jump on that
bandwagon. Even Letterman, who has expressed a great fondness for Brian Williams and had him on
as a guest countless times, did a Top Ten list of things Brian Williams may or may not have told the
truth about.
I think, frankly, the bigger problem here is that the "masses" don't really trust anyone now. They don't
trust government, they don't trust the news media, and we can thank conservatives for that quite a
bit for always demonizing "the liberal mass media" which has to filter into ALL media, etc. One reason
that the current measles spread is happening is because of a FALSE and DEBUNKED research article
was published years ago linking vaccines to autism. And people believe it and now don't trust any
medical people that say otherwise.
???
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One reason
that the current measles spread is happening is because of a FALSE and DEBUNKED research article
was published years ago linking vaccines to autism. And people believe it and now don't trust any
medical people that say otherwise.
???
I guess they don't even trust the mother of a child with autism who heads an autism support organization when she says vaccines didn't cause her child's autism.
I guess once the seed of doubt is sowed it can never be completely eliminated.
:(
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CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, 1941-2015
NEW YORK -- Bob Simon, the longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent and legendary CBS News foreign reporter died suddenly Wednesday night in a car accident in New York City.
The award-winning newsman was 73.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-correspondent-bob-simon-1941-2015/
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I guess they don't even trust the mother of a child with autism who heads an autism support organization when she says vaccines didn't cause her child's autism.
I guess once the seed of doubt is sowed it can never be completely eliminated.
:(
I worked with numerous students with different levels of autism in my time, and I would take bets on it being genetically or hormonally determined, or a combination of both.
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Denmark Shooting: Likely Terror Attack Called an Assassination Attempt
Feb 14, 2015, 2:39 PM ET
The fatal shooting in a Copenhagen cafe at a free speech event organized by a controversial Swedish cartoonist was an assassination attempt, Danish officials said today.
Police were looking for at least one gunman in the attack at the Krudttoenden cafe, which left one person dead and three officers wounded.
"We feel certain now that it is a politically motivated attack, and thereby it is a terrorist attack," Danish Prime Minister Helle Thornin-Schmidt said today.
Investigators described the shooting as a likely terror attack, officials told. Police initially said they were looking for two shooters, but after interviews with witnesses now say there was only one.
They released a security photo of the suspect, showing a man in a dark coat, with what appeared to be a reddish hat and scarf covering much of his face.
PHOTO: The scene outside the Copenhagen cafe, with bullet marked window, where a gunman opened fire Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015.
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I'm bumping up this post as a reminder to everyone on this Valentine's Day weekend that we can vote for a movie we LOVE to be included in the next selection of films to the National Film Registry. One of the criteria is that films have to be at least ten years old, so this is the first year Brokeback Mountain is eligible!
Only a very few have made it on their first try. so send your VOTE to the link provided. There's also a link with info about the film registry, it's purpose, etc.
By the way, the website says nothing about having to be from the United States to send in your vote, so don't let that stop you! (It IS a Government agency, though, so they may be spying on your IP address! LOL! J/K! )
Time to Vote!
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington seeks nominations for the National Film Registry. Public nominations play a key role when the Librarian of Congress and Film Board are considering their final selections. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at least 10 years old and be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
For consideration, please forward recommendations (limit 50 titles per year) via email to: dross@loc.gov . Please include the date of the film nominated (i.e. 2005) , and number your recommendations:
(i.e. 1. Brokeback Mountain), please; alphabetizing would be nice, too. No need to include justifications for your nominations unless the films are not well known (not listed in IMDb, for example). And if you would, please tell us how you learned of the Registry.
http://www.loc.gov/film/vote.html
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"The Godfather of Poker" Doyle Brunson says he no longer views Bruce Jenner as a hero ... all because of Jenner's decision to become a woman.
Brunson tweeted, "I can't believe Bruce Jenner is trying to become a woman? He was a hero of mine since I was involved in track long ago. #Sayitsnottrue"
Doyle continued, "this man was an Olympic champion that set all kind of records. That's a woman? My hero? Come on!" ... and his tweets triggered outrage in some.
The 81 year-old -- whose won the World Series of Poker twice -- eventually responded to the onslaught with a jab, writing, "He may still be some people's hero, but not me."
Brunson was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, he's won 10 WSOP bracelets in his career and is considered and is considered to be one of the most influential poker players of all time.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3Rrd1KnaA
IF anyone cares what he thinks.. ::)
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"The Godfather of Poker" Doyle Brunson says he no longer views Bruce Jenner as a hero ... all because of Jenner's decision to become a woman.
Brunson tweeted, "I can't believe Bruce Jenner is trying to become a woman? He was a hero of mine since I was involved in track long ago. #Sayitsnottrue"
Doyle continued, "this man was an Olympic champion that set all kind of records. That's a woman? My hero? Come on!" ... and his tweets triggered outrage in some.
The 81 year-old -- whose won the World Series of Poker twice -- eventually responded to the onslaught with a jab, writing, "He may still be some people's hero, but not me."
Brunson was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, he's won 10 WSOP bracelets in his career and is considered and is considered to be one of the most influential poker players of all time.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3Rrd1KnaA
IF anyone cares what he thinks.. ::)
Never heard of him. No one cares about the rantings of a senile old coot.
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RIP Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein,[1] May 2, 1946 -- February 16, 2015) was an American singer. At the age of 16, in 1963, she recorded the pop hit "It's My Party", and followed it up with other hits including "Judy's Turn to Cry" and "You Don't Own Me". She also worked as an actress, and composed songs with her brother Michael Gore for the 1980 film Fame.
Lesley was a junior at the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood when "It's My Party" became a #1 hit. It was later nominated for a Grammy Award for rock and roll recording.[4] It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.
"It's My Party" was followed by many other hits, including the sequel "Judy's Turn to Cry" (US #5); "She's a Fool" (US #5); the protofeminist million-selling "You Don't Own Me", which held at #2 for three weeks behind the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand"; "That's the Way Boys Are" (US #12); "Maybe I Know" (US #14); "Look of Love" (US #27); and Grammy-nominated "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" (US #13), from the 1965 movie Ski Party.
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RIP Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein,[1] May 2, 1946 -- February 16, 2015) was an American singer. At the age of 16, in 1963, she recorded the pop hit "It's My Party", and followed it up with other hits including "Judy's Turn to Cry" and "You Don't Own Me". She also worked as an actress, and composed songs with her brother Michael Gore for the 1980 film Fame.
Lesley was a junior at the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood when "It's My Party" became a #1 hit. It was later nominated for a Grammy Award for rock and roll recording.[4] It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.
"It's My Party" was followed by many other hits, including the sequel "Judy's Turn to Cry" (US #5); "She's a Fool" (US #5); the protofeminist million-selling "You Don't Own Me", which held at #2 for three weeks behind the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand"; "That's the Way Boys Are" (US #12); "Maybe I Know" (US #14); "Look of Love" (US #27); and Grammy-nominated "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" (US #13), from the 1965 movie Ski Party.
Gore composed songs for the soundtrack of the 1980 film Fame, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for "Out Here on My Own", written with her brother Michael.[12] Michael won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the theme song of the same film. Gore played concerts and appeared on television throughout the 1980s and 1990s.[6]
Personal life
Beginning in 2004, Gore hosted the PBS television series In the Life, which focused on LGBT issues.[13] She stated in a 2005 interview that she was a lesbian.[13] At the time of the interview, Gore had been living with her partner for more than 23 years.[13]
Death
According to her partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson, Gore died February 16, 2015, at the NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, New York City of lung cancer.[14][15]
:-\
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesley_Gore
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(My apologies to Lesley Gore for the content of this unrelated post)
Apparently this is a thing now. Thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow I suppose.
WATCH THESE GUYS GET THEIR BUTTHOLES STEAMED FOR THE FIRST TIME
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Originally a treatment for the Emperor of China, the A Steam for men is invigorating and detoxifying. Aids in reducing muscle tension, inflammation and lactic acid for athletes. Improves cardiovascular performance and induces deeper sleep. Soothes hemorrhoids and assists in anal cleansing. Increasing energy and enhancing general health.
The video is pretty funny:
http://www.thegailygrind.com/2015/02/17/watch-guys-get-buttholes-steamed-first-time/
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This is really really funny!! :D
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;D ;D ;D
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CNN seems to be the only media reporting the sudden wheel-and-turn of ISIS forces in an attack on a Kurdish town in Iraq, meant to draw Kurds away from their attack on Mosul.
Their forces are concentrated, but in fierce combat with the Kurds, so, air support is impossible.
Hundreds of freaking billions of dollars on drones, satellites surveillance, and intelligence, and it is all coming down, tonight, to a minor gain for ISIS, and a lost chance to wipe them out.
We can't use military superiority because the enemy had better strategy. What the f@*k is going on in the Pentagon? A bureaucracy that can not, or will not, anticipate military moves of small armies?
They are collecting paychecks, groaning and moaning about needing boots on the ground, and they can't use satellite and drone warnings, until it is too late to use air strikes because, the Kurds could not fall back. This is emerging as the problem; the Pentagon is cluttered with constipated thinking, knows no strategy except another trillion dollar war, and WILL NOT DO THEIR JOB. Out-strategized? Maybe. More likely, the enemy has found the officer corps Achilles heel.
If the Prez doesn't get it, that careerists need to go, he is also responsible.
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I think this is a mischaracterization, Lyle, or perhaps I'm the one who's confused. I've always thought Brokaw meant the people who fought the war--unless I've misunderstood him. But most of those people who fought the war were hardly more than kids when they went off to fight. At least up till you bring in Vietnam, I think just about everything in your litany of accusation is more properly blamed, if blame is to be apportioned, on the generation of the parents of the men and woman who fought World War II. The 18-year-olds who went off to fight did not bring about the Great Depression or decide to imprison Japanese Americans. Responsibility for those things lies with their parents' generation.
But what we are expected to call the greatest generation were not the people who "got us through the Depression", as the saying has it. That was their parents' generation.
In related news, it appears that for all the snarking about the infotainment media, people are getting what they deserve: poor, poor Brian; a suspension from an 7-figure job just for making up self-serving shit on a national news network.
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Well here is one for the Daily!
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When Robert Ingersoll's longtime florist held his hands and told him "because of my relationship with Jesus Christ" she would not arrange flowers for his September 2013 wedding to Curt Freed, the newlyweds sued – for a whopping $7.91, the cost of driving to another florist.
And this week, the Kennewick, Washington, couple won back more than their gas money in what was being heralded as a moral victory for LGBT equality.
In a decision issued late Wednesday, Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom rejected florist Barronelle Stutzman's claim that her refusal of service was protected by her First-Amendment freedoms of speech and religion.
"Religious motivation does not excuse compliance" with Washington's anti-discrimination and consumer-protection laws, Ekstrom wrote. "No Court has ever held that religiously motivated conduct, expressive or otherwise, trumps state discrimination law in public accommodations."
Stutzman, the owner of Arlene's Flowers in Richland, Washington, where Ingersoll had frequently bought bouquets for Freed after meeting the college faculty member in 2004, had said in her deposition that when Ingersoll asked for wedding flowers, "I just put my hands on his and told him because of my relationship with Jesus Christ I couldn't do that."
In a statement on the ruling, Ingersoll, a manager for Goodwill, and Freed, a faculty member at Columbia Basin College, said: "We were hurt and saddened when we were denied service by Arlene's Flowers after doing business with them for so many years. We respect everyone's beliefs, but businesses that are open to the public have an obligation to serve everyone."
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the couple, said the ruling strikes a blow against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
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Just a reminder that today is the 4th anniversary of the Chrischurch Earthquake. It is now 12.31pm here in New Zealand
"The quake left 185 people dead and thousands injured, and led to whole suburbs and most of the central city being demolished.
The Christchurch City Council's memorial event started at noon at the Botanic Gardens, with a minute's silence to be observed at 12.51pm, the time the earthquake struck.
The names of all of those who died in the earthquake will be read, and Ken Hird, who was seriously injured in the quake, will address the gathering.
The community group Avon-Otakaro network will again be holding the River of Flowers event at fourteen locations across the city, with people encouraged to throw flowers into the river throughout the day."
Thinking of all who lived through that day in Christchurch.
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Last August I visited the city and it was my first chance to have a good look round. While there have been new developments, the city is still sad and people are still waiting to have their homes repaired or rebuilt.
Photos I took at that time.
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And the new temporary cardboard cathedral
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Sex ed in schools!
The Ontario government has unveiled the first update to the province’s sex education curriculum since 1998.
Premier Kathleen Wynne has vowed that the updated curriculum will be in place in public and Catholic schools this September.
“We’re very committed to this,” Wynne told reporters on Monday.
The changes will impact students from Grade 1 to Grade 12.
Grade 1
Students in Grade 1 will be taught the proper names for body parts – something child-abuse investigators have long urged.
They will also learn how to recognize non-verbal signals, such as facial expressions and tone of voice, to better communicate with others.
Grade 2
In Grade 2, students will learn about bodily changes and development, verbal and physical violence, and the concept that “no means no.”
Grades 3-4
Grade 3 students will learn about same-sex relationships, while the physical, emotional and social impacts of puberty will move from Grade 5 to Grade 4.
Grades 5-6
In Grade 5, students will continue learning about puberty, including menstruation and spermatogenesis, and how these processes relate to reproduction.
Students in Grade 6 will learn about masturbation and “gender expression.” They will also be educated on how to build healthy relationships and consent.
Grades 7-8
In Grades 7-8, students will learn about the dangers of “sexting.”
They will also discuss contraception, anal and oral sex, and ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Grades 9-10
Teaching materials on mental health, previously relegated to older grades, will be introduced in Grade 9. Grade 9 students will also explore gender identity, sexual orientation and the resources available for support.
In Grade 10, students will continue to learn what factors influence sexual decision-making, including personal values, peer and family expectations, and media messages.
Under the current sex education program, Grades 9 and 10 students focus on promoting healthy sexuality, preventing sexually transmitted infections, and identifying the stages of sexuality.
Grades 11-12
Similarly to the existing program, students in Grades 11 and 12 will focus on how to use decision-making skills to create healthy relationships.
They will also learn about reducing the stigma around mental illness, and taking proactive health measures.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/02/23/what-ontarios-students-will-learn-with-the-updated-sex-education-curriculum.html
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And the new temporary cardboard cathedral
Really? Cardboard? I think it's nice.
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News trending online is that Madonna took a hard fall at the beginning of her performance at the Brit Awards.
She was on a stage with three steps. She was standing at the top step, wearing a long cape. Either she couldn't get the cape undone quickly enough, or the dancers pulled too soon, but the cape was pulled hard, pulling Madonna down the stars, and she ended up landing on her left side at the bottom of the stairs.
She was able to shake it off, and get back on the stage and go on with the performance.
One bright side, when she took the fall, the singing stopped, showing she was singing live, not lip synching to a vocal track.
She later posted on Instagram: “Armani hooked me up! My beautiful cape was tied too tight! But nothing can stop me and love really lifted me up! Thanks for your good wishes! I’m fine!”
video of the fall is here
http://variety.com/2015/music/news/madonna-takes-nasty-fall-on-stage-at-brit-awards-video-1201441773/
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Really? Cardboard? I think it's nice.
I like the interior. The exterior not so much. Those big colored triangles look kind of tacky to me.
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From Wikipedia
Architecture
Shigeru Ban, the church's architect
It rises 21 metres (69 ft) above the altar. Materials used include 60-centimetre (24 in)-diameter cardboard tubes, timber and steel. The roof is of polycarbon, with eight shipping containers forming the walls. The foundation is concrete slab. The architect wanted the cardboard tubes to be the structural elements, but local manufacturers could not produce tubes thick enough and importing the cardboard was rejected. The 96 tubes, reinforced with laminated wood beams, are "coated with waterproof polyurethane and flame retardants" with two-inch gaps between them so that light can filter inside. Instead of a replacement rose window, the building has triangular pieces of stained glass. The building serves as a conference venue as well as a cathedral.
From http://www.christchurchnz.com/destinations/christchurch/cardboard-cathedral/ (http://www.christchurchnz.com/destinations/christchurch/cardboard-cathedral/)
The Cardboard Cathedral's triangular window design includes 49, 1.2 metre tall panels and incorporates images from ChristChurch Cathedral's original rose window.
Each image comes from the same position as on the rose window. The triangular panels in the middle of the new stained-glass window use images from the centre circle of the rose window, while the remaining panels use images from the outside circle.
ChristChurch Cathedral development manager Craig Dixon said, "it is fascinating that the design is a fractured image that has some powerful things to say about the state of the cathedral and the city at the moment."
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I love looking at pictures of churches. I have a book of Cathedrals I love to look through. When my daughter in law was in Italy last year she was in a church (just a little church in town, the one people use daily) built in 1000, she was like "I don't get it" :D Welcome to Europe, of course she also went to the Vatican, as she said the pictures don't even do it justice. I should post some pictures down in the picture thread..
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From http://www.christchurchnz.com/destinations/christchurch/cardboard-cathedral/ (http://www.christchurchnz.com/destinations/christchurch/cardboard-cathedral/)
Good Lord! It really is a Cardboard Cathedral! :o :(
I love looking at pictures of churches. I have a book of Cathedrals I love to look through. When my daughter in law was in Italy last year she was in a church (just a little church in town, the one people use daily) built in 1000, she was like "I don't get it" :D Welcome to Europe, of course she also went to the Vatican, as she said the pictures don't even do it justice. I should post some pictures down in the picture thread..
My parish church was included in a book on historical sacred places in Philadelphia. :)
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From Wikipedia
Architecture
Shigeru Ban, the church's architect
It rises 21 metres (69 ft) above the altar. Materials used include 60-centimetre (24 in)-diameter cardboard tubes, timber and steel. The roof is of polycarbon, with eight shipping containers forming the walls. The foundation is concrete slab. The architect wanted the cardboard tubes to be the structural elements, but local manufacturers could not produce tubes thick enough and importing the cardboard was rejected. The 96 tubes, reinforced with laminated wood beams, are "coated with waterproof polyurethane and flame retardants" with two-inch gaps between them so that light can filter inside. Instead of a replacement rose window, the building has triangular pieces of stained glass. The building serves as a conference venue as well as a cathedral.
From http://www.christchurchnz.com/destinations/christchurch/cardboard-cathedral/ (http://www.christchurchnz.com/destinations/christchurch/cardboard-cathedral/)
The Cardboard Cathedral's triangular window design includes 49, 1.2 metre tall panels and incorporates images from ChristChurch Cathedral's original rose window.
Each image comes from the same position as on the rose window. The triangular panels in the middle of the new stained-glass window use images from the centre circle of the rose window, while the remaining panels use images from the outside circle.
ChristChurch Cathedral development manager Craig Dixon said, "it is fascinating that the design is a fractured image that has some powerful things to say about the state of the cathedral and the city at the moment."
That's amazing! :o Totally agree with that last statement.
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News trending online is that Madonna took a hard fall at the beginning of her performance at the Brit Awards.
What are the Brit Awards for?
(This video was played on many news and/or entertainment programs last night.
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Hello Lyle!
The Brit Awards are their "Grammys", and the tumble Madonna took at the Brit Awards is the latest drama to hit her life.
Madonna had been working on her new CD (Rebel Heart) for a while last year, and the original plan was for the lead single "Living For Love" to be released on Valentine's Day weekend. In December, Madonna was hacked, and 6 demos of the music for Rebel Heart had been posted online for free. Madonna immediately issued a statement that the singles were not finished. She rushed back to the studio and completed what she felt she had to, and released 6 songs from the CD.
The hacker then stuck back and released 6 more songs. Before he could do more damage, he was caught in Isreal, with music from other artists stored on his computer as well.
With "Living For Love" released, a big push for radio play was started in February. It was then that a memo was leaked from the biggest radio station in the UK, BBC1, that it would not be playing new music by Madonna as she was "too old and irrelevant" to be played on their station. Fans struck back by flooding the station with hate mail and requests for "Living For Love".
Madonna performed at the Grammys and was flawless, and was set to take the stage at the Brit awards for the first time in 20 years. She walked up the stage, and the cape was tied too tightly, and instead of pulling from her, it was still tied around her neck, and she was yanked down three steps and to the ground.
The one bright spot in it all was that Madonna had already begun to start singing before she fell, and when she fell, the singing stopped. It proved she was singing live and not lip synching.
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(CNN)A small Missouri town's discovery that a gunman killed seven people and injured another Thursday night began when a girl managed to flee a residence where she heard gunfire.
She ran to a neighbor's house and called police, say investigators in Tyrone, Missouri.
Authorities then found a trail of death that was so staggering, a state trooper lost count at a news conference.
Seven people, all gunshot victims, were found dead in four residences in the small town. One person managed to survive, and he was found wounded in one of the homes.
The gunman also was found dead after going to another county and apparently shooting himself there. He was identified Friday as Joseph Jesse Aldridge, 36, who was believed to be a cousin to four of the seven slain victims, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
And, in a twist to their probe, investigators happened upon another body -- that of an elderly woman -- in a fifth home, though it appears that she died of natural causes, authorities said.
That person turned out to be the gunman's mother, Alice L. Aldridge, 74, and a post-mortem exam will be performed Saturday on her body, authorities said.
It was unclear Friday whether her death was connected to the case, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Kinder said.
The victims
Among the seven slain gunshot victims were two married couples, who were described as cousins of the gunman, authorities said.
They were Garold Dee Aldridge, 52, and wife Julie Ann Aldridge, 47, and Harold Wayne Aldridge, 50, and wife Janell Arlisa Aldridge, 48.
All victims lived within a three-mile radius of each other, authorities said.
The other three victims weren't identified pending notification of their relatives. They weren't from the same family, Texas County, Missouri, Sheriff James Sigman.
Investigators spoke to the surviving victim, a male, but weren't disclosing details, Sigman said.
Suspect Joseph Jesse Aldridge, who used a handgun, had "a minor criminal history" with local authorities, Sigman added.
Losing count
In summarizing the crime, Kinder momentarily lost track of the death toll at a news conference.
"There are ... isn't that terrible? Lose count. There is actually nine total victims here in this case," he told reporters.
The carnage was overwhelming, he added.
"In our job, we see a lot of bad stuff, and this is bad," Kinder said. "This is also hard on the police officers who are working out there. It's not natural to see that sort of thing."
The juvenile girl whose police call exposed the mass deaths had been in a residence where two bodies were later found, Kinder said.
Authorities also don't yet know the relationship between the girl and those two deceased victims, Kinder said.
"I don't have any information that would confirm any of that other than she was at the residence at the time it started," he said.
Senseless horror
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said the state was ensuring that mental health counselors and crisis intervention services would be provided to students in the area and other residents.
"This is a horrific tragedy, and our hearts go out to the victims of these senseless acts and their families," he said.
Report: 9 found dead at multiple sites in Missouri
The shootings happened in Texas County, home to about 26,000 people.
After police found two bodies in the first residence, investigators found five more bodies and an injured person in three other Tyrone homes, according to Kinder.
The elderly woman who's believed to have died of natural causes was found in a fifth residence after "investigators were somehow led to that residence after this was all placed in motion," he said.
The suspect's body was found in a vehicle in neighboring Shannon County, Kinder said.
Tyrone is about 135 miles (217 kilometers) southwest of St. Louis.
It wasn't immediately clear if any of the victims were of school age, but news of the deaths has shaken the community, the superintendent of the area's schools said Friday.
"There is a lot of speculation right now, and we just don't have the information. The area is within the school district; these are my families," said Scott Dill, superintendent of the Houston R-1 School District. "We run buses out there daily."
Classes for the district's 1,000 students are in session Friday, in part to give them a sense of normalcy, he said.
"We do have counselors available, and other offers from other districts to help out. As a small town, we all cry together. My principals are all assessing the situation now, and we will make a determination on what to do next," Dill said.
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Washington (CNN) Ben Carson says homosexuality is a choice because many people "go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay."
The neurosurgeon and potential Republican candidate for president in 2016 made the comment in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo that aired Wednesday on "New Day."
Asked whether being gay is a choice, Carson responded: "Absolutely."
"Because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question," Carson said.
That argument, Carson said, "thwarts" the notion that homosexuality isn't a choice.
Carson also said he believes the issue of allowing or restricting same-sex marriage should be decided on the state level, rather than by federal courts -- even as the Supreme Court prepares to take up a case this spring that could legalize gay marriage nationwide.
He said it's possible to grant the legal rights that accompany marriage to same-sex couples -- or to any two people at all -- without applying the word "marriage" to their relationships.
"Why do gay people want to get married? Why do they say they want to get married? Because they want to have various rights -- property rights, visitation rights," he said. "Why can't any two human beings, I don't care what their sexual orientation is, why can't they have the legal right to do those things? That does not require changing the definition of marriage."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ben-carson-prisons-gay-choice/index.html
Sounds like he has been watching Oz reruns! :D
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Washington (CNN) Ben Carson says homosexuality is a choice because many people "go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay."
I can't tell you how many things are wrong with that line of thinking. And that is solely the
basis of his thinking? I hope he doesn't practice medicine with the same type of thinking.
This guy is a Doctor, for crying out loud!
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Sounds like he has been watching Oz reruns! :D
He's no friend of Dorothy, I'd say!
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We're not in Kansas anymore Toto! :D
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Enough with the Harrison Ford plane crash! The guy is fine.
Sorry, I've been surfing the net and watching CNN.
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Only just heard this on our local News Channel and I've searched the net to see if I could find it to post it but no luck.
So I will just tell it as I heard it !!
A school sent letters home with their pupils asking the Moms to dress their kids up as their favorite Super Hero's.
One mom......dressed her 8 year old boy in a gray "silk" suit ..... a hand full of black cable ties and a black blindfold.
When asked who he was supposed to be she said he had come as the "Hero" out of "50 Shades of Gray " :o His mom was asked to take him home as it was totally inappropriate.
I truly hope the little boy had no idea of who he was supposed to be.
You really couldn't make it up could you ?
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I don't understand the world anymore...I don't understand why we, the "civilized" world at large, aren't outraged enough to put a stop to this and the other atrocities they commit. I wonder what the breaking point will be...I guess if it happened to someone important enough...but thank God Harrison Ford is ok
Amid brazen, deadly attacks, gay Syrians tell of fear of ISIS persecution
By Arwa Damon and Zeynep Bilginsoy, CNN
Updated 10:41 AM ET, Fri March 6, 2015
(CNN)—The photographs released by ISIS in its stronghold of Raqqa are dated March 2015. The first ones show a large crowd, mostly men, but also among them a handful of women and children, all looking up.
Three men on top of a building, faces covered in black balaclavas, stand on either side of their victim, while a fourth seems to be taking a photo or video.
Their victim is thrown off the building. In the last photograph, he is seen face down, surrounded by a small crowd of men, most carrying weapons, some with rocks in their hands. The caption reads "stoned to death."
The victim brutally killed because he was accused of being gay.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/middleeast/isis-lgbt-persecution/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/middleeast/isis-lgbt-persecution/index.html)
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I don't understand the world anymore...I don't understand why we, the "civilized" world at large, aren't outraged enough to put a stop to this and the other atrocities they commit. I wonder what the breaking point will be...I guess if it happened to someone important enough...but thank God Harrison Ford is ok
Amid brazen, deadly attacks, gay Syrians tell of fear of ISIS persecution
By Arwa Damon and Zeynep Bilginsoy, CNN
Updated 10:41 AM ET, Fri March 6, 2015
(CNN)—The photographs released by ISIS in its stronghold of Raqqa are dated March 2015. The first ones show a large crowd, mostly men, but also among them a handful of women and children, all looking up.
Three men on top of a building, faces covered in black balaclavas, stand on either side of their victim, while a fourth seems to be taking a photo or video.
Their victim is thrown off the building. In the last photograph, he is seen face down, surrounded by a small crowd of men, most carrying weapons, some with rocks in their hands. The caption reads "stoned to death."
The victim brutally killed because he was accused of being gay.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/middleeast/isis-lgbt-persecution/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/middleeast/isis-lgbt-persecution/index.html)
We created and now finance ISIS. I don't understand the world either.
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Only just heard this on our local News Channel and I've searched the net to see if I could find it to post it but no luck.
So I will just tell it as I heard it !!
A school sent letters home with their pupils asking the Moms to dress their kids up as their favorite Super Hero's.
One mom......dressed her 8 year old boy in a gray "silk" suit ..... a hand full of black cable ties and a black blindfold.
When asked who he was supposed to be she said he had come as the "Hero" out of "50 Shades of Gray " :o His mom was asked to take him home as it was totally inappropriate.
I truly hope the little boy had no idea of who he was supposed to be.
You really couldn't make it up could you ?
That poor child! ::)
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Doctor Ben Carson, professor emeritus Johns Hopkins University? I used to be able to raise some dust by reminding the doctors I worked for that fifty per cent of all doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class...
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^^^^^^
The reports over here Nancy said that the young men were only "suspected" of being gay.
I can't find words to describe the people who are doing this.
Did I say "people" ?? Scratch that out.
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I'm afraid that our sensibilities are being twisted by the inability to focus on one thing for more than 3 minutes...a beheading by terrorists in the middle east, no involvement of Russian troops in Ukraine...and back home - more snow in New England!
The violence that has escalated in movies, on TV and in video games is now on the news...have we been exposed to, and accepting of, so much that the real thing can no longer touch us, as human beings?
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Sad to say...it seems to take more and more to shock people these days.
Ordinary folk.........AND the powers that be that could help sort this shit out
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Univ. of Oklahoma severs ties with frat after racist chant
http://news.yahoo.com/ou-fraternity-close-racist-video-posted-online-040106571.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/09/disgraceful-fraternity-racism-in-oklahoma/
There will never be a n—— SAE.
There will never be a n—– SAE.
You can hang ’em from a tree, but it will never start with me
There will never be a n—– SAE.
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Two helicopters carrying French sports stars filming a popular European reality show crashed in a remote part of Argentina, killing 10 people, including two Olympic medal winners and a sailing champion, authorities said.
The helicopters apparently collided in the air Monday near Villa Castelli in La Rioja province, about 1,170 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires, La Rioja Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo told TN television. All 10 people on board — eight French nationals and two Argentine pilots — were killed.
Two helicopters with passengers who were filming a reality-television program crashed Monday in a remote area of northwest Argentina, killing all 10 people on board both aircrafts, including prominent French athletes. (Jose Alamo/Associated Press)
"An explosion occurred and it's believed that they collided," said Angulo, referring to the helicopters. Photographs showed the burning and smoking wreckage of the helicopters on the ground in dry scrubland, with people gathered nearby.
Among the dead were French Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine and sailor Florence Arthaud, according to a statement from La Rioja's government. They were taking part in the reality show Dropped......
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/camille-muffat-olympic-gold-medallist-among-10-dead-in-helicopter-crash-1.2988361
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Terrible about the fraternity. I wonder how long it will take for a university to sever ties with a fraternity or other group which makes antigay chants part of their campus life. Hope a bit less than 50 years.
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Nude jogger draws ire of Montreal neighbours
Police confirm they've opened an investigation after man spotted several times
One Montreal runner appears to be besting winter in the buff.
The male jogger, seen wearing only running shoes and a tuque, has been spotted several times in the past few months in Montreal's l'Île-de-la-Visitation park.
One resident, who had already filed a complaint with police after spotting the man five times, shot a video of the robe-less runner on March 9, when the temperature in Montreal was below zero.
The runner showed up at around 4 a.m. ET, around the same time he's always been spotted.
More than one resident has complained about the man to police, and a neighbour who contacted Radio-Canada said it appeared the concerns weren't being taken seriously.
Montreal police said an investigation has been opened, but wouldn't say how many complaints has been received.
If caught, the nude runner could face criminal charges for indecent exposure and exhibitionism.
He could also face fines under municipal bylaws.
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/montreal/story/1.2999973
I'm surprised at the prudishness and false modesty expressed in some of the comments I've read online. I actually think that Quebec is regressing.
This mystery nude jogger episode follows a huge scandal: Last week a beloved openly gay television personalty was sited for gross indecency in a cruising park. He has a husband and they adopted a boy several years ago and recently got twin girls from a surrogate mother. He has now resigned from public life for an undetermined period of time. His career is basically ruined. Never mind that he was probably entrapped by the undercover cop that gave him the ticket and then gave a interview to a NY post type of tabloid and illegally related details of the incident.
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Ils sont trop americanisés.
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Nude jogger draws ire of Montreal neighbours
Police confirm they've opened an investigation after man spotted several times
One Montreal runner appears to be besting winter in the buff.
The male jogger, seen wearing only running shoes and a tuque, has been spotted several times in the past few months in Montreal's l'Île-de-la-Visitation park.
One resident, who had already filed a complaint with police after spotting the man five times, shot a video of the robe-less runner on March 9, when the temperature in Montreal was below zero.
The runner showed up at around 4 a.m. ET, around the same time he's always been spotted.
More than one resident has complained about the man to police, and a neighbour who contacted Radio-Canada said it appeared the concerns weren't being taken seriously.
Montreal police said an investigation has been opened, but wouldn't say how many complaints has been received.
If caught, the nude runner could face criminal charges for indecent exposure and exhibitionism.
He could also face fines under municipal bylaws.
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/montreal/story/1.2999973
I'm surprised at the prudishness and false modesty expressed in some of the comments I've read online. I actually think that Quebec is regressing.
Sounds as if the cameraman and his neighbours must have made quite an effort to watch him at 4am.
Had never heard of a tuque, but Google says it's French-Canadian so perhaps not surprising.
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Sounds as if the cameraman and his neighbours must have made quite an effort to watch him at 4am.
I know! I just glad the police are putting the complaints at the bottom of the pile.
Had never heard of a tuque, but Google says it's French-Canadian so perhaps not surprising.
Yes the Tuque, also spelled Toque, but still pronounced tuke, is a wool and sometimes cotton knit hat and is the official Canadian head gear for winter. Although hipsters and lumbersexuals wear them all year long (as does Jude Law when he doesn't have his hair on.):
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What do you guys call it?
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What do you guys call it?
Beanie
Wikipedia: Beanie, in British, Australian and South African usage, a knitted cap (also known as a tuque)
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3003367/Ashley-Judd-recalls-personal-history-rape-incest-powerful-essay-addressing-offline-gender-violence-Twitter-abuse-college-basketball-game.html
I find this whole article very interesting! Ashley Judd is fighting back and I don't blame her, people think they can say what ever they want to people on line, things they would never (hopefully) say to people in person.
She is taking names and kicking ass, good for her!!
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We usually call it a stocking cap down here.
In the local French it's pronounced tsu:k, right? (u: is a long oo)
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We usually call it a stocking cap down here.
In the local French it's pronounced tsu:k, right? (u: is a long oo)
Not exactly, it's U sound that is absent in english. I don't know the symbol for the pronunciation but i found a png you can listen to:
http://fr.forvo.com/search/tuque/
Just click on the blue arrow next to the word.
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Oh yeah, like German ü.
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RIP Internet Explorer (1995-2015). We Knew Ye All Too Well
Microsoft Internet Explorer, a browser familiar to many and loved by few, passed away today after a long illness. It was 19 years old.
Bowing to the inevitable, Microsoft admitted today that it had decided to remove IE from life support. (IE will, however, continue to receive tech support through at least 2016.) IE is survived by Windows, Office, and the Microsoft Mouse.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/rip-internet-explorer-1995-2015-we-knew-ye-all-113889644524.html
If not universally mourned, IE will be long remembered for its many contributions to browser technology as well as for bringing Web surfing to the masses.
In lieu of flowers, Microsoft requests well-wishers to please support Project Spartan, the new and allegedly much-improved browser set to debut in Windows 10 later this year.
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Thank goodness for Chrome and things like it.
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You got that right. I haven't used IE for at least 5 years.
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I don't really understand any of this browser stuff, but, since I have Windows 8.1, will have to search for how to switch my browser. I've always used IE, and now, will have to find out just how clutzy it is to switch :P.
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It's not hard, Tony. I use Chrome, and it is great. Chrome is put out by Goggle, and then there is Firefox, but I don't think it is as good as Chrome.
It's been awhile, but in IE, just type in Chrome and it should take you to a download so you can download it. I think it asks you if you want to move your bookmarks to from IE to Chrome.
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That sounds easy enough, Linda - thanks !
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It is quite easy to download, Tony, and it takes over Internet Explorer bookmarks without any difficulty.
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It all sounds easy, especially switching to Chrome, but, if IE is dead, why is it still working for me? Does it end at midnight or something? How long do I have?
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The old versions will work and will be supported for a couple more years, it's just that the newer versions of Windows starting with the yet to be released 10 will not have IE, but rather its successor.
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I have used Firefox for as long as I can remember. I have Safari as it is suppied with Macs but hardly ever touch it. Internet Explorer is something buried in the mists of time.
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I use Opera, and find it pretty good.
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Germanwings Airbus crashes in French Alps, 150 dead
SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France, March 24 (Reuters) - An Airbus operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline crashed in a remote snowy area of the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 on board including 16 schoolchildren.
Germanwings confirmed its flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf went down with 144 passengers and six crew on board.
The airline believed there were 67 Germans on the flight. Spain's deputy prime minister said 45 passengers had Spanish names. One Belgian was aboard.
http://news.yahoo.com/germanwings-airbus-crashes-france-148-112510131.html
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Bad news indeed.
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Very, very sad as the day progressed.
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"It's difficult for me to identify with my image in photos. I attribute that to a life-long habit of observation, rather than participation. This photo was taken in 2007. I was happy then, the happiest I'd been since the births of my children: I had managed after eight years of relentlessness to get our screenplay of Brokeback Mountain made into a fine film. Oliver and Amanda were my sole companions and had brought life into my home, my first dogs in nearly a decade, and a great comfort to me when in the following year, Heath tragically passed away, then my beloved older brother/best friend ended his long battle with cancer. Since this photo, Ollie and Mandy have been joined by five more orphan dogs; my foster child and young niece Ashley; and Larry and Faye McMurtry. My home today is very, very "alive." And I realize, looking at this photo, that this all began in 2007. And I wouldn't have it any other way...." Diana Ossana 2015
How Do You Feel When You See Yourself in a Photo?
Art and Design post by Sarah Mirk on March 20, 2015
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/how-do-you-feel-when-you-see-yourself-in-a-photo (http://bitchmagazine.org/post/how-do-you-feel-when-you-see-yourself-in-a-photo)
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Very, very sad as the day progressed.
Just about the saddest thing I have heard in a long time, I could cry my eyes out. AND my son flew out of Barcelona the same day, home safe and sound, by the grace of God.
I was going to post about it, but find on this board tragedies such as this, don't seem to get many replies. So strange....so very strange.
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I was just reading an article about players on Dalkurd FF from Borlänge, Sweden, who were supposed to be on this plane, but changed at the last minute due to the long layover in Dusseldorf. They split up and took three other flights out.
http://news.yahoo.com/dalkurd-ff-germanwings-flight-4u-9525-goalkeeper-frank-pettersson-214706776.html
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Two Australians were on the flight. Mother and adult son.
"Ms Friday had worked in nursing and midwifery for more than 40 years, most recently as a maternal and child health nurse at the City of Casey in Melbourne.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation spokesman Paul Gilbert said she was a consummate professional.
Melbourne man Greig Friday graduated from Monash University as a mechanic engineer in 2012.
"She took part in rewriting the standards for maternal and child health nurses," he said.
"She has nursed in Aboriginal outback Northern Territory, she has nursed in Queensland. She cared for the Kosovars when they came out here seeking asylum.
"She is one of those people who has just done everything."
Mr Gilbert said Ms Friday had worked at several major Victorian hospitals and helped hundreds of families every year.
"That's a significant number of families who would all think back and remember, I am certain, with love the care that was provided by Carol to those families in that community," he said.
Victorian Aids Council chief executive Simon Ruth said Mr Friday made a positive impact in his role as a volunteer, which started in 2007.
Colleagues said he played a key part in a program which provided assistance and guidance to young people to overcome homophobia and celebrate their sexual identity.
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Two Americans have been identified as being on the Germanwings Flight. Officials have confirmed that Americans Yvonne Selke and her daughter, Emily, from Virginia, were among those killed in the crash.
Germanwings' chief executive said Wednesday that the airline's current information is that 72 Germans, 35 Spanish citizens and two Americans were on board the German jet that dropped unexpectedly and smashed into a rugged Alpine mountain, killing all 150 on board.
Thomas Winkelmann told reporters in Cologne that the list isn't yet final because the company is still trying to contact relatives of 27 victims.
Winkelmann said in some cases the victims' nationality isn't entirely clear, in part because of dual citizenship.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/germanwings-flight-9525-had-americans-on-board-airlines-chief-says/
As of 2 PM EDT, another American has been identified as being on the flight, but no name has been released.
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^^^
At least three Brits too. :(
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'We can't wait to come home': Tragic final texts from German schoolchildren sent from doomed Airbus moments before it crashed in Alps
Sixteen German schoolchildren among 150 victims of Germanwings crash
Group had been on exchange trip to Spanish village of Llinars del Valles
Many of the year 10 pupils texted friends after boarding the ill-fated Airbus
Elena Bless, 16, sent messages saying she 'couldn't wait to come home'
She was described as a 'happy girl' who dreamed of going to university
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3011643/Tragic-final-texts-German-schoolchildren-sent-doomed-Germanwings-Flight-4U-9525.html#ixzz3VRCWfi7W
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All I can think of is these poor kids and their Parents..
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The newest twist in airline crash.
Pilot in German airbus crash was locked out of cockpit: New York Times
(Reuters) - One of the pilots on the German Airbus plane that crashed in the French Alps, killing everyone onboard, left the cockpit and was unable to return before the plane went down, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing evidence from a cockpit voice recorder.
“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” an unnamed investigator told the Times. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”
“You can hear he is trying to smash the door down,” the investigator added.
(Reporting by Peter Cooney in Washington; Editing by Eric Beech)
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This led me to search about cockpit security and what happens when one pilot leaves the cockpit for some reason. It brought up this news item which I now remember but had forgotten from last year
"Two Air New Zealand pilots were stood down and their cabin crew offered counselling after a frightening mid-air incident on a packed transtasman flight.
The drama unfolded on flight NZ176 between Perth and Auckland on May 21, when the first officer was locked out of the cockpit for two minutes.
The captain did not respond to requests to open the locked door, alarming crew. The pair had apparently fallen out over a take-off delay.
One expert says two minutes is "an eternity" on a flight — and the incident, on a Boeing 777-200 carrying 303 people, has sparked calls for a third crew member to be added to flight decks so no one is ever alone in the cockpit.
Air NZ spokeswoman Marie Hosking said the first officer and crew became concerned after the captain did not respond to three requests over two minutes from a cabin crew member to open the cockpit door.
The first officer eventually used an alternative method to access the cockpit. For security reasons, the airline would not say how."
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Germanwings plane crash: Co-pilot 'wanted to destroy plane'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32063587
It looks like mass murder then.
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^^^
Thats the only word for it Sara.
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Yes all the news outlets here in the US are saying the same thin. I can't even begin to imagine the terror of he passengers. :'(
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He said: 'The intention was to destroy the plane. Death was instant. The plane hit the mountain at 700kmh (430mph).
'I don't think that the passengers realised what was happening until the last moments because on the recording you only hear the screams in the final seconds'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3012053/Andreas-Lubitz-Germanwings-flight-9525-French-alps-crash-French-alps-Germanwings-plane-crash-Airbus-A320-Barcelonnette.html#ixzz3VVgro3rM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
:'(
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On board Germanwings Flight 9525: 8-minute descent to death
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/26/europe/france-germanwings-plane-scene/
The captain -- discovering he was unable to get back into the locked cockpit -- and then perhaps the four cabin crew members would have been the first to know something was very wrong.
The captain would have tried to use an electronic door code to get in. But, according to Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr, it is still possible to prevent access from inside the cockpit. This left the captain and cabin crew powerless.
"A distress call must be activated in the cockpit and only licensed pilots can do that," Spohr said.
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the incident, on a Boeing 777-200 carrying 303 people, has sparked calls for a third crew member to be added to flight decks so no one is ever alone in the cockpit.
I think this measure would be sensible. As long ago as 1801 a third keeper was added to lighthouse crews around the UK because of a disturbing incident which proved that two only could be disastrous. This week's tragedy is a wake up call for aviation. I hope they don't just disregard the dangers.
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He said: 'The intention was to destroy the plane. Death was instant. The plane hit the mountain at 700kmh (430mph).
'I don't think that the passengers realised what was happening until the last moments because on the recording you only hear the screams in the final seconds'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3012053/Andreas-Lubitz-Germanwings-flight-9525-French-alps-crash-French-alps-Germanwings-plane-crash-Airbus-A320-Barcelonnette.html#ixzz3VVgro3rM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
:'(
OMG, makes me sick to my stomach even to think about it. :'(
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He said: 'The intention was to destroy the plane. Death was instant. The plane hit the mountain at 700kmh (430mph).
'I don't think that the passengers realised what was happening until the last moments because on the recording you only hear the screams in the final seconds'
I hope they didn't realize!
One Dutch passenger, a 20 year-old girl, was also killed.
It looks like mass murder then.
Unbelievable... :'(
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I think this measure would be sensible. As long ago as 1801 a third keeper was added to lighthouse crews around the UK because of a disturbing incident which proved that two only could be disastrous. This week's tragedy is a wake up call for aviation. I hope they don't just disregard the dangers.
Or say this is just an isolated incident and is not going to happen again, just to not have to change procedures. Although several airlines have already changed their procedures as of today.
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Police investigating the Germanwings crash said tonight they had made a 'significant discovery' at the home of pilot Andreas Lubitz, who deliberately ploughed the Airbus A320 into the French Alps.
Officers refused to reveal details of the potential breakthrough but said it was not a suicide note.
Speaking outside the flat on the outskirts of Dusseldorf, police said they had 'found something' that would now be taken for tests, adding it may be a 'clue' as to what happened to the doomed jet.
German detectives were also pictured carrying evidence from a £400,000 home in Montabaur, a town 40 miles from Bonn, that Lubitz is believed to have shared with his parents.
The 28-year-old is understood to have split his time between the two addresses.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3012053/Andreas-Lubitz-Germanwings-flight-9525-French-alps-crash-French-alps-Germanwings-plane-crash-Airbus-A320-Barcelonnette.html#ixzz3VXNGuBOm
Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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I'm surprised everyone is surprised...and their "punishment"? 2-10 days suspension.
DEA agents had cartel-funded ‘sex parties’ with prostitutes
03/26/15 01:23 PM—Updated 03/26/15 01:38 PM
The U.S. Secret Service isn’t the only federal agency in trouble for sex with Colombian prostitutes.
According to a shocking report released Thursday by the Department of Justice, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration engaged in “sex parties” with prostitutes hired by drug cartels in Colombia. The Inspector General’s report also alleges that a foreign officer provided protection for the DEA agents’ weapons during the parties, and that three agents in particular “were provided money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members.”
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/dea-agents-had-cartel-funded-sex-parties-prostitutes (http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/dea-agents-had-cartel-funded-sex-parties-prostitutes)
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Or say this is just an isolated incident and is not going to happen again, just to not have to change procedures. Although several airlines have already changed their procedures as of today.
Agreed. There has to be some sort of positive response because, God forgive, it could easily happen again.
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Agreed. There has to be some sort of positive response because, God forgive, it could easily happen again.
And now that it has been determined that he had some type of illness that should have grounded him, and was not reported to Lufthansa, there are now questions as to the health of pilots, and whether or not the self reporting of illnesses policy should be changed.
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I fly, U.S. domestic, an average of four to six flights a week. There has long been a U.S. policy that two crew members must always be in the cockpit. When on of the pilots leaves for any reason, the service cart is pulled across to block access and one of the flight attendants enters the cockpit. This applies to commercial flights….not sure about charter or private. Probably not the same rules.
I can not imagine a decent reason why this was not implemented by foreign airlines. Economics, I suppose. But most foreign airlines on which I have flown, have a least two flight attendants.
Even regional U.S. airlines which usually only have one attendant, follows the "two in the cockpit" rule. At least to the best of my memory and experience.
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It makes so much sense to do so.
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On Thursday, Rachel Maddow on MSNBC did a segment about incidents where planes were
brought down when there were two (or more) people in the cockpit. It's not necessarily a
prohibitive procedure.
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New article from The Daily Mail last night:
Among other things:
Police will want to interview the air stewardess in detail about the pilot’s state of mind, as well as his most recent girlfriend who he is said to have lived with in a smart flat on the outskirts of Dusseldorf. One report claimed they had been together on and off for seven years and were engaged and planned to marry next year. Lubitz had reportedly ordered two new Audis for them just before the tragedy in an apparent desperate last attempt to win her back. But she appeared to have rejected his offer, as only one car was ever delivered.
It is not known why they split but it has been claimed their relationship broke down because he was secretly gay and was suffering torment over hiding his homosexuality.
One report claimed he was taunted by fellow pilots for previously being a 'trolley dolly' airline steward and dubbed 'Tomato Andy' - a derogatory gay slur - by colleagues.
A Lufthansa spokesman declined to comment on the stewardess's comments.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3015504/I-m-planning-heinous-act-remembered-forever-Killer-pilot-s-ex-girlfriend-says-shared-chilling-prophecy-Alps-crash-woke-nightmares-shouting-going-down.html
Do any of you Brits know the origin of "Tomato Andy" ?
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Nothing is 100% prohibitive though I am not sure of Ms. Maddow's point other than the obvious that we can not protect against "flesh and blood". She has always seemed, to me a least,to be in favor of government regulating most every other part of our daily lives. Here is the transcript of the Maddow segment.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/57173923/ns/msnbc-rachel_maddow_show/#.VRbojkv4hBU (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/57173923/ns/msnbc-rachel_maddow_show/#.VRbojkv4hBU)
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Do any of you Brits know the origin of "Tomato Andy" ?
Never heard of it but try Andy. ;)
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I suppose the point is that when something happens, people jump on memes whether true or not,
so pointing out opposite scenarios makes one think about the best course of action instead of blindly
jumping on something that makes you feel better at the moment, which may orm ay not be helpful.
She has always seemed, to me a least, to be in favor of government regulating most every other part of our daily lives.
Whatever.
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She has always seemed, to me a least,to be in favor of government regulating most every other part of our daily lives.
As far as I'm concerned, the government can regulate air travel out the wazoo.
But whatever. ...
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I agree, Jeff. What in my post would give you any indication that I do not?
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I suppose the point is that when something happens, people jump on memes whether true or not,
so pointing out opposite scenarios makes one think about the best course of action instead of blindly
jumping on something that makes you feel better at the moment, which may orm ay not be helpful.
Whatever.
The two cockpit rule or "meme" as you call it, and the procedures that accompany it,has evolved for several years on U.S. domestic flights subsequent to 9/11. It is hardly an instance of "blindly jumping on something". As I said, it is certainly not full-proof or 100% effective. Neither is a condom. Using one does not give 100% guarantee of avoidance of fertilization of a human egg. It does not give 100% guarantee of non-transmittal of sexually transmitted disease. Therefore, should one not use condoms simply because there is no full guarantee? There may be, and are, myriad reasons not to use condoms but the fact that they are not 100% effective surely is not a valid reason to not use them. There is ample evidence that they are effective and useful. Just as there appears to be ample evidence that the "two cockpit " procedure is effective and not just a "knee jerk" reaction to a complicated problem.
I apologize, sincerely, for the Maddow comment. It was uncalled for and not necessary to the thrust of my post.
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I agree, Jeff. What in my post would give you any indication that I do not?
Nothing, actually. Perhaps I shouldn't have added that "But whatever." I apologize if I've created any misunderstanding.
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First, my apologies for interrupting this particular conversation. I have a request to make.
Due to last year's repairs to our computer I lost some bookmarks including one to an English-language magazine about Siberia. It had some wonderful photography and news about a part of the world that doesn't get a lot of media attention, and I miss it. The link was posted here on Top Topics, but I've not been successful in finding the post.
If the person who posted that link reads this, can you please contact me via PM?
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Businesses and entertainers are vowing to pull events out of Indiana after the governor signed a bill into law that gives business owners the right to refuse to serve gay and lesbian customers.
On Thursday, Gov. Mike Pence signed the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act in a private, closed-door ceremony.
Hillary Clinton was among the high profile critics of the bill, which opponents argue will allow people to use their religious beliefs as a defence if they are sued for denying service to customers who are gay.
Gov. Pence dismissed criticism of the bill as misunderstanding of what the legislation does.
"This bill is not about discrimination, and if I thought it legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it," Pence said in his statement Thursday.
The CEO of the cloud computing company Salesforce responded to the signing of the bill by cancelling all events in the state.
Tony Award-winning actor Audra McDonald put a few rhetorical questions to Gov. Pence on Twitter Thursday evening.
Other celebrities, including actor Ashton Kutcher and gay-rights campaigner George Takei, tweeted their reactions, as well.
With the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament taking place in Indianapolis next week, the president of the college sports association issued a statement saying the NCAA is "deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events" and will "closely examine the implications of this bill."
On Monday, after the state legislature passed the bill, the NBA's first openly gay player, Jason Collins, wondered if he would be welcome at the event.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/indianas-anti-gay-law-prompts-152250654.html
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The two cockpit rule or "meme" as you call it, and the procedures that accompany it,has evolved for several years on U.S. domestic flights subsequent to 9/11. It is hardly an instance of "blindly jumping on something".
You are sure feisty! You asked the point of the MSNBC discussion. It was pointing out that even the
two in the cockpit rule wouldn't have helped some of the scenarios discussed. So other than the U.S., everyone
is now jumping on the rule as though it's an end all be all without discussing the other scenarios which might refine
and better an ultimate plan. The way I see it, it IS blindly jumping on a bandwagon if you aren't dealing with other
aspects of it's flaws. The airlines routinely alter procedures, checking shoes or liquid containers or whatever there's
someone who tries something. As if it makes a difference right then. I suppose if someone pulled out the side of their
eyeglasses frame and stabbed someone with the ice pick like point of it then everyone would not be able to wear
eyeglasses immediately. That kind of thing.
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Gov. Pence dismissed criticism of the bill as misunderstanding of what the legislation does.
About 20 states have one of these religious freedom laws. Why is Indiana's causing a stir?
It's because:
Indiana's situation is different. Unlike other states like Illinois, where then-state Sen. Barack Obama supported a similar measure, it doesn't also have a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. And while the debates in those states were typically focused on ensuring the rights of minority groups, Indiana's push was driven by social conservatives who'd just lost a bid to amend a ban on same-sex marriage into the state's constitution a year earlier.
The reason this is happening is because all of these right-wing religious conservatives have lost their anti-marriage equality votes the past decade,
so they're looking for otherwise to fight their losing battle. Arkansas has a bill like this in waiting and Georgia's is being revived. And since Indiana
just did this, North Carolina has jumped on the bandwagon right away.
The good thing is that while Republicans are starting to announce their candidacies for President, these type of things makes
their party look more and more out of touch with most everyone else, and events like this will get journalists to ask them all about
it and the candidates will all come up with ocnvoluted and insincere responses trying to appeal to these people.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence got five cracks at answering the question that has triggered intense backlash against his state's new "religious freedom" law.
The law allows individuals to assert in court that state laws and local ordinances violate their religious beliefs. That, opponents fret, could put LGBT Hoosiers at increased risk of discrimination.
ABC host George Stephanopoulos said all he wanted Sunday was a yes or a no: "Do you think it should be legal in the state of Indiana to discriminate against gays or lesbians?
Each time, the Republican governor and potential 2016 White House contender deflected. He criticized the "avalanche of intolerance" that's come Indiana's way. He complained of a "tremendous amount of misinformation and misunderstanding." He said critics are "trying to make it about one particular issue" -- gay rights -- when "this is about protecting the religious liberty of people of faith and families of faith."
Ultimately, Pence offered a defense for religious people who've been stung by the outrage, saying: "Tolerance is a two-way street."
This is what they resort to: if someone calls them on their prejudice, they play the victim.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/29/politics/mike-pence-republicans-gay-rights-election-2016/
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You are sure feisty! You asked the point of the MSNBC discussion. It was pointing out that even the
two in the cockpit rule wouldn't have helped some of the scenarios discussed. So other than the U.S., everyone
is now jumping on the rule as though it's an end all be all without discussing the other scenarios which might refine
and better an ultimate plan. The way I see it, it IS blindly jumping on a bandwagon if you aren't dealing with other
aspects of it's flaws. The airlines routinely alter procedures, checking shoes or liquid containers or whatever there's
someone who tries something. As if it makes a difference right then. I suppose if someone pulled out the side of their
eyeglasses frame and stabbed someone with the ice pick like point of it then everyone would not be able to wear
eyeglasses immediately. That kind of thing.
Well, I'm old and feisty is one of the few remaining arrows in the quiver of the aged. :)
Anyway, as I mentioned, the "two cockpit" rule has been in place and the procedures accompanying it have evolved over time. Adopting it across the entire airline industry simply does not seem to be a blind, knee jerk reaction… at least to me. It reflects common sense and is prophylactic and, as with most prophylactic measures, not fool-proof.
While certainly not a panacea, the rule seems to be an effective tactic as part of an over-all evolving security and safety strategy.
Here is an article that speaks to, I think, some of your concerns. (concerns, with which I agree by the way.)
https://theconversation.com/germanwings-flight-4u9525-a-victim-of-the-deadlock-between-safety-and-security-demands-39386 (https://theconversation.com/germanwings-flight-4u9525-a-victim-of-the-deadlock-between-safety-and-security-demands-39386)
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Well, I'm old and feisty is one of the few remaining arrows in the quiver of the aged. :)
You just go on being feisty, Gary. Feisty is good. :)
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Well, I'm old and feisty is one of the few remaining arrows in the quiver of the aged. :)
Anyway, as I mentioned, the "two cockpit" rule has been in place and the procedures accompanying it have evolved over time. Adopting it across the entire airline industry simply does not seem to be a blind, knee jerk reaction… at least to me. It reflects common sense and is prophylactic and, as with most prophylactic measures, not fool-proof.
While certainly not a panacea, the rule seems to be an effective tactic as part of an over-all evolving security and safety strategy.
Here is an article that speaks to, I think, some of your concerns. (concerns, with which I agree by the way.)
https://theconversation.com/germanwings-flight-4u9525-a-victim-of-the-deadlock-between-safety-and-security-demands-39386 (https://theconversation.com/germanwings-flight-4u9525-a-victim-of-the-deadlock-between-safety-and-security-demands-39386)
I am going to have to remember your first statement, Gary! :D
I agree with what you are saying about the 2 person in the cockpit rule. It is not a foolproof fix, but can help in situations.
The article is very good. It does bring up the fact that there needs to be some improvement on access to the cockpit door. I am not sure the couple of suggestions would work, but there needs to be some changes.
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I agree with what you are saying about the 2 person in the cockpit rule. It is not a foolproof fix, but can help in situations.
The article is very good. It does bring up the fact that there needs to be some improvement on access to the cockpit door. I am not sure the couple of suggestions would work, but there needs to be some changes.
I doubt there is any cockpit rule that is 100% foolproof, but a two-person rule is an improvement, and sometimes just an improvement is what we have to accept and live with. I really doubt that anybody can come up with a system that will cover all possible contingencies. :-\
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I doubt there is any cockpit rule that is 100% foolproof, but a two-person rule is an improvement, and sometimes just an improvement is what we have to accept and live with. I really doubt that anybody can come up with a system that will cover all possible contingencies. :-\
Very true, Jeff. For sure there is no defense against an individual's psychological/suicidal/depressive issues that are kept hidden.
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To me, the two person in the cockpit rule does sound reasonable, but the problem in the German wings case was the locking cockpit door. Why did that happen? Because after 9/11 everyone was so worried about bad guys getting into the cockpit that they created a situation where good guys could not get into the cockpit either. Had the pilot been able to open the door the crash never would have occurred.
Now we hear the talking heads saying that pilots’ medical records should be “public.” This is another knee-jerk reaction. If the pilot knew that he had no medical privacy he might not seek out the medical attention he/she needs. Also, pilots are not solely responsible for the safety of the flight. What about air traffic controllers? What about mechanics? What about baggage handlers and caterers and people who clean the airplanes – anyone of them could do something nefarious if they wanted to. The medical line of thought seems to me to be a way to shift the blame – like saying it was the doctor’s fault for not alerting authorities.
And while we certainly want to maximize the safety and security of air travel, it is never going to be foolproof. And while it is very sad that 150 people lost their lives, more than the number die every day from accidents involving cars, motorcycles, buses, and trains. Accidents happen, but pilots on the whole (I would imagine) are much more reliable and responsible than the average individual driving a car, motorcycle bus or train – and there are far more people traveling by those methods of transportation in the world than by plane.
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I wonder why that second black box cannot be found.
It's my understanding they are not destructible. Or are they?
Another thing being discussed is "cameras in the cockpit."
Would cameras all over the plane be next? Mark makes a
great point about not seeking treatment if your medical records
are public.
Also, can you be discriminated against while you're flying over Indiana? ;D
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I wonder why that second black box cannot be found.
It's my understanding they are not destructible. Or are they?
Another thing being discussed is "cameras in the cockpit."
Would cameras all over the plane be next? Mark makes a
great point about not seeking treatment if your medical records
are public.
Also, can you be discriminated against while you're flying over Indiana? ;D
Well the cockpit voice recorder was pretty torn up and in 2 pieces. The case that holds the digital card was banged up, but the card was in one piece.
If the Indiana lawmakers have anything to say about it, probably so. :D
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George Takei: Boycott Indiana
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/george-takei-boycott-indiana
I have called for a boycott of Indiana … not only to send a clear message to Indiana, but also to help stop the further erosion of our core civil values in other parts of this country.
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George Takei: Boycott Indiana
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/george-takei-boycott-indiana
A boycott is very nice. As long as everyone knows that it's the impact of money that makes the difference, and that no one cares if you're gay or not...it's not a "gay' issue, it's a $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ issue. If they could make more money with another group, they would leave gays in the dust...
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A boycott is very nice. As long as everyone knows that it's the impact of money that makes the difference, and that no one cares if you're gay or not...it's not a "gay' issue, it's a $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ issue. If they could make more money with another group, they would leave gays in the dust...
Actually the boycott is off because they will apparently add a clause that protects LGBT.
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This all confimrs my belief that the real God of the USA is the mighty $.
Other countries which are far less religious as far as church going is concerned have complete holidays on Good Friday and Easter Day with no shops open eg NZ and Germany.
I think it is good for families, not necessarily due to religion. Aren't these people suppose to be in favour of familes as well and believe gays are a threat to the family. Not having days in which the whole family can do simple pleasure things together is much more of a threat
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Raise your hand if you trust iran to keep their word...it's as if they gave the US a date-rape drug and then said what they needed to, so we could save face...it'll be fine, trust me...
John Kerry strikes me as nothing so much as a media whore.
Clean out the bomb shelters...if you don't have one, make sure you leave enough in your will for your kids to get one, they'll need it...
According to the framework announced April 2, Iran has agreed to limit enrichment levels to 3.7 percent and to cut its stockpile of that kind of low-enriched uranium from 10,000 kilograms to 300 kilograms for 15 years. Roughly 5,000 centrifuges would remain spinning to enrich uranium at the main nuclear site at Natanz, about half the number currently running.
Iran will not build any additional heavy water reactors for 15 years.
Western allies say the new inspections must be far more intrusive than those in the past, given the deal’s sweeping terms as well as Iran’s history of evasions, stonewalling and illicit procurements. The principal concerns are how to detect cheating and covert sites.
Iran will limit its enrichment capacity and research and development for 10 years. It will not build new enrichment facilities or heavy water reactors and will limit its stockpile of enriched uranium for 15 years.
The preliminary agreement increases the “breakout” time — the amount of time it would take Iran to produce enough bomb-grade material for a singular nuclear weapon — from two to three months to at least one year.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/31/world/middleeast/simple-guide-nuclear-talks-iran-us.html (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/31/world/middleeast/simple-guide-nuclear-talks-iran-us.html)
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Don't worry, the Republicans will screw any deal, good or bad, any way they can.
We're in good hands with Senators like Arkansas' Tom Cotton, the one who got his
fellow GOP senators to sign his letter to Iran, which certainly helps matters. Even
yesterday or the day before Cotton went on CNN and helped out with other issues
in the news:
Be Happy They Don't Hang You
Appearing yesterday on CNN, Senator Tom Cotton (R) urged critics of Indiana’s “religious freedom”
law to get “perspective,” suggesting the treatment of LGBT people in Indiana compared favorably to
countries where gay people are executed.
That's helpful.
Cotton said:
“I think it’s important we have a sense of perspective. In Iran they hang you for the crime of being gay. That's a pretty low bar. Thank God for Iran."
Really. A United States Senator said this.
Fortunately, there are some Arkansas people who spoke out:
From the grassroots Citizens First Congress about progress on legislation in Arkansas included this in response to Cotton:
The statement by our US Senator Tom Cotton illustrates the hatred and intolerance Arkansas law
must protect against. His statement that protecting Arkansans from discrimination is not a credible
priority for our state and that people who are gay should feel lucky they are not hanged is
dangerous and offensive. Senator Cotton’s extremism is in sharp contrast to the bipartisan effort in
the Arkansas legislature to arrive at a compromise that will work for Arkansas. We are ALL Arkansans
and we need to keep DC polarized politics out of Arkansas where bipartisan cooperation on
important issues is still possible.
The Stonewall Democrats Caucus of Arkansas:
[We are] appalled by the most recent statement by Senator Tom Cotton. His callous disregard for
both LGBT citizens and their families is reckless and unconscionable. Scores of LGBT people have
been beaten, tortured, and killed simply for being LGBT. Further, to equate being gay with a crime is
divisive and polarizing. We call on him to meet with members of the community and their families.
We call on him to retract his comments. We have left a request for a meeting at his Little Rock
office.
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/04/02/tom-cotton (http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/04/02/tom-cotton-to-gays-be-happy-they-dont-hang-you)
Uncle Tom loves his good ol' days:
Oh, way down south in the land of Cotton old times there are not forgotten...
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To be a little more serious, I think Reagan's mantra to "trust but verify" is a good
place to come from. I'd rather start with diplomacy than begin with a war mentality.
It's interesting that the people most willing to come from a place of mistrust are the
religious right wing of the party -- you know, people of faith. I'd rather trust people
who are trying to do something about untenable situations than those who harp against
them with no plan.
On Easter morning I'd prefer to think there are more enlightened ways to think and behave.
A biblical quote, often misunderstood, is "the meek shall inherit the earth." A definition of meek
is "those willing to be taught." Learning, in other words. Enlightenment. Enlightened people
will inheirt the earth. Those willing to shed their old ways of thinking to new and enlightened
ways. That doesn't sound like the Senator of Arkansas or most of the GOP in general.
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Small children crowded the South Lawn of the White House on Monday for the 137th annual White House Easter Egg Roll hosted by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.
This year's theme was #GimmeFive, encouraging children to be active and celebrating the fifth anniversary of the first lady's Let's Move initiative. In addition to the traditional egg roll and egg hunt, the event featured sports zones and cooking demonstrations.
See photos from the festivities below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/white-house-easter-egg-roll-2015_n_7011768.html
;D
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I don't know how they used to roll the eggs aross the lawn, although
I have a good idea, but those kids yesterday seemed to be batting them
along like they were golf ballls.
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I don't know how they used to roll the eggs aross the lawn, although
I have a good idea, but those kids yesterday seemed to be batting them
along like they were golf ballls.
I heard or read somewhere that they use spoons, or used to, but what's that all about, anyway? Is it a race? You try to roll your egg across a finish line before anyone else? ???
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I heard or read somewhere that they use spoons, or used to, but what's that all about, anyway? Is it a race? You try to roll your egg across a finish line before anyone else? ???
Yep, that's the idea. I think they might use wooden eggs now because broken eggs created a smell which could be detected for blocks around in the old days.
Back then they couldn't bat the hard-boiled eggs, but I guess some kids do with the wooden ones.
The races are organized by age.
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How white South Carolina cop 'tried to plant a taser' next to the lifeless body of unarmed black man he'd shot FIVE times in the back and then claimed victim had stolen it off him.
Patrolman Michael Slager, 33, opened fire on father-of-four Walter Scott, 50, in South Carolina, on Saturday after reportedly stopping him over a broken tail light
Incendiary video released after the shooting showed Scott, a coast guard veteran, falling face-down on ground after eight shots were fired at his back
Slager, 33, said in police report he 'feared for his life' after Scott wrestled Taser from him - but the video shows Slager 'picking up Taser and placing it next to Scott's body after the shooting'
Scott family attorney said: 'This was a cop who felt like he could get away with just shooting anybody that many times in the back. He just casually shot a man that many times in the back'
Protests were taking place at North Charleston City Hall on Wednesday morning as local leaders appealed for calm..
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3029597/Cop-charged-black-man-s-murder-opening-fire-eight-times-shooting-ran-away-saying-did-felt-threatened.html#ixzz3WjzBt6XP
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
This one I have to say is shocking and would make you very afraid of the police!
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Not excusing this at all, but again, when you see the video, why do people
run away from the police when they're ordering you to do something? Many
of these instances of bad treatment occur when the detainees don't comply.
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Not excusing this at all, but again, when you see the video, why do people
run away from the police when they're ordering you to do something? Many
of these instances of bad treatment occur when the detainees don't comply.
Yes and we talked about that before - I know you had a scary experience. If they say "stop and get your hands up" I would stop on a dime, especially in SC apparently.
Has there been any speculation as to why in the world he ran??
Scott may have tried to run from the officer because he owed child support, which can get someone sent to jail in South Carolina until they pay it back, Stewart said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3029597/Cop-charged-black-man-s-murder-opening-fire-eight-times-shooting-ran-away-saying-did-felt-threatened.html#ixzz3Wk5aUbne
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
???
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Suspects running away--isn't that why there's tasers and/or beanbag bullets?
And that NC law sounds very Dickensian. You owe money, so we'll put you in prison
where you have no possibility of paying it.
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Lily Street Easter Fair Reprised
I'd like to thank Michael Flanagan for his excellent write up on our Grand Celebration known as the Lily Street Easter Fair. It was originally held on the vacant lot which became our condos. After our units were built our carpads area was used to house the hat judging contest and square dancing. My first year here a contestant came dressed as the Faberge Egg. The costume opened up and everything! The last year Tom O'Dea and I had to drive to San Carlos to pick up the flatbed truck which we used as a stage since the San Francisco U-Haul lost our order. It was a fun traditional. The REAL reason it stopped was that nearly everyone came down with HIV or had to care for a lover who had.
Those were the days, my friend...
Thanks for reviving the tradition, Michael!
This link will take you to the article:
http://www.ebar.com/bartab/
Rick Stevens [richchan]
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I miss LIKE sometimes!
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-3.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2015%2Fnews%2F150420%2Fhillary-clinton-01-800.jpg&hash=6f7f184ed2af409cbbdb7c726732bb56d877a853)
Hillary Clinton has made it official.
The former secretary of state announced that she will be seeking the nomination for President of the United States on Sunday with a campaign video on her official website.
The spot opens with various people talking about their hopes for 2015, ending with Clinton saying, "I'm getting ready to do something too. I'm running for President."....
http://www.people.com/article/hillary-clinton-2016-presidential-race
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I still think she had Vince Foster killed...
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Lily Street Easter Fair Reprised
I'd like to thank Michael Flanagan for his excellent write up on our Grand Celebration known as the Lily Street Easter Fair. It was originally held on the vacant lot which became our condos. After our units were built our carpads area was used to house the hat judging contest and square dancing. My first year here a contestant came dressed as the Faberge Egg. The costume opened up and everything! The last year Tom O'Dea and I had to drive to San Carlos to pick up the flatbed truck which we used as a stage since the San Francisco U-Haul lost our order. It was a fun traditional. The REAL reason it stopped was that nearly everyone came down with HIV or had to care for a lover who had.
Those were the days, my friend...
Thanks for reviving the tradition, Michael!
This link will take you to the article:
http://www.ebar.com/bartab/
Rick Stevens [richchan]
Thanks very much for reading it Rick and it's interesting to hear your thoughts regarding why it ended. Carl Heimann was around till last year, I know. He went on to head the Castro Lions, so he remained active in the community till very late in his life. I had wondered what happened to Tom O'Dea and Tom Tripp. I was very fortunate to get in contact with Bradley Cavalier and John Wullbrandt who gave me their take on the fair. They have both moved to Southern California, so it took some work finding them.
I don't know if you had a chance to read my last one on the East Bay. It was picked up by FoundSF, the bay area history site, and is now available here:
http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Oaktown
Thanks again for reading it!
For forum members that are on Facebook, I would appreciate it if you click "recommend" at the bottom of the page if you like the article so that I can get more eyes on it.
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Done!
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The Definitive Guide to Every Hillary Clinton Conspiracy Theory (So Far)
From killing cats to faking concussions, all the dastardly deeds attributed to the former secretary of state and first lady.
Long before she let Benghazi happen, Hillary Clinton was the center of a swirl of inventive rumors about sex, drugs, and murder. For entertainment purposes only, we've rounded up some of the greatest (i.e., most scurrilous). We'll add more as they inevitably bubble up in the run-up to the 2016 race.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/hillary-clinton-conspiracy-theories
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Thanks very much for that Linda - it gave me a good laugh. I particularly like that she's both a secret lesbian and a secret Muslim...and of course that the British conspiracy nut David Icke thinks that she's a "reptiloid" - so maybe she really ATE all of those people she was supposed to have killed.
My favorite thing about conspiracy theories is that if you point out how absurd they are then the believers will tell you that specious conspiracy theories are put forth by the omnipresent "them" to destroy the credibility of the "real" stories.
Davie Icke claimed to be the messiah for a while. He has a lively imagination.
And thank you Sara for saying you wanted to "like" Rich's post. You're my kind of British messiah. ;)
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Lily Street Easter Fair Reprised
I'd like to thank Michael Flanagan for his excellent write up on our Grand Celebration known as the Lily Street Easter Fair. It was originally held on the vacant lot which became our condos. After our units were built our carpads area was used to house the hat judging contest and square dancing. My first year here a contestant came dressed as the Faberge Egg. The costume opened up and everything! The last year Tom O'Dea and I had to drive to San Carlos to pick up the flatbed truck which we used as a stage since the San Francisco U-Haul lost our order. It was a fun traditional. The REAL reason it stopped was that nearly everyone came down with HIV or had to care for a lover who had.
Those were the days, my friend...
Thanks for reviving the tradition, Michael!
This link will take you to the article:
http://www.ebar.com/bartab/
Rick Stevens [richchan]
What a lovely article! Thank you, Michael!
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What a lovely article! Thank you, Michael!
Thanks Jeff! I'm glad you liked it. People often forget the role that fun played in getting us through the dark times and I like to remind people of that occasionally.
BTW, did you know we just passed the 50th anniversary of the Dewey's sit in last month?
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/11652
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What a lovely article! Thank you, Michael!
Yes, it is. I wished there were more pics....I tried to google search, but there didn't seem to be many.
I gave the article a spot on TDS this week.
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Bunny Ranch workers endorse Hillary Clinton
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nevadaappeal.com%2Fcsp%2Fmediapool%2Fsites%2Fdt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls%3FSTREAMOID%3DcLzXAw6tIOWXfTl17nEoBs%24daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYtvZ07eJvt7b%247EXJ2__z5aWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF%249l%244uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-%26amp%3BCONTENTTYPE%3Dimage%2Fjpeg&hash=20baff04860efc5580841c721751e4efab03f28b)
Part of their "four-point platform to explain their endorsement:"
Foreign policy experience: As Secretary Of State, Hillary Clinton gained invaluable experience negotiating with foreign leaders, and the Bunnies can definitely relate to negotiating through a language barrier. The Bunny Ranch entertains customers from all around the globe, and the girls have great respect for any woman who can take powerful men from oppressive cultures and make them bend to her will. With her eye on the international landscape, the Bunnies are confident that President Hillary Clinton would also avoid a repeat of the Secret Service’s Colombian prostitution scandal by making sure that her detail “buys American.”
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Four Images of the Lily Street Fair from My Files
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2F1987-Lily%2520Street%2520Fair-002_zpsshw5gwt0.jpg&hash=db50f1e627ce4cb72237b81025ff99ff7d4535ee)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2F1987-Lily%2520Street%2520Fair-001_zpsr5k7vjkk.jpg&hash=0684b0873d3ce7cd8fd4a485deb06f59499825db)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2F1989-Lily%2520Street%2520Fair-002_zpskvlwc73w.jpg&hash=a36500f054ba17ddc7bd4ca2975c85eb63d60be4) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/richchanstev/media/1989-Lily%20Street%20Fair-002_zpskvlwc73w.jpg.html)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2F1989-Lily%2520Street%2520Fair-001_zpsq8qo1oww.jpg&hash=6464bdddf5cea0ad67170aa7841830e2923cd938) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/richchanstev/media/1989-Lily%20Street%20Fair-001_zpsq8qo1oww.jpg.html)
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Great pics, Rich! Now I know who to come to if I ever do an essay on this in a book! ;)
Chuck, part of the reason I did the article was that there was so little about it online. When I first started working on it people were speculating that it got started because of the Empress Lily Street (it didn't, it was the other way around). And other people mentioned the Sister's event in the park. I could find no direct connection between the two.
I love the Calla Lilies photo, Rich.
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This seems to be the most shocking thing people are talking about
concerning the Bruce Jenner interview last night:
Bruce Jenner Comes Out ... as a Republican
CNN International
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/25/bruce-jenner-diane-sawyer/politics (http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/25/politics/bruce-jenner-diane-sawyer-transgender-lgbt-republican-conservative/index.html?eref=rss_politics)
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Horrors!
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Nooooooooooooooo!
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I was not aware this was going on in NYC, were you Chuck?
My mouth dropped open; I cannot believe it.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS executive director Tom Viola announced that the planned May 10 edition of Broadway Bares Solo Strips, which was to take place at nightlife venue 42West, was canceled after the venue's owners hosted a meeting with anti-LGBT Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz.
Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass (who are themselves gay), own the OUT Hotel which encompasses 42West. Reisner also recently purchased a strip of commercial property in Fire Island Pines, which includes the Pavilion nightclub. The two hosted Senator Cruz and posed for photographs with the politician in their Manhattan penthouse April 20. The controversial meeting was reported in the New York Times.
A heated online debate quickly followed, with many LGBT New Yorkers calling for boycotts of the OUT Hotel and Reisner's venture in the Pines. Both Reisner and Weiderpass moved to distance themselves from Cruz's political positions, each releasing statements in the days following the New York Times report. It proved too little, too late for BC/EFA which announced April 24 that it would cancel Broadway Bares Solo Strips.
A statement from Viola follows: It is with regret that we have decided to cancel this year’s edition of the Broadway Bares Solo Strips fundraiser, which was scheduled for May 10 at the NYC club 42West. We cannot in good conscience hold an event at a venue whose owners have alienated our community, as reflected in an April 23 New York Times story and an April 24 follow-up post.
We do business with and accept fundraising support from a variety of people across a wide spectrum of political and religious affiliations. The rich diversity of our community makes what we do together so special. It is a rare instance where the actions of a donor negatively impacts us as an organization and potentially jeopardizes our relationship with others whose support is integral to our success. But when it does occur, in a way that’s blatantly against all we stand and work for, we can’t pretend it doesn’t come with consequences. Silence is not a neutral position. It is complicit.
This is not about partisan politics or punishment. This is about doing what’s right to ultimately ensure that our commitment to the men, women and children we serve cannot be questioned.
More here:
http://www.advocate.com/politics/2015/04/26/more-events-cancel-over-gay-hotel-owners-ted-cruz-dinner-party
Seriously? Ted Cruz?
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I've read the story a few days ago, I was surprised that the Out Hotel would do that. I'm waiting to see if there are other cancelations.
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No posts on this??
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
Amateur video footage shows how a huge wall of snow and debris hurtled towards Everest Base Camp, moments before it flattened part of the camp in the Himalayas yesterday. Climber Jost Kobusch, who worked in the Special Forces in the German Mountain Army, took the video said he felt the ground shaking and then ran for his life from the cloud of snow. More than 2,500 people died in the quake as buildings collapsed raining down debris on the streets below. As many as 18 climbers, including three Americans, and sherpas are feared dead after a series of avalanches buried Everest Base Camp following the tremors. Also pictured (bottom left: Climbers emerge from their tents to find the camp flattened.
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I thought about it, but I'm not quite sure what the news thread is for nowadays. So terrible - I was there about 5 years ago, in Kathmandu, and trekking in some of the mountain villages. I only hope they weren't near enough the epicentre to be damaged.
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I thought about it, but I'm not quite sure what the news thread is for nowadays. So terrible - I was there about 5 years ago, in Kathmandu, and trekking in some of the mountain villages. I only hope they weren't near enough the epicentre to be damaged.
I am not sure what this news thread is for either - because I can't imagine a bigger news story than this right now. I can't believe you were there, that's wonderful!!
Now they are saying 4,000 dead and more expected, I am going to make a small donation of money, that's all I can do : (
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Here is a map of the earthquake, Sara.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2F_82596664_nepal_earth_quake_v2_624.jpg&hash=ae77d1e536c798dc0cb55276aedb68ff750604c7) (http://s998.photobucket.com/user/tootsiemom/media/_82596664_nepal_earth_quake_v2_624.jpg.html)
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Thanks, Linda. We went to all the named places to the west of Kathmandu. Bharatpur had some lovely old buildings and temples, and it must be very bad there. The villages were the far side of Pokhara, in the foothills of Anapurna, I just hope too far away to be affected by avalanches, but who knows. Such nice people.
Kathmandu was very rundown, dirty and with terrible traffic problems and smog.
A major earthquake had been expected, not if but when, but the infrastructure wasn't ready to cope with it.
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They are also reporting that Kathmandu was shifted 10 feet in 30 seconds from the force of this earthquake.
Even though the Richter Scale level was around the magnitude of the earthquake in Haiti, it was much more destructive as it was relatively shallow, which is what causes more damage.
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No posts on this??
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
Amateur video footage shows how a huge wall of snow and debris hurtled towards Everest Base Camp, moments before it flattened part of the camp in the Himalayas yesterday. Climber Jost Kobusch, who worked in the Special Forces in the German Mountain Army, took the video said he felt the ground shaking and then ran for his life from the cloud of snow. More than 2,500 people died in the quake as buildings collapsed raining down debris on the streets below. As many as 18 climbers, including three Americans, and sherpas are feared dead after a series of avalanches buried Everest Base Camp following the tremors. Also pictured (bottom left: Climbers emerge from their tents to find the camp flattened.
Such horrific images and some people were smiling and taking selfies...
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It is terrible, and the population is showing such bravery in the face of such a disaster.
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Cary Fukunaga, A24 Developing Joe and Jadin Bell Movie
Brokeback Mountain writers Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana will write the script. The film is based on the true story of Jadin Bell, an openly gay 15-year-old who took his own life after being bullied at school and struggling for acceptance from the people closest to him. His father, Joe, attempted to work through his grief over his son's suicide by setting out on a walk across America, hoping to promote awareness of the consequences of prejudice to anyone he encountered along the way.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cary-fukunaga-a24-developing-joe-792559 (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cary-fukunaga-a24-developing-joe-792559)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDxKyQXWgAAM71f.jpg)
As the death toll in the Nepal earthquake continues to climb, more amazing stories of survivors are emerging.
A 4-month-old baby was rescued from the disaster – 22 hours after the earthquake struck, the Nepal newspaper Kathmandu Today reports (via The Independent). Soldiers searched the wreckage of the infant's collapsed home, but were unable to reach him and eventually left the site, believing him to be dead.
However, when they returned hours later, they heard the baby boy's cries and he was finally pulled from the rubble, covered in dust, but free of any serious injuries. ..
http://www.people.com/article/nepal-earthquake-4-month-old-baby-rescued-after-22-hours
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2015%2F05%2F04%2F16%2Farticle-3067004-284D4C6600000578-853_964x592.jpg&hash=de47577dd4601042d15bfe20d88a9b0f4ecea93f)
No royal watchers on the board?
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I'm cerainly very happy for them all!
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Diana would still be a young woman, so sad that she is not alive to see this little boy... and now this beautiful little girl!
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Diana would still be a young woman, so sad that she is not alive to see this little boy... and now this beautiful little girl!
A good name.
Better than Khourtney. ;)
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I had a feeling that if the baby were a girl, her name would somehow incorporate the names Elizabeth and Diana.
A writer in this morning's paper claimed that the duchess is making other new mothers look bad--on her feet and looking fabulous only 10 hours after giving birth! :D
But when does Duchess Kate not look fabulous? :D
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That's what Duchesses do best!
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My daughters are furious with her.
mutter, mutter, mutter................how can she look like that when she's just had a baby............mutter. mutter, mutter.......... I don't look as good as that now..........................mutter, mutter, mutter,................. I was in for 5 days and came out in a wheelchair..........................mutter, mutter, mutter.............etc etc etc :D :D :D
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I understand the Tories retained power?
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Well, before, they were in a coalition with my party the Liberal Democrats, but now they have an overall majority.
My party were wiped out, and the Labour party lost all but one of their seats in Scotland, so now we have 56 MP's in parliament who want Scotland to be independent.
Personally I have no problem at all with David Cameron but the right wing of his party are pretty terrifying.
My worst case scenario is that we lose Scotland from the UK, and then pull out of the EU.
I am afraid we will end up as half of a small island, lost politically in the Atlantic.
More and more control over less and less until we have total power over nothing.
I am not suggesting that is what Mr Cameron wants, but many of his right wing do, at least they probably don't want to lose Scotland, but may not be able to control it, and they and the UKIP party who have one MP, definitely do want to leave the EU.
We will be having a referendum on the EU now, which Mr Cameron has called to appease his right wing.
If we leave the EU I fear we will lose literally millions of jobs and cause ourselves much poverty and loss of business.
The EU are responsible for many of our more generous labour laws, like holiday pay for part time workers etc and control over how many hours can be worked in a week so that is one reason why right wing businessmen would like to show it the door.
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'Absolute, disastrous mess': 6 dead, 150 injured after Amtrak train derails
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/us/philadelphia-amtrak-train-derailment/index.html
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Well, before, they were in a coalition with my party the Liberal Democrats, but now they have an overall majority.
My party were wiped out, and the Labour party lost all but one of their seats in Scotland, so now we have 56 MP's in parliament who want Scotland to be independent.
Personally I have no problem at all with David Cameron but the right wing of his party are pretty terrifying.
My worst case scenario is that we lose Scotland from the UK, and then pull out of the EU.
I am afraid we will end up as half of a small island, lost politically in the Atlantic.
More and more control over less and less until we have total power over nothing.
I am not suggesting that is what Mr Cameron wants, but many of his right wing do, at least they probably don't want to lose Scotland, but may not be able to control it, and they and the UKIP party who have one MP, definitely do want to leave the EU.
We will be having a referendum on the EU now, which Mr Cameron has called to appease his right wing.
If we leave the EU I fear we will lose literally millions of jobs and cause ourselves much poverty and loss of business.
The EU are responsible for many of our more generous labour laws, like holiday pay for part time workers etc and control over how many hours can be worked in a week so that is one reason why right wing businessmen would like to show it the door.
Jess, I can't see us leaving the EU. I certainly hope not anyway. As for Scotland - well, we'll just have to watch events unroll! I think another referendum on independence probably would go through this time, on the wave of post-election euphoria.
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Jess, I can't see us leaving the EU. I certainly hope not anyway. As for Scotland - well, we'll just have to watch events unroll! I think another referendum on independence probably would go through this time, on the wave of post-election euphoria.
Somehere in my recent travels, I met a Scotsman who, on learning I was an Australian who lives in NZ, asked me "How did you people succeed a 100 years ago?' ;D
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It’s sad to think we live in a world where “F-CK HER RIGHT IN THE P-SSY” (#FHRITP) is a thing. Good on CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt for calling these men outvon it. One of them has already been fired from his job because of it.
http://www.citynews.ca/2015/05/11/citynews-shauna-hunt-confronts-men-fhritp-vulgarities/
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/13/in-her-own-words-citynews-reporter-shauna-hunt-on-hecklers-at-tfc-game.html
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'Absolute, disastrous mess': 6 dead, 150 injured after Amtrak train derails
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/us/philadelphia-amtrak-train-derailment/index.html
Sorry to read this. I travelled in the opposite direction from New York to Washington last June. I am currently on a journey by train, many of them high speed, in France. I love train travel and always feel safe whereas I have butterflies when flying. However you never know.
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Sorry to read this. I travelled in the opposite direction from New York to Washington last June. I am currently on a journey by train, many of them high speed, in France. I love train travel and always feel safe whereas I have butterflies when flying. However you never know.
Thanks for responding! I hope you have a safe journey (I am sure you will) I know what you mean about flying and for the most part you do think of train travel as safe. But then something like this happens.
Now they are saying 200 injured!
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Something a little happier!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-1.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2015%2Fgallery%2Fharry-kids-nz%2Fharry-nz-660.jpg&hash=1374deb9a21fe2ec866b446c80e6507f9d09d5e8)
The Royals
How Harry's New Zealand Trip Is Proving He'll Be a Great Dad
http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20395222_20922708,00.html
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It’s sad to think we live in a world where “F-CK HER RIGHT IN THE P-SSY” (#FHRITP) is a thing. Good on CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt for calling these men out on it. One of them has already been fired from his job because of it.
http://www.citynews.ca/2015/05/11/citynews-shauna-hunt-confronts-men-fhritp-vulgarities/
I'm not condoning any vulgar action by people, but I read the article and the first and last line of it do not
make sense to me.
FIRST LINE:
CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt confronted several young men about vulgarities said to her while covering a Toronto FC soccer game on Sunday.
LAST LINE:
This story has been corrected to state that the men Hunt confronted were not hurling vulgarities.
Well, were they or not?
Also,
The crude trend, which started in the United States
It did?
Anyway, I've lamented the trajectory of crass and vulgarness in daily life for
decades. Social (and round-the-clock) media has just exaggerated it.
I just happen to be a fan of morals and good manners. Heh!
_____
On a side note: I was watching the news late last night, both local and national,
and I heard about the Nepal earthquake, tornados and their aftermath, the train
derailment, a 99 year old woman who got ran over (still alive), an accident where
someone got out of the car-threatened the others-threw their baby down a
hillside and set their belongings on fire, more police shootings and sundry other
atrocities from the worst of our collective humanity...and I thought...what good
can it do to a persons psyche day after day to listen to these things before retiring
for the night...every single car crash and robbery and attempted mayhem on human
beings, every unfortunate natural disaster that puts people in jeopardy, every big
and little problem that causes humans pain and suffering? Why do we need that fed
into our consciences on a regular basis? Why do I need to know everything bad
about our Presidential candidate hopefuls every day for the next two years? If you
escape to a retro channel for some decades old telelvision program you'll find constant
ads for starving and suffering animals that need YOUR immediate attention.
Even if you want to try to avoid the news you cannot. During tv programs you'll
get updates, warnings and notices about all these things. If you surf through the
internet there will be links to catch your eye: Look over here! Look at all these bad
things you should check out! Your emails will warn you to unbelievable things you
should read. People you know will tell you..."did you hear?"
And it's not just all these horrible things. The other side of the coin is all the nonsense
you are also bombarded with. Deflated football scandals and Kardashian krap.
Then add on the personal things that everyone has to deal with. I want a hug.
It's all in coping in the "modern world" I suppose, but when does one feel a sense of betterment?
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Hunt patiently endured several instances of the degrading phrase before confronting some of the men who she overheard talking about doing the same.
Guess they hadn't got around to it yet!
Anyway they are gross, pigs, anyone who would do that is nuts! I honestly think the best thing that can be done (as was done in the video) is confront them, show their faces on TV - so that their wives and girlfriends, Mothers, sisters, bosses can see it.
As for the news, well I would never watch it before going to bed let me tell ya, no 11:00 news for me, never has been.
But I do like to know what is going on the world to some extent, like a major earthquake........or a plane crash or a train derailment. I don't like to seem insensitive to the plight of others, because I am not.
I am on here now looking and posting pics of Jake at Cannes, but I tell you that is not the most important thing going on in the world right now.
And honestly I don't follow the Kardashians and I didn't get the whole deflated football thing! :D SO many stories I just pass on by..
But you know we could unplug, we could step away from the computer, put down the tablets.... shut the TV off and the radio and when people say "hey did you hear about such and such" just say "no and I really don't want to".
Hey I posted a pic of Harry and a baby!!
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It’s sad to think we live in a world where “F-CK HER RIGHT IN THE P-SSY” (#FHRITP) is a thing. Good on CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt for calling these men outvon it. One of them has already been fired from his job because of it.
http://www.citynews.ca/2015/05/11/citynews-shauna-hunt-confronts-men-fhritp-vulgarities/
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/13/in-her-own-words-citynews-reporter-shauna-hunt-on-hecklers-at-tfc-game.html
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5615173-behind-the-disgusting-phrase-trend-that-got-a-hydro-one-employee-fired/
A little update!
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Jess, I can't see us leaving the EU. I certainly hope not anyway. As for Scotland - well, we'll just have to watch events unroll! I think another referendum on independence probably would go through this time, on the wave of post-election euphoria.
I desperately hope we don't do either, but the political stupidity of some of our fellow countrymen never fails to amaze me.
I know there has always been rivalry between the English and the Scots, and a I think a lot of people voted Tory because they didn't want the Scots with the Labour Party telling the English what to do.
We do have to realise that in some respects we have been controlling them from London for many years, even if a lot of the ministers and prime ministers were Scottish.
However, in our family we all have lots of Scottish blood, and we feel very strongly that we wouldn't want to lose that part of our heritage.
I suppose we just have to wait and see how things pan out.
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It’s sad to think we live in a world where “F-CK HER RIGHT IN THE P-SSY” (#FHRITP) is a thing. Good on CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt for calling these men outvon it. One of them has already been fired from his job because of it.
http://www.citynews.ca/2015/05/11/citynews-shauna-hunt-confronts-men-fhritp-vulgarities/
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/13/in-her-own-words-citynews-reporter-shauna-hunt-on-hecklers-at-tfc-game.html
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5615173-behind-the-disgusting-phrase-trend-that-got-a-hydro-one-employee-fired/
A little update!
Just sad. I don't see the humor in doing this.....Even (although a different level) standing behind making faces and stuff, trying to distract a reporter from doing the news. Shouting something vulgar, meant to insult and intimidate is viscious and I hope fines start getting doled out to those who engage in it.
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I think of Grade School when someone was getting a picture taken and someone stood behind them and held two fingers above their head, or went behind them and made a face or stuck out their tongue. Things you do when you are eight!!
I just can't imagine that anyone could ever think this behaviour was acceptable. Anyway their stupid faces are on TV for the whole world to see, didn't they realize that?
And another update, the guy fired, is identified.....and was making just over 100 thousand a year.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/05/13/does-hydro-one-have-the-right-to-fire-tfc-fan-shawn-simoes.html
Of course now comes the debate, were they justified in firing him? I actually do think firing is harsh, but give him a big fine for sure and then let him go back to work and see how popular he is with the staff after that.
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Time do dust off the guillotine, don't you think?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2F1percent-01_zpsbdvbjmz6.png&hash=6cce41022cf505829bb845734208ef7b82facfb5)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/26/1332513/--The-most-important-chart-about-the-American-economy-you-ll-see-this-year?detail=facebook#
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from one of the most liberal shows ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=716qbOv3a4M (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=716qbOv3a4M)
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http://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/celebrity-specials/madonna-stokes-controversy-with-romantic-instagram-post-showing-jewish-and-muslim-men-about-to-kiss/ar-BBjUx0N
And why not ?
Why should Religion and Politics build such barriers which causes
so much hatred and misery amongst people ? :(
I know........ I'm naive.
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http://www.euronews.com/2015/05/19/bakery-fined-for-refusing-to-make-gay-marriage-cake/
Cake anyone ?
Not from Ashers apparently ! >:(
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OMG! Aguirre and his psycho wife have been living in Montreal! Come to think of it, I may have given him some change.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi66.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fh249%2Fgiluno01%2Frandy-quaid-02_zpsiwzhvdv7.jpg&hash=555a38c78f19d829593d91e0f71449cd6803f37a)
Hollywood actor Randy Quaid has been ordered to be released from detention following a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board in Montreal.
The actor, who appeared in films like Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure and Brokeback Mountain, has been having problems with immigration officials in Canada for several months and disappeared recently after failing to follow conditions set out following a previous hearing in another province in 2013.
He was arrested on Thursday in Montreal following an investigation by Canada Border Services Agency and the Montreal police.
(...)
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/actor-randy-quaid-released-from-a-montreal-immigration-detention-centre-after-arrest-cbsa-investigation
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Really good news from Ireland. It looks very much as if they have voted overwhelmingly in favour of same sex marriage in a referendum which authorises a change in the constitutuion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32856232
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I was wondering why I hadn't even heard about that until yesterday!
Did not hear the results though.
Faith and begorrah!
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It's been in the news a lot here - headlines everywhere. STILL not got the final count, but there seems no doubt of a good majority.
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Yes, the morning news this morning reported that it was an overwhelming majority in favor of. More than 60%.
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Wonderful.....wonderful news from Ireland. Couldn't have gone better. :)
"Yaaaaaaay" !
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fmans-zelmerloew-01_zpsmkllbi9g.jpg&hash=87b3fd96a014e40cf67828422578f39969f67250)
Congrats to Sweden for winning the Eurovision contest!
Heroes - Måns Zelmerlöw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3avE4Zsp14g
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Erin go bragh ?
That was unexpected and actually kind of wild news from Ireland.
And I saw an interview with one of the Church's high wigs saying that they must take into account the younger generation's role in the referendum, and begin adapting wherever that was possible.
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Yes, Tony, I heard the interview as well.
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The Irish news has made me so happy!
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It's been raining for 2 weeks in the Austin area, and we got the worst last night. I lost power 3 times, the longest time was for about an hour, which is only an inconvenience compared to what's going on south and west of Austin. 7000 are still without power.
They're still doing helicopter rooftop rescues, there are 1000 people in shelters, and over 300 homes are reported as "totally gone". We're due for more rain in the next 48 hours. It's being reported as the worst flood ever in the region.
LIVE UPDATES: Catastrophic Flash Flood Along Blanco, San Marcos Rivers
A destructive, catastrophic flash flood hit a stretch of the Blanco River in and near Wimberley, Texas overnight Saturday night into early Sunday morning, and is now moving downstream into the San Marcos River this morning. At least 350 homes flooded and numerous water rescues are ongoing.
Here are the latest reports of flooding:
•The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for residents along the Blanco River in parts of Hays, Caldwell and Guadalupe counties in Texas overnight. This includes parts of San Marcos, a city of about 55,000 people between Austin and San Antonio.
•An estimated 350 homes were flooded in Hays County, Texas and water rescues were still active. Up to 11.69 inches of rain fell near Kendalia, Texas in this event.
•Residents in Willow Creek along the San Marcos River were evacuated, according to the City of San Marcos. Apartments and city streets in parts of San Marcos have been flooded.
Hernandez Elementary School has been opened as a shelter.
•The Blanco River at San Marcos crested just over 43 feet early Sunday morning, a rise of over 31 feet since late Saturday night. Water levels remain high this morning.
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Hang in there with all that, I can't imagine.
It seems lnow that every day there is some really bad weather story.
It doesn't seem as though it's just because there's round the clock
news, either, it's just that every weather system seems to cause some
horrific event, so that it's becoming normal and not occasional.
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The Irish news has made me so happy!
I'm not Irish, (as far as I know), but I just love the place and the people.
Erin go bragh indeed!
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And yet, even though this has joyously happened in the "mother country",
you'll still find cities in the U.S. next St. Patirck's Day that will not allow gay
groups to march in the St. Patrick's Day parades.
Or will that change?
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Perhaps the Irish vote will goad Australian politicians into action. Australian early settlement had a large Irish contingent and until the 1950's they were the largest non-English component and certainly dominated the Catholic church. Post war immigration from Europe and later Asia has changed this.
At the moment the Prime Minister Tony Abbott(Liberal National Coalition) is against Same-sex marriage and will not allow his party members a free vote. This is despite having a Lesbian sister. He was once in a Catholic seminary - nuff said. Pity he wasn't buried there, he would have done less harm.
The main opposition (Labor) did nothing when in power as the Prime Minister then (an Atheist woman) was opposed as she feared an electoral backlash. The new opposition leader and deputy leader are in favour. The members have a free vote but the deputy leader wants to push for a compulsory vote in favour at the next party annual meeting. I think that would be a mistake. I am not in favour of pushing the diehards completely offside. There is evidence of some of those opposed in the past now coming round especially after Ireland.
The Greens (a small opposition party but with some influence in the Upper house) have a bill proposed for later in the year. Now the Opposition leader is proposing a bill for next week. It will not pass unless the Government party allows a free vote. There are some Government members pushing for this despite the Prime Ministerial opposition to it.
Bill Shorten to introduce private members bill to legalise same-sex marriage
By Matthew Doran
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has confirmed Labor will move a bill to legalise same-sex marriage next week.
The move follows an announcement by the Greens this morning that their Marriage Equality Bill would be brought on for debate in the Senate on June 18 with a view to vote on November 12.
In a statement, Mr Shorten said the time had come for Parliament to debate marriage equality and that he found it unacceptable current laws excluded some individuals.
The bill will come before the House of Representatives on Monday.
"I know this private members bill will not have the universal support of my colleagues," Mr Shorten said.
"It will challenge the deeply held personal beliefs of MPs and senators on both sides of politics.
"This is why Labor members have the freedom to vote their conscience, a freedom Tony Abbott is currently denying his party."
Even with a conscience vote in the Labor Party, Mr Shorten does not have the numbers to pass his bill.
Rather he is using it to urge the Prime Minister to grant a conscience vote to his MPs, something the Coalition already appears to be edging towards.
In recent days, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull described Australia as the "odd one out" on same-sex marriage among Commonwealth nations including the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada.
Renewed debate in Australia has been triggered by Ireland's vote in favour of marriage equality in a referendum at the weekend.
"The world isn't waiting for Tony Abbott and our Parliament shouldn't have to," Mr Shorten said.
"I know there are Coalition MPs who'd support marriage equality if Tony Abbott granted them a free vote."
Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos said the Coalition had been waiting to see how the Labor Party would move on the matter.
"I know some of my colleagues, like Warren Entsch and others, want to raise the issue and have talked about having game plans on this," he said.
"So we'll wait until next week, but certainly I would support a conscience vote on this."
Labor MPs not bound to support bill: Plibersek
Labor has granted MPs a conscience vote on marriage equality, however deputy leader Tanya Plibersek has pushed for a binding vote in favour of the issue.
In an interview on 7:30, Ms Plibersek was asked if all Labor MPs would be bound to support the bill, or if it would be subject to a conscience vote so that some could dissent.
"It will be a free vote," she said.
"We decided at our last national conference that while the Labor Party position was to support ... equality, that there would be a free vote for Labor MPs and the question, of course, is will there also be a free vote for Liberal MPs?
"We've had quite a few Liberals this week saying that Tony Abbott should allow their side of politics a free vote also."
Ms Plibersek was questioned why Labor was acting now rather than when they were in government.
She said there was now greater community support for the change.
"We changed 85 laws at the time, removed every piece of legal discrimination against gay men, lesbians and same-sex couples on the statute books," Ms Plibersek said.
"This is a piece of unfinished business and both Bill Shorten and I were supporters of marriage equality in the past.
"We have the opportunity now as the leader and deputy to move this bill."
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I really hope events will move forward, Brian.
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It's been raining for 2 weeks in the Austin area, and we got the worst last night. I lost power 3 times, the longest time was for about an hour, which is only an inconvenience compared to what's going on south and west of Austin. 7000 are still without power.
How are you doing there Nancy? It doesn't seem to be letting up much since you last posted.
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How are you doing there Nancy? It doesn't seem to be letting up much since you last posted.
Thanks for asking, Lyle.
There have been so many losses in and around the Blanco River, and some are still missing, so it's a sad sad time...my own experience was mostly one of fear as I waited out the tornado warnings, but insignificant to the real losses west of Austin.
The waters came close to swamping the patio, which was a fear, and raising to the back patio door, but the rain stopped short of that. I checked the house and there was a mark about 4" high where the rushing waters had left a mark on the sides, and it had pushed mud and small tree debris up against the fence, but no damage, thank God.
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because everyone knows you can't get superior medical treatment in Europe (remember - there is no emoticon for sarcasm)
John Kerry in Geneva hospital after bike accident in nearby France
(CNN)—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his right femur in a cycling accident in Scionzier, France, on Sunday morning, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
The injury is near the site of a previous hip surgery, so Kerry will return to Boston on Sunday for treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital with his doctor who did the prior surgery, the spokesman said in a statement.
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Good to hear it didn't get any worse for you, Nancy! I sure hope you guys
get a break soon. I knew that Texas had been having drought conditions
for a few years and this week I saw a map that showed that the recent
rains had dropped enough water to cover the entire state of Texas with
8 inches of water! Though I doubt anyone wanted that much all at once.
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Is nobody going to comment on the Charleston shootings?
-
I don't know what to say about these things. Things like this keep happening.
There's a routine. The first reaction is shock, but I don't know why people are
shocked any more. I'm getting numb to it. Then they try to make out like the
person was a lone wolf, as though the incident is an aberration. It couldn't happen
normally. Then people on opposite sides of the "gun issue" yell back and forth at
each other. Nothing happens.
The gunman's father thought it a good idea to give him a glock pistol as a gift for his 21st birthday.
Such a thoughtful loving understanding Dad.
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Is nobody going to comment on the Charleston shootings?
I read somewhere that Obama had to make his 14th statement (!) during his time as President concerning terrible shootings of this kind.
:(
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The gunman's father thought it a good idea to give him a glock pistol as a gift for his 21st birthday.
Such a thoughtful loving understanding Dad.
Maybe that's the most awful part of the entire tragedy.
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Meanwile, a fascinating DATELINE episode is being played out in upstate New York
not that far from where I grew up.
Two convicts escape from a prison where that has never happened in over 150 years or
something like that. And the details of it seem like something out of a pulp fiction novel.
And everyone loves a good mystery...so where are these two? And the woman involved
it, well, what can you say? It's very bizarre.
-
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “I have had to make statements like this too many times. Communities have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. But let’s be clear. At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. Let us also be clear about something else. It is in our power to do something about it.”
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Maybe that's the most awful part of the entire tragedy.
The awful part will be watching the NRA and their supporters and the Congressional
leaders support the Dad and distort the concept of "law abiding gun owners."
___
What I wonder about is that this gunman sat in this prayer meeting for an hour with these
people and still was able to do what he did. Most attacks like this are more or less assaults
from the get go, This was chilling in its execution. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing.
If his father supplied the weapon, intent or not, he should be held accountable in some way.
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I just saw this headline:
Dylann Storm Roof's Friend Took Gun Away During 'Crazy'
Bigoted Rant 2 Weeks Before Charleston Church Shooting
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/suspected-charleston-church-shooter-gun-birthday-article-1.2262393
Not that I know anything about these people, but the family
thought it was a good idea to have their son's name, partly,
as "Storm Roof?" And it also points out the wisdom of a person
like this being allowed to have a gun at all. Oh, but you just can't
take guns away from anyone. It's their first amendment right.
Right? That's what the founding father's said, or those who would
distort that intent would have you believe.
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Is nobody going to comment on the Charleston shootings?
It makes me sad. And angry. And despair. What a world we live in – so much love yet so much hate.
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What I wonder about is that this gunman sat in this prayer meeting for an hour with these
people and still was able to do what he did. Most attacks like this are more or less assaults
from the get go, This was chilling in its execution. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing.
If his father supplied the weapon, intent or not, he should be held accountable in some way.
1. Exactly.
2. Absolutely!
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The gunman's father thought it a good idea to give him a glock pistol as a gift for his 21st birthday.
Such a thoughtful loving understanding Dad.
A Glock? Unbelievable. That's not even pretending to be a gun you use for anything else than assassinating someone. Despair. :(
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Watch: Victims’ Families Address Dylann Roof, Charleston Shooting Suspect
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/watch-victims-families-address-dylann-roof-charleston-shooting-suspect.html
"I forgive you... "
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Then you have the former governor of Texas calling it an "accident"
After S.C. ‘accident,’ Perry downplays gun issue
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/after-sc-accident-perry-downplays-gun-issue?cid=sm_fb_maddow
This guy is not only an idiot, but a really stupid idiot. Always has been and always will be. And unfortunately one of the many "College of Clowns" running for President. UGH!! :P
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^^^
I won't say anything about this whole "guns for all " situation.....it makes me so angry.
I have voiced my opinions in the past when sad events like this have happened before.
Lets just say others did not agree........but... .....here we are again.
:-X
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My question is, why do these mass shooters have such horrible haircuts? This guy is like a twin of the Sandyhook psycho.
-
^^^
I won't say anything about this whole "guns for all " situation.....it makes me so angry.
I have voiced my opinions in the past when sad events like this have happened before.
Lets just say others did not agree........but... .....here we are again.
:-X
why not just say what an unspeakable tragedy it is? Acknowledge how devastated and saddened the people in South Carolina, and our whole country, are...how unthinkable that one cowardly loser could have it within himself to destroy so many precious lives - and in a house of worship? How much less love is in the world with the deaths of those truly faithful and innocent. I think we all agree with that.
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I heard an interesting opinion on the BBC radio, voiced by a black American lady, whose name I don't know. She was adamant that the finger should be pointed at Fox News for providing a home base or haven for these racist nutters to air their views, thus providing them with some credibility in their own eyes.
I don't live in the US or listen to Fox news so I can't comment on the validity of her statement but I'd like to know if anyone thinks she's right.
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^^^
How can you say what a tragedy all of this and other similar situations that have occurred......and not mention the
cause ? I think that could be called "burying your head in the sand"
It is a devastating tragedy that has happened in South Carolina and of course my sympathies and thoughts are with the people who have lost members of their families and friends. Any normal thinking person will feel their heartache ...pain and saddness.
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Then you have the former governor of Texas calling it an "accident"
This guy is not only an idiot, but a really stupid idiot. Always has been and always will be. And unfortunately one of the many "College of Clowns" running for President. UGH!! :P
Oh, Linda, so true. LOL @ College of Clowns.
After his last run for President was such a fiasco he still seems to think he'd be a qualified
Presidential candidate. The fact anyone would give loads of money to him for a run is pathetic.
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He'll be laughed out of the race early...if he gets to the debates, the writing staffs for late night shows can relax...he'll do their work for them.
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CORRECTION:
So, I Was watching ABC news last night and they mentioned something almost incidentally.
"The gunman bought the gun used in these killings himself. It was not given to him by his father
as we previously thought."
AND WHY DID WE THINK THAT?
BECAUSE EVERY NEWS OUTLET ON EARTH WAS TELLING US THAT.
TELLING US FALSE INFORMATION.
SPREADING INCORRECT FACTS.
We'd be better off waiting a week or two for our news.
But the news keeps advertising we have to watch now
because we need to know. We need to know all the false
things reported when there's breaking news? I want to hear
the truth and if it means waiting a bit, I'll wait. Now I am guilty
of spreading false information. Thanks news people.
Mind you, it isn't any better that this guy was able to buy a gun so easily.
And another thing, ABC news interviews "a friend" of the gunman who talked
about him saying that he was talking about doing some deed like this at a nearby
college instead. The friend was never asked why he didn't report this. Oh, and this
friend was BLACK.
Do I really know anything about this situation?
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I heard that, too. Then I heard that his parents didn't think he should have a gun so they gave him money for his birthday instead, so he could buy a gun and have it registered in his name...none of that makes any more sense than the rest of this.
CNN is, I think, the most sensationalistic of the 3 cable news shows, the others being MSNBC (who is picking up the disgraced Brian Williams) and Fox. Fox is just out and out right wing crazy. CNN will endlessly continue to cover violent or other terrible stories, like plane crashes, after the other 2, even Fox, have moved on.
And why, oh why, do reporters feel the need to ask people who have lost a family member or friend "how does that make you feel?" They all, even the women, (maybe especially the women) remind me of the guy in Nightcrawler.
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CORRECTION:
So, I Was watching ABC news last night and they mentioned something almost incidentally.
"The gunman bought the gun used in these killings himself. It was not given to him by his father
as we previously thought."
AND WHY DID WE THINK THAT?
BECAUSE EVERY NEWS OUTLET ON EARTH WAS TELLING US THAT.
TELLING US FALSE INFORMATION.
SPREADING INCORRECT FACTS.
We'd be better off waiting a week or two for our news.
But the news keeps advertising we have to watch now
because we need to know. We need to know all the false
things reported when there's breaking news? I want to hear
the truth and if it means waiting a bit, I'll wait. Now I am guilty
of spreading false information. Thanks news people.
Mind you, it isn't any better that this guy was able to buy a gun so easily.
And another thing, ABC news interviews "a friend" of the gunman who talked
about him saying that he was talking about doing some deed like this at a nearby
college instead. The friend was never asked why he didn't report this. Oh, and this
friend was BLACK.
Do I really know anything about this situation?
Interestingly, Dave Cullen wrote a book on this very subject.
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I heard an interesting opinion on the BBC radio, voiced by a black American lady, whose name I don't know. She was adamant that the finger should be pointed at Fox News for providing a home base or haven for these racist nutters to air their views, thus providing them with some credibility in their own eyes.
I don't live in the US or listen to Fox news so I can't comment on the validity of her statement but I'd like to know if anyone thinks she's right.
She is absolutely 100% right, Janie. Without a doubt. The day the shooting happened the news readers from Fox were astounded that the shooting was being called a hate crime!! Seriously!!
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I heard a newscaster report that the killers father, sister and uncle all called police after the shooting to tip them off about his identity after the shooting.
The reporter then said that this ‘clearly’ shows that his family had suspicions about his activity.
I thought, no, this doesn’t prove that in my mind. I thought that the fact that his family members tipped off the police showed that they did not support the killer (their own family member), but wanted him caught and brought to justice. In this sense I thought what they did was good. Now, it’s possible that they had suspicions about his activity, but I don’t see how them calling the police ‘clearly’ shows that. That this young man turned out to be a horrible racist may cast suspicion on his family upbringing, but I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until more information is known.
The media does tend to want to jump to conclusions and point blame. The parents gave him the gun, so it’s their fault. Well, it’s not difficult to get a gun in the United States, so even if they didn’t give it to him (or didn’t give him the money), he could have got it himself quite easily. Supposedly his friend took away his gun at one point, but then returned it because he didn’t want to get in trouble for taking the gun. But the friend is not to blame.
The last thing I want to say is that if he hoped to start a race war by these killings, he has failed. The family members of the victims have shown such great compassion – offering their forgiveness, and God’s forgiveness – on the man who murdered their sister, mother, son. His act has shined a spotlight on racism, but it has also brought so many people in compassion, shared grief, and determination to make a better world. While there are so many bad and terrible things to say about this incident (especially the comments from so many unthinking and uncaring people – many of whom are politicians and community leaders and media – I'm looking at you, FOX), I choose to look at the positive things: the spirituality and hope at Sunday church, not the grief and anger that the haters wanted.
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She is absolutely 100% right, Janie. Without a doubt. The day the shooting happened the news readers from Fox were astounded that the shooting was being called a hate crime!! Seriously!!
Thanks Linda. That's appalling. >:(
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Am sure the church massacre in Charleston was a hate crime, and also domestic terrorism. What's scary is, we can't afford a pattern starting, as has happened with mall and school shootings. This particular evil has larger damage potential. Another one, and things could go where we can't come back.
Life is getting surrealistic and there seem to be no quick fixes.
Also, I see a climate unexpected, on racial matters. President Obama only has a year and 1/2 left in office. You'd think the haters would be celebrating that. But I really sense that the peaceful end of 2 terms is greatly feared, as that exposes the hate crowd's inability to say it was all wrong.
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Thanks Linda. That's appalling. >:(
It is so appalling, Janie. Unfortunately there are people who watch this and believe every lie that is being spouted on this network.
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Am sure the church massacre in Charleston was a hate crime, and also domestic terrorism. What's scary is, we can't afford a pattern starting, as has happened with mall and school shootings. This particular evil has larger damage potential. Another one, and things could go where we can't come back.
Life is getting surrealistic and there seem to be no quick fixes.
Also, I see a climate unexpected, on racial matters. President Obama only has a year and 1/2 left in office. You'd think the haters would be celebrating that. But I really sense that the peaceful end of 2 terms is greatly feared, as that exposes the hate crowd's inability to say it was all wrong.
That is what is so scary Tony, that there are no quick fixes on any of the big issues. Especially with so much political and social division.
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Exactly right, Linda - the ways we are all divided prevents fixing things. Sometimes we are manipulated into being divided, but a lot of times, even people of good will just can't work together, for reasons I don't understand :P .
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Dear Friends of Brokeback Mountain:
The University of Wyoming/American Heritage Center has formally announced our launch of Out West in the Rockies, the first regional archive of LGBT history and culture in the American West. http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2015/06/lgbt-archive-of-the-american-west-launched-at-the-university-of-wyoming.html (http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2015/06/lgbt-archive-of-the-american-west-launched-at-the-university-of-wyoming.html)
HBO is our first sponsor. Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry have offered to assist in any way they can.
I am so hoping to develop an important Brokeback collection. We discussed the digital files of the Ultimate Brokeback Forum. Confidentiallity concerns can be discussed with AHC Digital Collections Curator Tyler Cline. That said, personal papers, including ephemera, photos, correspondence, Brokeback Mountain prequels, sequels, etc would also be great. So to music scores, etc relating to Meet Me on the Mountain, and performance ephemera.
I would also so love Lydia's papers, if they remain intact, if possible.
Last November I drove my personal papers, including my books, films, plays and Out West programming and correspondence through the Rockies in a blizzard for delivery at the doorstep of the American Heritage Center. I cannot express properly how important and emotional this right of passage was to me. See this note from AHC to me:
"The staff at the American Heritage Center has recently completed a new online finding aid for the Gregory Hinton papers. Please see http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah12604.xml (http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah12604.xml). We are extremely grateful to you for making these papers available. We hope that this guide will assist researchers interested in the material and that you will be pleased with it."
I have now spoken twice at the LGBTQ Alliance of the American Alliance of Museums, Expo 2014 and 2015. I announced this archive in Atlanta. I am now invited to keynote the Western Museum Association in Phoenix 2016. My Topic? "Out West in the Rockies"
The Ultimate Brokeback Forum has been instrumental in giving voice to the rural western LGBT experience. December, 2015, is the 10th Anniversary of Brokeback Mountain. I so hope you will collectively get the word out about the archive. We need collections and donations. http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/ (http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/) Please find a way to establish the Forum in this collection.
Sometimes I re-read the dialogue of our stage reading of Beyond Brokeback. My favorite line: "It was the story of our wounding being told."
Best,
Gregory
Gregory Hinton, Producer
Out West in the Rockies
323.876.9585 gregoryhinton@earthlink.net
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On the subject of the Charleston murders, something struck me; looking at his photograph it is obvious that he is a supreme being that has the right to kill other people who don't reach his high standards of intellect and skin colour. :D
Or is it that he is just a young man with serious mental health problems who should never have been let anywhere near a gun?
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On the subject of the Charleston murders, something struck me; looking at his photograph it is obvious that he is a supreme being that has the right to kill other people who don't reach his high standards of intellect and skin colour. :D
Or is it that he is just a young man with serious mental health problems who should never have been let anywhere near a gun?
He's a white supremacist who hates blacks
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From the heights of his physical and intellectual white perfection!
Some one should try to explain to him, and other like minded individuals, that we are all descended from a very few Africans who came out of the Rift Valley, millions of years ago. That we are all related to each other no matter what our race, and that his beliefs are rubbish.
I don't suppose he believes in evolution though.
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The gunman's father thought it a good idea to give him a glock pistol as a gift for his 21st birthday.
Such a thoughtful loving understanding Dad.
What kind of an idiot. ... >:( ??? :(
And right now I'm hearing on our local evening TV news that we've had another seven people shot at one time here in Philadelphia, including three children. No word on anybody's condition, though.
How can anybody with as much as a single brain cell be opposed to any further regulation of firearms? >:( ???
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How can anybody with as much as a single brain cell be opposed to any further regulation of firearms? >:( ???
The good old boys who have lots and lots of money who equate the size of their d***s with the size of their guns.
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As you will know, Linda, because guns are so controlled and on the whole unacceptable in the UK, visiting the USA where they are so freely on sale can come as quite a shock to us.
In some ways I was surprised at how peaceful the USA is in view of their availability.
We have a court case going on here at present for a young man who had severe schizophrenia and ran amok in North London with a knife, beheading two cats and a perfectly innocent great grandmother who just happened to be in her garden.
The USA would be benefited by greater gun control, I feel sure, but both countries could do with more help and support for people with mental health difficulties.
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Before I do this post, please let me say that, throughout my life, I have either lost friends and family, or been categorized unfairly, because I supported women's rights, and civil rights for blacks, and then, later, gay rights. So nothing said here, is from a perspective hostile to justice and progress. I have paid more than most, for believing people are people.
I am a little uneasy about the Confederate flag controversy, and, worse, that banning it, poof, solves our problems, on the cheap. Is it an emblem of hatred? Yes, it has been used that way, and so, ought not to be in government buildings (other than museums).
But, as a Southerner, I have seen that flag more often as an emblem of the pick-up truck, redneck culture, one where those with it on their truck would often be the first to stop and change a flat tire for an elderly black lady.
Jimmy Carter wrote a book about growing up in the South, which produced howls, because it did not fit the presupposing of non-Southerners. It's a block mentality out there, and one which cannot explain the new migration of blacks to the Southern states.
Things aren't always what they seem to be. Even that most liberal of liberals, Joan Baez, wrote and sang the stirring song "The Night they tore Old Dixie down". She understood there was more to the civil war than the issue of slavery, and she had no fear in expressing that. Are we going to ban her song from YouTube?
Yes, get the Confederate flag out of public government places. It HAS been used as an anti-black icon. But this magic wand approach to solving extremely resistant problems is, IMO, just going to buy us 50 more years of no real progress for the mutating problems.
Racism is going to be with us for many years (including black racists). We should focus on preventing injustices derived from personal prejudice, and we should work to end the new era of violence. On the latter, mental health work, starting in elementary schools, is do-able and a huge answer to the mass shootings, racial or otherwise.
Poof, banning the Confederate flag from being sold or privately displayed, is just that....waving a wand, instead of investing in the tougher work needed.
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Local news on the above issue:
A restaurant "Dixietown" or something, beswathed in Confederate flags, under pressure to drop the flag and anything else Southern.
The problem is, it is highly integrated, owing to similarities in Southern black and white food preferences. What was once an oasis of different understandings, now has both blacks and whites around here utterly forlorn.
I suppose the barbecued ribs and collard greens can stay, without the atmosphere of the Old South. But, it just goes to show, things are not always so simple as some would want them to be.
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Thank you for your thoughts, Tony.
I'll admit that today this Sauerkraut Yankee rolled his eyes at everyone jumping on the bandwagon. A flag company will no longer make the Confederate battle flag. Amazon won't sell it. Ebay won't sell it. Etsy won't sell it. And on and on.
I have a Confederate battle flag that I bought during my 13 months in Williamsburg 35 years ago, and I'm keeping it.
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....I have a Confederate battle flag that I bought during my 13 months in Williamsburg 35 years ago, and I'm keeping it.
That's a good museum piece, Jeff, and will appreciate in value.
Meanwhile, U.S. flag makers are stopping production of confederate flags - which will undoubtably cause a panic in some sub-groups. China will wait a while, and take over production, and everyone can go back to quasi-semi normal ::)......
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China will wait a while, and take over production, and everyone can go back to quasi-semi normal ::)......
;D
If the world doesn't end first. Now I see NASCAR is distancing itself from the flag. ... 8)
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Over the years the "stars and bars" has come to represent "the south" and I completely understand that.
Mind you, there was a southern food restaurant that opened on our sea front here in Southend on sea UK sometime ago.
It was draped with Confederate flags which upset me.
I mentioned it to the man who was leader of the council art the time, and who is a friend.
I asked why it was acceptable to fly the flag of a slave owning state, and within a few days the flags were removed.
I suspect actually that a lot of people here would not have realised that was what they signified, at least none of the students I was teaching at the time did.
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Your post was quite insightful Tony. I admit I was perplexed at how the situation
in South Carolina had turned into news about flag banning. I, myself, have never
seen a confederate flag flown anywhere, but my southern travels have been
peripheral. I was sitting here wondering what I'd think if I did see one. Flags are
symbols and there is meaning behind them. Just this week in Southern California
there's been news stories about a Nazi "SS" flag being flown at night over someone's
house which has caused a stir. Why? No word.
Frankly, I'd rather all these places who are now banning the sales of confederate flags
ban selling weapons instead. It's as you said, Tony. People don't want to do anything
really about the problems of gun violence. They'd rather blame it on a flag symbol. They're
always saying people who are not law abiding citizens shouldn't have guns. Well, this current
shooter had a history of not abiding laws, was still able to purchase a gun, so what do they
say about that?
I couldn't believe that Ted Cruz, the same day as the mass shooting in S.C., was
talking to people in Iowa about gun control and said, "To gun owners, gun control
is hitting what you aim at." This is a man who is under the delusion that he is qualified
to run for the Presidency.
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Thanks, Lyle :).
Flag controversy is beginning to spread. Some stories of wanting the U.S. flag banned or burned. And, some mention of banning gay pride flags.
I really think we need to start mental health courses in the elementary schools. We are not catching the big problem early. And it's showing up in everything from violent activity to day-to-day decline in standards of empathy and fairness.
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Your post was quite insightful Tony. I admit I was perplexed at how the situation
in South Carolina had turned into news about flag banning. I, myself, have never
seen a confederate flag flown anywhere, but my southern travels have been
peripheral. I was sitting here wondering what I'd think if I did see one. Flags are
symbols and there is meaning behind them. Just this week in Southern California
there's been news stories about a Nazi "SS" flag being flown at night over someone's
house which has caused a stir. Why? No word.
Frankly, I'd rather all these places who are now banning the sales of confederate flags
ban selling weapons instead. It's as you said, Tony. People don't want to do anything
really about the problems of gun violence. They'd rather blame it on a flag symbol. They're
always saying people who are not law abiding citizens shouldn't have guns. Well, this current
shooter had a history of not abiding laws, was still able to purchase a gun, so what do they
say about that?
I couldn't believe that Ted Cruz, the same day as the mass shooting in S.C., was
talking to people in Iowa about gun control and said, "To gun owners, gun control
is hitting what you aim at." This is a man who is under the delusion that he is qualified
to run for the Presidency.
So many of the news reports I am seeing on this subject are emphasizing that what needs to be remembered here is that 9 people lost their lives from the actions of 1 person, not the controversy of the Confederate flag. The flag did not cause this person to commit this crime, the hate put forth in the internet sites he visited and aspired to is what caused this. Symbols of hate do not directly cause deaths, the free access to weapons in the hands of hate is what causes death.
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Just as a reference, this is Joan Baez, "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down".
I do agree, the old flag has been used by racists, for their own agenda. But here, we have a liberal understanding of the rural ways of the South defending against the cultural imperialism of the North.
It's a mess when an icon can have so diverse of a meaning, even to black Southerners, who espy such a flag upon a restaurant as meaning....collards, grits, and pork chops...let's go there :P....!
https://youtu.be/C_ksYL26lZE
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So many of the news reports I am seeing on this subject are emphasizing that what needs to be remembered here is that 9 people lost their lives from the actions of 1 person, not the controversy of the Confederate flag. The flag did not cause this person to commit this crime, the hate put forth in the internet sites he visited and aspired to is what caused this. Symbols of hate do not directly cause deaths, the free access to weapons in the hands of hate is what causes death.
I couldn't agree more, Linda.
For the record, I do support stringent gun control. As in, laws that :
- require background checks
- prevent stockpiling of ammunition
- prevent fast clip replacement guns except for law enforcement
- forbid large numbers of guns to one person, unless registered as a hobbyist
- and, yes, beefing up non-feasance laws, making people who do not report unstable relatives with guns, as subject, themselves, to prosecution
But these laws cannot be passed, or, if they did, would radicalize a minority even more.
I just don't believe we can pry the public free from the claws of the NRA until we pass a Reassurance bill, standing alone, that strongly endorses the right to owning a gun for self-protection, and makes compilation of federal lists of owners (that could later be used for confiscation), a felony.
We aren't Scandinavian. The majority of Americans want to either have a gun, against things like home invasions, or the ability to buy one. And until they are reassured, the NRA keeps winning the battle by saying any common-sense laws are a step to confiscation. Reassure the public with that first law, and watch the paranoid support of the NRA go down the tubes.
Bewailing the "gun culture", mocking homeowners who own guns, and pointing to Denmark, etc., .......goes nowhere.
Nixon went to Red China, against his political base.
Clinton pushed through Welfare reform, against his political base.
President Obama, postures, bemoans, and fails to start the pragmatic journey, by feeding the NRA new customers with his toss-off words, that fail to reassure the public, original sensible rights will be supported by new law, standing alone, which Congress could not afford to reject. Pass a Reassurance law, and then the fear of sensible gun-control will melt away, enough to get the job done.
Then we can start reversing the posturing and concentrate on the haters, who kill so easily, in malls, theaters, schools, and now churches. There is a way out. We are just so divided we cannot find it.
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Some very thoughtful postings here.
I know it is said, I think rightly, that there are so many guns in American society that it is impossible to ban them, but would it perhaps be possible to control and perhaps restrict the sale of ammunition?
The USA isn't Britain, or Europe, the terrain and customs are very different but surely there must be some way of keeping weapons out of the hands of deranged young men?
(Yes, it is my opinion that someone so filled with irrational hatred is deranged).
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......
I know it is said, I think rightly, that there are so many guns in American society that it is impossible to ban them, but would it perhaps be possible to control and perhaps restrict the sale of ammunition?
The USA isn't Britain, or Europe, the terrain and customs are very different but surely there must be some way of keeping weapons out of the hands of deranged young men?
(Yes, it is my opinion that someone so filled with irrational hatred is deranged).
Yes, of course, Jess - we do need laws limiting amounts of ammunition. We already do have laws denying arms to those with proven mental health problems. The killer in Charleston, however, was in process of being formally in that category, but the process was too slow.
We have a further problem in the transition of education into an industry, inflexible and focused, all too often, on what amounts to day-care, rather than learning. I thought your point that much of this savagery is a mental health issue was a bullseye. But our schools are collapsed on the issue of mental health, including classes that inoculate the kids early, and identify those who need referral to special help.
The schools have some physical health info, and nurses, often. But zero, as far as I can tell, on early signs of mental disorders.
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SCOTUS in a 5-4 vote made it the law of the land for everyone to marry.
Supreme Court is absolutely clear: "No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. LGBT ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."
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CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!
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I'm so happy for American friends!! :-* :-* :-*
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Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Finally! :) :-*
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Thanks to all our friends throughout the world. It is truly a wonderful day!
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Justice Kennedy based his decision, for the majority, on what I always said it would be: the 14th Amerndment's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
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The date of June 26 will always be an important date in LGBT history.
Three major SCOTUS decisions came down on this date.
On June 26, 2003, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that intimate consensual sexual conduct is part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, explicitly overruled Bowers v. Hardwick.
Ten years after the Lawrence v. Texas decision, the Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2013 that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional "as a deprivation of the equal liberty of the person ... protected by the Fifth Amendment". United States v. Windsor, the title of the landmark case, was decided by a 5 to 4 vote. The federal government is required to recognize marriages performed in states where same-sex marriage has been legalized, and provide federal rights, privileges and benefits. Once again Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion.
As of June 26th, 2015, through the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, all states offer marriage to same-sex couples. And yet again Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in very loving and heartfelt words.
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Today was historic. Justice Kennedy's vote, and his words were moving and will stand as a profile in courage.
I don't think the majority of gay people will rush to get married. But the right to a governmentally recognized marriage may well start many thinking, and eventually create a new norm.
This decision, however, means more than recognizing equality under state licenses - it also is a major hit to those who hate, and those who bully, from instinct. I've never assumed the opposition came from haters, as some have had, and continue to have, personal objections based on personal beliefs, with no reference to wishing, objectively, to oppress. That is their right so long as it does no overt harm to others.
But a huge source of opposition has come from those who just don't like people different from them, or who have a need to oppress others. And today, they got a stern warning, that the majority do not agree. I have been waiting for that for a long time, on this issue, and today gives me hope I may live to see the same on other violations of human rights, still supported, or unchallenged, by law.
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I am hoping all you said comes to pass, Tony. This continues to be an uphill battle though, and everyone must continue to fight.
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Bravo America!
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Such a wonderful day of history, Ingy!
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26 June, Gay Independence Day.
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26 June, Gay Independence Day.
Times 3!!!
The date of June 26 will always be an important date in LGBT history.
Three major SCOTUS decisions came down on this date.
On June 26, 2003, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that intimate consensual sexual conduct is part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, explicitly overruled Bowers v. Hardwick.
Ten years after the Lawrence v. Texas decision, the Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2013 that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional "as a deprivation of the equal liberty of the person ... protected by the Fifth Amendment". United States v. Windsor, the title of the landmark case, was decided by a 5 to 4 vote. The federal government is required to recognize marriages performed in states where same-sex marriage has been legalized, and provide federal rights, privileges and benefits. Once again Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion.
As of June 26th, 2015, through the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, all states offer marriage to same-sex couples. And yet again Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in very loving and heartfelt words.
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Almost on the anniversary of Stonewall!!
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Congratulations America. So happy for you all.
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :-*
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Thanks, Sue!!
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^^^
As one placard said Linda " Not only gay......but ecstatic " :D
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I am hoping all you said comes to pass, Tony. This continues to be an uphill battle though, and everyone must continue to fight.
I hope so, too, Linda. On every battlefront.
Am just happy for this win :) ! It will enrage some, but, hopefully, challenge others, to re-think what their real reasons were, for denying equality for government licenses.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS!
What a wonderful day!8
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^^^
As one placard said Linda " Not only gay......but ecstatic " :D
What a great sign, Sue!!
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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS!
What a wonderful day!8
Thanks so much, Jess! It is indeed a momentous day
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I hope so, too, Linda. On every battlefront.
Am just happy for this win :) ! It will enrage some, but, hopefully, challenge others, to re-think what their real reasons were, for denying equality for government licenses.
I hope so too, Tony!
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Well, I only figured out the sweep of the court's decision, in this last hour.
I had thought the case was whether same-sex marriages from states that allowed them, and only those marriages, must be accepted as valid in all states. I now understand, the court went past that, and declared same-gender marriage a fundamental constitutional right in all states. That was what made the decision historic.
Meanwhile, as far as I can tell, Justice Roberts might have gone with the majority, making it 6-3, except that he was confused and unconvinced as to the answer as to whether the decision could be extended to forcing religious denominations to perform religious marriages, when it was contrary to their rules.
I already knew marriage, as we know it, was a fairly recent invention, but, checking "Civil marriage" in Wikipedia, I really got some surprises.
Throughout the majority of the Christian era, the Church recognized as legitimate, any oath swearing between a man and a woman, with or without witnesses or clergy. No oath- just living together: a common law marriage. This jibes with something I had been taught in Catholic school (now suppressed), that marriage was a sacrament (an instrument of receiving grace), but one performed by the couple. The priest was a witness that blessed the union.
In England, in the 17th century, the change came that a marriage must be before a priest. The Council of Trent said the same, as a formal rule. Calvin required civil and religious registry. The real biggie was the French Revolution, when purely civil marriages, registered with the government, became the only fully legal ones, which spread throughout Europe, and into America.
In 1940, the British Parliament extended the 17th century rules to Scotland, which caused a rush to civil, and religious ceremonies, as, for obscure reasons, the Scots still had the older rules of marriage (simple oaths).
Justice Roberts apparently didn't even know the history of modern marriage, which is a shame. A 6-3 vote would have been even more stunning.
Meanwhile, everybody that is rejoicing, please remember - the reptilian Scalians are still out there, and we need to stay safe, and also, make this all firmly settled law.
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I need to think of a new signature line. ;D
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In England, in the 17th century, the change came that a marriage must be before a priest.
This would have accomplished a couple of things, none of them religious. (Remember, the Church of England does not consider marriage a sacrament as does the Church of Rome.) For one, it was a way of suppressing clandestine marriages (which were considered a problem); you couldn't seduce an heiress to get control of her fortune by marrying her when, to be valid, the marriage banns and the ceremony had to be done publicly by a priest. This was also a measure of control over dissenters from the Church of England; they still had to be married by their parish priest for their marriages to be legal. Then, too, the legal requirement that parishes keep records of baptisms, marriages, and burials was one of Thomas Cromwell's innovations during the reign of Henry VIII. The church courts still had jurisdiction over matters of inheritance, so marriage by a priest (who, as a clergyman of the Established Church was effectively a government employee) who then recorded the marriage in a parish register, was a way of establishing that a marriage had taken place if disputes arose over matters of inheritance.
But never mind!
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..........
But never mind!
No, that was very interesting ! Much better than the garbled Wikipedia entry !
I still think the bit about the rules expanding to Scotland, in 1940, and causing a stir and a rush to clerks and clergy was very strange :P.......
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This would have accomplished a couple of things, none of them religious. (Remember, the Church of England does not consider marriage a sacrament as does the Church of Rome.) For one, it was a way of suppressing clandestine marriages (which were considered a problem); you couldn't seduce an heiress to get control of her fortune by marrying her when, to be valid, the marriage banns and the ceremony had to be done publicly by a priest. This was also a measure of control over dissenters from the Church of England; they still had to be married by their parish priest for their marriages to be legal. Then, too, the legal requirement that parishes keep records of baptisms, marriages, and burials was one of Thomas Cromwell's innovations during the reign of Henry VIII. The church courts still had jurisdiction over matters of inheritance, so marriage by a priest (who, as a clergyman of the Established Church was effectively a government employee) who then recorded the marriage in a parish register, was a way of establishing that a marriage had taken place if disputes arose over matters of inheritance.
But never mind!
Clandestine marriage rituals went right up to the royal family.
The reason Richard III gave for seizing the throne was that his brother Edward IV had been clandestinely married to a lady called Elanour Butler, so therefore Edward's children with Elizabeth Woodville were illegitimate.
(The princes in the tower were amongst their children).
Edward also married Elizabeth Woodville clandestinely, I think it was his way of seducing ladies into his bed. He was well known as a seducer.
It was probably a good thing that marriage was further regulated, but a brief glimpse at history shows that marriage was.very much a business contract for wealth and land and not in those days necessarily a love match.
People who speak of the glories of traditional marriage would do well to do a little research.
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What a night!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets-s3.usmagazine.com%2Fuploads%2Fassets%2Farticles%2F88846-white-house-does-rainbow-colors-after-gay-marriage-ruling-stars-react%2F1435410503_white-house--rainbow-scotus-gay-marriage_2.jpg&hash=fe50d245e7e90896bd949d2c130982e78e4c147d)
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I guess am going to be battered by any Neo-libs for this, but I just need to speak up.
The President's eulogy/speech in Charleston, both gave me some old-school comfort, but also was, for me, extremely disappointing.
First, the reference to the Confederate flag was a cheap shot. He never would have done this if he were up for re-election again. That flag has been a varied semiotic icon. Yes, it has been an emblem of residual anti-black racism, and should not be in public, governmental places (except museums). But it also really does exist for many, as a reflection of Southern traditions that have zero to do with slavery.
The flag that flew, admitting slavery for over 70 years, and over disenfranchisement of women's right to vote, for over 120 years....was the U.S. Flag. The U.S. has changed, and so has the South.
Besides, it's too easy, too cheap, too lazy, to suppose that suppressing the Confederate flag everywhere, solves anything. It only causes new resentments.
Then there was his statement that we've had the dialogue and that hasn't solved our problems.
Mr. President, there has been no dialogue in establishment power centers. And that's the problem.
Neither the elected officials, nor the media, nor the Southern Poverty Law Center, nor the NAACP, will allow discussion of hate crimes against whites, which are everywhere, nor the 2 decades of casualties from black-on-black crime. It's just too convenient to look away.
No, Mr. President, there hasn't been open dialogue, just the old libs preaching to the choir.
I am so happy to have discovered, only these last few days, that the REAL dialogue IS there, amongst our young people. A somewhat occasionally trashy site, Mediatakeout, (on Facebook), is one of the social media places where videos are posted of hate crimes against whites, and, yesterday, of black teens beating a black teen-ager savagely, for....making the Honor Roll at school.
And the young black generation are the ones posting thousands of expressions of outrage at hate crimes of any kind. And they have the advanced explanations, including one where you have to get your "cred" by being a bully or a punk.
No, Mr. President, your kind of dialogue doesn't work, because it suppresses any deviation from the worn-out old supposings. Neither you, nor the media, have the guts to address the fact that there's more going on, and it needs full coverage, and real dialogue, and real work.
You aren't doing it. Our kids, black and white, are. They understand the Charleston killer better, and they know taking flags down won't bring us together.
They are our future, and I didn't even know, because the media won't report it, that a real dialogue IS going on.
And I have a sneaking suspicion, that the only older rebel against the old, stale formulas, is that guy Rahm Emmanuel, who is trying new ways to begin the dismantling of old-lib failure, in Chicago.
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Four of the people who got shot in Tunisia.....all the members of the same family Uncle, Grandpa, father and son......are from my own small town here in the UK. Three of them are dead....the sixteen year old boy is injured.
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Four of the people who got shot in Tunisia.....all the members of the same family Uncle, Grandpa, father and son......are from my own small town here in the UK. Three of them are dead....the sixteen year old boy is injured.
Sue, that's awful news, and so close to home. I hope the injured boy survives.
BTW, we did get detailed news coverage of the terrorist attacks, over here. It was such a heavy news day, some networks went to 1 hour to cover all the stories. There was so much news, all day, plus hellish weather, that some of us were a little fractured (which might explain some of my posts :P).
I knew some of the victims were UK, but never imagined, so close of a connection here. My condolences to your town, and to the families of the victims....
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First, the reference to the Confederate flag was a cheap shot. He never would have done this if he were up for re-election again. That flag has been a varied semiotic icon. Yes, it has been an emblem of residual anti-black racism, and should not be in public, governmental places (except museums). But it also really does exist for many, as a reflection of Southern traditions that have zero to do with slavery.
I ask this sincerely: what “Southern traditions” does the Confederate flag represent?
And why do white supremacists and KKK members like to photograph themselves with that flag?
And why would Obama’s mention of the Confederate flag be a “cheap shot?” Nine African-Americans were shot by a white man who photographed himself with the Confederate flag and said he wanted to start a race war. For African-Americans, the Confederate flag represents the era of slavery. They are Southerners, too. For them, and many white Southerners, it is a vile symbol of hate. Thus, it seems entirely appropriate that Obama would mention it when speaking of the cold-blooded murder of nine African American people at Bible study at church.
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I ask this sincerely: what “Southern traditions” does the Confederate flag represent?
And why do white supremacists and KKK members like to photograph themselves with that flag?
And why would Obama’s mention of the Confederate flag be a “cheap shot?” Nine African-Americans were shot by a white man who photographed himself with the Confederate flag and said he wanted to start a race war. For African-Americans, the Confederate flag represents the era of slavery. They are Southerners, too. For them, and many white Southerners, it is a vile symbol of hate. Thus, it seems entirely appropriate that Obama would mention it when speaking of the cold-blooded murder of nine African American people at Bible study at church.
The answers to your questions are all there, in my previous posts. I do understand, and respect, that you can't relate to the dual meanings of the confederate flag.
I really think it would be better to let things stand as they are, and that I make no more posts on the subject. It's too divisive. Good people just sometimes disagree.
Let it all play out. Taking down the flag, suppressing its sale, and we'll see, in the years to come, whether it was right or wrong.
Myself, I will continue to enjoy Joan Baez's song, "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down", posted somewhere above, and, privately, remember how that gifted supporter of civil rights, understood there was more to it. I will also grieve the fact that opposite views are now combining, and that flag will now move to being, absolutely, an emblem of hate. I'll miss the days when that was not remotely an absolute.
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I was more offended by you calling us neo-liberals, lol! I'm not a big fan of Milton Friedman's theories of laissez-faire capitalism.
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So sorry for your community, Sue.
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Four of the people who got shot in Tunisia.....all the members of the same family Uncle, Grandpa, father and son......are from my own small town here in the UK. Three of them are dead....the sixteen year old boy is injured.
How awful, the poor kid!
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I was more offended by you calling us neo-liberals, lol! I'm not a big fan of Milton Friedman's theories of laissez-faire capitalism.
Hmmm.....if anyone thought I meant anyone here was a neo-liberal, then my wording was sloppy. Sorry.
I don't get the reference to Milton Friedman or laissez-faire capitalism, both of which/whom are anathema to me.
But the lol was enjoyed, and so, thanks for that !
Finally, skirting the Lord Voldemort issue, I will say, semiotic icons with dual meaning, can be forced into only one, the worst, and from there, to new usage never seen before (anti-gay, for example). Those lacking such an icon before, will jump to accept the unintended gift. Opposites will be very happy. It's the way history works.
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Four of the people who got shot in Tunisia.....all the members of the same family Uncle, Grandpa, father and son......are from my own small town here in the UK. Three of them are dead....the sixteen year old boy is injured.
That is so awful, Sue.
Such a pointless, awful death
My sympathies to you and to your community.
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Hmmm.....if anyone thought I meant anyone here was a neo-liberal, then my wording was sloppy. Sorry.
I don't get the reference to Milton Friedman or laissez-faire capitalism, both of which/whom are anathema to me.
But the lol was enjoyed, and so, thanks for that !
Finally, skirting the Lord Voldemort issue, I will say, semiotic icons with dual meaning, can be forced into only one, the worst, and from there, to new usage never seen before (anti-gay, for example). Those lacking such an icon before, will jump to accept the unintended gift. Opposites will be very happy. It's the way history works.
By "us" i guess I menat those of us here that consider the confederate flag to be a symbol of racism.
neoliberalism (ˌniːəʊˈlɪbərəˌlɪzəm; -ˈlɪbrəˌlɪzəm)
n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a modern politico-economic theory favouring free trade, privatization, minimal government intervention in business, reduced public expenditure on social services, etc
2. (Economics) a modern politico-economic theory favouring free trade, privatization, minimal government intervention in business, reduced public expenditure on social services, etc
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I need to think of a new signature line. ;D
I thought of that Chuck...you will! ;D
I'm so happy for you all and so thankful that at last the tide is turning in the fight. Well done America, you sent out a strong signal.
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On the day of the SCOTUS decision I was going to post,
"But more importantly, what is Chuck going to do about a new sig line?"
...but I guess I forgot in the heat of the day!
******
I heard something on a news break -- vaguely -- about a shooting happening
at San francisco's Pride celebration yeaterday. I haven't found any details.
Anyone know anything about that?
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Graduation time...
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Student Comes Out in Yearbook Quote
A high school senior from New Jersey made headlines this month for his hilarious yearbook quote where he came out as gay.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.queeryme.com%2Fdisplay%2Fviewimage_story.php%3Fid%3D179729%26amp%3Bmaxwidth%3D250&hash=8f9080922673adb6089a423e47490064ed26bf83)
Maxwell Barrett, 18, who is graduating from Raritan High School in Hazlet, N.J., said "I wanted to go out in a way people would remember me by," he told the Huffington Post.
Barrett said the quote was his way to come out to his parents and not really his classmates, who already knew he was gay. He told the HuffPo his family has been supportive.
"They said [the quote] was the best one in the yearbook and that they were proud of me," the teen said.
In an interview with Mashable, he revealed when he submitted his quote, a school administrator initially took issue with it and said it wouldn't be printed in the yearbook.
More here:http://www.edgeboston.com/news/national/news//179729/yearbook_quote (http://www.edgeboston.com/news/national/news//179729/student_comes_out_in_brilliant_yearbook_quote)
In a related news, I saw an article showing some amusing or controversial yearbook quotes from
this year. Here's a couple. (FYI: Most of the ones shown had the last names crossed out.)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.viralnova.com%2F000%2F038%2F942%2Fyearbook.png&hash=21adef9d2e4e28dc38218f2cf6080dd4fcc83a6b)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.viralnova.com%2F000%2F038%2F952%2Fdesktop-1406691211.png&hash=f287d3d659f4456bd174e5094c1416683d90b862)
And this girl was criticized for her attire/appearance.
(However she wanted to look, she looks good!)
(https://tribfox40.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/crystal-cumplido.jpg)
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On the day of the SCOTUS decision I was going to post,
"But more importantly, what is Chuck going to do about a new sig line?"
...but I guess I forgot in the heat of the day!
******
I heard something on a news break -- vaguely -- about a shooting happening
at San francisco's Pride celebration yeaterday. I haven't found any details.
Anyone know anything about that?
There were several posts about it over on FB, Lyle.
Shots Fired at SF Pride 6/27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuFo4A0m5iY&feature=youtu.be
1 Shot, Several People Detained After Shooting Near Civic Center Plaza During Pride Festivities
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Police-Respond-to-Shots-Fired-At-Civic-Center-UN-Plaza-Near-Pride-Festivities-310382931.html
The Daily Mail got the headline wrong as they reported it as at the Pride Parade, which is today, not yesterday.
Terror at San Francisco Pride: Marchers left running for cover and 64-year-old man shot as gunman opens fire during violent scuffle
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3141974/Shooting-chaos-San-Francisco-Pride-64-year-old-man-rushed-hospital-gunshot-wound-shots-fired.html
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By "us" i guess I menat those of us here that consider the confederate flag to be a symbol of racism.
neoliberalism (ˌniːəʊˈlɪbərəˌlɪzəm; -ˈlɪbrəˌlɪzəm)
n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a modern politico-economic theory favouring free trade, privatization, minimal government intervention in business, reduced public expenditure on social services, etc
2. (Economics) a modern politico-economic theory favouring free trade, privatization, minimal government intervention in business, reduced public expenditure on social services, etc
Wow/Ugh ! You got me there, Oilgun, and I freely admit it. It's no excuse, but I was trying to invent a word that would show false liberalism, similar to the way neo-cons stole legitimate conservatism.
I never knew the word already existed, and for the loathesome AnnRand/Milty Friedman crowd. Am a little mortified :P.
Just one more deviation from my self-ban on the subject of the confederate flag, though.
Oilgun, we are not in disagreement that the flag is used as a racist emblem. It is. I was pointing out, repeatedly, that it had other meanings. And then I realized the battle was lost. And there is worse to come.
With dual semiotic usage, finally ended, for most, it is now being handed on a platter to homophobes, where that flag had zero provenance before. The social media cartoons of the confederate flag coming down, and the rainbow flag going up, has introduced new possibilities for extremist homophobes, who had previously had no successful icon. I believe they will thank everyone, snatch it, and from here on, expand it's worst readings in entirely new ways. They win, and expanded worst readings will arrive to shock us all.
I did have a recent experience with how the flag had different meanings, before. I passed 4 black people in the lobby of my apt. bldg., and one, the opinion leader, said : "They're taking down the Confederate flags". The other 3 were puzzled, and one said : "Why?" He answered that it was racist, and they fell in line.
Not much as evidence to you, but it supported what I had seen, in the South. No absolute single meaning.
But it's over. A catastrophic mistake, in my opinion, and one that will go on to provide a heretofore never seen anti-gay icon, added to the racist readings which were often, but not always, there.
I am trying to move on. The battle is over. Maybe we should go to the War of Jenkin's Ear, and the Charge of the Light Brigade. They remain in doubt, as well as the reign of Richard III.
Soon, I will totally concede defeat, and take down from my Facebook timeline the photo of the black man waving the confederate flag, angry, at enforced meanings with which he does not agree. He lost, and so did I, and, God bless her beautiful heart, so too did Joan Baez.
Again, be kind to your vanquished semiotic foes. You've prevailed. Let us move on, and try for solidarity, as we face so much more, with the world producing ever more evils.
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as you can see, I do have a new sig line. :)
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Yes, the day is turning around, to the better !
- Chuck has found his new signature line, and we can hope it will see the same success as the former one :).
- More checking on-line, confirms we are not subject to a Doomsday comet in September, which means.... the Fall tv schedule will return !
- The Sunday Virginian-Pilot, our liberal newspaper in Norfolk, shows suspicious evidence, today, that we have visitors skulking on the forum, as guests. Their lead editorial, and op-eds from local black leaders, are saying things nearly identical to my posts, above, which now are more easily ended, since there is no need for me to have them here.
Other news - Rice-a-Roni has produced microwaveable cups of their product, and, they are the solution to the long saga of my trying the original version, to no avail
- The second prison escapee has been caught, and so, CNN must find real news, somewhere, that affects our future.
It's life: wait a day, and things can get better !
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The social media cartoons of the confederate flag coming down, and the rainbow flag going up, has introduced new possibilities for extremist homophobes, who had previously had no successful icon. I believe they will thank everyone, snatch it, and from here on, expand it's worst readings in entirely new ways. They win, and expanded worst readings will arrive to shock us all.
I sadly agree with you. Taking down the Confederate flag and passing a law will not change what is in people's hearts...a large number of cities in Texas have put issuing marriage licenses to gays on hold, while they "review" the new law.
A county clerk in Texas is refusing to issue gay marriage licenses, and pretending like she has a good reason. Denton County Clerk Juli Luke issued two statements today, the first saying that she’s refusing to issue the licenses because state law now conflicts with federal law, and the second claiming that actually it’s a “vendor issue.”
http://jezebel.com/texas-county-clerk-refuses-gay-marriage-licenses-just-1714253529 (http://jezebel.com/texas-county-clerk-refuses-gay-marriage-licenses-just-1714253529)
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I love it when CNN fucks up...
CNN Mistakes Dildo-Covered flag for Isis flag at Pride Parade.
In this clip, a CNN anchor and editor fail to recognize that what they have identified as an “ISIS flag” is actually a flag of dildos and butt plugs, rendered in the style of ISIS.
“If you look at the flag closely, it’s clearly not Arabic,” CNN’s Lucy Pawle admits. “In fact, it looks like it could be gobbledegook. But it’s very distinctively the ISIS flag.” Heh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCf-wfYzp98 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCf-wfYzp98)
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Well, idiots keep talking crazy:
A few days ago, a film critic from the N.Y. Post wrote this article:
‘Gone with the Wind’ should go the way of the Confederate flag
by Lou Lumenick
http://nypost.com/2015/06/24/gone-with-the-wind-should-go-the-way-of-the-confederate-flag/
This is one of the most idiotic columns masquerading as relevance that I've ever seen.
Are people who like this film now going to be subjected to being called racists?
Maybe we should ban one of Lou's favorite films, too, The Godfather, because of it's
swell ideals, morals, and general spiritual uplift and for stereotyping Italians.
And, to descend into even more lunacy, I see this headline today:
Fear of ban boosts sales of ‘Gone With the Wind’
As of 9 a.m. Friday,, the 1939 classic “Gone With the Wind’’ is now the overall best-selling Blu-ray feature film on Amazon’s US website.
That film critic, Lou Lumenick, thinks if the film is sold it should have a racist warning label on it
if it's not banned. I think then we should have a bunch of homophobic labels on some classic films,
too, perhaps. All those demeaning caricatures of gay people as servnts in the Astaire/Rogers
musicals perhaps? And I'm sure others would like their own labels, too.
Lunacy!
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Just because this picture makes me happy!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi528.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd329%2Fsalmackenzie%2F1000_zps8voil1hv.jpg&hash=b847927eb33d39567d9705a1ccdc0eae0fafce31)
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Well, idiots keep talking crazy:
A few days ago, a film critic from the N.Y. Post wrote this article:
‘Gone with the Wind’ should go the way of the Confederate flag
by Lou Lumenick
http://nypost.com/2015/06/24/gone-with-the-wind-should-go-the-way-of-the-confederate-flag/
This is one of the most idiotic columns masquerading as relevance that I've ever seen.
Are people who like this film now going to be subjected to being called racists?
Maybe we should ban one of Lou's favorite films, too, The Godfather, because of it's
swell ideals, morals, and general spiritual uplift and for stereotyping Italians.
And, to descend into even more lunacy, I see this headline today:
Fear of ban boosts sales of ‘Gone With the Wind’
As of 9 a.m. Friday,, the 1939 classic “Gone With the Wind’’ is now the overall best-selling Blu-ray feature film on Amazon’s US website.
That film critic, Lou Lumenick, thinks if the film is sold it should have a racist warning label on it
if it's not banned. I think then we should have a bunch of homophobic labels on some classic films,
too, perhaps. All those demeaning caricatures of gay people as servnts in the Astaire/Rogers
musicals perhaps? And I'm sure others would like their own labels, too.
Lunacy!
Actually, "Gone with the Wind" helped me to understand why the American Civil War wasn't just about racism. Of course slavery was the main cause, but many did fight for the survival of their way of life in a different way.
Much more of a society based on class, land holdings, and the kind of stratified aristocratic society that many had left behind in Great Britain.
Many. "immigrants" try to live in a society the same as the one they left behind, not realising that "home" has changed utterly since they left.
People never fight harder than when they are faced by change.
Gone with the Wind is very instructive in showing the causes of that terrible war.
Banning either the book or the film would be censorship of the worst kind, and would be entirely wrong headed.
Want to tackle racism and gun crime?
Join in solidarity with your black friends and do something, anything, to control guns and ammunition.
You can't solve a problem by shooting at the wrong target.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3142249/Turkish-police-use-water-cannon-disperse-gay-pride-parade.html
I have been to Turkey for short breaks and even a month at a time for the past 18 years. I have seen same couples walking down the streets holding hands or arms around each other and even giving each other a chaste kiss.Maybe it was the chants against the Government that is in charge at the moment that caused this reaction. Lets hope that is all it was
Please lets hope this news report.is not a step back into the dark ages again.
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Just because this picture makes me happy!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi528.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd329%2Fsalmackenzie%2F1000_zps8voil1hv.jpg&hash=b847927eb33d39567d9705a1ccdc0eae0fafce31)
Wonderful picture Sara :)
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Just because this picture makes me happy!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi528.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd329%2Fsalmackenzie%2F1000_zps8voil1hv.jpg&hash=b847927eb33d39567d9705a1ccdc0eae0fafce31)
Mi tu.
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(NB: I was out of computer touch over the weekend.)
No, that was very interesting ! Much better than the garbled Wikipedia entry !
I still think the bit about the rules expanding to Scotland, in 1940, and causing a stir and a rush to clerks and clergy was very strange :P.......
Thanks, Tony. By "Never mind," I just meant I was afraid of hijacking the thread. That bit about Scotland does seem weird.
Clandestine marriage rituals went right up to the royal family.
The reason Richard III gave for seizing the throne was that his brother Edward IV had been clandestinely married to a lady called Elanour Butler, so therefore Edward's children with Elizabeth Woodville were illegitimate.
(The princes in the tower were amongst their children).
Edward also married Elizabeth Woodville clandestinely, I think it was his way of seducing ladies into his bed. He was well known as a seducer.
Excellent example! And the funny thing is, just last week I was getting reacquainted with The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey. For those not familiar, it's a lovely little novel about a police inspector who is confined to a hospital bed with an injury, and who passes the time trying to exonerate Richard III of all the horrible things he is said to have done.
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Other news - Rice-a-Roni has produced microwaveable cups of their product, and, they are the solution to the long saga of my trying the original version, to no avail
Come visit me and I'll fix you some!! I like this idea, with reservation, as the microwaveable cup is right for one person. The reservation is that one fries the rice and vermicelli before adding the spices and water to cook it. This is what sets it apart and would not be a step in the cup version.
It's life: wait a day, and things can get better !
Or worse.
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Other news - Rice-a-Roni has produced microwaveable cups of their product.
Heh. I've been using a similar product from Uncle Ben's for several years now. (Now, there's an icon capable of being questioned, if you ask me: Uncle Ben. Aunt Jemima, too, while we're at it!)
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With regard to the Confederate battle flag, I saw something on network news last week that made me think--or wonder. The guy being interviewed got practically hysterical, but he raised a question I found interesting: Are we going to make it illegal to place the flag on the graves of men who died fighting for the Confederacy?
Should the flag no longer be placed on the graves of Confederate soldiers? ???
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Just because this picture makes me happy!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi528.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd329%2Fsalmackenzie%2F1000_zps8voil1hv.jpg&hash=b847927eb33d39567d9705a1ccdc0eae0fafce31)
And look who our fearless leader was lucky enough to have his picture taken with!! ;D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2F11709851_10153004279368997_2533356190552632496_n.jpg&hash=916a0bae309186432f49c3c27e5184a039bdfcea) (http://s998.photobucket.com/user/tootsiemom/media/11709851_10153004279368997_2533356190552632496_n.jpg.html)
(He posted it over on FB)
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cool
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And look who our fearless leader was lucky enough to have his picture taken with!! ;D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2F11709851_10153004279368997_2533356190552632496_n.jpg&hash=916a0bae309186432f49c3c27e5184a039bdfcea) (http://s998.photobucket.com/user/tootsiemom/media/11709851_10153004279368997_2533356190552632496_n.jpg.html)
(He posted it over on FB)
Yay!!!
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^^^
I always like reading Dave's posts, where they show up on my news feed. But so many seemed to end with : "Off to the gym....." that I wondered if it was social or serious.
It R serious, and he's quite a looker ! He should do his tv interviews shirtless :) ....
Who is the distinguished looking older gentleman? Does everyone know but me :P ?
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.....Come visit me and I'll fix you some!! I like this idea, with reservation, as the microwaveable cup is right for one person. The reservation is that one fries the rice and vermicelli before adding the spices and water to cook it. This is what sets it apart and would not be a step in the cup versio.
Ah, Linda - that is so like you ! I remember, several years back, when you told me how to cook the original version better.
As far as I can tell, though, the rice and vermicelli are, in fact, already somewhat fried, in the cup version. And it comes out uniformly good, although a little pricey ($1.25/ a cup).
It was, for me a great discovery, and I buy a lot of them !
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Ah, Linda - that is so like you ! I remember, several years back, when you told me how to cook the original version better.
As far as I can tell, though, the rice and vermicelli are, in fact, already somewhat fried, in the cup version. And it comes out uniformly good, although a little pricey ($1.25/ a cup).
It was, for me a great discovery, and I buy a lot of them !
I thought I remembered us talking about this. Thanks for the info about the cups. I'll have to look for them at the grocery store.
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Who is the distinguished looking older gentleman? Does everyone know but me :P ?
That is Sir Ian McKellen, Tony, one of the grand marshals at New York City’s annual Gay Pride Parade on Sunday. He is an English Actor, but most Americans know him from "Lord of the Rings" films and the "X-Men" films.
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yeah yeah I know it's the san francisco treat...
but ughhh, all those plastic cups! and all that salt!
"convenience" is not healthy and is polluting the world!
it's really not that difficult to cook from scratch and this recipe
shows you how you can make lots of little batches ahead of time.
http://www.littlehouseliving.com/homemade-rice-roni-mix.html
:::runs from thread:::
>:D :D ;)
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Linda, thanks for identifying the actor. I just never saw those films :P.
*****
Gnash, thanks for bringing up the salt issue - it is deadly, and I try to keep track.
But, my cooking skills never developed, past 4 or 5 basics. Still, they're wildly liked by those who get them.
My big gripe about salt is the Luck's Great Northern Beans, the best for ham and bean stew. But they insist on mega-dosing the salt. I may start rinsing them !
****
Apologies for straying into food, for Hot Topics. I'll mention Jamie Oliver. There. Now it's relevant :).
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tony, canned beans + ham is like adding salt to more salt (and sodium nitrites) ;)
but besides finding lower salt canned beans, you can VERY easily boil up dried beans, of any variety. dried lentils and peas too.
if you can boil water, you can surely cook up a pot of beans!
not only will you get beans with less salt, you will save $$$$
jamie oliver? who is he? i haven't watched any television since 9-11 was covered up by the news. ::)
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I may start rinsing them !
also--
my understanding is that rinsing canned beans does little to lower their actual salt content.
you would have to soak and rinse, repeating the process several times over a period of hours to "leach" some salt out of the bean.
salt is IN the bean, not just in the carrier liquid. but yes, draining and rinsing the liquid would help.
so I looked up Jamie Oliver. okay. the former food hottie ;D
i had him mixed up the guy that screams that you always see in memes.
Gordon Boxwood or whatever. we dined at his restaurant, Ramsey. it was so-so.
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tony, canned beans + ham is like adding salt to more salt (and sodium nitrites) ;)
but besides finding lower salt canned beans, you can VERY easily boil up dried beans, of any variety. dried lentils and peas too.
if you can boil water, you can surely cook up a pot of beans!
not only will you get beans with less salt, you will save $$$$
jamie oliver? who is he? i haven't watched any television since 9-11 was covered up by the news. ::)
I took a vegan cooking course a few years back and I couldn't believe how liberal they were with salt! I guess you have to get flavour from somewhere when you're vegan: Coconut oil, nut butters and salt. And more salt.
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^^^
interesting.
i'm mostly vegan (at home) and NEVER use salt or soy sauce. when cooking.
maybe the more complicated recipes use salt. i also don't do tofu or tempeh, which are often soaked in salty marinades.
my BF complained at first about vegan food but now he's gotten used to it.
especially since he never cooks. ;D
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.....so I looked up Jamie Oliver. okay. the former food hottie.
Former? He remains our last best hope :). I am still waiting for his program to return. And....waiting :P.....
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here's something current: california is (still) in a drought...
"it takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce just one pound of grain-fed beef"
it would behoove us to go vegan. ;D
http://peninsulapress.com/2015/06/23/water-cost-california-drought-and-beef/
also, oilgun, vegan does NOT have to mean bland!!!
fruit and vegetables are extremely flavorful, tho it helps if you grow your own, as grocery stores often sell poor excuses for "fresh produce."
(beans are always good too. and nuts and seeds.)
i do believe we were all tricked into thinking mass produced prepared junk food was actually tasty. :P
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Former? He remains our last best hope :). I am still waiting for his program to return. And....waiting :P.....
oh. wasn't he around 10 years ago? okay i'll have a look again :)
edited to add:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver%27s_Twist
he has a show "OLIVER'S TWIST" ;D
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This Photographer Had The Best Response After Losing A Client For His Support Of Gay Marriage
Clinton Brentwood Lee’s response to an anti–same-sex marriage client is going viral after he posted it to Facebook.
Clinton Brentwood Lee, a photographer from St. Petersburg, Florida. He has traveled the world for more than 15 years shooting weddings and other events for his company Brentwood Photography.
On Friday, like many people on Facebook, Lee changed his profile picture and cover photo for his business page to show support for marriage equality in the wake of the Supreme Court’s historic ruling.
Lee told BuzzFeed News it was important for him to share on his business page “what we stand proudly for.”
“I think it’s important to show support for gay marriage because we are all human beings just wanting the same thing,” he said. “Someone to love us, and the same protection and rights under the law. Everyone deserves their ‘happily ever after.’”
While many people showed support for the photos, one client didn’t. The client wrote Lee and told him they would no longer be using him for their upcoming wedding because he supports same-sex marriage.
http://tinyurl.com/o3y6zkm
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good for that photographer!!! he will no doubt lose clients but may gain some too.
i'm sure we will be hearing about all kinds of people boycotting businesses that support marriage equality for weeks to come.
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That is Sir Ian McKellen, Tony, one of the grand marshals at New York City’s annual Gay Pride Parade on Sunday. He is an English Actor, but most Americans know him from "Lord of the Rings" films and the "X-Men" films.
And a great Gay Rights campaigner - he's always been very high profile.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi528.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fdd329%2Fsalmackenzie%2Ftumblr_l3twdj7e8h1qahhxwo1_500_zpsec5ktnnm.jpg&hash=88ddf9018da8637aa4fce1b25604ef497c0a1117)
I got a real thrill seeing the photo of Dave in the parade - sort of gave me a personal Brokie link. :)
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good for that photographer!!! he will no doubt lose clients but may gain some too.
i'm sure we will be hearing about all kinds of people boycotting businesses that support marriage equality for weeks to come.
I loved that response!
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That is Sir Ian McKellen, Tony, one of the grand marshals at New York City’s annual Gay Pride Parade on Sunday. He is an English Actor, but most Americans know him from "Lord of the Rings" films and the "X-Men" films.
Or HARRY POTTER!
Linda, thanks for identifying the actor. I just never saw those films :P.
I'm not sure by your "vicious" emoticon if you're being serious or not!
But may I suggest seeing him in one of the best gay films ever that he was
nominated (should've won) for Best Actor: GODS & MONSTERS.
Bill Condon, the writer-director of the film also won the screenplay oscar for it,
and has another film with Ian in it coming out soon, about Sherlock Holmes, called
MR. HOLMES.
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I found out recently that there is also PASTA-RONI.
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Or HARRY POTTER!
But no, Lyle!
I had to triple check cos I thought so too! He was offered Dumbledore after Richard Harris died, but he thought that would be a wizard too many, and Michael Gambon played it for the rest of the series. :)
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Oops! Gandalf -- Dumbledore -- I mix up my wizards.
How about two gay realated oldies but goodies then:
Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City
And the Band Played On
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.....I'm not sure by your "vicious" emoticon if you're being serious or not
Lyle, :P is not the "vicious" emoticon, or if it is, that's news to me - I've been using it as "befuddled". Which I often am :) .....
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GODS & MONSTERS.
Very good movie! :)
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I only said "vicious" as an aside to Ian McKellen's role in the series.
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I only said "vicious" as an aside to Ian McKellen's role in the series.
Which was a good pun :)....... I haven't seen that show either :P. Sir Ian gets around, but am, myself, stuck in a rut......
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Sir Ian is wonderful, and seems to have a life full of challenges and fun despite being in his seventies.
A good role model for us all.
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gods and monsters!!
yeaaa,,, that was a great movie with gandalf! ;D
it really sucked me in. that gas mask thing was bizarrrooo!
lynne redgrave was pretty much great in this as well.
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lynne redgrave was pretty much great in this as well.
I forgot she was in Gods and Monsters. Yes, she was very good.
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Another instance of the state of things nowadays: Stupid People Tricks
___
Audience Member Tries to Use Stage Outlet to Charge Phone at Hand to God
It's nice that people feel at home at Broadway theatres — but perhaps they shouldn't feel this at home.
Twitter and Facebook lit up Sunday evening and Monday morning after several cast members and audience members posted their speechlessness at a report that an audience member had clambered onto the stage of the Booth Theatre and tried to plug a cell phone charger into an outlet on the set of Hand to God.
Set designer Beowulf Boritt should feel flattered that the outlet looked real enough to be used for that, but, of course, it was a prop outlet.
A production spokesperson confirmed to Playbill.com that the incident occurred July 2. A posting from Chris York on Facebook contained the following account: "At 'Hand to God' tonight I saw on audience member climb onto the stage right before the show and plug his cell phone into a (fake) electrical outlet on the set. ON. THE. SET. The crew had to stop the precook music, remove the cellphone, and make an announcement as to why you can't do that. Truly. I am a quiet and reserved person and I took great joy in loudly heckling the idiot when he returned to take his phone back. Moron. Has theatre etiquette--heck, Common Sense--[really] fallen that far??"
Cast member Sarah Stiles posted the following tweet on July 2:
A guy jumped on the stage and plugged his phone into the fake outlet on our set just before we started. @HandtoGodBway or #idiot ?
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Another instance of the state of things nowadays: Stupid People Tricks
___
Audience Member Tries to Use Stage Outlet to Charge Phone at Hand to God
It's nice that people feel at home at Broadway theatres — but perhaps they shouldn't feel this at home.
Twitter and Facebook lit up Sunday evening and Monday morning after several cast members and audience members posted their speechlessness at a report that an audience member had clambered onto the stage of the Booth Theatre and tried to plug a cell phone charger into an outlet on the set of Hand to God.
Set designer Beowulf Boritt should feel flattered that the outlet looked real enough to be used for that, but, of course, it was a prop outlet.
A production spokesperson confirmed to Playbill.com that the incident occurred July 2. A posting from Chris York on Facebook contained the following account: "At 'Hand to God' tonight I saw on audience member climb onto the stage right before the show and plug his cell phone into a (fake) electrical outlet on the set. ON. THE. SET. The crew had to stop the precook music, remove the cellphone, and make an announcement as to why you can't do that. Truly. I am a quiet and reserved person and I took great joy in loudly heckling the idiot when he returned to take his phone back. Moron. Has theatre etiquette--heck, Common Sense--[really] fallen that far??"
Cast member Sarah Stiles posted the following tweet on July 2:
A guy jumped on the stage and plugged his phone into the fake outlet on our set just before we started. @HandtoGodBway or #idiot ?
That's hilarious!
There can't be that many people called Beowulf. His wife is Mimi Bilinski. Beowulf Borrit and Mimi Bilinski, lol!. Anyway, thanks to your post i discovered IBDb, the Internet Broadway Database.
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Hmm. Imagine being in kindergarten and being called Beowulf. ...
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With the release of court docs where he admitted drugging women he wanted to have sex with, I'm all for this...
July 08, 2015, 02:16 pm
Group calls on Obama to strip Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom
A national sexual assault prevention group is demanding that President Obama revoke Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Promoting Awareness--Victim Empowerment, has initiated a petition on Whitehouse.gov to push the administration to take action against the comic who in July 2002 was presented the prestigious award by former President George W. Bush.
In newly released court documents, Cosby said he used a drug to have sex with women, reopening a case against him from several former female associates.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-urged-to-revoke-bill-cosbys-medal-of-freedom/article/2567829 (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-urged-to-revoke-bill-cosbys-medal-of-freedom/article/2567829)
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Strange thing about Bill Cosby is that none of that creepiness showed up on his face. A lot of times, perps look different, and talk differently. I guess that's why we just keep getting surprised.
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^^^^^^
Except, for reasons I've shared before, I am not surprised.
I've mentioned my reasons for disliking Bill Cosby over the years, previously, but this sudden
rush to "run him out of town on a rail" is also somewhat alarming. Take away the medal, take
his likeness down at Disney Studios Theme Park, at the EMMY Headquarters..remove his star
from the Hollywood Walk of Fame...where does it stop? Burn his comedy albums? Destroy the
memory of every good thing he did and that people liked from him? He's becoming the human
version of the confederate flag this week.
I've just never been a fan of absolutes.
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By the way, this has come up before. An article from back in November:
http://thehill.com/in-the-know/225057-bill-cosby-presidential-medal (http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/225057-bill-cosby-unlikely-to-lose-presidential-medal)
It's never happened before.
So many online people seem to think President Obama awarded him the medal.
He didn't, George W. Bush did over a dozen years ago.
There's no protocol or precedent for such a thing. Can one president take another
President's honors away, for example?
Has anyone asked Bush what he would do? Or is this another reason just to make
the current President uncomfortable or find reasons for some to continue disliking him?
If that's the case, do those who pledge hate toward the U.S. have a point?
Do our failings as a country negate all of the good things?
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Tom Selleck in hot water?
Now we must get Blue Bloods cancelled and ban Magnum, P.I. reruns:
Tom Selleck Stole Thousands of Gallons of Water
Star Tom Selleck has been stealing thousands of gallons
of water for years and hauling it to his 60-acre California
ranch during the state's unprecedented drought.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/tom-selleck-water-complaint-20150707-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tom-selleck-water-complaint-20150707-story.html)
I don't know if this is national news, but it's been on L.A. news all week.
Wondering why Tom or his publicists haven't responded yet?
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[Bill Cosby is] becoming the human
version of the confederate flag this week.
Thanks, Lyle. I was thinking more or less the same thing.
Tom Selleck Stole Thousands of Gallons of Water
Star Tom Selleck has been stealing thousands of gallons
of water for years and hauling it to his 60-acre California
ranch during the state's unprecedented drought.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/tom-selleck-water-complaint-20150707-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tom-selleck-water-complaint-20150707-story.html)
I don't know if this is national news, but it's been on L.A. news all week.
Wondering why Tom or his publicists haven't responded yet?
I've seen/heard headlines on NBC national news, but I haven't had the opportunity to hear the actual reports.
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Jeb Bush : the answer to reviving the economy >>> people need to work longer hours.
This, when many are working 47 hours/wk., and salaried, 50-60 hrs.
I can only hope this new class warfare concept will not be forgotten, next year.
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I'm nobody's idea of a football fan, but even I was saddened to learn last night that the great Ken Stabler had died on Wednesday. Even I remember, from when I was a kid back in the '70s, that Stabler was one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, first in college for the Crimson Tide (University of Alabama), and then leading the Oakland Raiders to a 32-14 Superbowl victory over the Minnesota Vikings in 1977. He was a four-time Pro-Bowl selection when he was with the Raiders. His nickname was Snake. ;D The article I read on the Internet last night said he was survived by three daughters and two grandchildren, whom, apparently, he called his "grand-snakes." :D Surprising to me, according to the Internet article, he is not in the Pro-Football Hall of Fame. ???
He was 69 years old and had stage 4 colon cancer. He died surrounded by his family "and longtime partner, who wasn't named" ( ???), listening to his favorite music, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home, Alabama."
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Wikipedia:
Stabler was married three times. He married Isabel Clarke in 1968 and divorced in 1971. He was married to Debbie Fitzsimmons from 1974 to 1978. In 1984 he married former Miss Alabama Universe (1979) Rose Molly Burch. The couple filed for divorce in 2002.
Stabler had three daughters, Kendra, Alexa, and Marissa.
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Jeb Bush : the answer to reviving the economy >>> people need to work longer hours.
This, when many are working 47 hours/wk., and salaried, 50-60 hrs.
I can only hope this new class warfare concept will not be forgotten, next year.
During one of his brother's campaigns a lady was onstage talking about how she had to work two jobs
to make ends meet, etc. George's reply was "Isn't America great?"
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RIP Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif: Lawrence of Arabia star dies aged 83
Actor Omar Sharif, best known for his roles in classic films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, has died aged 83.
Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.
He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago.
Earlier this year, his agent confirmed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33483877
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Omar Sharif: Lawrence of Arabia star dies aged 83
Oh, NO! :'(
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Darn. I liked him a lot in many of his movies.
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During one of his brother's campaigns a lady was onstage talking about how she had to work two jobs
to make ends meet, etc. George's reply was "Isn't America great?"
How did we ever end up with that flake? Even Ronald Reagan said, in his diary, that the VP's son, (W), hanging around the White House, was creepy :-\ .
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How did we ever end up with that flake?
I think the Supremes had something to do with it. ;)
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Apparently, Trump is now ahead in the polls for the leadership!? Can you imagine that buffoon as president? It may well happen with Clinton and Bernie splitting the progressive vote. :o
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I wouldn't worry about Trump being elected President.
I'm just enjoying all this. The fact a poll has him at number one, which
is just 15% in a field of around 15, will only make his ego expand and
make room for more idiocy to come bursting forth like Old Faithful in
Yellowstone National Park. The more he's there for awhile, the more it
taints the entire Republican party. Just sit back and enjoy. Or ignore.
If this continues for awhile, at some point I'm sure you'll start hearing
the right-wingers start saying the mainstrem media is fueling the publicity
to make them look bad, ignorin the fact that they do that quite well all
on their own.
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^^^^ Good advice, Lyle!!
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Oh what a shame.
RIP Roger Reese
Roger Rees was a Welsh actor and director. He was best known to American audiences for playing the characters Robin Colcord on the American television sitcom show Cheers and Lord John Marbury on the American television drama The West Wing. He was 71 and married to Rick Elice.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/11/entertainment/roger-rees-actor-dies/
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.turner.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F150711083113-roger-rees-medium-plus-169.jpg&hash=5eec07e174b7467ca1ef3ba8c96a331a0e3be6e1)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Rees
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I'm really sorry to hear about Roger Rees, he was a very good actor, more stage than screen, I think. I remember reading that when he was on Cheers he couldn't believe how unprofessional the other actors were, not being on time and not always knowing their lines...a real loss...
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...I think the Supremes had something to do with it. ;) [Bush becoming President]
Oh, well, win a few, lose a few :P....
********
Meanwhile, am not so sure Donald Trump is a temporary quirk in the early race. Another show-biz type, considered flaky, Ronald Reagan, hit a nerve in the mood of the country. And CNN seems to be fueling Trump, with such heavy coverage.
The Donald is also showing some shrewdness, in avoiding the usual neo-con rant. And it's worthy of note, in revving up the illegal immigration issue, he hasn't gone to the madness of deporting 12 million resident, working illegals. He could even snare some of the Latino vote by that careful line, and also playing machismo.
What else? New flag issue: The so-called Christian flag, white with a blue upper-left square and a red cross, is spreading rapidly after the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage. And, is gaining traction. Want to guess who it's aimed at? And no heritage issues, just one covert meaning ?
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oh how sad...
I don't recall him from anything on TV but do remember him from NN
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I'm really sorry to hear about Roger Rees, he was a very good actor, more stage than screen, I think. I remember reading that when he was on Cheers he couldn't believe how unprofessional the other actors were, not being on time and not always knowing their lines...a real loss...
oh how sad...
I don't recall him from anything on TV but do remember him from NN
Here is a The New Yorker article published in 2012 about he and his husband's history. I can't link the article because they want me to subscribe.
The Boards June 4, 2012 Issue
Backstory
By Michael Schulman
For sixteen years, the actor Roger Rees and the playwright Rick Elice have lived in a book-crammed apartment in the Beresford, on Central Park West. Elice (New Yorker, garrulous) is the author of “Peter and the Starcatcher,” a fanciful prequel to “Peter Pan,” which has been nominated for nine Tony Awards. Rees (Welshman, genteel) co-directed, with Alex Timbers. (Elice also co-wrote, with Marshall Brickman, the books for “Jersey Boys” and “The Addams Family,” in which Rees starred, as Gomez.) To understand how Rees and Elice became partners, in art and in life, you have to go back a ways, they explained the other day, as a hired computer geek fiddled upstairs, trying to synch the couple’s electronic devices.
1979: Elice, a young actor out of the Yale School of Drama, wrote a letter to Trevor Nunn, then the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, saying, “I’m getting on a plane and I’m coming over to the R.S.C. Tell me what time to show up.” Two weeks later, Nunn replied: Not hiring Americans.
1981: Nunn’s mammoth eight-and-a-half-hour production of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” came to New York. Elice was incensed: “I went to Equity and said, ‘I would like to start a committee to keep British actors out of Broadway.’ ” (“British Out of Broadway would be BOOB,” Rees added.) Elice went to see the play anyway. From the nosebleeds, he noticed a “devastatingly beautiful” actor milling around before the show. Turns out it was the guy playing Nicholas Nickleby. Enraptured, Elice wrote a letter that night on yellow legal paper, inviting Rees to come see him do a tap number at a benefit. He dropped it off at the theatre the next day. No response.
1982: Elice was working at an ad agency, and one of his clients was “Cats,” also directed by Nunn. At the dress rehearsal, he spotted Rees in the audience. He waited outside the stage door to introduce himself. “Standing before me was a six-foot-four, extraordinarily handsome American in a Burberry raincoat,” Rees recalled. “It was the raincoat that did it.” Rees was flying to London in two days, to star in Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing.” Did he have time for dinner before then?
The next night, Elice prepared pigeon en croûte at his apartment, on West Fifty-seventh Street (Rees: “The croûte was bigger than the apartment”). They talked until three in the morning, then Rees got in a car to J.F.K. He told Elice, “Maybe you’ll come over and see me in ‘The Real Thing.’ ”
1987ish: They’d been dating long-distance, with Elice flying to London on weekends. One day, while they were repainting Rees’s foyer, Elice moved a filing cabinet and found some papers labelled “Rick’s Correspondence.” One of the letters was written on yellow legal paper.
1989: Rees was in Los Angeles, doing another Stoppard play, when he was offered a recurring role on “Cheers,” as Kirstie Alley’s rich suitor. He sold his house in London and moved to L.A. “So, once again, we were three thousand miles apart,” Rees said.
1995: Rees relocated, finally, to New York. There was a vacant apartment in the Beresford. “Unbeknownst to us, it had been on the market for a year and a half,” Elice said. “The woman who owned it had instructed her broker, ‘Whoever the next person is, just sell them the fucking apartment.’ ”
1999: Elice was still working at the ad agency, but the deadlines were gruelling. “I was having more sleepless nights,” he recalled. “I was getting fatter. I suddenly needed to see a therapist.” Rees colluded with a pal at Disney to get Elice a job as a “creative consultant.” “They saved me,” Elice said. “And it’s only because I left advertising that I was able to take advantage of an opportunity like somebody saying, ‘I have the option on the Four Seasons catalogue. Are you interested in writing a musical about them?’ ”
2011: On June 24th, the New York State Senate voted to legalize gay marriage. Elice: “Roger came home from ‘The Addams Family’ that night and said, ‘Do you want to get married?’ I said, ‘I don’t know—it seems like a big step!’ ”
“I can’t believe you said that.”
“The next day, I was walking by the dog park over by the Planetarium, and I realized I had pissed on this very sweet moment. So when he came home that night I said, ‘Yeah, by all means, let’s do this.’ ” August: they got married at the City Clerk’s Office. Afterward: pancakes at Bubby’s.
2012: “Peter and the Starcatcher” opens on Broadway. “There’s a scene that the girl hero, Molly, has with the boy,” Elice said. “Roger wanted a scene where the two of them sort of fall in love. When it came to writing it, I cast Roger in the role of the wiser character. She says, ‘I will love words,’ which Roger taught me to do. Then she says, ‘I’m going to be part of a different sort of family.’ "
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Interesting story from Paraguay, where the Pope is currently visiting.
This country, apparently, is one of the most homophobic in the Western Hemisphere. Parents routinely abandon gay children, and gays are casually assaulted regularly. The President of this country had said he would shoot himself in his testicles if he had a gay son.
The Pope has stirred up a ruckus, because.... he is meeting with a gay activist, apparently, in solidarity against hate crimes. But, we can expect the tiny, non-mainstream, gay media in the U.S (and they can be virulently reckless in journalistic standards), to find something to misquote and re-write for tag lines.
This Pope is showing great courage in sending the message to a homophobic nation : gays are at the table, too. It's a start :). Paraguay may squash the news story, but, it'll still filter out.
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thanks linda,
it sounds like roger and rick had a nice life together. how sweet.
"book crammed apartment" :D
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oh gosh that's awful!! one of the most homophobic countries! :-\
lets hope that Paraguay goes the way of Uruguay soon...
I hope that awful president has TWO gay sons. maybe then he will stop breeding. :P
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Meanwhile, am not so sure Donald Trump is a temporary quirk in the early race. Another show-biz type, considered flaky, Ronald Reagan, hit a nerve in the mood of the country. And CNN seems to be fueling Trump, with such heavy coverage.
The Donald is also showing some shrewdness, in avoiding the usual neo-con rant. And it's worthy of note, in revving up the illegal immigration issue, he hasn't gone to the madness of deporting 12 million resident, working illegals. He could even snare some of the Latino vote by that careful line, and also playing machismo.
Maybe it's all a put-up job. Maybe Donald Trump is actually Hilary Clinton's secret weapon. ... 8) ;)
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Meanwhile, am not so sure Donald Trump is a temporary quirk in the early race. Another show-biz type, considered flaky, Ronald Reagan, hit a nerve in the mood of the country. And CNN seems to be fueling Trump, with such heavy coverage.
The Donald is also showing some shrewdness, in avoiding the usual neo-con rant. And it's worthy of note, in revving up the illegal immigration issue, he hasn't gone to the madness of deporting 12 million resident, working illegals. He could even snare some of the Latino vote by that careful line, and also playing machismo.
No comparison in my opinion. Ronald Reagan had at least been elected to something before he was running for
President. (Governor of California twice.) And he had been a voice in national politics since 1964 when he spoke
at the Republican convention in defense of Goldwater. (Comparable to the Republicans as Obama's 2004 speech
was to the Democrats.) As for the Latino vote, would gay people have supported Trump if he had said similar
things about them? Or women? Etc. Black people hate him for perpetuatng the birther (remember that?) meme.
Any right minded person (or left) should disqualify him on that alone. On that alone.
What else? New flag issue: The so-called Christian flag, white with a blue upper-left square and a red cross, is spreading rapidly after the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage. And, is gaining traction. Want to guess who it's aimed at? And no heritage issues, just one covert meaning ?
I haven't heard about this.
___
Meanwhile, remember awhile ago I talked about a New York Post film reviewer writing an article about
banning Gone with the Wind? Or putting a warning label on it? Well, it's first banishment, or censoring,
is happening next week, in Bernie Sanders progressive home state of Vermont:
Next Wednesday the Ang Lee-directed, Emma Thompson-penned adaptation of Sense and Sensibility will
be screened. The 1995 film is a last-minute replacement for Gone with the Wind, after Pentangle decided
that the 1939 cinematic-blockbuster celebration of the Confederacy “wasn’t quite appropriate,” Wilson said,
"in the wake of the massacre of black churchgoers in South Carolina, apparently by a white supremacist."
Really? Gone with the Wind is a "celebration of the Confederacy?"
Does the title alone not give anyone a clue that this might be incorrect?
Ironic title to replace it: Sense and Sensibility.
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What next? Atticus Finch is a racist? ???
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Lyle, it all is getting screwy on political correctness, IMO, because it's so easy. The real work is not so easy.
As for the "Christian flag", that appeared immediately after the Supreme Court decision on equal marriage rights, so, its provenance has no other meaning. I find all kinds of things like this, because I have an extremely diverse friends list on Facebook. A few of them give me heartburn, but, at least I see early warnings.
One of my old neighborhood friends is extremely, grotesquely, homophobic, but, he rants, and the others I grew up with never give him a Like. That flag first appeared from him.
I'll do a google search to see if there is further traction. But any anti-gay icon should be known and tracked.
Edited to note: Did a search, and found this flag originated from Protestants in Brooklyn, seeking some kind of Christian solidarity. So, it's been there, dormant. As for reappearing as an anti-gay icon, all I know is, I never saw it before the Court decision.
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Several days have passed, now, since the mysterious beach explosion in Rhode Island.
Suddenly, with no warning, the sand erupted, with the major casualty being an overweight lady, who was sent flying dozens of yards to some nearby rocks. No evidence of any man-made materials, bombs or otherwise.
Am surprised no one has considered a methane bubble. Some years back, scientists discovered many methane bubbles, some huge, beneath the ocean floor, and many, near to the continental shelf. The Chesapeake Bay, especially towards the Norfolk area, were said to be a catastrophe in the making. Explosions, water going both down and up, and the threat of mini-tidal waves, and mud-slides.
We've had a lot of strangeness hereabouts, lately. A doubling of Shark attacks, and some mysterious tendency for their preferring Canadian tourists.
I am not overly alarmed, but ---- any beach mysteries around here, and I will hunt down my Pith helmet, and buy a Mae West :P.
Whether that was a methane bubble in Newport, or not.....am staying alert 8).
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Ooooooh Tony, that does sound strange. We haven't had any thing like that here in Westcliff on sea, I am glad to say! :D
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Ooooooh Tony, that does sound strange. We haven't had any thing like that here in Westcliff on sea, I am glad to say! :D
Well, Jess, maybe the Monty Python quantum world came over here :D. So, you're safe, we're looking about.....
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usnews.com%2Fdims4%2FUSNEWS%2F1c85472%2F2147483647%2Fresize%2F652x%253E%2Fformat%2Fpng%2Fquality%2F85%2F%3Furl%3D%252Fcmsmedia%252F76%252F14%252F12aad09144ceb13c1d56e9fc6cb1%252F20150403edsuc-a.tif&hash=fab898c1b0c20084558b073b37273da20c258fe8)
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(https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/none-mohammad_javad_zarif-iranian_nuclear_deal-iranian_nuclear_program-diplomacy-john_kerry-sgen752_low.jpg)
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(https://flashtrafficblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/nucleardeal-cartoon.png?w=604)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjeffreyhill.typepad.com%2F.a%2F6a00d8341d417153ef019b019f6b53970d-800wi&hash=16d4775074d45bafe78178214c370196574f3116)
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There have been next to no details, or evening reporting, on CNN, on the deal with Iran. Had to go to the Huffington Post to find out.
Over-all, I had felt a verifiable deal would be better than a war, which, IMO, would not be a limited war. And, Nixon made deals with Red China, which, over time, eased into a safer environment.
And Israel has never been happy with any negotiations with anyone, over the years, and then became radically more secure, after U.S. nudging. Israel has treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and understandings with Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
So, it's been a new climate, in the stable countries over there, and they've moved to having clout and sphere of influence. Iran wants in on that gig.
Looking at the details of the treaty, I think the quick response to re-imposing sanctions, if they default, is strong. And they must verify they are dropping nearly all of their enhanced Uranium.
But I don't feel comfortable about the conventional weapons embargo, being gradually lifted. In 5 years, they get to buy tanks, jets, etc. Well, those can be easily targeted by Israel, as needed.
The real problem, is the ban on ballistic missiles being lifted in 8 years.
I don't care if their leadership mellows, as happened, in China, over time. Ballistic missiles are, IMO, the real danger. And that could be 8 years away. Those missiles don't need nukes to be very destructive. I think that's where there needs to be re-assessment, starting now.
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and why weren't the 4 American prisoners part of the deal? We let them sit in jail there and Obama's taking a bow.
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this was last week
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.timesofisrael.com%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F07%2F000_Nic6467574-635x357.jpg&hash=f2aca4cd3ab5f4820a4144a6cfd19e2357810cee)
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be sure to leave enough money in your will for your grandkids to buy bomb shelters, they'll need 'em
Millions of Iranians took part in anti-Israel and anti-US rallies across Iran on Friday, chanting “Down with America” and “Death to Israel” on Al-Quds Day, internationally observed annually on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan
Iranian protesters set dummies depicting US President Barack Obama (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on fire on top of an Israeli flag during a demonstration in Tehran on July 10, 2015. (AFP/ATTA KENARE)
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Wow, you're on a roll. ::)
Some Iranians reacting to the deal:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Firan-01_zpsa0aqq3hq.jpg&hash=f9ff72884291d5c67ec17fe5d97ae7af817a0802)
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More scary Iranians!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Firan-04_zpszudnfrtf.jpg&hash=b97b03fefc87430843d888ad07b55a79f6269fac)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Firan-05_zpsebnhdrfd.jpg&hash=bab366673a1e5235a357cdb9159d7c10e7b275d6)
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More scary Iranians!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Firan-04_zpszudnfrtf.jpg&hash=b97b03fefc87430843d888ad07b55a79f6269fac)
:D :D :D :D :D too bad they're not running the country... :D :D :D :D :D
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I admit from the moment I heard about this "new" publication that I've had an inner voice
telling me there's just something not right about this situation. It's one thing to publish a
"new novel" that's actually new, as in different. Not a story that was written and became
a first draft of the novel we now know.
Ah...but when there's money to be made by lawyers and agents and publishing houses.
That will be the book to read when someone writes it, not this "new" one, this "Emperor's
New Clothes" version.
The first of three related articles in The New Republic:
The Suspicious Story Behind Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman'
July 13, 2015
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122290/suspicious-story-behind-publication-go-set-watchman
When it was announced in February that a “new” Harper Lee novel had been “discovered,” there followed the expected gale of media giddiness, the widespread convulsions of joy, a gyrating and ejaculating all across the Web. Pulling up alongside the jubilant ones were the judicious ones, those who questioned how the publication of Lee’s new-old novel, Go Set a Watchman, came to pass: how the publicity-shyest author on earth, she who vowed never to publish another novel after her spirit was jolted by the galactic success of her debut, she who fled Manhattan for the asylum of her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, how this monastically private writer agreed—in her 89th year, post-stroke, confined to an assisted-living establishment—to bless the reading world with what was the first, failed draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. During the initial sortie of coverage in February, a Newsweek headline bellowed “Friends Say Harper Lee Was Manipulated,” but you didn’t need that deflating headline or any other because you already had those unignorable inner murmurs—they were your conscience saying that something is rotten in Monroeville.
***
A quote from Harper Lee in a widely circulated press release early in the year:
“I hadn’t realized it had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. After much thought and hesitation I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years.”
In March, The Atlantic Monthly quoted Alice Lee saying this about her sister in 2010: "She doesn’t know from one minute to the other what she’s told anybody. … She’s surprised at anything that she hears because she doesn’t remember anything that’s ever been said about it.”
Also this:
Harper Lee's 'Watchman' is a Mess That Makes Us Reconsider a Masterpiece
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/13/422545987/ (http://www.npr.org/2015/07/13/422545987/harper-lees-watchman-is-a-mess-that-makes-us-reconsider-a-masterpiece)
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I admit from the moment I heard about this "new" publication that I've had an inner voice
telling me there's just something not right about this situation. It's one thing to publish a
"new novel" that's actually new, as in different. Not a story that was written and became
a first draft of the novel we now know.
Ah...but when there's money to be made by lawyers and agents and publishing houses.
That will be the book to read when someone writes it, not this "new" one, this "Emperor's
New Clothes" version.
The first of three related articles in The New Republic:
The Suspicious Story Behind Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman'
July 13, 2015
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122290/suspicious-story-behind-publication-go-set-watchman
Also this:
Harper Lee's 'Watchman' is a Mess That Makes Us Reconsider a Masterpiece
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/13/422545987/ (http://www.npr.org/2015/07/13/422545987/harper-lees-watchman-is-a-mess-that-makes-us-reconsider-a-masterpiece)
Last weekend, a friend and I discussed some points made in the recent American Masters program on PBS that connected with the release of the "new" novel that raised suspicions in us. We both noticed that it was said that after Mockingbird was accepted for publication, Lee and an editor worked on it for two years before it was ready for publication. And yet we are asked to believe that this "new" book, which actually preceded Mockingbird in its writing, came out of hiding, so to speak, ready to go to press?
We have no doubt the "new" book is authentically Harper Lee, but we also suspect that some editor put a lot of work into it.
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So very sad. Again.
Another suspected terror attack on 2 recruitment centers in Chatnnooga, TN.
4 Marines dead and the gunman.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/16/us/tennessee-naval-reserve-shooting/
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Colorado movie theater shooter found guilty of murder in the first degree of all victims who died in the theater.
He was not insane when committing these murders by the judgement of the jury.
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So very sad. Again.
Another suspected terror attack on 2 recruitment centers in Chatnnooga, TN.
4 Marines dead and the gunman.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/16/us/tennessee-naval-reserve-shooting/
Yeah, and an Arab sounding name. You know the xenophobes will have a field day.
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Colorado movie theater shooter found guilty of murder in the first degree of all victims who died in the theater.
He was not insane when committing these murders by the judgement of the jury.
12 counts of 1st degree murder......unfortunately, Colorado has a governor imposed moritorium on the death penalty, if this little prick were in Missouri, he would be maggot food....albeit would still take 10 years to happen.
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The different officials, giving out information on the killing of 4 marines, in Tennessee, are acting more oblique than usual, in ongoing investigations, but that's just my own impression.
What am finding very strange is something else, which may go to loose security:
* All military installations have been on alert for nearly a month.
* The shooter first attacked recruitment centers, in a town, from his car - no deaths, but remained an active shooter at large.
My question is, just how slow are communications ? The Navy/Marine complex was 15 miles away, and, was not, apparently, on shut-down, as, the killer got onto the base, some time later.
No reporters are asking how this could have happened, and there's been very little of the maps and his route that would jog their curiosity. How did he get past the gate?
Something's wrong, IMO, in the slow response at the base. But, however this occurred, my own prayers are for the murdered marines, and their families.
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It's no comfort that my post above has been somewhat validated, but am passing this along, because of the obvious: something's wrong with the news coverage.
Joey Jones, a former recruiter at the same site in Tennessee, told CNN, there were no fatalities there because the staff, some of whom he knew, went on combat mode, and got cover, and got people out of the back exits.
Without emphasizing the point, he went on to say the deaths occurred at the nearby base, which was, in his words, improperly secured.
It is a tragedy that our soldiers are not safe in our own country. But it is creepy, how there is no accountability. Why was that base improperly secured, with an active shooter already known? And why are reporters afraid to ask that hard question?
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Can you say the word VETO?
Bill That Lets Bosses Fire Single Women For Getting Pregnant Gains Steam
Critics say the language could protect an employer who doesn't believe unmarried people should have sex outside of wedlock.
Dana Liebelson
Staff Reporter, The Huffington Post.
WASHINGTON -- In wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage, Republicans are pushing legislation that aims to protect Americans who oppose these unions on religious grounds. But critics say the language is so broad, the bill creates a license to discriminate that would let employers fire women for getting pregnant outside of wedlock.
The First Amendment Defense Act prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person -- which is defined to include for-profit corporations -- acting in accordance with a religious belief that favors so-called traditional marriage. This means the feds can't revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status or end a company's federal contract over this issue.
The bill specifically protects those who believe that marriage is between "one man and one woman" or that "sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage." Ian Thompson, a legislative representative at the American Civil Liberties Union, said that in addition to targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the bill "clearly encompasses discrimination against single mothers" and would hobble the ability of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal body that protects women from sex-based discrimination, to act.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/first-amendment-defense-act_55a7ffe6e4b04740a3df4ca1?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
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Oh, lordy, we were warned that these "religious discrimination" laws would start to appear,
but not the Federal level, but more at the state level. They can waste their time with that
if they want to and make their party look as crazy as they are, but there's no chance in hell
Obama is going to sign such a thing.
On the other hand, why can laws be passed to protect people's "thinking" or "beliefs"?
I'd take someone to court under these laws and make them prove they actually are
religious and believe something. Just because someone SAYS they believe something
doesn't mean that they do and a good lawyer can cause people with odd thinking all
sorts of convulsions in a court.
The idiocy which we are exposed to daily is continually surprising, and yet not surprising.
It's always been there. There's just more vehicles to disseminate it to others nowadays.
I like the tact of taking these laws designed to discriminate against LGBT persons and equate
it with others who would be affected, in this case, women. The "war on women" meme.
It helps to see what's really going on. The supporters of these bills will vehemently deny
that it will affect these other people, which then will expose what their real intent is, which
is just as bad. If one can look at this in a different light, it is very amusing watching them
all squirm to defend thir prejudices. Perhaps it will result in enlightenment!
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let's hear it for the deal, and for iran, our partners in peace...
TEHRAN — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, voiced support on Saturday for his country’s nuclear deal with world powers while emphasizing that it did not signal an end to Iran’s hostility toward the United States and its allies, especially Israel.
“Their actions in the region are 180 degrees different from ours,” he said.
He also seized on remarks by Mr. Obama at a news conference on Thursday, when the president acknowledged that the United States had made mistakes in its Iran policies in the past, including organizing a coup in 1953 and supporting President Saddam Hussein of Iraq in his war with Iran between 1980 and 1988.
“He mentioned two or three points, but did not confess to tens of others,” Mr. Khamenei said.
“I am telling you,” the ayatollah said, referring to the United States, “you are making a mistake now — in different parts of this region, but especially about the Iranian nation.” He did not offer specifics. “Wake up,” he said. “Stop making mistakes. Understand the reality.”
Worshipers began chanting and pumping their fists when he said the slogans “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” would continue to be heard in the streets of Iran.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/world/middleeast/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-of-iran-backs-negotiators-and-doesnt-criticize-nuclear-deal.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/world/middleeast/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-of-iran-backs-negotiators-and-doesnt-criticize-nuclear-deal.html?_r=0)
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I believe Israel to be just as big a threat to world peace as Iran. If Netanyahu is unhappy I am happy. Let's face it, the USA starts more wars than any other country and sadly my country of citizenship follows blindly.
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I believe Israel to be just as big a threat to world peace as Iran. If Netanyahu is unhappy I am happy. Let's face it, the USA starts more wars than any other country and sadly my country of citizenship follows blindly.
It's a witch's brew over there.
Also, it seems to me that both the U.S. and Israel, have been so successful at quick wars, both have been supposing things would always go that way. It was the astounding success of the Persian Gulf war that led Bush to suppose and even claim, that the initial success in both his wars, showed how easy it was to strike back. 13 years later, those wars are still active. Success can breed miscalculation.
As for Bibi, he may be right, at times, but his reckless choices are, IMO, actually undermining the security of Israel. And there are Israeli intel and military saying the same.
Am fiercely supportive of the need for safety for Israel and the U.S. But not so convinced that is achieved by current policies.
I just hope it all doesn't get worse.
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I believe Israel to be just as big a threat to world peace as Iran. If Netanyahu is unhappy I am happy. Let's face it, the USA starts more wars than any other country and sadly my country of citizenship follows blindly.
The US is the biggest threat to world peace. They love to start wars but are not very good at winning them.
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The US is the biggest threat to world peace. They love to start wars but are not very good at winning them.
Yeah, you betcha. Each and every one of us south of the Canadian border is armed to the teeth with blood dripping from our lips.
::)
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You take the good, you take the bad,
You take them both and there you have
The facts of life, the facts of life.
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I guess the President was correct: the dialogue is over.
I just saw, on CNN, the take-over of a liberal debate in Arizona (?), with Bernie Sanders the main speaker. In comes the angry, black, mostly female, crowd, to disrupt, and chant the slogan : Black Lives Matter.
A startled speaker replied, of course, Black lives matter and White lives matter. And that send the activists howling. I could only make out one shriek "When do cops shoot White people?"
Where is this coming from? IMO, the erosion of the great, progressive bastions of the civil rights movement into ossified, money-grubbing cults.
* It is the NAACP that derives most of its money from the music industry, and so blocks enforcement of federal law that says no racism on the public airwaves. The consequence of which is the gangsta culture of calling Black women whores, other Blacks, the N-word, and cops, the enemy. Which may have something to do with the 1-2,000 young black men collected off the streets each year, from gunfire. Of which historic slaughter, the NAACP says .....nothing.
* The Southern Poverty Law Center, originally a courageous juggernaut against neo-Nazi's, the KKK, and the other white crazies. Until recently, the battle there was won. But you can not get the SPLC to ever say a white can be a victim of a hate crime. IMO, this descent into Orwellian cultism, is part of the tilt towards new recruits for white supremacists.
Bernie Sanders did his best, saying he had spent most of his life working for the civil rights movement and social justice, and the activists were free to stay and enter the dialogue.
But the Only Black Lives Matter crowd were in disarray, and most left.
The dialogue is over. Now, it's only screamers and cults, on both sides, with the black and white, middle sane folks waiting to see how it all ends up, and considering the fray as de trop.
I guess that's my cue to wait it out, too.
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The dialogue is over. Now, it's only screamers and cults, on both sides, with the black and white, middle sane folks waiting to see how it all ends up, and considering the fray as de trop.
I guess that's my cue to wait it out, too.
Kind of sad, isn't it?
Kind of confuses me, too, because around here, it's mostly young black men being shot by ... black police officers. And black police officers being shot by ... young black male civilians.
But what do I know? I'm just a dumb middle-aged white guy.
Friend of mine owns an adult-oriented shop here in our gayborhood. Friday night one of his (white) clerks got shot by a young (black) male muttering anti-gay epithets. Fortunately the clerk was shot in the hip, and nothing vital got hit; he's going to be all right.
Just sayin'. ...
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Same confusion for me, too, Jeff.
Meanwhile:
Outrageous hate crime against a black woman in Mississippi ignored by media
According to McAlisternews.com, Arlene Barnum, after going to protest at a confederate flag rally, was pursued down a country road in Stuart, by extremists, who forced her car off the road, causing it to overturn. She and her companion were lucky to escape alive.
Oh, sorry - doesn't qualify.
Arlene Barnum is a prominent black woman who went to the rally to protest her support FOR the Dixie flag, which she considers part of her heritage.
*****
edited to add the following : the news source was McAlister News-Capital. Arlene is retired Army, and had been a part-time employee of the NAACP. The rally was predominantly black people exercising their right to disagree, and to support the right to have and show a confederate flag. She burned her NAACP card, which video is on her Facebook page, She is recovering in a hospital in Oxford, Mississippi. Have sent her a friend request :). I hope she accepts me, as, though we may disagree on some particulars (I have never owned or waved that flag, owing to dual meanings), I admire her for....being a free woman. I also admire the black men who were there. And Andrew Duncomb, a black wrangler in Oklahoma, who did accept me as a friend. He is, like Arlene, unwilling to accept being dictated to, and who, like Arlene, organizes rallies. They may be wrong, from others POV's but they are .....free.
****
edited again, as this is getting confusing. The Clarion-Ledger is reporting that Anthony Hervey, 49, the driver of the car that was attacked, has died in a hospital in Lafayette County. He was considered a legend as one of the emerging confederate blacks movement. The news reports seem accurate, but it all remains confusing, and, if true, tragic. The police investigation is ongoing. This would never be reported by the national media.
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According to CNN, former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley has apologized for saying "All lives matter", and, apparently has referred to the statement as "insensitive".
CNN also reported Hillary Clinton had planned to use the same words in a prepared speech but [cannily, IMO] withdrew them.
There. That issue is settled.
Meanwhile, the death/murder of confederate black gadfly Anthony Hervey, is being reported, on social media, but I can't get a line on details as national media will not report the story. Supposedly, the New Black Panthers ran him and his companion off the road, causing their car to flip over. There is a lot of grieving, plenty of photos, but am not seeing solid journalism, so, there may be more to this.. Or less.
Oh, Brave New World......
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According to CNN, former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley has apologized for saying "All lives matter", and, apparently has referred to the statement as "insensitive".
CNN also reported Hillary Clinton had planned to use the same words in a prepared speech but [cannily, IMO] withdrew them.
There. That issue is settled.
OK, I'll stick my neck out. I don't get it. Why does that statement require an apology? Why is it "insensitive"? All lives don't matter? Some lives matter more than others?
Yes, I have seen the pics of the signs reading "Black Lives Matter," so I know where that's coming from, but still.
And why do we only hear about "the police" killing young black men, and not about black police officers killing young black men?
Or, for that matter, the black police officers--here in Philadelphia, anyway--who have been killed by black men?
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Jeff, it's a crazy world. As for sticking your neck out, well, that's inspired me to go....turtle. Meaning, I will stick my neck out, look around to see what's going on, and then, as a sensible turtle, retreat, and fantasize of a better world - maybe a Caesar salad :-\ ?
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It is a crazy world, when the descendants of slaves protest the banning of the Confederate flag. :-\
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It is a crazy world, when the descendants of slaves protest the banning of the Confederate flag. :-\
Well, maybe they watched too much Mayberry, RFD.
Which reminds me, is the next step to ban Jim Crow tv ? All those shows, before Julia, which were without blacks ?
Also, we should, perhaps, review our relations with Great Britain, which kept us all in thrall, until 1776. No more Downton Abbey, or, at the very least, no period pieces before George IV.
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No more Brokie Brits? :'( :'( :'(
I promise no thoughts of thraldom ;)
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No more Brokie Brits? :'( :'( :'(
I promise no thoughts of thraldom ;)
I'm sure you guys are OK. You're all long after George IV. ;)
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Also, we should, perhaps, review our relations with Great Britain, which kept us all in thrall, until 1776. No more Downton Abbey, or, at the very least, no period pieces before George IV.
Does this mean you're ruling out the Regency? That we're finally through with endless remakes of Jane Austen? ;D
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Does this mean you're ruling out the Regency? That we're finally through with endless remakes of Jane Austen? ;D
Hey now!! I am a Jane Austen Fan!! :D
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Hey now!! I am a Jane Austen Fan!! :D
Well, yeah, but how many remakes of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility do we need? ;D
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Well, yeah, but how many remakes of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility do we need? ;D
As many as possible :). They are like lasagna - you don't just do it once, or one way !
Jane Austen was after 1776, and, must, in any case, be exempt from blame for any of what Sara (hopefully in humor) refers to as thralldom.
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I'm sure you guys are OK. You're all long after George IV. ;)
Whew! :D
As long as I don't have to make one of those retrospective apologies - I'm not very keen on them.
And Tony, I am not serious...
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....And Tony, I am not serious...
I know, Sara - I was being playful :) !
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Well, yeah, but how many remakes of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility do we need? ;D
As many as possible :). They are like lasagna - you don't just do it once, or one way !
Maybe you should read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. That might cure you. ;) ;D
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I know, Sara - I was being playful :) !
And so was I!
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Friend of mine owns an adult-oriented shop here in our gayborhood. Friday night one of his (white) clerks got shot by a young (black) male muttering anti-gay epithets. Fortunately the clerk was shot in the hip, and nothing vital got hit; he's going to be all right.
I was mistaken. I learned from this morning's newspaper that the clerk was not, in fact, white; he was also black. So, here again we have an example of black-on-black violence.
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Horrible - hope he continues to do well.
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AUTHOR:ANDY GREENBERG SECURITY DATE OF PUBLICATION: 07.21.15.
HACKERS REMOTELY KILL A JEEP ON THE HIGHWAY—WITH ME IN IT
I WAS DRIVING 70 mph on the edge of downtown St. Louis when the exploit began to take hold.
Though I hadn’t touched the dashboard, the vents in the Jeep Cherokee started blasting cold air at the maximum setting, chilling the sweat on my back through the in-seat climate control system. Next the radio switched to the local hip hop station and began blaring Skee-lo at full volume. I spun the control knob left and hit the power button, to no avail. Then the windshield wipers turned on, and wiper fluid blurred the glass.
As I tried to cope with all this, a picture of the two hackers performing these stunts appeared on the car’s digital display: Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, wearing their trademark track suits. A nice touch, I thought.
(...)
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/
*cough* Michael Hastings *cough*
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Shooting At Louisiana Theater Leaves 2 Dead, Including Gunman
The fatal shooting at the Louisiana theater occurs nearly 3 years after the Aurora theater massacre, and during the sentencing phase of the James Holmes trial.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shooting-at-lafayette-movie-theater-reported_55b1918be4b0074ba5a406bd?ir=Crime§ion=crime&utm_campaign=072315&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-crime&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
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Yeah, you betcha. Each and every one of us south of the Canadian border is armed to the teeth with blood dripping from our lips.
::)
Steak tartare has long been one of my guilty pleasures.
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Shooting At Louisiana Theater Leaves 2 Dead, Including Gunman
The fatal shooting at the Louisiana theater occurs nearly 3 years after the Aurora theater massacre, and during the sentencing phase of the James Holmes trial.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shooting-at-lafayette-movie-theater-reported_55b1918be4b0074ba5a406bd?ir=Crime§ion=crime&utm_campaign=072315&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-crime&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
So is Gov. Bobby J going to blame it on Obama, gay people or both?
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Steak tartare has long been one of my guilty pleasures.
That's something I just can't fancy!
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So is Gov. Bobby J going to blame it on Obama, gay people or both?
Probably both.
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Yeah probably. Lafayette is a very nice town, my older niece went to University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then called University of Southwestern Louisiana. It's considered to be the premiere university in the French-speaking area of the state.
We visited her several times when she was there.
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I am surprised no-one has commented on Obama's great speech in Kenya where he criticised their homosexuality laws. It was one of the lead items in last night's news here and I could not help applauding.
Last year we had Kenyans in our church as "reverse" missionaries. I boycotted all activities at which they were present, even dropping the elderly ladies and coming back when I was rostered to drive them. They may have been "nice" people but they represent the Anglican church in Kenya which is extremely homphobic. Some bishops have even called fro the death penalty.
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Bobbi Kristina Brown Dies at 22
By Elizabeth Durand Streisand
Nearly six months after being found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her Georgia home — and a month after being moved to hospice — Bobbi Kristina Brown, the only child of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, has died at the age of 22.
The Associated Press reported her death on Sunday night. "Bobbi Kristina Brown passed away July 26, 2015, surrounded by her family," a rep for the Houston family said. "She is finally at peace in the arms of God. We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months."
Bobbi Kristina was discovered by friend Max Lomas and the man she referred to as her husband, Nick Gordon, on Jan. 31, and was transferred to an Atlanta-area hospital. Though no drugs were found at her home when medics arrived, a criminal investigation was eventually opened; however, no arrests have been made
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/bobbi-kristina-brown-dies-at-22-184511508.html?nf=1
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Trespassing, death threats and the police did nothing except protect the racist scum. What a country, lol!
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Armed Confederate supporters interrupt black child's birthday party with racial slurs, death threats
I kid you not, it feels like we are going back in time in America.
In an Atlanta suburb this past weekend, Melissa Alford (a black woman) and her family were hosting an outdoor birthday party in Douglasville, Georgia, when a convoy of seven large pickup trucks donning Confederate flags interrupted the party and pulled into the grass. The occupants then called them niggers and threatened them with violence, according to multiple eyewitnesses, who also stated that the men actually flashed guns at them
(...)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/27/1406207/-Armed-Confederate-supporters-interrupt-Black-child-s-birthday-party-w-racial-slurs-death-threats?detail=facebook
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Oilgun, thanks for the link. I find it disgusting. I did watch the actual video, and some trucks had only American flags, some confederate flags, and some, both.
This type of ugliness is, believe it or not, new to expressions of racism, in the South, or at least, not seen for many decades. Others have been less aggressive and more stealthy, over the years.
I believe it may be push-back. Social media are carrying much more....of the opposite, including:
* The death of black confederate Anthony Hervey, reported only in local news.
* The NAACP sending a crew to take up the grass around the 150 year old graves of confederate soldiers, as a prelude to dis-interring them.
* A Florida chapter of the NAACP seeking the removal of General Robert E. Lee's uniform from a painting, in a museum.
* The frequent reference to Confederate soldiers as traitors. This, despite federal law 85-425, passed 5/23/1958 making confederate soldiers U.S. veterans.
The deep South is roiling with passions, and they are sometimes difficult to untangle. The leaders of support for the confederate flag are .....predominantly black (Andrew Duncomb, for one, on Facebook). The white supporters of the Dixie flag are more integrated, socially, than most of the rest of the nation. In Norfolk, the most fully integrated young crowd I know personally, are giving a rebel yell, not a racist yell.
None of this is reported by the national media. It's more than a little scary, to see all these variations, and the one you posted, fitting every blob conception of the South to a T. And it happened.
Meanwhile, blacks and whites in the South continue to believe or hope, this unreported upsurge will die down. Please continue to post similar stories. It is the only way, some of us can keep track of a very dangerous climate.
BTW, I have never owned a confederate flag, have only rarely seen them, as decals on pick-up trucks, and do not believe they should be on public property.
And, in passing, long before I was born, a cross was burned (1938) on the front lawn of my family's home. Because my mother was Roman Catholic. It was not the KKK. Just .....ignorant bullies. That ugliness faded rapidly. But prejudice and hatred live on, in various ways, all over this troubled planet.
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Hmmm.....Yosemite Sam is making a comeback on social media. For those unfamiliar with him in cartoons, he was the grumpy, pistol-waving nemesis of Bugs Bunny. Generally, he sported a pirates hat, or one with the Dixie emblem.
As a caricature, he made anyone with wild ideas look ridiculous. Gosh, I long for those good old days.
Strangely enough, I found one photo, under images, having him going off on them dad-burned Canadians ::). I don't know where that came from, but I down-loaded it, as a curiosity :) .
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Today is the 75th birthday of Bugs Bunny!!!
http://time.com/3967572/bugs-bunny-75/
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Today is the 75th birthday of Bugs Bunny!!!
http://time.com/3967572/bugs-bunny-75/
Oooh, that wascally wabbit! ;D
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Oooh, that wascally wabbit! ;D
;D ;D
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Bugs has always been my favourite!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1QvvcRl2c0
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On CNN, Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), was calling for a comprehensive overhaul of our mental health system, as a good start to ending the gun violence. That he is a Republican may actually give some traction to this proposal.
I hope they would look at more than hospital beds, and insurance coverage. Preventative work should include simple courses in elementary schools. Similar to phys ed. And keeping those courses from spreading politically correct cant, would help.
Cartoons are a great way to teach kids. They'll listen to Bugs Bunny :).
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I saw Bugs Bunny get his star in person on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
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I saw Bugs Bunny get his star in person on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
And you didn't take photos?!
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"What a maroon..."
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Hmmm.....Yosemite Sam is making a comeback on social media. For those unfamiliar with him in cartoons, he was the grumpy, pistol-waving nemesis of Bugs Bunny. Generally, he sported a pirates hat, or one with the Dixie emblem.
As a caricature, he made anyone with wild ideas look ridiculous. Gosh, I long for those good old days.
Strangely enough, I found one photo, under images, having him going off on them dad-burned Canadians ::). I don't know where that came from, but I down-loaded it, as a curiosity :) .
Back in 1975 I was visiting a friend on Vancouver Island, and we went to a fair north of Victoria. I was astonished to see a booth decked with small Canadian and Confederate flags. I have a slide, but so far no means to scan them into the computer. Back then I guess it was looked on by the people at the fair as relatively inocuous.
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Today is the 75th birthday of Bugs Bunny!!!
http://time.com/3967572/bugs-bunny-75/
Happy Boitday Bugs dawlin hawt!
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I'd like to congratulate the big brave guy who shot the lion in Zimbabwe with an arrow...wounded him.....left him for 40 hours to suffer....before going back out on the hunt to finish him off. Testosterone must have filled the air !
Congrats also on the death of a leopard which he felt compelled to shoot.....and the Rhino.....and the Nevada Big Horn sheep......and the Bison....and God knows what else >:( Most all..... on the endangered species list. . I believe he illegally shot a black bear at some stage in some State .
I really can't get my head around folks who do this for *fun*. I believe our Royals have also been guilty of this......but not on endangered species. There are others who find it necessary to hunt for food. I am OK with this.....but just to have a head hacked off and mounted to stick on your wall is quite bizarre to me
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I sure hope our government gets involved in this and that Zimbabwe wants to extradite him. Also that he can no longer practice as a dentist and has to spend his last cent on trying to defend himself, if this is even possible.
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Right on.
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I hope they extradite him, I hope all his clients leave him, etc etc
Killer of Cecil the Lion Finds Out That He Is a Target Now, of Internet Vigilantism
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Two signs posted on the door of a nondescript dental office here asked passers-by to mourn the death of Cecil, a lion who was lured off his sanctuary and killed during a game hunt this month in Zimbabwe.
“WE ARE CECIL,” one read; “#CatLivesMatter,” read another. Nearby was a sign with a darker message for the dentist who said he killed the cat: “ROT IN HELL.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/us/cecil-the-lion-walter-palmer.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/us/cecil-the-lion-walter-palmer.html?_r=0)
A memorial to Cecil the lion outside Dr. Walter J. Palmer's closed dental office in Bloomington, Minn. Credit Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune, via Associated Press
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I sure hope our government gets involved in this and that Zimbabwe wants to extradite him. Also that he can no longer practice as a dentist and has to spend his last cent on trying to defend himself, if this is even possible.
Absolutely. Does the US have an extradition treaty withy Zimbabwe? If they don't it should be rushed through specially for him.
Thank god he couldn't find the enormous elephant which was next on his gruesome list. Apparently all the ones they found were too small to bolster up his pathetic tiny ego by its death.
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Zimbabwe to U.S.: Extradite dentist over killing of Cecil the lion
(CNN)—As outrage grows over the killing of Cecil the lion, Zimbabwe has called on the United States to extradite the American dentist who shot the prized big cat.
Zimbabwe has started extradition proceedings and hopes the United States will cooperate, said Oppah Muchinguri, the African nation's environment minister.
Walter Palmer "had a well-orchestrated agenda which would tarnish the image of Zimbabwe and further strain the relationship between Zimbabwe and the USA," Muchinguri said.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/world/zimbabwe-cecil-lion-dentist/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/world/zimbabwe-cecil-lion-dentist/)
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Please sign
We petition the Obama administration to:
Extradite Minnesotan Walter James Palmer to face justice in Zimbabwe.
Cecil the Lion, a resident of Zimbabwe's national park, and an national icon was poached and killed this week. Media reports in the Guardian, Wall Street Journal and elsewhere have identified American Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minneapolis, MN as the poacher. He is alleged to have lured Cecil from the safety of the national park to kill him. Two of Palmer's local accomplices are already in custody. Zimbabwe authorities now actively seeking Palmer in connection with this incident.
We urge the Secretary Of State John Kerry and the Attorney General Loretta Lynch to fully cooperate with the Zimbabwe authorities and to extradite Walter Palmer promptly at the Zimbabwe government's request.
Published Date: Jul 28, 2015
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/extradite-minnesotan-walter-james-palmer-face-justice-zimbabwe (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/extradite-minnesotan-walter-james-palmer-face-justice-zimbabwe)
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I hope it's successful
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Another friggin' shooting in an Antioch, TN movie theater complex. The man had gun(s) and hatchet. He is reported to be dead, and not sure of other people wounded.
Just happened, so still not much good info.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/05/us/antioch-tennessee-theater-shooting-blog/
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So far only 3 people injured, all three with pepper spray and one of the three a superficial wound from the hatchet.
The shooter had a front pack that the bomb squad is going to detonate, as it is very suspicious and the bomb squad is going to dispose of it this way. There is another satchel the shooter dropped inside the theater and it has yet to be examined.
The fact that there were two police officers right in front of the theater dealing with an accident has contributed to the lack of casualties, as they responded within 2 minutes.
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While the world looks on in amazement that these things keep happening but nothing can be done about it.
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More people are upset over the "big game hunters" actions than gun violence
against humans, much less the refugees from Syria and other atrocities, etc.
People are quick to jump on something quick and easy to support, rather than
inch closer to other problems that need real attention.
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Both of the recent perpetrators of these theater incidents had "significant mental issues."
Gun enthusiasts like to hear this because they insist they shouldn't have to be
regulated (etc.) because they are law abiding and not crazy. They don't seem
to understand that easy access to guns means easy access to guns whether
you are law abiding, a criminal or have significant mental issues.
Most laws are there to protect the majority of people, even if it inconveniences some.
But gun people feel they have a right to them and with absolutely no restrictions.
Cars, for example, have a zillion regulations including having to have a license to use
them, be of a certain age, obeying road signs, driving at posted speeds and on and on.
Even insurance is required. (Hey, how about gun insurance?) But gun enthusiasts teach
five year olds to use them and give them to teenagers as gifts.
(I remember someone on a PBS program, studying teenagers, remarking, "You know how
many parents talk to their teenagers after they've done something, saying, 'What were you
thinking?' Well, that's just it. Teenagers aren't thinking when they do things parents get
perturbed about, because their brains aren't fully formed and they haven't developed the
cognitive skills or life experiences that come into play in these situations to evaluate them
properly, if at all.")
Relate that idea to children and having and using guns.
Just like we used to put up with people smoking and smoking anywhere and everywhere
as though it was a natural right, we slowly came around to where it's become more and
more a social stigma and frowned upon almost everywhere (at least in the U.S.). Some
beaches have recently even outlawed smoking on them in California. (Although it still
continues to amaze me how many young people I do see smoking.)
In any case, I like to believe that there will be something akin to this with guns. That
something will occur to make people slowly turn away from the idea that guns are the
bees knees and they'll become an object of negativity like cigarettes have become. You
are definitely going to see more guns on television programs than anyone smoking nowadays.
I happened by an episode of I Dream of Jeannie last night on a retro channel where a girl at
a bar lights up a cigarette, flirts with Roger and ends up playfully blowing her cigarette smoke
in his face and he reacts like he's been propositioned. Yuck. I wondered if the actor hated
that, but, in fact, the actor playing Roger was one of the writers of the episode. You would
definitely NOT see that in a show today unless the activity was demonized. In fact, when you
see a video version of 101 Dalmatians there is a warning beforehand that they do not condone
Cruella DeVille's nasty smoking habit.
My sentiment may be naive but I never ever thought smoking would disappear in the general
daily atmosphere as it has; was particularly stunned when it was outlawed in bars (!) and so
why not believe it could happen?
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I happened by an episode of I Dream of Jeannie last night on a retro channel where a girl at
a bar lights up a cigarette, flirts with Roger and ends up playfully blowing her cigarette smoke
in his face and he reacts like he's been propositioned. Yuck. I wondered if the actor hated
that, but, in fact, the actor playing Roger was one of the writers of the episode.
I didn't know Bill Dailey was a writer.
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I agree about smoking. I have never smoked but always hung around smokers because that was the era I was brought up in 40's 50's and 60's.
Both my parents smoked and most of my peers, but My sister who is eight years older didn't smoke either. I used to hang out in bars and breathed in
a lot of smoke. I never thought bars would ban smoking but they did and I am delighted.
I am Canadian and we have guns but we don't seem to have the same attitude about them.
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Chris Hyndman of Steven and Chris daytime show was found dead on Monday. R.I.P. Chris, so talented and funny.
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Jeff, actors in series usually get bored after awhile and some will be
allowed to direct an episode and some will pen a script or two. For
example, David Duchovny wrote and directed a 6th season episode
of The X-Files, but I wouldnt exactly call him a writer.
--P.S.: On imdb Bill Daily is only credited as a writer for this ONE thing.
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Chris Hyndman of Steven and Chris daytime show was found dead on Monday. R.I.P. Chris, so talented and funny.
That was quite a shock, wasn't it? Here he is (right) with his husband and co-host Steven Sabados:
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R.I.P. Chris, we'll miss your effervescent personality and winning smile.
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Have the authorities said how it happened?
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Jeff, actors in series usually get bored after awhile and some will be
allowed to direct an episode and some will pen a script or two. For
example, David Duchovny wrote and directed a 6th season episode
of The X-Files, but I wouldnt exactly call him a writer.
--P.S.: On imdb Bill Daily is only credited as a writer for this ONE thing.
I guess he didn't have much of a writing career, then, did he? :D
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Have the authorities said how it happened?
Not yet, but it doesn't look good. He was found without vital signs in an alleyway near his home.
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Frank Gifford, Pro Football Hall Of Famer, Dies At 84
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/frank-gifford-pro-football-hall-of-famer-dies-at-84_55c7a7bae4b0f1cbf1e556b7?ir=Sports§ion=sports&utm_campaign=080915&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-sports&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003&kvcommref=mostpopular
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Not yet, but it doesn't look good. He was found without vital signs in an alleyway near his home.
In passing, I saw a headline that stated that his mother said he was a sleepwalker, and that contributed to his death.
Have no clue if that is true or not.
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In passing, I saw a headline that stated that his mother said he was a sleepwalker, and that contributed to his death.
Have no clue if that is true or not.
Wow, adult sleep walking is quite rare isn't it?
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Wow, adult sleep walking is quite rare isn't it?
I believe it is, but saw this article when Googling his name.
Family and Friends Believe Canadian TV Host Chris Hyndman Plunged to Death While Sleepwalking
http://www.people.com/article/friends-say-canadian-host-death-accident
Experts weigh in on Chris Hyndman’s alleged sleepwalking accident
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/experts-weigh-in-on-chris-hyndmans-alleged-sleepwalking-accident/article25872373/
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In Ennis, TX
Watch Texas police officer dance the 'Nae Nae' with kids
A video of a police officer in action is going viral, and this time, it's generating nothing but positive feedback.
The clip shows a Texas police officer doing his best to keep up with some kids teaching him how to "Nae Nae."
Officer Alan Eddins of the Ennis Police Department had just finished trying to deliver a warrant when he stopped by a nearby home where he had seen some children dancing outside, said Lt. Mike Hopson, the department's public information officer.
http://www.today.com/news/police-officer-dances-nae-nae-kids-viral-video-t32441 (http://www.today.com/news/police-officer-dances-nae-nae-kids-viral-video-t32441)
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Wow, adult sleep walking is quite rare isn't it?
Not if you take Ambien.
People have reported very strange behavior while on Ambien. There's even youtube videos
of it. Some people have even driven cars "sleepwalking" on Ambien. A friend of mine reported
once if his boyfriend took it he had to make sure all of the doors in the place were locked and
one night his boyfriend got up in the middle of the night and cooked a meal on a gas stove and
had no recollection of it in the morning.
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That's interesting, I would actually like to see a toxicology report and see just what drugs Chris had in his system, it may offer some kind of explanation. Anyway it was very sad news.
They have a facebook, that seems to be keeping everyone up with what's going on.
https://www.facebook.com/stevenandchris
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That recalcitrant county clerk in Kentucky must issue licenses to gay couples.
http://www.back2stonewall.com/2015/08/breaking-judge-rules-ky-clerk-kim-davis-issue-marriage-licenses-gay-couples.html
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So very sad to hear about. :'(
Jimmy Carter Reveals That He Has Cancer
It was discovered during recent liver surgery.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jimmy-carter-cancer_55cbaeb9e4b064d5910a5f90?ir=Politics§ion=politics&utm_campaign=081215&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003&kvcommref=mostpopular
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Yeah. Hope the chemo is successful. Or that he recovers like Paul in ABQ has.
-
Yeah. Hope the chemo is successful. Or that he recovers like Paul in ABQ has.
Yeah, I hope so too, but he is going to be 91 in October and he has that against him. Also, all of his family members have died from cancer.
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Yeah, I hope so too, but he is going to be 91 in October and he has that against him. Also, all of his family members have died from cancer.
Sad. I always liked him and could not understand why he was not re-elected. Guess he was too nice.
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Sad. I always liked him and could not understand why he was not re-elected. Guess he was too nice.
He told the truth, and Reagan was Reagan.
-
He's been a really great ex-President, one of the best.
-
He's been a really great ex-President, one of the best.
Yes, he has. I didn't care for his prim and preachy attitude when he was President, but he's a good man.
I doubt even George Washington or Abraham Lincoln could have been reelected if the Iranian Hostage Crisis had occurred on their watch. :(
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2015%2Fnews%2F150406%2Fmichael-sam-435.jpg&hash=87eb5d76a5b67e58f43cff73f0165d54454e306e)
Michael Sam has announced that he's taking a break from football.
"I thank the Alouettes for this opportunity and hope to be back on the field soon. Thank you all for your understanding and support," Sam said on Friday via his official Twitter account.
The Montreal Alouettes defensive end added: "The last 12 months have been very difficult for me, to the point where I became concerned with my mental health."
Sam was the first openly gay player to be drafted when the St. Louis Rams chose him in round seven of the 2014 NFL draft. After being cut from the Rams he spent part of the year on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad before signing with Montreal.
he 25-year-old athlete set another precedent when he became the first openly gay player in the Canadian Football League. Sam signed a two-year contract with the Alouettes in May and made his regular season debut in early August.
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I've been fairly much detached from the beginnings of the 2016 Presidential race, but, already, there've been some surprises.
* Rand Paul has refused to back down from his condemnation of domestic spying. I really feel good hearing him say : "Get a warrant ! ".
* Bernie Sanders is getting massive crowds, and, the media are ignoring that. More fool they.
But a big one hit this morning. I've never cared much for Donald Trump, and would not watch his tv shows. Yet, today, he caught my attention and admiration for blasting Jeb Bush's defense of his brother's Iraq war, and his saying we needed more "skin on the ground".
Trump, and only Trump, expressed outrage. Over a catastrophically failed policy, causing savage losses to our troops, and treasury. And he said something further, which I believe to be geo-politically correct : there no longer is an Iraq. It is an appendage of Iran.
One insight does not a President make. But he surprised me.
Meanwhile, the Bush family is so corrupt, Jeb has to support blood-drenched failure, so as not to embarrass his brother. Sheesh, what a bunch of smiling, phony, criminal creeps.
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The media is picking up on Sanders...CNN & MSNBC both covered the large crowds he drew this weekend.
As for Trump, I believe he is thoroughly unelectable...I think one of his biggest strengths is that people perceive him as being unable to be bought off by lobbyists and special interest groups. He appeals to blue collar voters, in spite of his view on taxes...they aren't looking at that.
He's useful (in my opinion) for drawing people, no matter how few, away from Hillary...I guess we'll find out what happens when he runs out of steam and has to talk about specifics. Clinton scares the hell out of me...talk about corrupt...
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TRUMP--If Trump wasn't his own lobbyist and special interest group he wouldn't be anywhere.
No one would be giving him money to run.
SANDERS--He is a left wing progressive in the McGovern mold probably unelectable himself.
He is also Jewish which people will say doesn't matter, but Romney was Mormon and "they" said
that didn't matter, either. He got lots of crowds yesterday because if you are a Democrat, who
else did you have to listen to at the fair? He's the only Democrat who participated in that event.
He's a useful candidate to take some attention away from Hillary and try to get issues aired that
might otherwise be forgotten.
HILLARY--At this point it's too late to believe anyone else who's not already in the race is going
to be a viable candidate, which shows how inept our system of choosing candidates and then
electing them is, when a year and a half before the election is TOO LATE.) There always seems
to be some intense focus on something a Clinton is doing that ultimately is over nothing. But
her foes would like you to believe there is something there and we're just not finding out about
it, so on it goes.
One of the Republicans in the Clown Circus opined that "we still don't know everything about
Whitewater." (Are you kidding me? We know more than we ever wanted to or need to know
about that.) Carly Fiorina, the wicked witch of the west (sorry, but I listened to her for a year when
she was running for the Senate in California and I've had enough of that _____.), --she said that
Hillary lied about Benghazi. The next obvious question to ask her would have been "what did she lie
about, but I guess the Fox reporters didn't want to know. (They "know" she lied...they don't know
what that might be, but they just "know" it.) And now we have this pretty made-up email
controversy. It was enough for me when this subject first surfaced that "nothing illegal was done
and she was allowed to do what she did." So WHY is this continued news?
According to an article on the Real Clear Politics site, the #1 reason is "Clinton can blame herself."
With this I have to agree. Both Clintons have a knack for creating news stories that shouldn't
linger, but do. Somehow, it seems they like to have something out there to prove Hillary's point
of long, long ago that there's a conspiracy out there to keep after them.
It's the thing that bothers me most about her. (And Bill.) When so many other things need attention
there is always something less important they are having to deal with instead. Do we need to be talking about this instead of bigger problems that need solving? (Although Government protocol
regarding computer and related technology information really needs to be looked at and solidified.)
Hillary is also not a really good campaigner. That doesn't help. If you're not a really good campaigner (which doesn't mean you wouldn't be a good President) do you really want to see a candidate for
two years? (Did I mention our inept system of choosing/electing candidates?) And it doesn't seem
to be great timing for her this year, in the sense of having a positive forward momentum.
She doesn't scare me, though. I'll be voting for her. And i don't need TWO YEARS of Republican
and Democrat campaign bombardment to make up my mind.
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According to an article on the Real Clear Politics site
I forgot to include the article liink, if anyone's interested:
Seven Reasons Hillary's Email Problems Won't Go Away
by Alexis Simendinger - August 15, 2015
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/seven_reasons.html (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/08/15/seven_reasons_hillarys_email_problems_wont_go_away.html)
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I've been fairly much detached from the beginnings of the 2016 Presidential race, but, already, there've been some surprises.
Tony, maybe there should be a Big Brother Republican Candidate House and all 17 of them should
be put in it and forced to live with each other all summer, etc. :)
* Bernie Sanders is getting massive crowds, and, the media are ignoring that. More fool they.
Depends what you mean by "ignoring" it. Before yesterday I have heard several reporters mention it,
though not really show it. This weekend, as morrobay pointed out, they were showing it in Iowa.
Meanwhile, the Bush family is so corrupt, Jeb has to support blood-drenched failure, so as not to embarrass his brother. Sheesh, what a bunch of smiling, phony, criminal creeps.
Before any debates and such, people were saying Hillary was front-runner on the Democratic side and
Jeb Bush front-runner on the Republican side. At this point, which candidate would you rather be?
I bring this up because on the Republican side the "establishment" always seems to get their way. It was
pretty much guaranteed last time that when things finally shook out that Romney was going to be the
candidate. With Jeb riding so low in the polls in a field of 17, will this be the case? We've all heard how much
money he's got in his campaign chest. Is it no wonder that rank and file Republicans are rallying around the
noisemaker at the moment? They don't feel anyone in the party is listening to them. So they digress. Will
they return? Some journalist compared Trump's poll numbers to when the noted KKK member (leader?) in
Louisiana, David Duke, ran for Senate and got 43% of the vote. He didn't believe that 43% of Louisianians (?)
were racists, but they were simply frustrated with their party not listening to them and just took the alternative
available at the time. (yikes, though)
Will Trump get the rank and file to do the same? Much as Ross Perot did in 1992? By the way, Ross Perot
seems like a viable genius compared to the happenings today.
Hindsight: If Pres. George H.W. Bush had been up against Bill Clinton alone without Perot in the race,
what would the outcome have been?
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Heard on the TV news this morning that Julian Bond has died at age 75. I remember him as a young leader in the Civil Rights movement.
Always thought he was quite handsome, too.
:(
-
Donald Trump 'bombarded Princess Diana with flowers after her marriage broke up and saw her as the ultimate trophy wife'
Donald Trump is said to have 'bombarded' Princess Diana with flowers
Businessman reportedly sent Diana bouquets after her marriage broke up
Veteran broadcaster also claims Trump saw her as the ultimate trophy wife
Selina Scott said Diana confided in her that Trump 'gives me the creeps'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3200052/Donald-Trump-bombarded-Princess-Diana-flowers-marriage-broke-saw-ultimate-trophy-wife.html#ixzz3j0bkLzKr
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
:D Well there you have it!
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Heard on the TV news this morning that Julian Bond has died at age 75. I remember him as a young leader in the Civil Rights movement.
Always thought he was quite handsome, too.
:(
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/longtime-civil-rights-activist-julian-bond-dead-75-article-1.2327468
Heard about that today, sounds sudden.......what a life he lead and he was a very handsome man you are right.
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Was always an admirer of Julian Bond. It is a more depressing loss to me because he said just what I have been saying in posts here : condemning injustice to anyone, black or otherwise, must be the unifying principle.
He was a founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has, IMO, eroded into a cult which cannot conceive of a white person being the victim of a hate crime.
With the passing of Bond, that unifying principle has no prominent black leader, anymore. I don't know of any progressive black leader who can rally the original hope. May he rest in peace; he led us rightfully.
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Was always an admirer of Julian Bond. It is a more depressing loss to me because he said just what I have been saying in posts here : condemning injustice to anyone, black or otherwise, must be the unifying principle.
He was a founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has, IMO, eroded into a cult which cannot conceive of a white person being the victim of a hate crime.
With the passing of Bond, that unifying principle has no prominent black leader, anymore. I don't know of any progressive black leader who can rally the original hope. May he rest in peace; he led us rightfully.
I hadn't known of his involvement in the founding of the Southern Poverty Law Center until I heard it on TV news this evening. The local station pointed out that he was educated at a suburban Philadelphia school, and the his father was the president of Lincoln University, near here. I hadn't known of those connections either.
His death is a great loss.
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...His death is a great loss.
Yes.
Very curious timing for me, as PBS was running a program on the politics within the civil rights movement, in the 1960's, with the Black Power movement. Power plays as some, like Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins worked for progress without violence, along with Martin Luther King, Jr. And they were losing to the new radical groups : hate whitey.
Few remember, or admit, that when Dr. King was murdered, his strongest critics were the new, stylishly enraged, news grabbers.
Also, yesterday, in Portsmouth, across the river from me, a demonstration for Stop the Violence, where relatives and friends of black-on-black victims of violence, pleaded for help. But no NAACP, no SPLC, and no Al Sharpton showing up. Not their gig.
So there still are politics within the black leadership, while the death toll mounts.
We need to hit the re-set button, address (as Dr. King did) the economic disparity, the legitimate and not-so-legitimate grievances, and call the money-grubbers and feel-good-but-do-nothing types out.
The President's worst legacy, is that he moved from being above race, to catering to the discredited sloganeers, and saying the dialogue was over.
But, we'll make it. Every day, blacks and whites work and live together, and look for better. It's a shame there is no untainted leadership, and we have to do this by ourselves. But, that will work.
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Also, yesterday, in Portsmouth, across the river from me, a demonstration for Stop the Violence, where relatives and friends of black-on-black victims of violence, pleaded for help. But no NAACP, no SPLC, and no Al Sharpton showing up. Not their gig.
So there still are politics within the black leadership, while the death toll mounts.
That's sad. :(
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Donald Trump 'bombarded Princess Diana with flowers after her marriage broke up and saw her as the ultimate trophy wife'
She would have been. Just ask Aristotle Onassis.
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He was a founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has, IMO, eroded into a cult which cannot conceive of a white person being the victim of a hate crime.
Whereas the SPLC has come under attack in recent years from both the right and the left,
I happen to find they were useful in putting attention on Christian groups who were demonizing
anything LGBT as the marriage equality movement was spreading, especially counting the American
Family Association (AFA) and the Family Research Council (FRC) among their hate groups.
And deservedly so. And you've never seen anyone so angry as a Christian Group with hateful ideas,
thoughts and actions being told they are hateful. How dare you.
Those two evil groups alone were responsible for more misinformation about gay people, and still are,
than any others I can think of and were always a "go to" for lazy journalists who think they need
an "opposite opinion" on an LGBT topic, no matter if the source spouts beliefs which are rooted
in ignorance or deliberately not factual. They have trouble understanding beliefs are not facts. Putting
them on their Hate Group lists at least led some journalists to stop going to them for interviews or news
bites. And those groups are heavily funded and fight back against anyone who thinks they could possibly
be hateful in their right to religious free speech. They were so offended by the SPLC's listings that they
bombarded the FBI so heavily that the FBI, for reasons I'm still not sure of, removed the SPLC from their
website of resources. Then they wrote horrid articles and letters of support to the FBI claiming vindication
for their groups, which mean, in their convoluted thinking, that the FBI endorses their views.
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Lyle, I have no doubt the SPLC has played a heavy role in identifying hate groups and am glad they have gone after anti-gay groups.
But, just as I am a Catholic willing to call out the Church on being oppressive on some issues, and therefore part of the problem, I am not shy of calling out civil rights groups that stubbornly contribute to a new racism by discriminating in the definition of hate crimes.
The SPLC has, IMO, been a great resource, that I believe has stumbled. They really refuse to even theoretically concede that a white person can be a victim of a hate crime based on racial hatred. It's inconvenient for their focus.
That's small comfort for the relatives of 4 whites beaten to death by middle class black gangs in or near to my old neighborhood.
To me, they are dishonest in their self-description. Sort of like PETA, which gets those ads on tv of suffering puppies, rakes in the bucks, does some good, but focuses on a new-age, vegetarian agenda, from its headquarters here in Norfolk. Both groups should be more honest in what they really believe, even if that brings in less money.
And, the SPLC just will not promote the concept that ANY violence based on one's ethnic group, is a hate crime.
Also, it was very interesting to see that PBS show on the '60's, where the same issue was a hot topic within the civil rights movement. The other side won, and it's now a limited definition of injustice. Which, as I believe, will continue to prevent progress based on shared humanity.
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^^^^^^
Straight Outta Compton anyone?
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Ice Cube was on TV the other day saying "yes black lives matter and they should matter to other blacks too".
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^^^^^^
Straight Outta Compton anyone?
That one went right over my head, Lyle.....I had to go look up the reference, which, I suppose, shows how little I follow current movies. If it was a zap, because of TWA (Tony With an Attitude), that's ok, as I was having a grumpy day when I did that post.
In another area, I do agree with one of your previous posts, where you suggested the current crop of Presidential candidates should be locked up in the same house, a la Big Brother, but only if they have to do the have-not bit :). And the wall-thumping endurance, and, maybe showering together. Although that last might crash the ratings :D .
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In another area, I do agree with one of your previous posts, where you suggested the current crop of Presidential candidates should be locked up in the same house, a la Big Brother, but only if they have to do the have-not bit :). And the wall-thumping endurance, and, maybe showering together. Although that last might crash the ratings :D .
When are they gonna vote Donald Trump off the island? ???
Ooops! Wrong show!
;D ;)
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Jeff, he'll float off the island (Survivor), with that hair providing a sort of GPS trail.....to Cancun. Am sure he'll be welcome there :) .
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:D :D :D
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Jeff, he'll float off the island (Survivor), with that hair providing a sort of GPS trail.....to Cancun. Am sure he'll be welcome there :) .
:D :D :D
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That one went right over my head.....I had to go look up the reference, which, I suppose, shows how little I follow current movies. If it was a zap, because of TWA (Tony With an Attitude), that's ok, as I was having a grumpy day when I did that post.
No, it was, perhaps, obscure to all but me, but it was actually an agreement with your post about the SLPC's
narrow views of certain things--the can't see the forest for the trees type of idea. This film is being celebrated
with it's supposed topicality issues being relevant: the victimization of blacks by police. It's the meme one is
supposed to accept without question currently.
I saw a local news program with people discussing this issue of police shootings in the news and someone had the
audacity to point out, by showing news footage, that all of the people who were shot, including a recent shooting
of a white boy who had a marijuana issue, when told to "stop" by the police did, in fact, not stop, but ran
away. He posed that if the people had not run away, but complied with the police, things would not have
escalated to those outcomes. He tried to point out that dealing with the police is a two way street. That even
if you have not done anything wrong, if the police want to talk to you or for you to stop, what does someone
think will happen if they do not? And does anyone want to take that chance? It was a program on the one year
event of the Ferguson happenings. He said the cop in question had been asked several times what he might have
done to prevent what had happened, but that no one had asked what the recipient of the action might also have
done to avert it. (He used the word recipient instead of victim, because that implied he was innocent of the results
and thought it should be asked if he was truly innocent of the circumstances of what happened.) The panelist
was pretty much summarily dismissed because it didn't fit the outrage of the victims of police action memes.
People would rather blame the police entirely for what happened than to think that there was any possibility the
"recipient" of the results was in any way to blame for those results. Or, to put it simply, it takes two to tango.
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Thanks, Lyle - I think you get it, about the running script not necessarily being the correct one.
Like, weapons of mass destruction, in Iraq.
It sounds trite, I know, but, on all these confusions and obfuscations, often, we should follow the money trail. When information is shut down, and there's no real progress, somebody is probably making some bucks, to ever more loss for everyone innocent.
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No, it was, perhaps, obscure to all but me, but it was actually an agreement with your post about the SLPC's
narrow views of certain things--the can't see the forest for the trees type of idea. This film is being celebrated
with it's supposed topicality issues being relevant: the victimization of blacks by police. It's the meme one is
supposed to accept without question currently.
I saw a local news program with people discussing this issue of police shootings in the news and someone had the
audacity to point out, by showing news footage, that all of the people who were shot, including a recent shooting
of a white boy who had a marijuana issue, when told to "stop" by the police did, in fact, not stop, but ran
away. He posed that if the people had not run away, but complied with the police, things would not have
escalated to those outcomes. He tried to point out that dealing with the police is a two way street. That even
if you have not done anything wrong, if the police want to talk to you or for you to stop, what does someone
think will happen if they do not? And does anyone want to take that chance? It was a program on the one year
event of the Ferguson happenings. He said the cop in question had been asked several times what he might have
done to prevent what had happened, but that no one had asked what the recipient of the action might also have
done to avert it. (He used the word recipient instead of victim, because that implied he was innocent of the results
and thought it should be asked if he was truly innocent of the circumstances of what happened.) The panelist
was pretty much summarily dismissed because it didn't fit the outrage of the victims of police action memes.
People would rather blame the police entirely for what happened than to think that there was any possibility the
"recipient" of the results was in any way to blame for those results. Or, to put it simply, it takes two to tango.
Oh good grief! So if you don't comply with an officer's request you deserve to be shot multiple times in the back? ::)
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^^^^^^
No.
I have tread on this touchy subject before, and written that I don't either condone or excuse the
outcomes of these situations, but am merely pointing out there is a causal effect in the scenarios
as any even casual observer of the COPS TV series would know. It is basic civics. We have police
that are supposed to protect us and in doing their jobs the general public follows an unwritten
contract to abide by what they tell us or ask us to do so that they can do their jobs. If you have
people that resist anything the police ask you to do then what do you expect the police to do?
At the very least they will believe there's a reason you are resisting...guilt in some form in other
words, and they will pursue it. How far that escalates ultimately will depend on both the police
and the civilians.
I have had three out of the blue encounters with police over the years. All three times I had done
absolutely nothing wrong. I related one of those incidents here before as an example. One time I
resembled a suspect they were looking for. Another time they thought I had broken into the place
I actually worked at. A third time I was in college and they thought I had drugs on me. What I had
was a large dill pickle. (Ha! Don't ask.) What would any of those situations escalated to if I had not
complied with their requests? At the very least you'd get hauled off to jail for awhile. I just did what
they asked until they were satisfied.
I have also encountered police several times when there have been protests in West Hollywood and
Los Angeles to do with LGBT related issues, some mild and some more out of hand. The police were
trying to corral a crowd down a street that I decided I didn't want to go down and they tried to
corral me with the others and I got my foot stomped on by his horse. (It was near the end of a very
long night of protests in 1991 concerning Gov. Wilson's veto of an anti-discrimination bill which he had
promised to sign. I had been marching around the city for hours and was finally tired and decided at
that point to go to the bus stop and go home. When the cop decided I should follow the others I
simply said, "I've had enough for tonight and I am going to the bus stop over there. He wanted me
to follow the others. I saw people waiting at the bus stop and I started yelling to them, "Hey, the
police won't let me go to the bus stop!" Some there started yelling back, "Let him go." I don't
know how that would've played out...a car that had people I knew in it stopped on the other side
of the adjacent street and they yelled for me. I ran over to the car and got in.")
Extreme outcomes in any situation are almost always undesirable, but both sides of the equation
have a responsibility for the outcome in most cases. When I see all of these people being shot
for offenses deemed minor or non-existent, don't you keep asking "Why did you run away?"
There's an adage, "What you resist persists."
Doesn't this really go without saying?
-
Thank you, Lyle.
Now, are you sure that was a dill pickle, or were you just glad to see the police officer? ;)
-
:D :D :D
-
I agree with you Lyle and I agreed with you before.......if an officer stopped me (I have never been stopped) I would be yes sir, no sir, I am going to do exactly as you ask sir.
BUT I am not a black man, being stopped and harassed a half a dozen times a day, if I was, I am sure I would get fed up in a real hurry.
Fresh outta compton??
But come on, you have to explain that pickle!!
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/59/11/97/5911977f25e5dcc9efb52c2674699193.jpg)
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/20/us/josh-duggar-ashley-madison/
Everyone hear the latest Josh Duggar scandel?
-
President Carter has confirmed that he has liver cancer that has now shown up in his brain.
He started his radiation treatment on Thursday, today.
http://news.yahoo.com/jimmy-carter-discuss-cancer-diagnosis-publicly-084102065.html
-
Hoping for healing for him.
-
Same from me, Fritz.
-
I heard him speaking on the BBC radio news. A brave man.
-
Bernie says all the right things! I love him!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGv2SPB8pNU
-
^^^^^^
No.
I have tread on this touchy subject before, and written that I don't either condone or excuse the
outcomes of these situations, but am merely pointing out there is a causal effect in the scenarios
as any even casual observer of the COPS TV series would know. It is basic civics. We have police
that are supposed to protect us and in doing their jobs the general public follows an unwritten
contract to abide by what they tell us or ask us to do so that they can do their jobs. If you have
people that resist anything the police ask you to do then what do you expect the police to do?
At the very least they will believe there's a reason you are resisting...guilt in some form in other
words, and they will pursue it. How far that escalates ultimately will depend on both the police
and the civilians.
I have had three out of the blue encounters with police over the years. All three times I had done
absolutely nothing wrong. I related one of those incidents here before as an example. One time I
resembled a suspect they were looking for. Another time they thought I had broken into the place
I actually worked at. A third time I was in college and they thought I had drugs on me. What I had
was a large dill pickle. (Ha! Don't ask.) What would any of those situations escalated to if I had not
complied with their requests? At the very least you'd get hauled off to jail for awhile. I just did what
they asked until they were satisfied.
I have also encountered police several times when there have been protests in West Hollywood and
Los Angeles to do with LGBT related issues, some mild and some more out of hand. The police were
trying to corral a crowd down a street that I decided I didn't want to go down and they tried to
corral me with the others and I got my foot stomped on by his horse. (It was near the end of a very
long night of protests in 1991 concerning Gov. Wilson's veto of an anti-discrimination bill which he had
promised to sign. I had been marching around the city for hours and was finally tired and decided at
that point to go to the bus stop and go home. When the cop decided I should follow the others I
simply said, "I've had enough for tonight and I am going to the bus stop over there. He wanted me
to follow the others. I saw people waiting at the bus stop and I started yelling to them, "Hey, the
police won't let me go to the bus stop!" Some there started yelling back, "Let him go." I don't
know how that would've played out...a car that had people I knew in it stopped on the other side
of the adjacent street and they yelled for me. I ran over to the car and got in.")
Extreme outcomes in any situation are almost always undesirable, but both sides of the equation
have a responsibility for the outcome in most cases. When I see all of these people being shot
for offenses deemed minor or non-existent, don't you keep asking "Why did you run away?"
There's an adage, "What you resist persists."
Doesn't this really go without saying?
So you must be a white guy.
It just seems that lately, the first response by the police is to shoot to kill, no matter what the situation is. Well, at least when people of colour are involved. Right -wing yokels seem to get a free pass.
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I thought you always delved beneath what "the media" was telling us?
Three white guys, and one of them I mentioned here recently, and you'd
consider him a right-wing yokel, are ones I recall hearing about being shot
by police. Same scenario I mentioned above. Running away and things escalate.
Tony has indicated others in his posts and talking about how those instances aren't
being reported. It doesn't fit the current meme being thown about in the media and
by you, I guess.
And by saying I don't know what I'm talking about because I am white seems akin to
saying something like Annie Proulx has no idea about creating gay characters because
she's a woman. It's also an act of separation. You say "I must be white" as though I
have no black people in my life.
I wish you had engaged in the idieas of what I wrote about instead of just separating me
from the argument because I "must be a white guy" and therefore not know anything of
which I speak.
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I have a new opinion of Toni Morrison....what an idiotic, hateful, racist thing to say. And although she got her wish of seeing an unarmed white shot in the back and killed by a cop, racism is alive and well.
Police kill more whites than blacks, but minority deaths generate more outrage
Analysis contradicts widespread views about racial targets
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison says she wants to see an officer shoot an unarmed white teenager in the back before agreeing that the “conversation about race” is over, but she almost certainly already has received her wish.
An analysis released last week shows that more white people died at the hands of law enforcement than those of any other race in the last two years, even as the Justice Department, social-justice groups and media coverage focus on black victims of police force.
“This is the conversation. I want to see a cop shoot a white unarmed teenager in the back,” said Ms. Morrison, who also has won the Pulitzer Prize for her work, which includes the bestsellers “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon.” “And I want to see a white man convicted for raping a black woman. Then when you ask me, ‘Is it over?’, I will say yes.”
Meanwhile, the deaths of whites at the hands of law enforcement typically receive less attention, even when the case is shrouded in controversy. For example, Gilbert Collar, an 18-year-old white student at the University of South Alabama, was shot and killed while naked, unarmed and under the influence of drugs by a black police officer.
The officer, Trevis Austin, was cleared of wrongdoing in 2013 by a Mobile County grand jury in a case that received little media coverage outside Alabama. Mr. Collar’s parents filed a federal lawsuit last year against the officer.
As researchers are quick to point out, FBI data on police shootings by race is notoriously incomplete, which may explain why Peter Moskos, assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, decided to use figures from the website Killed by Police.
Based on that data, Mr. Moskos reported that roughly 49 percent of those killed by officers from May 2013 to April 2015 were white, while 30 percent were black. He also found that 19 percent were Hispanic and 2 percent were Asian and other races.
His results, posted last week on his blog Cop in the Hood, arrived with several caveats, notably that 25 percent of the website’s data, which is drawn largely from news reports, failed to show the race of the person killed.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/?page=all (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/?page=all)
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^^Yeah but blacks make up about 12% of the population.
But more importantly why are the police killing people?
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Did you want to discuss that or was that a drive by?
___
I laid out a simple reason previously you've not commented on.
Regardless of adding on any nuances, subtleties, policy questions
or the meme of the day--there is a cliche line often used when
anyone plays cops & robbers that they've heard from countless
sources. (And cliches are cliches for a reason.) They shout,
"Stop or I'll shoot." People don't stop. Shooting happens.
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^^Yeah but blacks make up about 12% of the population.
But more importantly why are the police killing people?
Police kill people they are afraid of.
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I thought you always delved beneath what "the media" was telling us?
Three white guys, and one of them I mentioned here recently, and you'd
consider him a right-wing yokel, are ones I recall hearing about being shot
by police. Same scenario I mentioned above. Running away and things escalate.
Tony has indicated others in his posts and talking about how those instances aren't
being reported. It doesn't fit the current meme being thown about in the media and
by you, I guess.
And by saying I don't know what I'm talking about because I am white seems akin to
saying something like Annie Proulx has no idea about creating gay characters because
she's a woman. It's also an act of separation. You say "I must be white" as though I
have no black people in my life.
I wish you had engaged in the idieas of what I wrote about instead of just separating me
from the argument because I "must be a white guy" and therefore not know anything of
which I speak.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I said you must be a white guy because you didn't get shot by the cop when you ran away from him.
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::) Tho mounted police didn't have guns.
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::) Tho mounted police didn't have guns.
Yeah, that's real funny ::) But doesn't address the issue at hand. Blacks, latinos, arabs and natives are way more likely to be victims of unwarranted police violence. Maybe you haven't noticed but the police have become increasingly militarized, in some cases even more than soldiers in war zones.It shouldn't surprise us then, to see an increase in police violence.
I can think of one example of how bad it has become. A man was holding the door open for a friend who was coming in carrying musical instruments. The guy holding the door happened to be holding a bottle of beer. It turns out drinking alcohol in public is illegal in Montreal. two cops noticed the shocking contravention and the whole thing ended escalating up to a violent altercation. Just because a guy was holding a beer while holding a door to let in a friend!Luckily, the charges were dropped and the cop was put on leave to undergo therapy, but still. I have to add that the reason it ended "positively" for the victims is because the whole incident was caught on video.
Both our countries are on the road to totalitarianism and you seem to be fine with that and even justifying it.
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We really have to do something about these fundies, they are getting out of hand.
Furniture makers that closed due to union 'intend to live their faith,' lawyer says
The lawyer for a furniture manufacturer from Devlin, near Fort Frances, Ont., who was called before the Ontario Labour Relations Board on Monday, says his clients cannot work with a union.
Unifor filed complaints of unfair labour practice and starting an illegal lockout against Gingrich Woodcraft last week. The complaints were filed after the company unexpectedly closed within days of its workers voting to unionize.
In a statement, Gingrich Woodcraft said that as Christian business owners, their personal beliefs do not allow them freedom to work with a labour union.
(...)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/furniture-makers-that-closed-due-to-union-intend-to-live-their-faith-lawyer-says-1.3199805
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Oh good grief! So if you don't comply with an officer's request you deserve to be shot multiple times in the back? ::)
It's a double first cousin to the question about what a rape victim "was doing in that neighborhood". Not to mention "dressed like that".
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Yeah, that's real funny ::) But doesn't address the issue at hand.
I could have replied to you: "Yeah, that's real funny" when you said, "Oh, you must be a white guy."
It wasn't meant to be funny. I was just correcting your statement referring to the issue "I" have
been talking about that "you" won't address. You will not acknowledge, even in the slightest,
that it's a two way street when the public and the police deal with each other. Violence begets
wiolence on both sides. Both sides are reacting in increasingly polarized and opposite directions.
What is the solution to that problem?
I try to look at both sides of an issue and not blame one side or the other. What are the solutions?
Unless people really don't think we need a police force then why demonize all of them? As to the
issue of them becoming more militarized...when you have a population in the U.S. that seems to
think "the more the merrier" as to who should have guns and how many and then we now have
regular and recurring instances of violence where people are attacked in movie theaters, restaurants,
college campuses and malls, not to mention schools, and not to forget military related installations,
then it does seem logical, whatever one's opinion, the police just might get more militarized. Shades
of gray can always be argued as to the wisdom of any of these things. Add in the news media that
now gleeflly reports any and all instances of violence without regard to the actuall truth of the situation
then you add to the problems.
Both our countries are on the road to totalitarianism and you seem to be fine with that and even justifying it.
If you think wanting to get to the solutions of these problems and not demonizing anyone in the process
is justifying things, then so be it. If you don't recognize, even in the slightest, that ___ number of police
shootings might not have escalated to the outcomes they did if both sides had handled things diffferently
then I don't see any change coming anytime soon.
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." An adage meaning to try
and look at things from all perspectives. Like the film Rashomon and other stories using that as a template
to explore an issue. Then hopefully it leads to a better understanding and solutions will follow. If one side
or another feels they have the only truth, then things are unlikely to progress.
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It's a double first cousin to the question about what a rape victim "was doing in that neighborhood".
Not to mention "dressed like that".
True if you are equating the police to rapists.
-
Enuff of the sniping! :)
-
I could have replied to you: "Yeah, that's real funny" when you said, "Oh, you must be a white guy."
It wasn't meant to be funny. I was just correcting your statement referring to the issue "I" have
been talking about that "you" won't address. You will not acknowledge, even in the slightest,
that it's a two way street when the public and the police deal with each other. Violence begets
wiolence on both sides. Both sides are reacting in increasingly polarized and opposite directions.
What is the solution to that problem?
I try to look at both sides of an issue and not blame one side or the other. What are the solutions?
Unless people really don't think we need a police force then why demonize all of them? As to the
issue of them becoming more militarized...when you have a population in the U.S. that seems to
think "the more the merrier" as to who should have guns and how many and then we now have
regular and recurring instances of violence where people are attacked in movie theaters, restaurants,
college campuses and malls, not to mention schools, and not to forget military related installations,
then it does seem logical, whatever one's opinion, the police just might get more militarized. Shades
of gray can always be argued as to the wisdom of any of these things. Add in the news media that
now gleeflly reports any and all instances of violence without regard to the actuall truth of the situation
then you add to the problems.
If you think wanting to get to the solutions of these problems and not demonizing anyone in the process
is justifying things, then so be it. If you don't recognize, even in the slightest, that ___ number of police
shootings might not have escalated to the outcomes they did if both sides had handled things diffferently
then I don't see any change coming anytime soon.
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." An adage meaning to try
and look at things from all perspectives. Like the film Rashomon and other stories using that as a template
to explore an issue. Then hopefully it leads to a better understanding and solutions will follow. If one side
or another feels they have the only truth, then things are unlikely to progress.
Both sides! One side has quite an advantage don't you think? More later.
PS: Are you still pissed off about that white guy comment? Do you really think that if you had been black you wouldn't have been treated differently when you didn't comply with the cop's orders?
A quote from you:
That even if you have not done anything wrong, if the police want to talk to you or for you to stop, what does someone
think will happen if they do not?
Well, you didn't and luckily you got away without getting shot. Mainly because you are a nicely dressed old white guy.
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I felt proud of Dave C in his CNN interview, How the media should cover murderers.
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I felt proud of Dave C in his CNN interview, How the media should cover murderers.
Here is the video:
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/08/27/dave-cullen-murder-media-live-ac.cnn
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Thanks, Linda - that was a good video clip. It looks to me like the media is taking on de-glamorizing killers. Our local news, last night, made a big point of refusing to give the shooter any play.
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The Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costume
Liz Black Aug 27, 2015 10:35 AM
Update: And, of course, it only gets worse: Anytimcostumes.com is stocking a wig labeled “Unisex Miss-ter Olympic Wig” that's supposed to be a parody of Caitlyn Jenner's hair. Reads the description: “Be an advocate for the liberal agenda in this Unisex Miss-ter Olympic Wig! If you can’t identify as a male, throw on this brunet wig that offers a modern style and straight cut. Complete your costume by ordering a medal that shows what used to be of the infamous Bruce Jenner.”
Anytimecostumes.com recently posted an update on its Facebook page. It reads: “Our “Call Me Caitlyn” costume has become a hot topic and we want to assure all our fans and customers that it is NOT and will NEVER be our intention to promote or condone discrimination. We carry the costume because we believe in the spirit of Halloween and costume parties and we are equal opportunity satirists — we believe these are the times when people can be irreverent and make a parody of everyone and anyone including themselves.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi327.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk463%2Fdcfmod%2Fimage_1.jpg&hash=fd9d7f7a42c5aaa67bbf46147e3630d7d65e6434)
http://www.refinery29.com/2015/08/92887/caitlyn-jenner-halloween-costume
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^^^^^ When I saw this a couple of days ago on FB, I wondered then and, still do, if any straight man would wear this.
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I can see some who would.
I can just hear the defense of this too......."Oh, well people dress up like (insert politcian/celebrity name) so why not Caitlyn Jenner?"
::)
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Yeah, good point.
-
Here is the video:
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/08/27/dave-cullen-murder-media-live-ac.cnn
Thanks, Linda. Dave's original link was somewhat confusing.
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Good for Dave.
Yet another example of how mental illness and guns are not a good mix.
-
I can see some who would.
I can just hear the defense of this too......."Oh, well people dress up like (insert politcian/celebrity name) so why not Caitlyn Jenner?"
::)
Oh I could see men wearing that as a joke. And I mean when you think of it there are a lot of politically incorrect Halloween costumes out there.
A sexy nun always makes me cringe, might not bother some though.
Check this one out:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0puS1ZIIAAQwff.jpg:large)
So not funny, but again may be to some people!
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Both sides! One side has quite an advantage don't you think? More later.
Then you seem to be advocating the "other side" not comply. So they should resist? Run away? What?
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Then you seem to be advocating the "other side" not comply. So they should resist? Run away? What?
Yes they should resist in a non-violent way, just as you did.
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Published time: 27 Aug, 2015 11:29
Edited time: 28 Aug, 2015 11:26
59 men, 8 women & 4 children among 71 migrants found dead in Austria truck - police
The bodies of 71 refugees have been found dead in a tractor trailer in eastern Austria, the country's police reported Friday, adding that the victims had died of suffocation.
Among 71 bodies, there were 59 men, eight women and four children, including a young girl aged one or two and three boys aged eight, nine or 10," said Hans Peter Doskozil, police chief for the province of Burgenland.
The police spokesman added that the victims had died from suffocation.
"We currently have three people under arrest in Hungary... and we expect that that this is the trail that will lead us to the perpetrators."
The authorities also found a Syrian travel document among the decomposing bodies in the truck, he added.
"There was also a Syrian travel document found, so of course our first assumption is that these people were migrants, and likely a group of Syrian migrants. We can rule out that they were Africans."
Police suspect that a Bulgarian-Hungarian trafficking ring is behind the migrants’ deaths, Doskozil added.
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(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/1499667_10151926449762909_1414918848_n.jpg?oh=9f1a488dd65a8eaf313572ed6fd1127c&oe=56382471)
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Dean Jones, boyish Disney star, dies at 84
LOS ANGELES – Dean Jones, whose boyish good looks and all-American manner made him Disney's favorite young actor for such lighthearted films as "That Darn Cat!" and "The Love Bug," has died of Parkinson's disease. He was 84.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/09/02/dean-jones-boyish-disney-star-dies-at-84/
Over the course of his career, he'd appear in 46 films and five Broadway shows. In 1995, Jones was honored by his longtime employers with a spot in the Disney Legends Hall of Fame.
-
Dean Jones, boyish Disney star, dies at 84
LOS ANGELES – Dean Jones, whose boyish good looks and all-American manner made him Disney's favorite young actor for such lighthearted films as "That Darn Cat!" and "The Love Bug," has died of Parkinson's disease. He was 84.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/09/02/dean-jones-boyish-disney-star-dies-at-84/
Over the course of his career, he'd appear in 46 films and five Broadway shows. In 1995, Jones was honored by his longtime employers with a spot in the Disney Legends Hall of Fame.
Oh, no! :'(
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Oh, no! :'(
Yes it is very sad, Jeff. And it seems to have not gotten very much press.
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It appears the Krazy Kentucky Klerk is going to jail.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/03/437174853/kentucky-clerk-is-due-in-federal-court-for-contempt-hearing (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/03/437174853/kentucky-clerk-is-due-in-federal-court-for-contempt-hearing)
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About 10 minutes ago:
Kim Davis Ordered Jailed in Kentucky Gay Marriage Dispute
ASHLAND, Ky. — A federal judge here on Thursday ordered a Kentucky clerk jailed for contempt of court because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The clerk, Kim Davis of Rowan County, was ordered incarcerated after a hearing here before Judge David L. Bunning of Federal District Court. The contempt finding was another legal defeat for Ms. Davis, who has argued that she should not be forced to issue licenses that conflict with her religious beliefs.
“The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,” Judge Bunning said. “If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.”
Judge Bunning said Ms. Davis would be released once she agreed to comply with his order and issue the marriage licenses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/us/kim-davis-same-sex-marriage.html?_r=0
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YES!!!!!!!!
I just read about it as well, Gary!! I had been keeping track online to see it it was going to happen!!!!
FINALLY someone has done something about it. YAY!!
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Justice Scalia explained why Kim Davis should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples or find a new job
Davis has a right to observe and adhere to her religious beliefs, but she does not have a right to her job as county clerk. The latter obligates her to follow federal law, including the applicable judgments of federal courts, and it is now the law of the land that the Constitution bars state governments from refusing to recognize same-sex marriages on equal terms with opposite-sex marriages. If, as Davis claims, her religious convictions bar her from issuing such a marriage license, she should resign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/09/02/justice-scalia-explains-why-kim-davis-should-issue-marriage-licenses-to-same-sex-couples-or-find-a-new-job/
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Kentucky Clerk Who Said ‘No’ to Gay Couples Won’t Be Alone in Court
MOREHEAD, Ky. — Of the local officials who refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Kim Davis, the clerk here in Rowan County, Ky., is the best known, at least for now.
But there is also Charlie Smoak, a former magistrate in Moore County, N.C. And Nick Williams, a probate judge in Washington County, Ala. And Molly Criner, a clerk in Irion County, Tex., who has declared that “natural marriage cannot be redefined by government.”
All of them have argued that as government employees, they should not be required to recognize same-sex marriage, citing religious objections. And all have turned, for representation, to Liberty Counsel, a legal nonprofit that has been on the front lines of the same-sex marriage fight for roughly two decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/us/kentucky-rowan-county-clerk-kim-davis-denies-marriage-license.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
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Justice Scalia explained why Kim Davis should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples or find a new job
Davis has a right to observe and adhere to her religious beliefs, but she does not have a right to her job as county clerk. The latter obligates her to follow federal law, including the applicable judgments of federal courts, and it is now the law of the land that the Constitution bars state governments from refusing to recognize same-sex marriages on equal terms with opposite-sex marriages. If, as Davis claims, her religious convictions bar her from issuing such a marriage license, she should resign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/09/02/justice-scalia-explains-why-kim-davis-should-issue-marriage-licenses-to-same-sex-couples-or-find-a-new-job/
Of course, in this case he'd probably deny he ever said such a thing.
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Of course, in this case he'd probably deny he ever said such a thing.
Yeah, possibly. However he is bit of a stickler when it comes to this sort of thing.
This woman, of course, gives even stupid people a bad name. As the saying goes, "if stupid could fly, she'd be a jet'.
As a clerk she does not have to "recognize" or approve of any sort of marriage, gay or straight. Her only job is to certify that the applicants meet the state laws qualifying them for marriage. That is all a certificate implies and that is what Scalia is really saying.
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Yeah, possibly. However he is bit of a stickler when it comes to this sort of thing.
This woman, of course, gives even stupid people a bad name. As the saying goes, "if stupid could fly, she'd be a jet'.
As a clerk she does not have to "recognize" or approve of any sort of marriage, gay or straight. Her only job is to certify that the applicants meet the state laws qualifying them for marriage. That is all a certificate implies and that is what Scalia is really saying.
True, but I wouldn't be surprised if he'd contradict himself in order to stick it more to gay people, and would ignore any inconsistency.
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True, but I wouldn't be surprised if he'd contradict himself in order to stick it more to gay people, and would ignore any inconsistency.
Difficult to argue against your logic.
Sadly, very little surprises me these days. Well, except the consistency of Jimmy's sense of humor. Keep up the good work, Jimmy.
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Difficult to argue against your logic.
Sadly, very little surprises me these days. Well, except the consistency of Jimmy's sense of humor. Keep up the good work, Jimmy.
Amen!
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She certainly is a role model, and seems to take her religious beliefs, not to mention her wedding vows, quite seriously... <insert sarcasm emoticon here>
The Associated Press also confirmed in September 2015 that court records document Davis has a marital history encompassing four marriages (to three different men) and bore two children outside of wedlock.
http://m.snopes.com/kim-davis-married-four-times/ (http://m.snopes.com/kim-davis-married-four-times/)
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She certainly is a role model, and seems to take her religious beliefs, not to mention her wedding vows, quite seriously... <insert sarcasm emoticon here>
Which gets me to thinking. (always dangerous). To which branch of the Apostolic Church does this nutty woman belong? All of them are pretty odd but I think they all believe in the separation of church and state. They also are basically New Testament based. Doesn't really matter I guess. She is so stupid she probably has no idea about the theology of her chosen religion.
I realize we should pity the poor soul, and others like her, and forgive her/their nasty dumbassedness but I don't want to.
So there.
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Which gets me to thinking. (always dangerous). To which branch of the Apostolic Church does this nutty woman belong? All of them are pretty odd but I think they all believe in the separation of church and state. They also are basically New Testament based. Doesn't really matter I guess. She is so stupid she probably has no idea about the theology of her chosen religion.
I realize we should pity the poor soul, and others like her, and forgive her/their nasty dumbassedness but I don't want to.
So there.
Well put, Gary!! I love the word dumbassedness.
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True if you are equating the police to rapists.
I've twice had a cop proposition me when I'd asked for help. So I'm just going to say "it's been done" and leave it at that.
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The Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costume
Liz Black Aug 27, 2015 10:35 AM
Update: And, of course, it only gets worse: Anytimcostumes.com is stocking a wig labeled “Unisex Miss-ter Olympic Wig” that's supposed to be a parody of Caitlyn Jenner's hair. Reads the description: “Be an advocate for the liberal agenda in this Unisex Miss-ter Olympic Wig! If you can’t identify as a male, throw on this brunet wig that offers a modern style and straight cut. Complete your costume by ordering a medal that shows what used to be of the infamous Bruce Jenner.”
~ ~
Reminds me of the brief but risible popularity of Lester Maddox costumes in Atlanta while he was governor.
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(https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/1499667_10151926449762909_1414918848_n.jpg?oh=9f1a488dd65a8eaf313572ed6fd1127c&oe=56382471)
No shitake. When I worked at a Living History museum, it was a shock about how pig-ignorant people were concerning where food came from.
We used to catalogue and, in slack times, recite some jaw-droppers: one of them was a guy telling his kids that "if you cut a rooster's comb off, it will start to lay eggs." Other alleged adults responded with "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!" when a staffer or volunteer metioned that manure is sometimes used for fertilizer.
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I don't dispute that "eating local" is a Good Thing, or that locally grown food even tastes better, but it seems to me it's also an Expensive Thing. At least in the part of the eastern megalopolis where I live, produce shipped from California is less expensive than produce brought in from the farming counties 50-60 miles west of here. No offense intended but, but with "eating local" being more expensive than "eating shipped," I'm afraid "eating local" looks like just another trendy thing for those who can afford it, and it doesn't do a darn thing--or not very much, anyway--to help poor folk eat better or healthier. Just sayin'.
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I agree, Jeff. I am on a fixed income and I would love to eat local and get the really good fresh local produce, but to do so would cost be double. So I can't.
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I agree, Jeff. I am on a fixed income and I would love to eat local and get the really good fresh local produce, but to do so would cost be double. So I can't.
I appreciate your comment, Linda. Then it isn't just me.
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Norfolk has some incentives for buying produce from nearby. Coupons, or something. It's for everybody. Best thing to do is google Farmer's Markets in your area, and they may have some doobie most people haven't heard of.
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Local is not always more expensive though "organic" usually is, local or not, due to the lower crop yield.
Fresh produce shipped in from California or Florida or any other place in the U.S. is usually excellent product. In most cases it reaches the store within 48 to 72 of hours of actually being harvested. The carbon imprint of trucking across country is something to be considered but it is done in such large quantities that it can actually offset the imprint of shipping smaller quantities from "local" (less than 100 miles) sources.
The problem with any fresh produce is shrinkage (spoilage). The grocery store pays for 100lbs of whatever but usually can only sell 50lbs of that due to damage and spoilage. Consequently the margin, or mark-up, on fresh is quite a bit higher than say that of frozen veggies. This, of course, is offset by the cost of processing and packaging along with the cost of keeping the product frozen both in transportation and in-store.
On the other hand, the world has shrunk and continues to shrink. Consequently you local grocery chain can provide produce year round even of produce that is out of season anywhere in the U. S. So your produce department may have product from Mexico, Chile, even Turkey. This is a whole different scenario and discussion.
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The carbon imprint of trucking across country is something to be considered.
That concerns, me, too, and I think that's also a part of the "eat local" movement.
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Difficult to argue against your logic.
Sadly, very little surprises me these days. Well, except the consistency of Jimmy's sense of humor. Keep up the good work, Jimmy.
heh!! glad you appreciate the humor! :D 8)
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Local is not always more expensive though "organic" usually is, local or not, due to the lower crop yield.
Fresh produce shipped in from California or Florida or any other place in the U.S. is usually excellent product. In most cases it reaches the store within 48 to 72 of hours of actually being harvested. The carbon imprint of trucking across country is something to be considered but it is done in such large quantities that it can actually offset the imprint of shipping smaller quantities from "local" (less than 100 miles) sources.
The problem with any fresh produce is shrinkage (spoilage). The grocery store pays for 100lbs of whatever but usually can only sell 50lbs of that due to damage and spoilage. Consequently the margin, or mark-up, on fresh is quite a bit higher than say that of frozen veggies. This, of course, is offset by the cost of processing and packaging along with the cost of keeping the product frozen both in transportation and in-store.
On the other hand, the world has shrunk and continues to shrink. Consequently you local grocery chain can provide produce year round even of produce that is out of season anywhere in the U. S. So your produce department may have product from Mexico, Chile, even Turkey. This is a whole different scenario and discussion.
this is all very interesting. i live in the northern san joaquin valley with produce all around and still haven't found cheap prices, so now i know why! roadside stands don't seem to offer a bargain, and that's even with non-organic food!
artichokes are still 4-5 bucks each, and they aren't even the big beautiful ones... :P
keeping it all fresh sounds tough. i hate how fruit is picked before it's ripe to extend the shelf life, and i read somewhere that even packaged salad greens often suffer 60-70% toss rates! so much wasted food. the amount of baked goods that trader joe's tosses is mind boggling. they're not even allowed to give it to the homeless.
perhaps "buy local" also means getting involved and growing your own food and networking with other gardener for sharing food. it's probably difficult to do in cities but suburban areas can be ideal, and with planning it could work.
grow food, not lawns! i'm always amazed how many tomatoes we get from just a single plant. and zucchini? we won't even go there haha. :o ;D
oh-- i often drive by the Sygenta cornfields, and man, talk about super-corn,,, that stuff is so huge it looks like it's 12' tall! so they are definitely doing GMO stuff to increase the yields. i do prefer organic produce, but yes, it's (almost) always too expensive. i want to cry when i go to Raley's and all the beautiul organic produce getting old and going unsold.
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Norfolk has some incentives for buying produce from nearby. Coupons, or something. It's for everybody. Best thing to do is google Farmer's Markets in your area, and they may have some doobie most people haven't heard of.
doobie? what kind of produce are you smoking? ;) :D
hmm, i haven't heard of those type of coupons here, but will look.
there are local food programs where you pay a fairly low amount (or donate your time) and they deliver a box of produce every week. if you own backyard fruit trees or you grow veggies, you can donate food and take part to help make the program work.
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.....doobie? what kind of produce are you smoking? ;)
Yes, well, to quote Bette Midler : I have eschewed that kind of behavior :).....
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There is another aspect to the fresh food problem; I'm familiar only with the local situation, but I imagine it may be a problem in many major cities: Many neighborhoods and communities no longer have access even to an ordinary supermarket, where people can buy lettuce from California and grapes from Chile, let alone access to some place where they can buy fresh, locally--or regionally--grown produce.
I guess this contributes to the sad sight I occasionally see on my way to work: little kids whose "breakfast" at 8:00 in the morning consists of a bag of chips and a can of soda. :(
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Yes, well, to quote Bette Midler : I have eschewed that kind of behavior :).....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtI1t_3wWLM
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Well, Fritz, that video was somewhat less racy than Ms. Midler......Do-Bee? :D
And all this from finding cheap veggies. We have peripatetic minds :).
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Doo-bie. doo-bie, doo? ;)
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“To be is to do”—Socrates.
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra.
Kurt Vonnegut.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/16/do-be-do/
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A good friend of mine has just bought some land next to her house which contains an orchard. She gave me two carrier bags full of Victoria plums. One for me, one for my eldest daughter. I have made two plum crumbles, and three large jars of jam!
All very satisfying!
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Yes, well, to quote Bette Midler : I have eschewed that kind of behavior :).....
In that context, everyone eschews when they're online. ::)
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In that context, everyone eschews when they're online. ::)
Gesundheit!
;D ;)
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Some months ago, I posted the CBS Cares spot, about remembering the Holocaust - it was a video of a sweet, little boy with tears forming. Thanks to Bubba, again, for getting a still shot, from the vid, which I still have. Bubba also wondered if he survived. I think he did, as most films were made as the camps were liberated.
Now, we are seeing similar photos of the Syrian refugees, including the now famous one of the little boy drowned on a beach. I heard later, his father wanted to just find a safe place to bury his son, and to stay beside it until he, himself, died.
This is showing up on our time, real time, and not from 70 years ago. Sure, there are atrocities every year, but, IMO, this one is the big one, which defines us.
Am not sure if CNN is correct, that the U.S. has just agreed to accept 3,000 refugees. That's a token, but an important one. We do have severe national security issues with taking in more Muslims from the Middle East, and it's just a sad fact that some of the kids grow up and just get swept into identity problems and turn on us.
But something's got to give. If some countries can't give a place to live, they can give money, and support. There are many thousands already in Europe, trudging down the highways, with no shelter from rain, no clean water, and no medicine. We could airlift supplies.
Supposedly, the public didn't know about the Holocaust, and Europe was suffering 50 million other casualties. Well, we can't say we don't know about this one.
I don't know what I can do - limited budget, and unsure of which charities work. But, am looking.
This is, IMO, our generation's challenge. Either we help, or we define ourselves as always, in every case, looking away.
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“To be is to do”—Socrates.
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra.
Kurt Vonnegut.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/16/do-be-do/
"Doobie or not doobie, that is the question... " —Shakespeare
:D
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... Supposedly, the public didn't know about the Holocaust, and Europe was suffering 50 million other casualties. Well, we can't say we don't know about this one.
I don't know what I can do - limited budget, and unsure of which charities work. But, am looking.
This is, IMO, our generation's challenge. Either we help, or we define ourselves as always, in every case, looking away.
yep, we are always looking away, even from the problems in our own back yard. it seems we are too worried about losing what we have to worry about those that have nothing.
i saw a political cartoon recently:
a nation's leaders were asking a boatload of desperate refugees where they were from. the refugees yelled back, "earth!"
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Local is not always more expensive though "organic" usually is, local or not, due to the lower crop yield.
I was just about to say that, organic can be more, but local, not so. We have a farmers market and the produce there is excellent and not much more than the grocery store. Not to mention I can grow tomatoes and peppers and cucumber (just to name a few) in my own garden with very little effort. Apple trees, pear trees..
I can buy eggs from local farms, the chicken is more expensive, but I just eat less chicken. We can fish, catch fish and eat it. It can be done, we need to know what we are putting into our bodies.
And we need to care how these poor animals are living before they die, I mean if we don't care about them, we should care what we are putting into our own bodies, that's a given.
And GMO's scare the heck out of me, we have no idea what the long term effects of those will be.
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i agree, GMOs are scary... i don't know much about them, but i do know that a vegetable with a built in insecticide isn't something i want to be ingesting!
and really,,,,, nobody even gives AF about the animals they eat. they just want to eat. EAT, eat.
they don't care what large scale meat production does the environment... they don't care about the animals that suffer.
if they did, they wouldn't eat meat. ::)
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i agree, GMOs are scary... i don't know much about them, but i do know that a vegetable with a built in insecticide isn't something i want to be ingesting!
And that is the problem…being "scared" of something about which we 'don't know much'. There is no built in insecticide. Genes are simply altered or eliminated so they do not react. In some vegetables it has nothing to do with Monsanto or insecticides. A method has been developed so that a gene which controls the maturation or 'rotting" can be "turned around" so that the maturation process is delayed. This allows, as an example, for a tomato to be vine ripened and still shipped to market without having to pick it green and, therefore, arriving at market with absolutely no flavor. It has been going on for years and has yet to yield "Produce of the Walking Dead". (I don't think.)
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i'm not worried about zombie tomatoes, i'm worried about the long term health problems in people. and we know how harmful agricultural chemicals can be, but they're still being dumped on the ground like crazy. i'm worried also about the bees. neonicotinoids or something? i think we should be worried.
so there's nothing about the gmo corn and other vegetables being insect resistant? something about BT Toxins? i really don't know much about it, other than what i "see" on instagram. ::)
As Jeffrey Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, wrote:
"Mice fed natural Bt-toxin showed significant immune responses and caused them to become sensitive to other formerly harmless compounds. This suggests that Bt-toxin might make a person allergic to a wide range of substances. Farm workers and others have also had reactions to natural Bt-toxin, and authorities acknowledge that ‘People with compromised immune systems or preexisting allergies may be particularly susceptible to the effects of Bt.’
“In fact, when natural Bt was sprayed over areas around Vancouver and Washington state to fight gypsy moths, about 500 people reported reactions — mostly allergy or flu-like symptoms. Six people had to go to the emergency room.”
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I share your concerns regarding insecticides and toxins. As consumers, we need to educate ourselves regarding their use. However, the current GMO discussion has been inappropriately mingled(not totally inappropriate…Monsanto has some major fuck up's to answer for) with the toxin/insecticide discussion and has clouded the entire discussion with an air of mystery and collusion that simply does not exist.
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yes, there's a lot of disinformation out there... it's good to know that there are some people that are aware of the situation, tho. most don't even know about GMOs, or don't care to know. they don't care what they eat. they eat fake food.
what i don't understand is why the major food companies are spending billion of dollars against labeling GMOs. if it's so harmless, so necessary, so amazing, why are these corporations opposed to letting the american public know if their food and products are GMO?
if it's good for us, what's the big deal? they already label their products in countries that require the GMO label...
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is it really because there are SO MANY products that are GMO? and that these companies fear that the public will freak out? i heard that 90% of all corn and soybeans are GMO. and that there are many more vegetables that are GMO as well. i would love to know which ones are GMO. some people want to be informed, and make decisions about if they really do prefer a GMO banana or grape, for whatever reason. why these companies think it doesn't matter is puzzling.
i remember going into safeway and asking the produce manager which foods were irradiated. the guy said, "are you serious? they ALL ARE!" and laughed in my face. so i don't know if he was telling the truth... he was an ass.
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why not...?
Glowing in the dark, GMO chickens shed light on bird flu fight
(Reuters) - In the realm of avian research, the chicks with the glow-in-the-dark beaks and feet might one day rock the poultry world.
http://reut.rs/1ENImqE
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yes, there's a lot of disinformation out there... it's good to know that there are some people that are aware of the situation, tho. most don't even know about GMOs, or don't care to know. they don't care what they eat. they eat fake food.
what i don't understand is why the major food companies are spending billion of dollars against labeling GMOs. if it's so harmless, so necessary, so amazing, why are these corporations opposed to letting the american public know if their food and products are GMO?
if it's good for us, what's the big deal? they already label their products in countries that require the GMO label...
Here is an interesting article supplied to me a while back by an associate. I think it is balanced. It is full of technical jargon I suppose but I was able to follow it and if I can you can. :D
(oh, it also addresses your bt toxin issue)
I think many food companies are opposing the labeling requirement because of the misinformation regarding the subject and the hysteria in some quarters. Just a guess on my part however.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408621/ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408621/)
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OMFG! I'm watching Anderson Cooper on CNN and they are showing the Kim Davis speech after being released from jail with that idiot Huckabee by her side. The bitch still refuses to do her job.
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I can't remember if it's facial resemblance, or personality projection, but the no-gay marriage clerk, Kim Davis, reminds me very much of that woman, some years ago, who drove her 4 children into a lake, drowning them, and blaming it on an unknown black male. When caught, she played herself as the victim.
The issue aside, I really, really get the same vibes with Davis, as I did with the woman who got caught. Stubborn, self-ecstatic......
I wonder.....if anybody is checking if Davis has been guilty of other things than multiple marriages ?
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Will Huckabee organize a rally in support of the muslim flight attendant that was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol?
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I can't remember if it's facial resemblance, or personality projection, but the no-gay marriage clerk, Kim Davis, reminds me very much of that woman, some years ago, who drove her 4 children into a lake, drowning them, and blaming it on an unknown black male. When caught, she played herself as the victim.
The issue aside, I really, really get the same vibes with Davis, as I did with the woman who got caught. Stubborn, self-ecstatic......
I wonder.....if anybody is checking if Davis has been guilty of other things than multiple marriages ?
Susan Smith
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi302.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fnn86%2Fgary8194%2F748-nArW3.AuSt.74_zpscyavizp5.jpeg&hash=ed56b9cecf968651fd45e6d450ee043ed0aaf4bd)
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I wonder.....if anybody is checking if Davis has been guilty of other things than multiple marriages ?
She practices nepotism, as did her mother. She takes the deputy clerks food from the refrigerator and eats it herself. She does not allow the women to wear jewelry as it is not "Christian" but she takes the jewelry from the lost and found and sells it on Ebay. She had twin boys out of wedlock. She does not wear deodorant as her husband likes her "musk". Her daughter stole a dog from the neighbor, guy has it on security tape and everything. The police did nothing about it. When the owner talked about it on social media, the daughter told him to take it down as her mother was running for office.
She is a really terrible person who thinks she is entitled.
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Gary, thank-you for the photo. I see a resemblance, but maybe others don't.
Linda, thanks for the info - there's a pattern there. Maybe they should start digging up her back yard ? Check under the house ? Am only partly joking. I think the pattern shows reckless behavior and complete certainty she can do whatever she wants.
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Gary, thank-you for the photo. I see a resemblance, but maybe others don't.
Linda, thanks for the info - there's a pattern there. Maybe they should start digging up her back yard ? Check under the house ? Am only partly joking. I think the pattern shows reckless behavior and complete certainty she can do whatever she wants.
It's like what Fritz posted on FB today.
Tea Party Lawmaker Caught in Affair: Jesus Died for My Sins, and Thus, I Can Sin.
State Representative Todd Courser has been embattled in a national scandal ever since news broke that he tried to diffuse the fallout from a marital affair by concocting a story that he was sleeping with a male prostitute in hope that when the truth of his affair came to light the scandal would seem trivial.[lb]
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Here is an interesting article supplied to me a while back by an associate. I think it is balanced. It is full of technical jargon I suppose but I was able to follow it and if I can you can. :D
(oh, it also addresses your bt toxin issue)
I think many food companies are opposing the labeling requirement because of the misinformation regarding the subject and the hysteria in some quarters. Just a guess on my part however.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408621/ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408621/)
very technical!! haha but the words "golden rice" caught my eye because i remember something about that some years ago.
hysteria is not unreasonable, imho. ;)
i found this, about the golden rice:
"Many have commented on the absurdity of offering ‘golden rice’ as the cure for vitamin A deficiency when there are plenty of alternative, infinitely cheaper sources of vitamin A or pro-vitamin A, such as green vegetables and unpolished rice, which would be rich in other essential vitamins and minerals besides. To offer the poor and malnourished a high-tech ‘golden rice’ tied up in multiple patents, that has cost US$100 million to produce and may cost as much to develop, is worse than telling them to eat cake."
and more here: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/rice.php
look. i'm about natural. GMO is scary to me because it's scary from the get go. to splice and dice genes and make things what they are not, to introduce new bacteria and other elements so quickly into an established life form is scary to me. we have entire crops and fields that are suddenly, overnight, so to speak, a different plant altogether and the animals that depend on them, that are USED to them, like insects, moths, butterflies, bees... they're probably freaking! they probably cannot adapt quick enough and things are happening. they die off. their numbers dwindle, egg sacs are smaller or misshapen, who knows. maybe they have three antennae now. no wonder! there is a totally different pollen now in their many thousands of years old routines!
people can argue all they want about the wonderful things that science and GMO technology is doing but in my opinion, you can't fuck with mother nature without taking a risk. you're taking something that took millions of years to develop, to shape itself into something that works in the natural scheme of things, and changing it drastically. you're asking other vital organisms that work synergistically with these life forms, to suddenly adapt to these new plant forms that were developed in a lab somewhere. you're asking these amazing insects, like bees, to somehow miraculously adapt, instantly.
it's scary to me because you can't play god with these things. am no scientist and i'm not even really interested in how GMO things work, really. but i do know what i feel, and my thought is that if we keep fucking with nature like we are, we will create mayhem in the long run. not only with our environment, but with our bodies. i just can't see how scientists can predict what might happen in 500 years... or in 1000 years.. how can they know?
so if gmo corn causes holes in the stomachs of rats (for instance), even if the rats are eating waaaay more corn that i would ever eat proportionately, it scares me. and it also scares me because what i see happening with the american diet is harrowing: diabetes on the rise, obesity, kidney disease, cancers, etc etc. the food is making our nation sick and the hospitals are more than ready to deal with it, seemingly. look at the pharmaceutical commercials on TV... are they serious? is that what living in america is all about? eat junk food, get sick, take pills to stay "healthy".
it's disgusting, really... it's all making money for somebody.people are so worried about cancer cures when the focus should be on preventing cancer. instead, they glorify cancer, almost. they show commercials about how successful the new treatments are and how great life will be once you sign up for their method of healing. it's a multibillion dollar disgrace, if you ask me. pathetic, really, that they need to advertise cancers cures on TV. did you hear they just approved the SALE of ocycontin to kids? yes... really. one of the most deadly and widely ABUSED drugs in america is now available to teens. isn't that just heavenly? but you will surely need it if you have cancer, right? so eat poorly america, because we want you to devour our pills like crazy!
oops... so back to these gmo plants. they make these gmo crops and then the corporations own the patent on the plant and in order to use the seeds and grow these wonder crops, they charge you, and you can't even reuse the seeds. you get jailed if you break these patent laws. and they have organized massive teams of lawyers to make sure that the farmers forced to used these seeds aren't abusing their new protocol regarding the GMOs.
again, i'm no expert, but i catch things here and there in articles.
why are gmos banned in so many european and asian countries if they're so great? is that simply hysteria? i heard some south american countries recently decided to ban GMOs in their country for the next 10 years. that says something. i don't think it's just hysteria.
why are teams of scientists in favor of banning GMOs, if they're not dangerous? are these scientists all quacks or something?
and what of the labs that support GMOs? are they truly independent or are they hired, created, managed by the corporations that are creating the GMOs?
it just doesn't add up to me. sorrry... i'm with the nations that say NO to monsanto and to GMO crops and everything. i don't want one company or a few corporations to "own" the food that has been on this planet for millions of years. i don't need corporations to tell me what i can plant in my backyard.
it's like the STUPID obsession with green lawns in america... so stupid, really. waste precious water, pollute the ground and groundwater with weed killer and fertilizers (sold by the GMO corporations, i think!) ... and never use the damn lawn for anything, really. GMO grass, i think, is going to be the next big thing. if it isn't already. actually, i think there's a GMO kentucky bluegrass out there that is threatening to take over the country.
:::cue scary music:::
:D ;)
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wow.... i think susan smith and the kentucky witch ARE related!!
either that or they have the same optometrist. or something. ::)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi302.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fnn86%2Fgary8194%2F748-nArW3.AuSt.74_zpscyavizp5.jpeg&hash=ed56b9cecf968651fd45e6d450ee043ed0aaf4bd)(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjoemiller.us%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FJeb-Bush2.jpg&hash=199cf25c0d8e77dd83cf751f0a2818ac8032e5ec)
hmmm... susan seems shopped. ;)
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It's like what Fritz posted on FB today.
Tea Party Lawmaker Caught in Affair: Jesus Died for My Sins, and Thus, I Can Sin.
State Representative Todd Courser has been embattled in a national scandal ever since news broke that he tried to diffuse the fallout from a marital affair by concocting a story that he was sleeping with a male prostitute in hope that when the truth of his affair came to light the scandal would seem trivial.[lb]
unreal....
here's more:
http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/08/tea-party-lawmaker-caught-in-affair-jesus-died-for-my-sins-and-thus-i-can-sin/
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She practices nepotism, as did her mother. She takes the deputy clerks food from the refrigerator and eats it herself. She does not allow the women to wear jewelry as it is not "Christian" but she takes the jewelry from the lost and found and sells it on Ebay. She had twin boys out of wedlock. She does not wear deodorant as her husband likes her "musk". Her daughter stole a dog from the neighbor, guy has it on security tape and everything. The police did nothing about it. When the owner talked about it on social media, the daughter told him to take it down as her mother was running for office.
She is a really terrible person who thinks she is entitled.
Hmm. And I had this private, evidently misguided notion that I ought to be fair to her and find out if the serial monogamy and out-of-wedlock kids all occurred before she "became a Christian," but it seems like even if it did, it didn't make a difference.
If she refused to allow the women who work in her office to wear jewelry for the specific reason that "it isn't Christian," somebody should have sued her ass long already because she has no right to impose her religious views on her employees.
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It's kinda funny that people say she became a Christian when she joined the Apostolic Church, which itself is subdivided into a number of feuding sects. Before this she was a Baptist, which I guess for these people isn't Christian enough. I'm surprised the Southern Baptists haven't taken issue with this claim.
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And she makes such a big deal of not having her precious signature on recently issued marriage licenses. Two of her own were signed only by the deputy clerk and not her mother the county clerk, one of which was merely initialed by the deputy.
She's quite irritating.
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It's kinda funny that people say she became a Christian when she joined the Apostolic Church, which itself is subdivided into a number of feuding sects. Before this she was a Baptist, which I guess for these people isn't Christian enough. I'm surprised the Southern Baptists haven't taken issue with this claim.
Thanks. I didn't know she belonged to another denomination before she joined her current affiliation, which, I presume, assumes that only its members are true Christians.
And she makes such a big deal of not having her precious signature on recently issued marriage licenses. Two of her own were signed only by the deputy clerk and not her mother the county clerk, one of which was merely initialed by the deputy.
She's quite irritating.
To say the least. ::)
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Thanks. I didn't know she belonged to another denomination before she joined her current affiliation, which, I presume, assumes that only its members are true Christians.
To say the least. ::)
Supposedly when she joined this new sect, she was forgiven her first 3 marriages and the children out of wedlock, so of course she has the right to be the christian that she is.
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Surprise, surprise!
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she's a c**t, and she's certainly captured the attention of america. :P
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She is certainly a distraction from the fact that there is a movement of refugees across Europe of biblical proportions............
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Terrible situation - seems impossible to resolve.
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she's a c**unt, and she's certainly captured the attention of america. :P
Am wondering what the asterisks are for, Jimmy, as the naughty letters seem to have slipped in anyway - or is it a new word that hasn't yet reached these shores! :D
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Terrible situation - seems impossible to resolve.
Oh I know how it can be resolved, I'm just not sure I could get away with it. ;-)
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Oh I know how it can be resolved, I'm just not sure I could get away with it. ;-)
I'm not sure what you're saying, Gil.
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Rick Perry Ends His 2016 Presidential Campaign
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry announced Friday he is ending his presidential campaign.
Perry announced the end of his campaign at the Eagle Forum -- an event founded by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly -- in St. Louis, Missouri.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rick-perry-ends-presidential-campaign_55f3427ee4b063ecbfa46be7?ir=Politics§ion=politics&utm_campaign=091115&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
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and I was so looking forward to his skit next week at the debate...
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Yeah, me too!!
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Rick Perry Ends His 2016 Presidential Campaign
Well, one dummy down and close to a baker's dozen to go.
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She is certainly a distraction from the fact that there is a movement of refugees across Europe of biblical proportions............
exactly.... as usual!
sara, sorry about the UN, i forgot to delete them when adding the ** :D
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No great loss about Perry, I guess God was just kidding when He told him to run.
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Well, one dummy down and close to a baker's dozen to go.
Yeah it would be nice if they ALL dropped out.
I KNOW! I am being facetious!!
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No great loss about Perry, I guess God was just kidding when He told him to run.
Yeah, I love it when God goes "JUST KIDDING!!". ;D
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Yeah it would be nice if they ALL dropped out.
I KNOW! I am being facetious!!
I agree, and I am not being facetious. ::)
What would really be nice is if they would all just shut the f**k up. Personally, I preferred it when these things were decided in "smokey back rooms" at the conventions.
I refuse to watch the so called "debates". (on either side). I have tried but my reaction is similar to those who can not watch horror movies. I end up covering my eyes and sticking a finger in my one good ear.
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^^^ totally agree... the political system in this country is a joke.
the presidential election bullshit a huge waste of money.
:P
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I agree, and I am not being facetious. ::)
What would really be nice is if they would all just shut the f**k up. Personally, I preferred it when these things were decided in "smokey back rooms" at the conventions.
I refuse to watch the so called "debates". (on either side). I have tried but my reaction is similar to those who can not watch horror movies. I end up covering my eyes and sticking a finger in my one good ear.
I am the same way, Gary! I mute the TV anytime there is any discussion about or conversation from the clown car caricatures. Yeah it would be nice to hark back to the olden days. And when the campaigns were not years long.
Oh you can do that with your ears as well? It worked well in San Francisco when the fire trucks came by. Just stuck my finger in my good ear and I was good to go!! :D
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Kim Davis is a hypocrite. This isn't about her religious faith; it's about money. Her religious faith means so much to her--but clearly not enough to sacrifice her $83,000-a-year job for her faith in Christ.
Anybody who has read the Gospels knows what Jesus thinks of hypocrites. She needs to study the New Testament more.
I'm not meaning to be a smart-ass here. I'm just calling it as I see it.
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Don't see a smart ass at all, Jeff. What you say is absolutely true. She wouldn't be taking this as far as it has gone either, if the legal fees weren't free as well.
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Don't see a smart ass at all, Jeff. What you say is absolutely true. She wouldn't be taking this as far as it has gone either, if the legal fees weren't free as well.
Thanks, Linda.
And I forgot she wasn't paying her own legal fees.
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I'm not sure what you're saying, Gil.
Let's just say that I have friends in low places. ;-)
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sara, sorry about the UN, i forgot to delete them when adding the ** :D
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:D
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who is more contemptible, the a$$hole that helped them escape, or Matt Lauer & NBC's "Today" show for giving her air time (which I didn't watch).
Never knew anyone who was depressed who managed it by screwing murderers, and planning their family's killing like it was a cook out...
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - The former New York prison employee who helped two killers escape from a maximum-security prison says she was depressed at the time and the inmates took advantage of what she called her "weakness."
In the first of a two-part jailhouse interview aired Monday morning on NBC's "Today" show, the a$$hole told the network sellout a$$hole she cooperated with Richard Matt and David Sweat's demands for help because Matt had threatened members of her family. She sat down with the network sellout a$$hole in Clinton County Jail, where she's awaiting sentencing. -
http://www.wktv.com/news/NBC_Exclusive_Joyce_Mitchell_on_the_Today_Show_from_Clinton_County_Jail.html (http://www.wktv.com/news/NBC_Exclusive_Joyce_Mitchell_on_the_Today_Show_from_Clinton_County_Jail.html)
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Powerful Earthquake Strikes Off Coast Of Chile
Authorities issued a tsunami alert for the country's entire coast.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake shook Chile's capital Wednesday night, causing buildings to sway and people to take refuge in the streets. Several strong aftershocks hit within minutes as tsunami alarms sounded in the nearby port of Valparaiso.
There were no immediate reports on any injuries or damage, but communications were disrupted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/powerful-earthquake-strikes-off-coast-of-chile_55f9fa6ae4b0fde8b0ccedcb?ir=World§ion=world&utm_campaign=091615&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-world&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
Make sure to scroll down to see the 30 second video.
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:D
HAHA that's priceless... :D
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This one's for you Lyle. ;)
Nine California Police Officers Caught on Camera Violently Arresting Crying Teen (VIDEO)
In a horrifying eyewitness video posted to social media, a Stockton Police Officer was seen beating a 16-year-old teenager with a baton before nine officers arrive and slam him to the ground — all for jaywalking while trying to catch his bus.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/09/17/nine-california-police-officers-caught-on-camera-violently-arresting-crying-teen-video/
TEN fucking pigs to deal with a 16 year old jaywalker? Seriously?! And we put up with this crap?!
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damn, that is just outrageous! all of them for one kid?? so stupid. they obviously need more training in how to deal with these teenagers. like maybe: leave them alone. but, i'll say it again, if a cop asks you to stop, you don't push him away and run off as you tell him to shut the fuck up. especially in stockton, where the cops are already on high alert because of all the criminal fuck ups. but i bet that kid knew he was being recorded and wanted the cop to hit him so he could sue.
...and would some one PLEASE tell that woman to shut her yap lol :D
i wish the stockton cops would spend less time on jaywalkers and spend more time trying to find killers. a friend of mine was murdered last saturday night.
he was only 32 years old. :(
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damn, that is just outrageous! all of them for one kid?? so stupid. they obviously need more training in how to deal with these teenagers. like maybe: leave them alone. but, i'll say it again, if a cop asks you to stop, you don't push him away and run off as you tell him to shut the fuck up. especially in stockton, where the cops are already on high alert because of all the criminal fuck ups. but i bet that kid knew he was being recorded and wanted the cop to hit him so he could sue.
...and would some one PLEASE tell that woman to shut her yap lol :D
i wish the stockton cops would spend less time on jaywalkers and spend more time trying to find killers. a friend of mine was murdered last saturday night.
he was only 32 years old. :(
OMG. ... :(
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Re: the Syrian refugee crisis. I remember the time of the “Vietnamese boat people,” when refugees were fleeing the war in Vietnam. Many of those people were taken in by countries like the United States and Canada, where they settled and became productive citizens. Further, the country of Vietnam stabilized, stopping the flood of people fleeing. So, hopefully, something similar will happen with Syria. Refugees can be taken in by various countries, the war will eventually settle, and people will stop leaving – and may even return home.
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i saw this recently, it's old but it's new to me... anderson cooper getting grilled.
my friend sent the link, something about AC's involvement with the CIA and CIA scripted news stories.
http://youtu.be/HUfESBd8R-Q
AC does seem rather upset by the question, and if it's not true, can't he simply say so?
maybe he doesn't want to be caught lying on camera.
what struck me is the guy asking the questions kinda looks like a young AC.
apparently he is from poland or somewhere. his english is very good.
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Re: the Syrian refugee crisis. I remember the time of the “Vietnamese boat people,” when refugees were fleeing the war in Vietnam. Many of those people were taken in by countries like the United States and Canada, where they settled and became productive citizens. Further, the country of Vietnam stabilized, stopping the flood of people fleeing. So, hopefully, something similar will happen with Syria. Refugees can be taken in by various countries, the war will eventually settle, and people will stop leaving – and may even return home.
many vietnamese (and hmong and cambodians) relocated to stockton, ca, and other areas along the sacramento delta... lots of them here. at the DMV there are instructional booklets in vietnamese, and there were signs in grocery store butcher depts (in bold vietnamese lettering) advising customers to not lick the meat. i guess they came here with the custom of licking the meat to see of it was fresh, but there was a hepatitis outbreak so the health dept had to address the issue.
i still see packages of meat with little holes ripped open in the plastic covering. you have to be careful. :P
there is also a lot of vietnamese/cambodian gang activity in the area now, and lots and lots of vietnamese massage parlors that are always getting busted for prostitution. "me love you long time" is not just overseas!
that said, i freakin love vietnamese food and it's plentiful here. yummy. :D
the language is beautiful, reminds me of birdsong, somehow. my barber is from vietnam and she's groovy.
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Very many Vietnamese in the New Orleans area too, especially in the seafood industry.
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that said, i freakin love vietnamese food
so do we - the best food on earth, possibly
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In New Orleans you can get a Vietnamese po-boy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_m%C3%AC
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I know, I tasted one. Heaven!
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love bahn mi! my fave shop was a little shop in SF on irving.
here they are available for 2.50. quite cheap considering a big mac is $4.50 these days!
news update: heard on the radio that around 500 homes burned in the BUTTE FIRE, and 3 deaths. the fires is contained but not out all the way. crazy. it started on the 9th of sept.
SIL's property is still okay, apparently. we still see plumes of smoke off in the distance. the fire was possibly started by an electric company crew or something.
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Re: the Syrian refugee crisis. I remember the time of the “Vietnamese boat people,” when refugees were fleeing the war in Vietnam. Many of those people were taken in by countries like the United States and Canada, where they settled and became productive citizens. Further, the country of Vietnam stabilized, stopping the flood of people fleeing. So, hopefully, something similar will happen with Syria. Refugees can be taken in by various countries, the war will eventually settle, and people will stop leaving – and may even return home.
I remember many were housed on a military reservation in Central Pennsylvania, not far from my then home. It sticks in my mind that they needed sponsors before they were allowed to leave, and many churches stepped up to fill that role.
One summer when I was working as a reporter, I was sent out to interview a former Vietnamese military officer who had been sponsored by a Mennonite church and was working in a chicken processing plant. I always remember that he had been set up in what, for the area, was a reasonably nice apartment--and the guy had a freakin' amazing stereo system!
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Chris Cuomo, on CNN, reporting on the Pope's visit to Cuba, keeps referring to the trip to the U.S. from a pope who called capitalism the dung of the devil, as if there may be somewhat of a big political clash in the making.
Well, I guess there would be one, if the Pope actually said that.
I did a google search, and what he actually said was that unfettered pursuit of money.....was the dung of the devil. Not even pursuit of money. Unfettered pursuit.
Also found articles about the Obamification of the pope - i.e., deliberate, brazen misquoting.
Cuomo needs a refresher course in journalism. He has used this misquote, not once, but over 5 times. What's his problem?
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whoa... so i heard something on the radio today, that only 1 out of 5 refugees flooding europe recently is actually syrian. i thought it was more like 4 out of 5!
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Scott Walker Will Drop Out Of 2016 Presidential Race
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-walker-drops-out_56006302e4b08820d919b6d6?ir=Politics§ion=politics&utm_campaign=092115&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
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I guess the Koch Brothers are cutting their losses.
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I would assume.
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Chris Cuomo, on CNN, reporting on the Pope's visit to Cuba, keeps referring to the trip to the U.S. from a pope who called capitalism the dung of the devil, as if there may be somewhat of a big political clash in the making.
Well, I guess there would be one, if the Pope actually said that.
I did a google search, and what he actually said was that unfettered pursuit of money.....was the dung of the devil. Not even pursuit of money. Unfettered pursuit.
Also found articles about the Obamification of the pope - i.e., deliberate, brazen misquoting.
Cuomo needs a refresher course in journalism. He has used this misquote, not once, but over 5 times. What's his problem?
ugh... not surprised. most of the news we are shown is disinformation, i'm sure. they'll tell us whatever they want, and most people will eat it up like ice cream. i'm convinced that people don't want to hear the truth, they just want to hear what is safe so they could go about their lives, shopping, eating, watching TV and sports.. . they want entertainment. they don't want to be bothered by the harsh reality of what is actually going on in the world. so when CNN reports a story that is so blatantly incorrect, nobody cares! and CNN knows that nobody cares. that's why they keep on doing it. :P
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whoa... so i heard something on the radio today, that only 1 out of 5 refugees flooding europe recently is actually syrian. i thought it was more like 4 out of 5!
According to the UN more than 50% of the refugees are Syrians
http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.php
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see, that's what I mean. When I heard 1 out of 5 on the radio I was blown away because what i'd heard before was so different. some news makes it seem like all of the refugees are Syrian, but you know that's not the case.
about 50% sounds right. but again, why such differences in numbers, from different sources, when reporting the same news?
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Hajj Stampede Near Mecca Leaves Over 700 Dead
BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 717 people were killed and 863 injured in a stampede near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday morning.
The deaths — at an intersection in Mina, about six miles east of the city — occurred around 9 a.m. on the first day of Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar, as millions of Muslims were making their pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca.
It appeared to be the deadliest accident during the hajj since 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims perished in a stampede in a tunnel linking Mecca and Mina. And it occurred less than two weeks after a large construction crane toppled and crashed into the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing at least 111 people and injuring 394 others.
Thursday’s stampede is likely to intensify fears that Saudi Arabia does not have the transportation and public safety infrastructure to channel and protect one of the world’s largest regular human migrations.
http://nyti.ms/1VatL0c
like ants in the colony of man! :P :-\
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Trading Meat for Tires as Bartering Economy Grows in Greece
ATHENS — Thodoris Roussos stood in his butcher’s shop and pointed to a large white delivery truck at the curb. For months, he had put off replacing the tires, because Greece’s financial crisis had cut into business. But recently, he upgraded the van with a set of good wheels at a price that could not be beat.
“Normally, the tires cost 340 euros, but no money changed hands,” Mr. Roussos said, beaming. “I paid the guy in meat.”
As Greece grapples with a continued downturn, bartering is gaining traction at the margins of the economy, part of a collection of worrisome signs for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who was re-elected on Sunday.
Graphic artists are exchanging designs for olive oil. Accountants swap advice for office supplies. In the agricultural heartland and on the Greek islands, informal bartering, which has historically helped communities survive, has intensified as more people exchange fruits, vegetables, other crops, equipment, clothing and services.
http://nyti.ms/1KtLR2N
maybe sara traded her sunglasses for a souvlaki 8) :D
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Full text of Pope Francis' speech to US Congress
"In these remarks I have sought to present some of the richness of your cultural heritage, of the spirit of the American people. It is my desire that this spirit continue to develop and grow, so that as many young people as possible can inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to dream.
"God bless America!"
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/full-text-pope-francis-speech-congress-150924152204132.html
::) ::) ::)
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I guess he can't really address the disgraceful way the Church handled (probably shouldn't be past tense) the priests that molested boys and were moved around to do it to others, for decades...yeah, he should stick with arms trade, immigration, etc...nothing that can be directly pinned on the Church.
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I guess he can't really address the disgraceful way the Church handled (probably shouldn't be past tense) the priests that molested boys and were moved around to do it to others, for decades...yeah, he should stick with arms trade, immigration, etc...nothing that can be directly pinned on the Church.
Read an article about several, well more than several priests who have fled to South America, are still in the priesthood and still assigned by the church and still have access to children. So no, definitely not past tense, Nancy.
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I guess he can't really address the disgraceful way the Church handled (probably shouldn't be past tense) the priests that molested boys and were moved around to do it to others, for decades...yeah, he should stick with arms trade, immigration, etc...nothing that can be directly pinned on the Church.
I guess it's one of those amazing coincidences in life, but, just as I was reading this post, the Pope was, in fact, addressing that very subject, at Vespers, in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Now, he's moved on from there to saying what good should be done, by clergy.
Oops, I am not making this up, he's back to "accountability".
I hope some here will do a search on the Obamification of the Pope. He can't seem to catch a break. Sometimes....we should take Yes, for an answer.
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For the sake of accuracy, CNN, covering the Vespers, reported that the Pope condemned the abuse of children by clergy, in D.C., but this evening, repeated the condemnation, and also tried to encourage the clergy never guilty, who have been challenged even more, by the misdeeds of those others.
He also spoke to the huge contribution of women, to the church. He said to the nuns : I love you ! I guess he never had one of them smack his hand with a ruler :D.
Also, next year is the Year of Mercy. Maybe that should be bumped up a little earlier :) .....?
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haha! i had a nun hit my hand repeatedly with a ruler in the first grade for being left handed!
i went home with bruises and scabs from bleeding.
the next morning my (tiny japanese) mom stormed into the classroom at the ursuline school in athens, greece, and started hitting the nun with the same ruler... mom went kill bill on her ass!
just think if a teacher did that today? draw blood on a six year old? :o
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haha! i had a nun hit my hand repeatedly with a ruler in the first grade for being left handed!
i went home with bruises and scabs from bleeding.
the next morning my (tiny japanese) mom stormed into the classroom at the ursuline school in athens, greece, and started hitting the nun with the same ruler... mom went kill bill on her ass!
just think if a teacher did that today? draw blood on a six year old? :o
Apparently, it's still happening in 2015. Granted, no blood was drawn, but holy shit, these religious nuts are really out of control!
Public School Teacher Forces Student to Write with Right Hand Because Being Left-Handed is “Evil”
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/preschool-teacher-forces-student-write-hand-left-handed-evil/#AYovg11YJ4vF5Obu.99
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^^^ oh no, satan hand! >:D ;D
...
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"Pope Francis has recently attempted to appeal to world leaders to seek a new economic model to help the poor & shun policies that “sacrifice human lives on the altar of money and profit” which seems to be a conflicting stance given the Churches financial backers and the enormity of its wealth.
"In his book, ‘The Vatican Billions’, Avro Manhattan states The Catholic church, ‘must be the biggest corporation in the United States. We have a branch office in every neighborhood. Our assets & real estate holdings must exceed those of Standard Oil, A.T.&T., & U.S. Steel combined. And our roster of dues-paying members must be second only to the tax rolls of the US government.”
"Their wealth is so big they could create sustainable social programs to end famine on Earth; they have the power and the means to oppose wars; they have the financial resources to create an Eco-friendly planet, the biblical heaven on Earth.
"But how could they be willing to invest in “green technology” when they have huge investments in oil & gas cars manufacturers & “billions of shares in the most powerful corporations such as Gulf Oil, Shell, General Motors, Bethlehem Steel & GE?” It also has large investments with the Rothschilds of Britain, France & America, with the Hambros Bank, with the Credit Suisse in London & Zurich. In the US it has large investments with the Morgan Bank, the Chase-Manhattan Bank, the First National Bank of New York, the Bankers Trust Company, & others.
"The Vatican has been increasingly orientated towards the U.S.
"The Wall Street Journal said that the Vatican’s financial deals in the U.S. alone were so big that often it sold or bought gold in lots of a million or more dollars at one time.” Manhattan concluded “Jesus was the poorest of the poor. Roman Catholicism, which claims to be His church, is the richest of the rich. How can such an institution, ruling in the name of this same itinerant preacher, whose want was such that he had not even a pillow upon which to rest his head, is now so top-heavy with riches that she can rival the combined might of the most redoubtable financial trusts, industrial super-giants, & prosperous global corporations of the world?"
...
AMEN! ::)
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haha! i had a nun hit my hand repeatedly with a ruler in the first grade for being left handed!
i went home with bruises and scabs from bleeding.
the next morning my (tiny japanese) mom stormed into the classroom at the ursuline school in athens, greece, and started hitting the nun with the same ruler... mom went kill bill on her ass!
Ooo-eee, good for your mom! wish I could have seen that! :D
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Well! Big news this morning! John Boehner is resigning his seat in the House of Representatives--and therefore giving up his office as Speaker--at the end of October.
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John Boehner to resign as speaker, leave House
Republican House Speaker John Boehner will step down from his post as the country’s No. 3 elected official and leave Congress effective October 30, an aide told Yahoo News on Friday. The bombshell announcement came a day after Boehner fulfilled his two-decade dream to one day host the pope at the Capitol.
The Ohio Republican’s decision was sure to touch off a divisive leadership fight among House Republicans, even as lawmakers hunt for a way to avoid a looming government shutdown. There was no obvious successor.
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/john-boehner-to-resign-as-speaker-leave-house-129845772731.html
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The subject of the great wealth of the Catholic Church, raised in a post above, is one of those where.....there's always more to it.
That wealth, of course, should be identified correctly. The Vatican has its own, but the bulk is independently there in the world-wide dioceses, and monastic orders. So, yes, if, in the U.S., you liquidated the churches, (sometimes this is done, and they are used as restaurants), sold the massive educational systems, the parochial schools, and the many universities, sold the hospitals (which led the way, originally, in free health care for the poor), you probably could come up with a trillion dollars. Toss in the pension funds for employees, and you might get some more billions.
In doing so, you would be crushing the system that has produced, disproportionally, the leadership for civil rights movements of many kinds, and given a tendency, albeit often flawed, for upholding human rights.
Henry VIII looked at the vast wealth of the English church....and wanted it. He sold off the vast Abbeys and the lands that supported them. And only in more recent years, has there been historical research on the huge human toll, as those Abbeys took in the poor and the dying, and up to 100,000 were tossed out to their deaths.
So, yes, you can liquidate, and the money might even justify....more tax cuts for the rich. Notre Dame University would fetch a nice price, I'm sure.
Same for the Vatican. Might fetch a huge price for a museum. And selling off art like the Pieta, oh, yeah....big bucks.
Most of the wealth of the church is in property that provides some lesser or greater service, independent of government. Have at it. See what happens.
But, yes, it is very true, that the clergy often have lived a safe, fat life. Chaucer noted that, very early. And yet, the church, when drifting towards corruption always seems to find an unexpected challenge, from within.
Some centuries back, a rowdy, somewhat goofy scion of a noble family, ruminated on the straying from the gospel. He got drunk, one last time, and showed up, the next morning, devoid of possessions, in fact, naked, under the window of the local bishop. The latter accepted this eccentricity, and off went the young man to poverty, prayer, contemplation, and service to the poor. He even spoke of God to the animals in the fields.
All this drew attention and began a reform that went worldwide, even to the serving of food to the homeless, these years, in NYC.
The rowdy challenger to church corruption was named Francis.
This new Pope gave a strong signal by taking his name. And has been busy, telling overweight bishops in large homes, to get busy in service, or, get out. And, he's serious. But I doubt he will hock the Sistine Chapel, so, still plenty of room for romping on about church wealth.
BTW, I caught the inter-faith service at Ground Zero, on CNN. Thought it would be the usual. It wasn't. I finally heard some beauty from Muslims. Heard a wonderful Jewish song for the dead. And heard a very humble pope ask atheists to send their good will. It was really the first time I ever saw full communion between people of good will, however brief.
Meanwhile, am sure your local diocese could raise big bucks, selling off art, hospices, and schools, on E-Bay. But, that's another day, maybe?
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^^^ excellent and interesting, tony. you know your religious history and present it very well!
i'm glad you had a good time at ground zero. but i can't see any good in muslims, jews or catholics if they adhere to the belief that gay is not good. when the pope or allah or rabbi schmear comes out and gives homosexuality their blessing and actually praises and encourages its existence, i might think otherwise about religion. but that doesn't address the hatred religion has perpetrated over the years. and most people don't care!
i know a guatemalan gay man that is a devout catholic (even tho he's an adulterer, an alcoholic, and here in the US illegally) but he doesn't care what his faith says about his sexuality at all. in fact, he actually thinks the congregation of his church doesn't suspect that he's queer, let alone care. his fellow catholic lesbian friends seem undeterred and think it's funny when older ladies at their church ask why they're not yet married... so much for being honest and truthful in the eyes of god! :P
when i hear them say that they went to church on sunday (after partying at a gay bar on saturday night) and there happens to be sermon against homosexuality, but they just don't pay attention because they are gay, what does that say about them? to me that's that's like a slave whipping another slave. no bueno, putas! then when they tell me they love "their "new pope and say he is doing sooo much for gay people, i'm like, fuuuuck you.
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Huckabee and the others are making a political star out of this little twit...
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, a longtime Democrat, says she is switching to the Republican Party because she feels abandoned by Democrats in her fight against same-sex marriage.
Davis made the announcement while in Washington, D.C., to attend the Family Research Council’s Value Voters Summit, said Charla Bansley, a spokeswoman for Liberty Counsel, which represents Davis in her legal battles.
“I’ve always been a Democrat, but the party left me,” Davis said, according to Bansley.
Davis wasn’t immediately available for an interview but will address the conservative group Friday night.
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......
when i hear them say that they went to church on sunday (after partying at a gay bar on saturday night) and there happens to be sermon against homosexuality, but they just don't pay attention because they are gay, what does that say about them? to me that's that's like a slave whipping another slave. no bueno, putas! then when they tell me they love "their "new pope and say he is doing sooo much for gay people, i'm like, fuuuuck you.
Well, Jimmy, thanks for reading through what was a somewhat labored post :).
But I do have to scratch my head over your hearing of sermons against gays in the Catholic churches. Never heard of that, myself, or experienced it. The Mass has a homily, but they are always positive.
I think you are confusing us with Baptists :P. I never even heard any condemnation in religion classes at Catholic schools.
There is however, another area where gays have justifiably taken offense. That would be from the bishops opposition to gay marriage, and also a few popes asserting gay acts are sinful.
They did it, and sometimes still do.
But the present pope wants to move away from what are often obscure theological pronouncements to inclusion. As for sin, sheesh, we're Catholics...everything's a sin, or, a falling short. Pope Francis wants to focus on healing and inclusion, not condemnation.
Yes, he's had to walk a tightrope. He's avoided accepting gay marriage. But he DID say that same gender couples who formalized their companionship had..... a precious gift.
It's all signals and semaphore, as he accepts gay marriage after it is legislated (as he did in Argentina), and moves towards warning pastors not to discourage anyone from church.
Jimmy, he's caused a ruckus by changing course, and he's always being misquoted (or Obamified).
Anyway, if he isn't doing anything for gays, then why are the fundamentalists getting so nervous :) ?
It's ok that people are not convinced. It's a recent shift.
I'll just leave off with this example of the anomalous duality of the Catholic church about gays: when Gore Vidal left what he considered to be a homophobic culture in the U.S., he went to live in Rome, where he had not a bit of trouble.
Oh, well, just one more. IMO, the breakthrough for gays was not Bbm, or the Stonewall riots. The first crack in the wall was the rough but often lyrical book by Evelyn Waugh, that held up the issues of lost faith, gay English nobles, and the wandering journey of an agnostic Anglican through the maze of Catholic indifference to the particulars of our journeys through a materialistic world. Brideshead Revisited. I really believe that novel, by a convert, was the beginning.
Of course when it went to PBS, all the Castro district got out of it was having a teddy bear ::).
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On Towleroad today.
This is a really, really, really long article, but is talking about what has been said in several of the conversations here.
Could the Vatican Face Racketeering Charges for Harboring Abusive Clergy?
By Will Carless
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Earlier this year, federal prosecutors in Manhattan made history by arresting officials at the Federation Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, on charges of racketeering and money laundering.
The case, a groundbreaking example of US authorities policing far beyond America’s borders, raised an interesting question: If prosecutors could target FIFA — an organization headquartered outside the US — could they also take aim at the leaders of another sprawling international enterprise, say, the Roman Catholic Church?
The sex crimes that Catholic priests have committed across the globe are arguably far more harmful than anything FIFA executives are accused of. Thousands of priests been accused of destroying the innocence of society’s most vulnerable individuals: children. And in many cases, the church hierarchy has looked the other way, or even obstructed justice — a crime punishable under racketeering statutes. Yet throughout decades of abuse, the Holy See — the church’s central government, housed at the Vatican — has evaded legal consequences.
Objectively, the sex abuse crisis has been destructive for the church. Billions of dollars have been paid out to survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, leading some of the largest Catholic dioceses in the United States to declare bankruptcy. Dozens of priests have been criminally convicted and thrown in prison. But all of this has played out at the local level.
Despite aggressive efforts to put the pope and his senior leadership on trial for concealing priests’ sex crimes, to date not one Vatican official has been successfully sued or jailed, and the Vatican’s coffers have remained untouched — largely thanks to esoteric legal arguments and diplomatic immunity.
Continues here:
http://www.towleroad.com/2015/09/abusive-clergy-2/
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Linda, thanks for that link ! I read it with an open mind, and a grim determination to blast the church if the implications were true. And sadly, I knew they might have been. The response to clergy abuse has been revoltingly slow.
But the Towleroad article is, sadly, yet another example of really adversarial attitudes, and zero journalistic standards. The key and only named evidence was the so-called harboring of the papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Archbishop Josef Weselowski, to the safety of the Vatican after allegations of child abuse.
I guess this rag supposes a stern article must be true. They omitted to check the Wikipedia entry, which I just did.
The Archbishop was not whisked to safety and immunity. He was subject to dual jurisdictions and the Vatican got to him first, and later agreed there should be joint co-operation.
He was laicized, (de-frocked), and then indicted by the Vatican for possession of child pornography. Since he was in extremely poor health, he was not in jail. I just read the entry, and, it's late, so I forget whether he was convicted. Either way, he died before any sentencing and forwarding to the Dominican Republic for further trial.
But Towleroad omitted all of that. That was the main, if not only, incident, and....the distortions and ommissions constitute overt lying.
My sincere thanks for the link, Linda - and any further ones. But, myself, am done with the gay media. They couldn't report any story regarding the Catholic Church with anything other than smug inventions, huge ommissions, and all cloaked to find some strange revenge. I have long believed all great civil rights movements do great good and then the leadership collapses into cult-like absurdities.
I wouldn't trust a weather report from that rag. I expected to be informed. They were more Orwellian than Fox News.
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Huckabee and the others are making a political star out of this little twit...
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, a longtime Democrat, says she is switching to the Republican Party because she feels abandoned by Democrats in her fight against same-sex marriage.
Davis made the announcement while in Washington, D.C., to attend the Family Research Council’s Value Voters Summit, said Charla Bansley, a spokeswoman for Liberty Counsel, which represents Davis in her legal battles.
“I’ve always been a Democrat, but the party left me,” Davis said, according to Bansley.
Davis wasn’t immediately available for an interview but will address the conservative group Friday night.
Chickens coming home to roost.
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A good documentary on the subject: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2111478/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_18
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mea-maxima-culpa-silence-in-the-house-of-god-2012
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A good documentary on the subject: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2111478/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_18
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mea-maxima-culpa-silence-in-the-house-of-god-2012
Canmark, that is a good, and credible documentary, and I thank you for your brief, and quiet bringing it to the discussion here. I have a deep empathy for the deaf, so, the abuse was even more of an outrage.
Nothing of what I have to add further, is meant to diminish this grotesque pattern of injuries, and I hope my expansion of the subject does not seem defensive. It's just adding to the larger shame.
* I noticed that there was a pattern of child abuse by clergy, dependent on the predominance of the denomination. Catholics, where in the majority, Protestants, elsewhere. Here in Norfolk, endless scandals for Baptists and other Protestants, so much so that I used to kid a co-worker about the latest Baptist abuse, and say "Call the catholic bishop ! Sue him !" He got the point.
* To what degree, I do not know, but the Church considered pedophilia an illness, and developed an advanced treatment center in Arizona. And sent offenders there, but also, obviously, to the convenience of the Church.
* Cover-up, and shuffling, were clearly lawless. Bishops should have gone to jail. Under current rules, the Church requires reporting to the cops. Too late, obviously.
* Most important, the focus on the Catholic Church averts attention from a much larger tidal wave of abuse. The largest kiddie porn case in the U.S., was at the Pentagon. Few jail terms. Just recently, the scandal of the military in Afghanistan told to look away from the traditional boy-rape, even on U.S. bases. And the various denominations have had their own cases, and at a higher % than Catholics.
It's a larger issue. Seems to have exploded in the 1970's. I have been having to come to terms, myself, that criminal abduction, rape, and murder, extended even to my own neighborhood. It now appears that the serial killer, the Candy Man, from Texas, ended his massive death and torture spree, with a teen-ager missing from my own small area, and I have to live with the code of silence from my friends from those days, who would have had to have known. They lived near, or knew the missing boy.
Returning to the abuse, in the Catholic Church, there is no excuse. And I thank you for that link.
But we won't get anywhere with picking and choosing our focus, according to convenience. They all need to go to jail. And, this late in my life, it is a further sadness, that I cannot trust any institution of authority, or, for that matter, any network of friends that I would want to trust.
Great link. That many victims were deaf, at least for me, added to the nightmare of their hurt.
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Well, Jimmy, thanks for reading through what was a somewhat labored post :).
But I do have to scratch my head over your hearing of sermons against gays in the Catholic churches. Never heard of that, myself, or experienced it. The Mass has a homily, but they are always positive.
I think you are confusing us with Baptists :P. I never even heard any condemnation in religion classes at Catholic schools.
There is however, another area where gays have justifiably taken offense. That would be from the bishops opposition to gay marriage, and also a few popes asserting gay acts are sinful.
They did it, and sometimes still do.
But the present pope wants to move away from what are often obscure theological pronouncements to inclusion. As for sin, sheesh, we're Catholics...everything's a sin, or, a falling short. Pope Francis wants to focus on healing and inclusion, not condemnation.
Yes, he's had to walk a tightrope. He's avoided accepting gay marriage. But he DID say that same gender couples who formalized their companionship had..... a precious gift.
It's all signals and semaphore, as he accepts gay marriage after it is legislated (as he did in Argentina), and moves towards warning pastors not to discourage anyone from church.
Jimmy, he's caused a ruckus by changing course, and he's always being misquoted (or Obamified).
Anyway, if he isn't doing anything for gays, then why are the fundamentalists getting so nervous :) ?
It's ok that people are not convinced. It's a recent shift.
I'll just leave off with this example of the anomalous duality of the Catholic church about gays: when Gore Vidal left what he considered to be a homophobic culture in the U.S., he went to live in Rome, where he had not a bit of trouble.
Oh, well, just one more. IMO, the breakthrough for gays was not Bbm, or the Stonewall riots. The first crack in the wall was the rough but often lyrical book by Evelyn Waugh, that held up the issues of lost faith, gay English nobles, and the wandering journey of an agnostic Anglican through the maze of Catholic indifference to the particulars of our journeys through a materialistic world. Brideshead Revisited. I really believe that novel, by a convert, was the beginning.
Of course when it went to PBS, all the Castro district got out of it was having a teddy bear ::).
well,,,,, i can't say for sure what was said in the sermons, but they attended a spanish speaking mass and apprently there was mention of gay marriage one sunday... which the guatemalan friend said he ignores completely. he doesn't see himself as gay when he is attending mass, believe it or not, even tho he may still be wearing the same clothes he wore the night before in weho, partying and drinking.
i don't know if that's a sin, showing up in church with a hangover, but there's a difference between that and sodomy, methinks. >:D
it's not shocking to know that catholics don't approve of homosexuality, of gay marriage, of gay foster parents, etc.. and i'm not confusing you with baptists, tho i do throw baptists in the same boat as catholics. they both believe that homosexuality is a sin. am i wrong? if this is not in sunday sermons, it's because priests were advised not to say anything. but i bet if the vatican said it was okay, they would be bringing it up like crazy. i mean, the church wants to relate to its parish, right? what better way than to talk about current events. gay marriage is a hot topic! :D
i can't understand why a catholic that is gay or loves gays would remain a catholic when they know that the vatican believes homosexuality is a sin. the pope isn't exactly accepting of queerness, and anyone that believes that he is, is sticking their heads in the sand IMHO. granted, i don't study religion or even watch the news, but i can see with a quick search online that the pope isn't my friend.
i saw a website this morning and can't for the life of me find it again. so frustrating. it was on a different device. i thought it was the catholic register, but apparently not. basically, the website praised the pope's views against gay marriage and abortion in the UN speech (however veiled his speech was, they totally understood what he meant) and were cheering him on, wishing him the best of luck in philadelphia... to me, it was like hate speech. of course, a catholic is entitled to his opinion, but when it denies my rights as a human being then i will say it again: fuuuuck him. because i have no respect for a man that heads an organization that says that of gay citizens. he knows the power he holds in his carefully crafted words, and he is saying exactly what he means to say without exactly saying it. because if he did, he would be seen as a monster, and his words would be hateful.
but he's still a hateful monster to me. he can kiss all the babies he wants, and slap hands with kids, and bow to old ladies, but when he says that gay marriage is not right in the eyes of the lord, then all that other stuff goes out the window. seriously.
how can he condemn gay marriage and then say, "who am i to judge?" i don't want him to talk out of the side of his mouth. i want him to say that being gay is GREAT and GOOD. that being gay is what god intended. that god makes people gay. (not that i care what god thinks, but if his god is so important to him...) i want him to encourage the parents of gay children. to encourage gay children. i want him to accept the transgendered, and to come out and say that gay parents should adopt children. i want him to stand by his comments about "precious gifts" and not just say random nice things to bring people in.
well,,,, i hope this makes some sense, i'm typing this in a very noisy cafe, the music is loud, and i'm hungry. i gotta go and get a carrot cake or something. :D
OH: brideshead revisited i only saw on PBS when i was 18. even tho it wasn't the book, it was enjoyable, really. eye opening! i watched it with a very accepting and supportive neighbor who was probably almost 70, my neighbor martha. we would meet every night it was on and squee. we both loved the whole gay bit, even tho back then it wasn't racy at all. but it was still exhilarating for young, recently out of the closet me.
i never received the teddy bear tho... i feel gypped! >:( :D
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i should probably post this in the humor thread, but since we're in pope mode.... :D
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi723.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fww238%2Fgnashsang%2Fimage_25.jpeg&hash=f4aae4161080c6b62c517e5c8d15f76d14f99703)
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tony, regarding the pedophilia, or at least the bad behavior of priests... and of "looking the other way"... did you ever read my post about the guy i met that wanted to be a priest but ended up quitting after transferring from 4 different seminary schools, only to find that EACH ONE was a hotbed of homosexual activity? not pedophilia per se, but rampant homosexual activity at night. rampant. orgies. and when he complained, the monsignor or whatever he was, would pat him on the inner thigh and assure him that it was fine and he would go used to it.
the fact that he looked like a young tom cruise in "all the right moves" didn't help him any, but still. it was a surprise to me to hear of the wild sex parties he encountered at seminaries across the country (from chicago to the west coast)...
ohhh... once we get onto the new forum on tuesday (wednesday?) i may be able to use the search function and find the post!
there's also a post i wrote about my own sexual abuse as a kid. not by a priest, thank god.... but on the way to my molester's garage (i was kidnapped and on the floor of his car) we drove right past my catholic church. i was looking up to the sky, and i recognized the steeple, it was distinct.
sigh... in the name of the father, the son, and the holy shit. :D >:D
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Beheading AND crucifixion...for “waging war on God” because he gave a speech at anti-government protests in Qatif.
First time I'm for the hackers...
Hacktivist group Anonymous has called out Saudi Arabia for its horrific human rights record by attacking the Gulf kingdom’s government websites. The attack is in response to the upholding of a death sentence handed down to 17-year-old Mohammed al-Nimr.
Earlier in September, Nimr’s final appeal to the Saudi courts was dismissed, and his sentence of death by crucifixion for alleged anti-government activities in 2012 can now be carried out at any moment.
https://www.rt.com/news/316621-anonymous-targets-saudi-websites-nimr/ (https://www.rt.com/news/316621-anonymous-targets-saudi-websites-nimr/)
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Then there's this from last January...embarrassing that "we" ("they") are such enormous hypocrites...what money and power can do...
The death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who passed away Friday due to complications from a lung infection, elicited a series of gushing tributes from American leaders. In his official statement, President Obama praised his "enduring contribution to the search for peace" in the Middle East. Secretary of State John Kerry called him a "man of wisdom and vision." Vice President Biden, meanwhile, announced he'd lead the American delegation to Saudi Arabia to mourn the king in person.
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Hi, Jimmy - your posts were great, as they were reflecting a very loveable personality, with no restraints :D. I also appreciate that you talk to people, rather than at them.
Anyway, you asked why anyone gay would remain Catholic. I had thought you were originally Greek Orthodox, but I guess I got that one wrong. Catholics stay Catholic, from any background that is considered sinful, because, as I've mentioned before, the church teaches that we're all sinners, one way or another. We're supposed to get over it, and get past it, and accept forgiveness.
As to homosexuality being defined as sinful, I am weary of the intricacies of Catholic theology, but will answer. Being gay is not considered a sin. The acts are considered a sin. Which, to me is ridiculous, as expressing our sexuality is part of who we are.
But, there are also the theological opt-outs (which they don't like to admit). Sin resides in the will - you have to believe something is a sin, and do it, for it to be a sin. That's why gays who go to confession would usually be counselled to examine their conscience, refrain from deifying sex, and just don't let it rule their lives and relationship with God. In other words, a normal pastor would say - just be careful, and then go on to areas maybe more serious (hate, cruelty, etc.) which would be clearly sinful and must be worked on. Say 3 Hail Mary's, 3 Our Father's, and go in peace :).
This means a gay Catholic has that private opt-out, so long as it is a sincere belief. This all gets tricky if the private individual tries to hijack general teaching and popify himself to others. That doesn't fly.
As for gay marriage, the Church has stumbled heavily since the re-definition of marriage as a secular matter, after the French Revolution. The Church accommodates civil marriages but ridiculously drew the line when gay marriage was becoming a probability. That's inconsistent.
Jimmy, I don't like the Pope's balancing act either. In fact, am tired of it. But, differently from you, I don't see it as sinister. I understand he's nudging a huge church along. He did, BTW, fire a cardinal who pressured against liberalization at the last Synod. The next one is in a few months. So, I believe he's sincere in trying to untangle dogma to the better acceptance of gays, and also, those divorced.
I'm really understanding of gay impatience. I do get tried of gay media falsehoods. They should stick to soft porn. But, am also weary of the lack of a more positive approach from the Church, one that gets past all this and lets the Pope get to the Church he says he wants: a battle hospital for the varied wounds of this world.
By weary of it all, I mean, I wish everybody well, but it's all too wrongful from varied directions, and am exhausted. Meanwhile, I do like the Pope, and I really crack up at your posts - they are hilarious. I'll do better, myself, by enjoying what different people have to offer, and wishing them well :).
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Amen, Tony!
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Anyway, you asked why anyone gay would remain Catholic. I had thought you were originally Greek Orthodox, but I guess I got that one wrong. Catholics stay Catholic, from any background that is considered sinful, because, as I've mentioned before, the church teaches that we're all sinners, one way or another. We're supposed to get over it, and get past it, and accept forgiveness.
Thank you, Tony. The entire post was interesting and enlightening.
As someone on the outside, I also used to wonder why any gay person would remain in the Roman Church, and Dignity Catholics struck me as pitifully misguided as Log Cabin Republicans. ;) Then it occurred to me (credit the Holy Spirit?) that these people perform a prophetic witness--the Dignity Catholics, I mean, not the Log Cabin Republicans. And maybe I'm even a teensy bit jealous of them, because I seriously doubt I would have the strength of character to do what they do.
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Thanks, Fritz, and Jeff :).
A footnote to that post - Catholics are free to challenge church doctrine publicly. They just may not speak in the name of the church, with authority. Also, the present pope said, early on, that he wanted everyone to speak freely. He actually said he wanted... a mess. From which things could be re-directed. Jimmy could get in on that one :D.....
But, moving right along - there's a small cult, offshoots of the Mormons, that says tonight's blood moon signals the end of the world. The only thing I know of is that the forum is going down for a day. However, I remain a little rattled, and, as usual, can not find my pith helmet :P.
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But, moving right along - there's a small cult, offshoots of the Mormons, that says tonight's blood moon signals the end of the world. The only thing I know of is that the forum is going down for a day. However, I remain a little rattled, and, as usual, can not find my pith helmet :P.
Sorry. Tony. I know you are legitimately rattled, and I sympathize, but the pith helmet visual made me giggle. :D
It also released some stress about waking up tomorrow and finding the world has ended.
Of course, if I don't wake up....................... :(
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But, moving right along - there's a small cult, offshoots of the Mormons, that says tonight's blood moon signals the end of the world. The only thing I know of is that the forum is going down for a day. However, I remain a little rattled, and, as usual, can not find my pith helmet :P.
Considering where that "prophecy" is coming from, a tin-foil hat might be more appropriate. ... ;) ;D
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Unless like in many cults the world has really ended and we're just too dense to have noticed, it seems that we've pulled through!
And there's running water on Mars! :D
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And there's running water on Mars! :D
Really? How 'bout indoor plumbing? >:D
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Unless like in many cults the world has really ended and we're just too dense to have noticed, it seems that we've pulled through!
And there's running water on Mars! :D
Yeah, but it is salty!! :D
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Hi, Jimmy - your posts were great, as they were reflecting a very loveable personality, with no restraints :D. I also appreciate that you talk to people, rather than at them.
Anyway, you asked why anyone gay would remain Catholic. I had thought you were originally Greek Orthodox, but I guess I got that one wrong.
....
aww, thank you, tony... i'm glad you find the human element in my posts. :-*
i was born catholic, not orthodox tho. i attended catholic school for a couple of years when my family was stationed in athens. i enjoyed the experience, on the whole... but that was the extent of my catholic schooling. i did attend church from time to time... my father wasn't religious by any means but his mother was a devout catholic. so when she came to visit we pretended it that we went to church every week, which was NOT the case. :D
my own personal experience with typical catholic hypocrisy, i suppose.. ;)
but all of this is not current events, so... but i did read your post and while we disagree on things i can definitely understand your angle, and thank you for your views... i just can't see belonging to an organization that is against so many things that i feel so strongly about.
i DID love the incense and the art, that's for sure. but to me that's more smoke and mirrors... i can totally understand why some religions don't believe in idolatry, that's for sure. the whole idea of how ridiculous #whitejesus is makes total sense to me, ya know?
peace be with you.
(btw, i was an altar boy for a few years. i hated it. >:D)
to be more on topic, here's a pope story:
Attorney: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis met with pope
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/attorney-kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-met-with-pope/
are you effing KIDDING ME? ::)
i suppose he commended her on her... loyalty to the church. :P
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today's gay headlines, FWIW:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/09/29/azealia-banks-tweet-gay-community-lgbt/73020120/
as a gay man, and from reading her tweets (azealia banks), let me say that she is one fucked up broad, LOL :D
probably not a hot topic, but i'm tired of straight "celebs" dissing gay people. do famous gay people go around dissing people for being straight, using their sexuality against them? or is it a race thing with her? white gays seems to bother her the most.
oh, and white flight attendants:
http://www.tmz.com/2015/09/22/azealia-banks-flight-homophobic-slur-delta-video/
LOL as a mix raced gay man, i hereby bitchslap that witch. what was she doing flying economy anyway? shooo.... she gives azaleas a bad name, and she spells it all wrong too... ::)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0e/30/50/0e305004b83b32618e7166efeb5a8805.jpg)
azalea
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to be more on topic, here's a pope story:
Attorney: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis met with pope
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/attorney-kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-met-with-pope/
are you effing KIDDING ME? ::)
i suppose he commended her on her... loyalty to the church. :P
I almost spit out my coffee when I heard that this morning. I would have expected that the fundie sect she belongs to considers the Pope the Antichrist, or something--unless, of course, she can use him.
Can't somebody drop a safe, or a grand piano, or something on that woman?
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I almost spit out my coffee when I heard that this morning. I would have expected that the fundie sect she belongs to considers the Pope the Antichrist, or something--unless, of course, she can use him.
Can't somebody drop a safe, or a grand piano, or something on that woman?
Same here, Jeff. I got a shock.
And I'd like to go past my posts, above: the Pope is a Jesuit. And.....unreliable. He's lost my confidence.
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The Pope is a Jesuit. And.....unreliable. He's lost my confidence.
Well, one definition of Jesuit is "one given to intrigue or equivocation."
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jesuit or not, i never liked the direction he was heading...
didn't the pope meet azealia banks for brunch this morning? :D
my confirmation name was francis... i got teased for it. it was a girl's name according to the other boys. my dad was always so worried that i was a femmy little queer boy, and that's the name he gave me... really?? ::)
anyway...
Representative for Pope Francis calls for an end to Glossip’s execution
"As the personal representative of His Holiness Pope Francis to the United States of America, I respectfully request, on his behalf, that you commute the death sentence of Mr. Richard Glossip."
http://kfor.com/2015/09/30/representative-for-pope-francis-calls-for-an-end-to-glossips-execution/
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my confirmation name was francis... i got teased for it. it was a girl's name according to the other boys. my dad was always so worried that i was a femmy little queer boy, and that's the name he gave me... really?? ::)
I like the name Francis, but then I always associate it with Sir Francis Drake, and I can imagine what he would have done to anyone who called him femmy. ;)
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I like it too.
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i wanted PAUL. :D
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Attorney: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis met with pope
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/attorney-kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-met-with-pope/
are you effing KIDDING ME? ::)
i suppose he commended her on her... loyalty to the church. :P
Just heard on the NBC network news that the Vatican has confirmed that the meeting took place. :(
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i wanted PAUL. :D
Well, we Protestants don't even get confirmation names. :(
I was baptized on St. Bartholomew's Day. I wish my parents had seen fit to incorporate Bartholomew into my name somehow.
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oh yeah, i would have loved bartholomew! my FIL (and my brother in law, his son, and the son's great grandfather) is named bart.
their last name is not simpson, thank god. :D
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WHY IS SAUDI ARABIA HEADING A UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL PANEL?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/22/why-is-saudi-arabia-heading-the-u-n-human-rights-council.html
omg...
i blame the US and UK ass kissers for making that a reality. seriously?!? a country with such vile regard to human life?
when the knife is at OUR throats, who will hear our screams for help?
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Jimmy, my legal name is Francis, but I dropped it when very young, and enforced my middle name, Anthony. From there, I went to Tony, although that's been ignored by some from earlier years. Am therefore not too happy about this Jesuit's choice, these days. I mean, what were the odds ::) ?
Meanwhile, I know we have a weather thread, but it's getting a little spooky, about the projections of Hurricane Joaquin towards Norfolk. We are already under a state of emergency, which means, whee..... grocery stores packed, tonight.
And there's worse. If that storm does hit, it will be after 5 days of rain. The ground is already saturated, today. And that's what brings trees down over power lines.
If I vanish Sunday, for a long time, it'll be the no-power gig. Am trying to get things done in advance, but couldn't get a ride to the store this evening, and tomorrow ---- long lines.
Meanwhile the spaghetti models have just started briefly showing some slight hope :P...
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Wishing you good luck, Tony, and all the forum members along the East Coast who may be impacted by Joaquin. I am sorry you could not get a ride to the store.
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Yeah, we're going to get quite a bit of rain the next few days whether Joaquin pays us a visit or not.
Earl's hoping that the rain libs are happy, as he calls them!
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Well, we Protestants don't even get confirmation names. :(
I was baptized on St. Bartholomew's Day. I wish my parents had seen fit to incorporate Bartholomew into my name somehow.
I was raised as a catholic and I've never heard of a confirmation name. I got all my names (Gilles Jean Georges Benoit Joseph) at my baptism.
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Wishing you good luck, Tony, and all the forum members along the East Coast who may be impacted by Joaquin. I am sorry you could not get a ride to the store.
Thanks, Linda ! Am fairly well stocked up - always am. But I could use non-perishables, because Isabel knocked power out for a month, and that was a wimpy storm. Will try tomorrow, in the drenching rain :P.
Meanwhile, slight good news - some variables on the track models. Really bad news - Jim Cantore, the weather channels hot shot, was seen at a Wal-Mart in Virginia Beach, this evening. He goes where the probabilities line up bad.
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Thanks, Linda ! Am fairly well stocked up - always am. But I could use non-perishables, because Isabel knocked power out for a month, and that was a wimpy storm. Will try tomorrow, in the drenching rain :P.
Meanwhile, slight good news - some variables on the track models. Really bad news - Jim Cantore, the weather channels hot shot, was seen at a Wal-Mart in Virginia Beach, this evening. He goes where the probabilities line up bad.
Not good, Tony!! I hope they are wrong. Stay safe!
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Jimmy, my legal name is Francis, but I dropped it when very young, and enforced my middle name, Anthony. From there, I went to Tony, although that's been ignored by some from earlier years. Am therefore not too happy about this Jesuit's choice, these days. I mean, what were the odds ::) ?
Meanwhile, I know we have a weather thread, but it's getting a little spooky, about the projections of Hurricane Joaquin towards Norfolk. We are already under a state of emergency, which means, whee..... grocery stores packed, tonight.
And there's worse. If that storm does hit, it will be after 5 days of rain. The ground is already saturated, today. And that's what brings trees down over power lines.
If I vanish Sunday, for a long time, it'll be the no-power gig. Am trying to get things done in advance, but couldn't get a ride to the store this evening, and tomorrow ---- long lines.
Meanwhile the spaghetti models have just started briefly showing some slight hope :P...
Good luck, Tony. I don't think we're going to get it as bad up here in Philadelphia as you are down there, but still. ... I have a wedding to attend on Saturday, and I sure feel sorry for the grooms. What a rum deal to have such weather on your wedding day. :(
Francis Anthony, hunh? Two great names, in my opinion!
Oh, yeah. Jim Cantore can shop at my Wal-Mart any time he wants to! >:D
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breaking news,
School shooting at Umpqua Community College , near Portland, Oregon.
According to WPIX news, shooter has been apprehended, but 7 - 10 people are dead.
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Sh*t, it just never ends!
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Dave was just on MSNBC with Brian Williams, unfortunately for yet another school shooting. The same amount of deaths and wounded as Columbine. His information is always excellent. I wonder when the 'powers that be' will start to listen. This is just horrific!
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Have been running ragged on 3 hours sleep, so was not fully registering the massacre in Oregon. It's strange how these things are happening in places people believe are quiet and safe.
I did delete a friendly post to Jeff (Hi, Jeff !) because, given the tragedy, it was inappropriate.
Meanwhile:
* Beware an internet service called Itec. they call and say they work for Windows, and your computer has been hijacked. A search shows they are a high-pressure service, and some call them a scam. Do not let them access your computer.
* I just barely caught an alert from a local meteorologist about the cone of uncertainty for Hurricane Joachim. He said there are 2 opposing jet streams that will affect it, so that the actual course will be to the extreme left or right of the cone. He is very reliable, and am glad I heard that. He believes the west moving stream will keep most of the east coast free from a hit, but also warned, this can be unpredictable up to the last 24 hours.
Got my non-perishables and batteries in, so, am glad for that, at least :-\ .
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Best of luck, Tony! I'll be thinking of you!
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I was raised as a catholic and I've never heard of a confirmation name. I got all my names (Gilles Jean Georges Benoit Joseph) at my baptism.
wow, that's quite a mouthful! lovely tho, the way it rolls off the tongue.
well, maybe it's not my confirmation ormation name? is there another term? i was baptized as a baby, but later on a name was picked out for me... francis. i didn't mind it until the other boys started teasing me and calling me franny.
is there a name they give you when you're old enough to receive the host?
you know, that round little cracker thing. it's been so long. ::)
btw, i used to save them. i would spit them out immediately into my clasped hands and put them into my pocket to inspect later. as a young artist they were fascinating, stamped with various designs. i had a small box full of them at home!
then one day some insects had gotten into them and bored holes, so i tossed them out.
sacrilege! :D
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wow, that's quite a mouthful! lovely tho, the way it rolls off the tongue.
well, maybe it's not my conformation name? is there another term? i was baptized as a baby, but later on a name was picked out for me... francis. i didn't mind it until the other boys started teasing me and calling me franny.
is there a name they give you when you're old enough to receive the host?
you know, that round little cracker thing. it's been so long. ::)
btw, i used to save them. i would spit them out immediately into my clasped hands and put them into my pocket to inspect later. as a young artist they were fascinating, stamped with various designs. i had a small box full of them at home!
then one day some insects had gotten into them and bored holes, so i tossed them out.
sacrilege! :D
Baptism shortly after birth. You are baptized by your legal name.
First Holy communion at age 6 or first grade. No name is picked at this time.
Confirmation is age 12 in 6 or 7 grade. It is usual for the confirmed to pick their own name, mine was Christina.
Yes, since you did not consume the 'Body of Christ', you could possibly go to hell!! ;)
The hosts are just flour and water, and are made by pouring the mixture onto a very hot and very heavy double sided iron with the patterns etched in the metal. After they are made, then they are cut to size. Large for the priest and small for the congregation.
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My confirmation name is Michael. Like most people, I never incorporated it into my legal name.
Having been born on 29 September, some of our family friends thought that should have been my given name or at least my baptismal name (Louis), but I'm glad I was named after my grandfather. So I chose my feastday name for my confirmation name.
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Baptism shortly after birth. You are baptized by your legal name.
First Holy communion at age 6 or first grade. No name is picked at this time.
Confirmation is age 12 in 6 or 7 grade. It is usual for the confirmed to pick their own name, mine was Christina.
Yes, since you did not consume the 'Body of Christ', you could possibly go to hell!! ;)
The hosts are just flour and water, and are made by pouring the mixture onto a very hot and very heavy double sided iron with the patterns etched in the metal. After they are made, then they are cut to size. Large for the priest and small for the congregation.
For some reason we had both the Holy Communion and Confirmation in first grade. I still have the two official photos of me kneeling on a kneeling thingy, which were actually taken on the same day but with different backdrops, lol!
Here in Quebec you can buy bags full of the "Body of Christ" in most grocery stores. Of course, technically, they aren't the "Body of Christ" since the wafers haven't been "blessed". ;)
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here's one you may have missed... more delights from the house of saud...
L.A. COPS: SAUDI ROYAL MAY HAVE RAPED 5 WOMEN
As many as five victims may have been sexually accosted by a Saudi royal inside his massive Beverly Hills rental compound, The Daily Beast has learned from Los Angeles authorities.
When cops arrived at the residence along Wallingford Drive, in Beverly Hills, to check out a disturbance call that came in around 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday, they discovered a horde of people milling about in front of the $37 million, 22,000-square foot gated mansion.
Meanwhile, a neighbor told the Los Angeles Times that upon returning home, he witnessed a bloodied woman (believed to work at the house as a caretaker) shimmying across an 8-foot wall and screaming for help.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/25/l-a-cops-saudi-royal-may-have-raped-5-women.html
smh... it will be interesting to see if this even gets touched upon in the mainstream media...
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He's probably already out of the country....
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Baptism shortly after birth. You are baptized by your legal name.
First Holy communion at age 6 or first grade. No name is picked at this time.
Confirmation is age 12 in 6 or 7 grade. It is usual for the confirmed to pick their own name, mine was Christina.
Yes, since you did not consume the 'Body of Christ', you could possibly go to hell!! ;)
The hosts are just flour and water, and are made by pouring the mixture onto a very hot and very heavy double sided iron with the patterns etched in the metal. After they are made, then they are cut to size. Large for the priest and small for the congregation.
oh, i'm going to hell just for what i've done on this forum! ::)
thank you for the info... yes, i was around 12 or so i guess. the other boys were old enough to know that francis was a girl's name (and stupid enough to not know that it wasn't). i wasn't able to pick mine name, my dad insisted on FRANCIS for whatever cruel reason. i remember pleading with him to let me pick PAUL.
oh, so the hosts aren't gluten free? tsk tsk!
they might be better with powdered sugar. >:D
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He's probably already out of the country....
yep... just like the bin ladens were flown out of the country right after 9-11.... despite the govt. lockdown on all outgoing flights.
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Jimmy, my legal name is Francis, but I dropped it when very young, and enforced my middle name, Anthony. From there, I went to Tony, although that's been ignored by some from earlier years. Am therefore not too happy about this Jesuit's choice, these days. I mean, what were the odds ::) ?
....
Meanwhile the spaghetti models have just started briefly showing some slight hope :P...
heh, i thought you were talking about super skinny fashion models for a second... :D
i like francis. i mean, i just adore the name frank... so that's what i would have called myself if my parents had named me francis.
my friend has a son named anthony, we call him Ant. he's still in HS and doesn't mind the nickname but i imagine he will switch to tony in college. he doesn't like anthony. that's what his momma screams out when she's mad. >:(
hope the storm isn't too damaging and dramatic... glad u r prepared with emergency supplies. it seems the east coast gets hurricanes and the west coast earthquakes, big twisters in the middle states... :-X
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breaking news,
School shooting at Umpqua Community College , near Portland, Oregon.
According to WPIX news, shooter has been apprehended, but 7 - 10 people are dead.
how sad... well, we better let them take our guns away, because, you know, criminals won't shoot people if we don't own guns... ::)
it will be interesting to know if the shooter was on any kind
of meds. meds for depression, anxiety, etc..
just yesterday i witnessed an altercation between a mexican with tourette's (i think) and a black male. i had been walking along behind the mexican in a strip mall when i noticed he had this unusual behavior of shouting every once in a while. not at anyone in particular, since hardly anyone was around. but at one point he looked back at me and said something crude in spanish, but looked away. i realized he was impaired somehow. unfortunately, he happened to shout something out in front of black male and oh lord... he was NOT having it. he confronted the mexican with some choice words himself. the mexican kept walking past but he did scream something back. the black male was easily agitated and ran to his car, opened his car door and reached under his driver seat and pulled out a black handgun. right there in broad daylight!
by that time the screaming mexican was inside a store, so the black dude ran into the store after the guy. i heard some screams, then two ladies ran out.
needless to say i got in my car and drove off very quickly! it's so scary how some people are so ready to whip out a gun and use it...
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For some reason we had both the Holy Communion and Confirmation in first grade. I still have the two official photos of me kneeling on a kneeling thingy, which were actually taken on the same day but with different backdrops, lol!
I can't speak to Roman Catholic practice, but both Lutherans and Episcopalians used to link First Communion with Confirmation--you weren't admitted to Communion until you were Confirmed, and it was common for both events to take place at the same church service. It was later than First Grade age, though, maybe around age 10 or 12, and you had to learn your catechism first.
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well, maybe it's not my conformation name? is there another term? i was baptized as a baby, but later on a name was picked out for me... francis. i didn't mind it until the other boys started teasing me and calling me franny.
Reminded me of someone with whom I can only be said to be peripherally acquainted, whom I've heard addressed as "Franny." His name is Francis. He's a principal dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet. Boyishly handsome face. Thighs like marble pillars. Ass like--well, I won't go into that--though I wouldn't mind going into that. ... >:D I've heard the company artistic director call him "Franny."
All I can say is, "Woof." :D
(Oh, yeah, in case anyone is wondering, he's straight and married to one of the principal ballerinas.)
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^^^
well... i'll say it: BOWLING BALLS.
(i dated a ballet dancer in the mid 80s) ;D
bicyclists also suffer from bowlingballitis, ya know. ;)
i knew a man named marion. everybody called him Mac. it didn't help that his wife's name was marian, lol. so "marion and marian" was just odd. mac and marian was much better.
our neighbor upstairs from us in silverlake was named KIM. a very masculine man. gay, but not fem. and he wasn't korean either, haha.
then there's leslie... odd for a male, at least nowadays.
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I can't speak to Roman Catholic practice, but both Lutherans and Episcopalians used to link First Communion with Confirmation--you weren't admitted to Communion until you were Confirmed, and it was common for both events to take place at the same church service. It was later than First Grade age, though, maybe around age 10 or 12, and you had to learn your catechism first.
For Roman Catholics it is the sacrament of First Communion early, at 6 yrs, and then the sacrament of Confirmation at around 12 yrs.
Catholics believe the Sacrament of Confirmation is the supernatural equivalent of the growth process on the natural level. It builds on what was begun in Baptism and what was nourished in Holy Eucharist. It completes the process of initiation into the Christian community, and it matures the soul for the work ahead.
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My First Communion. I was 7 ½
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2Foldpic2.jpg&hash=289814ce76d5c1c865707fe204ddb748403985e7)
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I can't speak to Roman Catholic practice, but both Lutherans and Episcopalians used to link First Communion with Confirmation--you weren't admitted to Communion until you were Confirmed, and it was common for both events to take place at the same church service. It was later than First Grade age, though, maybe around age 10 or 12, and you had to learn your catechism first.
hmmm, roman catholic here, but i do think i was probably closer to ten, now that i think of it... i remember pics of me wearing a black suit and tie and i was still pretty small. i shot up like a beanpole around age 12.
i had a huge crush on my priest: father kaiser. a dark, hairy brute with massive thighs. he always wore shorts and he rode a motorcycle. he was a priest at the USAF Academy near colorado springs for a while...
imagine what that was like, pushing a host into the mouths of young cadets.
oh my.
say ahhh.
ok, some news:
Hillary Clinton’s Email About Gay Parents Should Seriously Trouble Her LGBT Supporters
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/10/01/hillary_clinton_on_gay_rights_a_new_email_is_troubling.html
ehhhh... no surprise. i never liked her anyway. :P
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My First Communion. I was 7 ½
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2Foldpic2.jpg&hash=289814ce76d5c1c865707fe204ddb748403985e7) (http://s998.photobucket.com/user/tootsiemom/media/oldpic2.jpg.html)
7.5! a late communer!!
how adorable is that dress?!!
what's wrong with your hands? ;D >:D
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what's wrong with your hands? ;D >:D
HA HA!
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just teasing ya... my confirmation photo was similar... haha.
don't get me wrong, i may hate the catholic church, but when i was younger i rather liked it... i loved the art! but when i realized i was gay i was like.... uh, this ain't gonna work out.
and the whole tax free status... REALLY? that's a big huge WTF.
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i knew a man named marion. everybody called him Mac. it didn't help that his wife's name was marian, lol. so "marion and marian" was just odd. mac and marian was much better.
our neighbor upstairs from us in silverlake was named KIM. a very masculine man. gay, but not fem. and he wasn't korean either, haha.
then there's leslie... odd for a male, at least nowadays.
Forgot I was going to mention: My middle name is Lynn. My mother always insisted that was a boy's name--except that our neighbors had a daughter whose middle name was also Lynn--spelled just like that, the same as my middle name. My mother never convinced me.
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lynn!
still better than lynne... gee ma, it's erroll flynn, not erroll lynn! ;)
i got teased for my middle name... mostly by my older sister.
fortunately, there aren't many girls named ralph. :D
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So now I know! But Ralph Lanyon is the rather attractive hero of Mary Renault's The Charioteer.
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My First Communion. I was 7 ½
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2Foldpic2.jpg&hash=289814ce76d5c1c865707fe204ddb748403985e7)
I went to a Catholic school for 2 years, 10-12. There was no pressure on us C of E heathens either way, but I used to stay for all the catechism lessons and sometimes went to the services in the chapel - I was very taken with the whole thing, especially collecting holy pictures an' all. I went to another school at 12, probably a good thing.
I remember the First Communion girls, swanning around in their little white dresses - I was SO jealous! They were allowed to go wherever they wanted, as far as I remember - into any classroom.
I was confirmed at 13, white dresses but not so fluffy, in a Church of England church in Switzerland (where I was at boarding school. And first communion comes with confirmation. (Though I believe some churches allow unconfirmed children to take communion without confirmation. Ours just gives them a blessing though.)
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fortunately, there aren't many girls named ralph. :D
So now I know! But Ralph Lanyon is the rather attractive hero of Mary Renault's The Charioteer.
I understand the common British pronunciation of Ralph is Rafe (with a long a). I like that; I think it's sexy.
(Though I believe some churches allow unconfirmed children to take communion without confirmation. Ours just gives them a blessing though.)
That's common practice now among Lutherans and Episcopalians here in the U.S. I've heard that some churches even give Communion to babies, though I have no idea how a baby receives Communion. Lutherans have a preparatory class for kids at the fifth grade level, called "Welcome to the Lord's Table." Episcopalians have none, and when I once asked our assistant rector about that, she looked confused and wondered why anybody needed a class to prepare for First Communion. I guess individual parishes leave it up to the parents and the minister.
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I understand the common British pronunciation of Ralph is Rafe (with a long a). I like that; I think it's sexy.
It's either, Jeff, but probably much more often as Ralf. Rafe would be considered a bit posh :). Not a very usual name nowadays, though it was up until the 40s or 50s, I think.
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And while we're on names, I'm 'sair-a', not 'sah-ra'. I wouldn't want anyone to think it wrongly. :D
And yes, I've just become me.
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True if you are equating the police to rapists.
Also true if you understand, at least circumstantially, police and rapists have one thing one their minds: getting what they want, irrespective of anyone else's opinion, or, even, the facts.
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I'm really starting to wonder just who CNN thinks is watching their broadcasts...Wolf just broke in with "breaking news" and went to a guy in Oregon for this incredible insight: the shooter seems to have had anger and mental health issues.
Thanks for telling us...
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I understand the common British pronunciation of Ralph is Rafe (with a long a). I like that; I think it's sexy.
That's common practice now among Lutherans and Episcopalians here in the U.S. I've heard that some churches even give Communion to babies, though I have no idea how a baby receives Communion. Lutherans have a preparatory class for kids at the fifth grade level, called "Welcome to the Lord's Table." Episcopalians have none, and when I once asked our assistant rector about that, she looked confused and wondered why anybody needed a class to prepare for First Communion. I guess individual parishes leave it up to the parents and the minister.
Most Orthodox churches give babies confirmation and first communion along with baptism. I have no idea how they do it either, except that the leavened bread hosts are dipped in the wine before being placed in the mouth (not on the tongue) by the priest using a sort of spoon. That's the way it's done in Eastern Rite Catholic churches too, we went to one in Williamsburg VA last year.
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I'm really starting to wonder just who CNN thinks is watching their broadcasts...Wolf just broke in with "breaking news" and went to a guy in Oregon for this incredible insight: the shooter seems to have had anger and mental health issues.
Thanks for telling us...
Imagine that. ... :-\
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My First Communion. I was 7 ½
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2Foldpic2.jpg&hash=289814ce76d5c1c865707fe204ddb748403985e7)
This First Communion image reminded me of one taken that same year of my cousin Karen. She was always sort of a tomboy and the baseball glove was precious. It reminds me of a line from The Golden Girls where Blanche enters her grand daughter in a little girls pageant. She's speculating about how ugly the other entrants are and remarks, "There's a gym teacher waiting to happen!" A stereotype, I know. Years later Karen actually came out as Lesbian and she just celebrated her fifth wedding anniversary with her wife in Miami!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi171.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu316%2Frichchanstev%2FKaren%2520Wilcox%2520First%2520Communion-002_zpsuhi3mmtq.jpg&hash=293c0a704dd291fa06614210fe0525ec08263cda) (http://s171.photobucket.com/user/richchanstev/media/Karen%20Wilcox%20First%20Communion-002_zpsuhi3mmtq.jpg.html)
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I'm really starting to wonder just who CNN thinks is watching their broadcasts...Wolf just broke in with "breaking news" and went to a guy in Oregon for this incredible insight: the shooter seems to have had anger and mental health issues.
Thanks for telling us...
but did they mention his addiction to prescription drugs for those mental issues?
nope... because that would make the pharmaceutical companies look bad.
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And while we're on names, I'm 'sair-a', not 'sah-ra'. I wouldn't want anyone to think it wrongly. :D
And yes, I've just become me.
yay new screename!
tho i liked calling you cally. ;)
i once knew a fellow named raif.
.
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rich,
good for karen!! and congrats to five years!
stereotype maybe, but lesbians make great gym teachers! i know a young 24 year old lesbian gym teacher, and she's awesome, the kids love her.
we had a gym teacher in HS. late seventies, colorado. in tennis class a snarky female student fresh from california once asked her, "excuse me, but has anyone ever told you that you look just like ronald reagan?"
the teacher paused (we thought she would get angry), then said, "why no, but thank you!"
she really did look like ronald reagan!
i think the teacher was actually flattered, lol.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/af/e9/4c/afe94cf0217a18a9b29345e106281146.jpg)
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/uk-vatican-preist-gay-idUKKCN0RX0DO20151003 (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/uk-vatican-preist-gay-idUKKCN0RX0DO20151003)
Vatican sacks priest after he comes out as gay.
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/uk-vatican-preist-gay-idUKKCN0RX0DO20151003 (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/uk-vatican-preist-gay-idUKKCN0RX0DO20151003)
Vatican sacks priest after he comes out as gay.
That's part of it, but the fact that he has a partner probably plays a big part in it.
Although this is highly hypocritical, as a lot of the old Big Wigs in Rome have a little something on the side, Pope Emeritus Benedict being one.
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#Hypocrisy
One Day After Warning Russia of Civilian Casualties, the U.S. Bombs a Hospital in Afghanistan
Yesterday afternoon, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power marched to Twitter to proclaim: “we call on Russia to immediately cease attacks on Syrian oppo[sition and] civilians.” Along with that decree, she posted a statement from the U.S. and several of its closest authoritarian allies – including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UK – warning Russia that civilian casualties “will only fuel more extremism and radicalization.”
Early this morning, in the Afghan city of Kunduz, the U.S. dropped bombs on a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)). The airstrike killed at least 9 of the hospital’s medical staff, and seriously injured dozens of patients. “Among the dead was the Afghan head of the hospital, Abdul Sattar,” reported The New York Times.
[...]
https://theintercept.com/2015/10/03/one-day-after-warning-russia-of-civilian-casualties-the-u-s-bombs-a-hospital-in-the-war-obama-ended/
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ugh, the news! was talking to linda just tonight about the #hypocrisy
#smh >:(
i'm pissed because the pope was coming down on guns... then i see this:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi723.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fww238%2Fgnashsang%2Fpopeguns.jpg&hash=c81ce6465d562bfbb6d1f9ca65fe6daafba5b495)
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good one...I guess water canons wouldn't work?
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holy water cannons, perhaps. :)
:P so i'm convinced the smileys :) don't sit straight ::) on
the line in an attempt :( to get us to stop using them >:(
where's the leading control? :">
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Honor Flight Welcome Home set for Saturday 6pm
80+ veterans and their guardian traveling companions are due back in Syracuse on Saturday evening, and Honor Flight invites the community to the welcome back celebration. Their plane is due back shortly after six, to a water cannon salute (which will be visible to attendees).
http://cnycentral.com/news/local/honor-flight-welcome-home-set-for-saturday-6pm
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ff/18/83/ff188344e914d5e2dcc86efa9581f0ba.jpg)
i've never heard of this tradition!
"There is a long tradition of using water cannons as a ceremonial salute to ships and aircraft on special occasions, and it has nothing to do with “cooling down”: Inaugural flight or ship launch. First revenue flight for an airline. Last revenue flight. A retiring pilot's last flight." (quora)
meanwhile, neighboring new jersey suffers from a drought and water restrictions. ::)
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another not very hot topic, but i say it served him right! some whores, i swear... smh.
Gay escort threatened to tell married businessman’s wife he’d hired him for sex
"Jailing Walker for 32 months, Recorder Mark McKone said: ‘The complainant had been generous to you and that made you greedy."
http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/04/gay-escort-threatened-to-tell-married-businessman-hed-hired-him-for-sex-5420883/
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I never heard of that either, but I love the idea of holy water canons!
When Austin was in an extreme drought a few years back, so bad that Lake Travis had "islands" where the water was so low, Lance Armstrong (and other rich home-owners, there's a lot of $$ in Austin) was using 1,000,000 gallons of water a year for his landscaping. Should be illegal...
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Just some wonderings about some reports on the Oregon shooter:
CNN reported one student asked if they were Catholic, more often than asking if they were Christian. This got my curiosity up, and I did a number of searches. There was a lot of wildly different stuff.
The killers mother is black, defensive of her son, as having Aspergism (sp?), and happy to move to Oregon so he could use all his guns to hunt. So, if he had a behavioral/mental condition, what was he doing with guns?
As for the father, white, from the UK, but a Hebrew surnames site lists his name as mainly from Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to Argentina. The killer, himself, identified himself as bi-racial, pro Irish Republican Army, and completely without any sexual experiences. Belonged to a group against organized religions.
This is really a wild mixture, and my search sites were reliable. It all leaves the question of what were the gun laws for those areas, and, personally, I'd want to know if his mother got around them, and is culpable.
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I should have skipped this, that's more about the killer than I wanted to know. I like that the sheriff's department is refusing to say his name, stating that the media might do it, but they will not.
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Honor Flight Welcome Home set for Saturday 6pm
80+ veterans and their guardian traveling companions are due back in Syracuse on Saturday evening, and Honor Flight invites the community to the welcome back celebration. Their plane is due back shortly after six, to a water cannon salute (which will be visible to attendees).
http://cnycentral.com/news/local/honor-flight-welcome-home-set-for-saturday-6pm
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ff/18/83/ff188344e914d5e2dcc86efa9581f0ba.jpg)
i've never heard of this tradition!
"There is a long tradition of using water cannons as a ceremonial salute to ships and aircraft on special occasions, and it has nothing to do with “cooling down”: Inaugural flight or ship launch. First revenue flight for an airline. Last revenue flight. A retiring pilot's last flight." (quora)
meanwhile, neighboring new jersey suffers from a drought and water restrictions. ::)
When the last German Air Force Boeing 707 left Dulles down to Georgia to be converted for use by another airline, it was given a water cannon salute by the Fire Department. I think the second-to-last had the same a few months before. We were out on the ramp and there was a short ceremony with speeches and such, and the crew members were given a commemorative plaque.
mod: that last sentence reminded me, they did the same thing when senior GAF pilots retired, when their last flights as military officers were from Dulles.
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I should have skipped this, that's more about the killer than I wanted to know. I like that the sheriff's department is refusing to say his name, stating that the media might do it, but they will not.
Easily understood - too much background. Also, despite reliable sources, early reports mess up central issues.
Am also glad most are refusing to use his name.
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Other news is pretty bad:
- I don't believe the missing cargo ship was just a miscalculation, going into the storm. The BP oil spill showed corporate mid-level risk taking, that cost over 170 lives. There's a pattern of corporate risk-taking, risking lives, that should not be over-looked.
- The bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital was grotesque. And I find it hard to believe their urgent requests for the attacks to stop were missed because of poor communications.
It's a time of really ugly news.
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i've never heard of this tradition!
"There is a long tradition of using water cannons as a ceremonial salute to ships and aircraft on special occasions, and it has nothing to do with “cooling down”: Inaugural flight or ship launch. First revenue flight for an airline. Last revenue flight. A retiring pilot's last flight." (quora)
I never did, either, per se, but I guess that explains pictures I've seen of tugboats shooting spouts of water to salute various ships, naval and civilian.
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another not very hot topic, but i say it served him right! some whores, i swear... smh.
Gay escort threatened to tell married businessman’s wife he’d hired him for sex
"Jailing Walker for 32 months, Recorder Mark McKone said: ‘The complainant had been generous to you and that made you greedy."
http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/04/gay-escort-threatened-to-tell-married-businessman-hed-hired-him-for-sex-5420883/
I guess she knows, now, anyway. :-\
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I never heard of that either, but I love the idea of holy water canons!
When Austin was in an extreme drought a few years back, so bad that Lake Travis had "islands" where the water was so low, Lance Armstrong (and other rich home-owners, there's a lot of $$ in Austin) was using 1,000,000 gallons of water a year for his landscaping. Should be illegal...
right? fuck lance liarstrong! ugh. :P
some actor, i forgot who, was stealing water from LA county fire hydrants for years! they finally busted him... oh,, it was tom selleck:
http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/tom-selleck-accused-stealing-water-calif-drought-article-1.2285468
well, he's been accused of doing this.
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I never did, either, per se, but I guess that explains pictures I've seen of tugboats shooting spouts of water to salute various ships, naval and civilian.
same here! i've seen ships spraying water before (hopefully sea or lake water!) but did not know planes got soaked as well. or why.
When the last German Air Force Boeing 707 left Dulles down to Georgia to be converted for use by another airline, it was given a water cannon salute by the Fire Department. I think the second-to-last had the same a few months before. We were out on the ramp and there was a short ceremony with speeches and such, and the crew members were given a commemorative plaque.
mod: that last sentence reminded me, they did the same thing when senior GAF pilots retired, when their last flights as military officers were from Dulles.
heh! i figured you would know about all this, fritz!
i've seen sprays of water coming from ships, but never from trucks aimed at airplanes.
what happens when flight attendants retire? i hope they get squirted with something too ;)
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Other news is pretty bad:
- I don't believe the missing cargo ship was just a miscalculation, going into the storm. The BP oil spill showed corporate mid-level risk taking, that cost over 170 lives. There's a pattern of corporate risk-taking, risking lives, that should not be over-looked.
- The bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital was grotesque. And I find it hard to believe their urgent requests for the attacks to stop were missed because of poor communications.
It's a time of really ugly news.
i thought the exact same thing when i found out there was 200 million dollars worth of cargo onboard....
yeah, lots of really ugly news for sure, and that's just what gets reported!
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heh! i figured you would know about all this, fritz!
i've seen sprays of water coming from ships, but never from trucks aimed at airplanes.
what happens when flight attendants retire? i hope they get squirted with something too ;)
;D ;D ;D
Actually the water was never sprayed directly onto the aircraft, but rather by fire trucks on either side spraying arcs over the aircraft. But not directly onto the fire engine on the other side.
I assume the flight attendants had a more private ceremony.
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i feel it's a waste of water, they should at least wash the plane while they're at it! ;)
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WOW!! Just saw this:
French Train Hero Spencer Stone Critically Stabbed Leaving Gay Nightclub in Sacramento
by Andy Towle
October 8, 2015 | 2:55pm
Spencer Stone, the U.S. Airman involved in thwarting a terrorist attack on a French train bound for Paris in August, was critically stabbed early Thursday morning after leaving a gay nightclub with friends in Sacramento. Police do not believe it was terrorist-related or a hate crime.
The Sacramento PD posted this report:
On Thursday, October 8, 2015, at 12:46 a.m., the Sacramento Police Department received a call from a passerby that a subject had been stabbed in the area of 21st Street and K Street.
http://www.towleroad.com/2015/10/spencer-stone-stabbed/
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Best wishes to Spencer Stone, for a speedy recovery !
********
I did catch a remark from a GOP congressman, on CNN, this morning, that confirms what I knew was possible. He said it may come to the Speaker of the House being elected by a majority of Republicans, and a minority of Democrats, forming a one-time coalition to make the 30-40 tea party members irrelevant, and unable to deadlock government.
The Constitution says nothing about political parties, and the Speaker can be elected by just any majority.
Nancy Pelosi should do the right thing, and release Democratic votes for a conservative Republican non-crazy.
******
And, finally, Russia struck Iran with 2 missiles meant for Syria. It's getting crazy over there ::)......
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And, finally, Russia struck Iran with 2 missiles meant for Syria. It's getting crazy over there ::)......
I can hear Putin now. "Well, 6 of one half a dozen of another........" :P
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I did catch a remark from a GOP congressman, on CNN, this morning, that confirms what I knew was possible. He said it may come to the Speaker of the House being elected by a majority of Republicans, and a minority of Democrats, forming a one-time coalition to make the 30-40 tea party members irrelevant, and unable to deadlock government.
The Constitution says nothing about political parties, and the Speaker can be elected by just any majority.
Nancy Pelosi should do the right thing, and release Democratic votes for a conservative Republican non-crazy.
I heard this evening that the guy who was supposed to succeed Boehner dropped out of the race.
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I heard this evening that the guy who was supposed to succeed Boehner dropped out of the race.
Yeah, he couldn't get the Tea Party votes, so, not enough for a democrat-republican split on party lines. That's why Democrats should support a moderate or non-crazy conservative Republican, before the upcoming debt-ceiling vote.
Also, turns out that if the GOP can't agree on the next Speaker, under House rules, a Speaker pro-temp takes over until somebody is elected. That pro-temp is always someone chosen by any newly elected Speaker, and given in secrecy to the House clerk, which Boehner did. Just who that is, nobody else knows, but that person stays no matter how many ballots it takes, until there is a majority. It's gone to hundreds of ballots, in the 19th century.
But, the Tea Party would probably say the House rules are unconstitutional, and force a crisis there.
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I heard this evening that the guy who was supposed to succeed Boehner dropped out of the race.
#Hungria :D
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True if you are equating the police to rapists.
Come to think of it, I do remember some bizarre 'equating' on this forum. In 2008, AAMOF. The names are familiar.
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^^^^^^
Still the victim of incorrect thinking, I see, after all these years, but thanks for sharing.
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Welcome back, Lyle
Good to see obama paying attention to the problems facing the US...he's an idiot...maybe they can trade: kim and kanye in the wh, michelle and barack in a reality show...let's see: which would be worse?
Since announcing his intentions to run for president, Kanye West has the political world buzzing. On Saturday (Oct. 10), President Barack Obama addressed the crowd and took the opportunity to give West some advice for 2020 at the Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco.
Before a crowd of 1,300 supporters, President Obama addressed the rapper's possible run and offered advice for his campaign. The easy going president even threw in a few jokes, which the crowd loved.
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Customs Computers Down At Airports Nationwide
Passengers are not happy.
Travelers at Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Dallas-Forth Worth, Charlotte and Baltimore airports reported technical problems checking in to customs on Wednesday evening.
Representatives from several major airports said it appeared to be a "national outage," and referred HuffPost to Customs and Border Protection, which has not yet responded to calls or emails.
According to CNBC, the malfunction appears to stem from terror watch lists.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/customs-check-in-down-across-major-airports-nationwide_561ef1a0e4b0c5a1ce6200b5?ir=Travel§ion=travel&utm_campaign=101415&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-travel&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fjustin-trudeau-02_zpssqvmzvye.jpg&hash=b177cfc0b4b895636eb7185ee6c36620a9e63b5b)
Canada is back! Meet our new Prime-Minister, Justin Trudeau.
Apparently he was out at 8:00AM in front of a metro station in his riding this morning shaking hands and thanking people.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fjustin-trudeau-01_zpsyw0nsz8h.jpg&hash=9e9aac298743da233ee26fb293e838c4f70372d3)
Here's a pic of him taken for a Charity Boxing match. Yep, he won.
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Sorry to be taking so much space but I'm pretty stoked.
This is the guy Canadians finally kicked to the curb yesterday:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FSTEPHEN-HARPER-01_zpsis8cusiv.jpg&hash=14fd9e02407eb64586d8bd6e4389d866b047d647)
Stephen Harper was our version of George W. Bush minus the charisma. I will miss his Lego hair.
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I'm getting pretty excited about him from south of the border too.
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I just wish it would happen here in the UK!
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But when you think what "Liberal" means in Australia.... :)
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Conservative...............I believe! ;) ;)
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The Liberals in Canada follow the standard Western European definition of liberal. And the New Democrats have been described as Liberals in a hurry.
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In other words, the Liberal party is centrist and the NDP is left-of-centre. Interestingly, in my riding there were two communist candidates: The Communist Party and the Marxist-Leninist Party. They received 90 and 95 votes respectively.
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I was interested to see describe your electoral area as a "riding" Oilgun.
We used to have West, North and East Ridings in the UK in the county of Yorkshire, but they don't call them that any more.
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Yes, I've never come across it anywhere else.
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Yeah, well that's life in the colonies, lol! Officially they are called Electoral Districts but Riding is still widely used, including on the CBC website.
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Thought I saw a post from Linda, about a new thread, but, now it's not there.
Anyway, having recovered from 2 weeks of pneumonia, low-grade, am a little fuzzy, but, these odds and ends:
* The whole Benghazi issue is a nothing, as neither side cannot mention the most important facts. Ambassador Stevens, as I recall, was warned not to take any risks during a 3 day period surrounding the 9/11 date, and reaction to a film. He chose to go to Benghazi, and risk the lives of his security team. For something that could have waited.
The bad guys killed him and others, but, he used extremely poor judgment, and neither side can say that.
* Jeb Bush's claim that his brother kept us safe, was FINALLY called out by none other than Donald Trump. The truth is that Bush ignored multiple warnings, including reports from FBI agents in the field, a one-time dossier left on his desk by the outgoing President, and also delayed repeated requests from the FBI chief for an urgent meeting.
We suffered the worst attack during Bush's watch, and he was derelict in duty. Once again, circumstances silenced the press.
* I hope the warnings on Hurricane Patricia are CNN hype. Still, the explosion from a tropical storm to a Cat 5 in 24 hours, signals a transition to extreme vulnerability from the unprecedented weather shifts.
I hope Mexico gets by ok, and that any track through the U.S. Southwest with rain and tornados, is not there.
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Yeah, well that's life in the colonies, lol! Officially they are called Electoral Districts but Riding is still widely used, including on the CBC website.
Well, I really like it. Having just spent 12 days in the North East of England, I decided that the counties of North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire etc would sound much better as the North and East Ridings. :)
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Well, I really like it. Having just spent 12 days in the North East of England, I decided that the counties of North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire etc would sound much better as the North and East Ridings. :)
The counties of the state of Delaware used to be divided into hundreds, but I don't know if the term is still in use.
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We had those here too. I think it is archaic here, but you still get it on old maps. We live in the Rochford Hundred!
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When Louisiana became part of the US in 1803, the territorial government created counties to overlay the already existing system of parishes, but this never really took. Although the counties weren't officially abolished until 1845, the parish remained the main substate unit of government, and remains so to the present day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parishes_in_Louisiana
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We had those here too. I think it is archaic here, but you still get it on old maps. We live in the Rochford Hundred!
How cool! :)
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'Cocks not glocks': University of Texas students to protest gun laws with dildos
Date October 12, 2015
"Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?" In the US, it's probably a gun – but at the University of Texas in Austin, students who don't like weapons are planning a protest that is truly below-the-belt.
From August next year, a new law will allow Texas students to carry concealed handguns in classrooms, dormitories and other college buildings, as long as they hold the appropriate gun licence. The measure, known as the "campus carry law", was passed earlier this year.
By contrast, students who bring sex toys onto campus run the risk of being reprimanded for obscenity under the Texas Penal Code and the university's rules.
So, on the first day of class next August, thousands of students will arm themselves with plastic penises to demonstrate their displeasure with the new laws.
"We are strapping gigantic swinging dildos to our backpacks in protest of campus carry," wrote student Jessica Jin, who created the Facebook event "Campus DILDO Carry".
http://www.smh.com.au/world/cocks-not-glocks-university-of-texas-students-to-protest-gun-laws-with-dildos-20151011-gk6j8w.html (http://www.smh.com.au/world/cocks-not-glocks-university-of-texas-students-to-protest-gun-laws-with-dildos-20151011-gk6j8w.html)
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'Cocks not glocks': University of Texas students to protest gun laws with dildos
Date October 12, 2015
"Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?" In the US, it's probably a gun – but at the University of Texas in Austin, students who don't like weapons are planning a protest that is truly below-the-belt.
From August next year, a new law will allow Texas students to carry concealed handguns in classrooms, dormitories and other college buildings, as long as they hold the appropriate gun licence. The measure, known as the "campus carry law", was passed earlier this year.
By contrast, students who bring sex toys onto campus run the risk of being reprimanded for obscenity under the Texas Penal Code and the university's rules.
So, on the first day of class next August, thousands of students will arm themselves with plastic penises to demonstrate their displeasure with the new laws.
"We are strapping gigantic swinging dildos to our backpacks in protest of campus carry," wrote student Jessica Jin, who created the Facebook event "Campus DILDO Carry".
http://www.smh.com.au/world/cocks-not-glocks-university-of-texas-students-to-protest-gun-laws-with-dildos-20151011-gk6j8w.html (http://www.smh.com.au/world/cocks-not-glocks-university-of-texas-students-to-protest-gun-laws-with-dildos-20151011-gk6j8w.html)
Weapons of masturbation!
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I just wanted to share for those of you who aren't following the event topic.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi275.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fjj282%2FSanFranciscoJohn%2FDiana%2520Tucson_zpszzvdpy7y.jpg&hash=271b399f2386254bacc2195db2a06f791f88c56e) (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/SanFranciscoJohn/media/Diana%20Tucson_zpszzvdpy7y.jpg.html)
Message from Diana:
"Thank you all who came so far to see Brokeback on the big screen at The Loft. The 35 mm print was stunning. Larry and I both are deeply touched by how this film has affected each of you. And I am so lucky, so grateful, to have played a part in its long journey and introduction into your lives. And to each of you in this group and beyond, your stories, your lovely gifts, and the ways in which Brokeback has changed your lives mean more to me than any award ever could. Truly..."
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Yay!
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Very glad to see the forum members with Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry - I don't usually follow the gathering thread, but this one is must-see !
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Fjustin-trudeau-01_zpsyw0nsz8h.jpg&hash=9e9aac298743da233ee26fb293e838c4f70372d3)
:o
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Horrific stuff is happening in Paris right now.
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Yes, it is just terrible, yet again.
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(We're talking about it in the Diner too.)
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Death toll stands at 153 people. 112 people in the concert hall. 14 at the restaurant, 19 outside a bar, 4 on the street, and 4 outside the stadium.
This is almost too horrendous to fathom.
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My thoughts are with the French people. Unbelievable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il8r6Ev-zm8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il8r6Ev-zm8)
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Tried to stay away from the media most of the day - too hard to face.
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I'm so sorry for all that's happened...some sharing of support and solidarity around the world
One World Trade Center New York
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gannett-cdn.com%2F-mm-%2Fb4e84d301cbac05d3b75d2538a95104b942db0a1%2Fc%3D226-0-3773-2667%26amp%3Br%3Dx408%26amp%3Bc%3D540x405%2Flocal%2F-%2Fmedia%2F2015%2F11%2F14%2FUSATODAY%2FUSATODAY%2F635830729231921438-AP-APTOPIX-FRANCE-PARIS-SHOOTING-NEW-YORK-77507392.JPG&hash=e89a474f40b584e2eb2a5a09a2e09f4529a1abe8)
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Rio de Janeiro
from @DekeBridges
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTwCS1IXIAEtwXs.jpg)
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from @TheLadBible, Wembley Stadium is illuminated with the colours of the French Flag
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTu82tzUEAAAemc.jpg)
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The Rio pic is particularly impressive.
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Yes, Ing. I'm so sorry for your friends who live in Paris, even though they're ok, it's such a horrible thing to happen so close to home, where you should be safe...
@SydOperaHouse
Tonight our sails will be lit in blue, white and red, in solidarity with the people of #France.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTxBos2UsAEegxd.jpg)
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Yes, Ing. I'm so sorry for your friends who live in Paris, even though they're ok, it's such a horrible thing to happen so close to home, where you should be safe...
Thanks.
We are all at a loss. It is simply the worst which has been experienced so far...
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Tried to stay away from the media most of the day - too hard to face.
Yes, Ingy. This is what I am going as well.
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(((Lita)))
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((((Ingy)))) ♥ ♥ ♥
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Thinking of everyone over there but finding it hard to even imagine the horror.
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Madonna gives a speech about Paris at the Stockholm stop of her Rebel Heart tour.
skip ahead to 2:45, when the speech starts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oh-6diFXs4
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@SydOperaHouse
Tonight our sails will be lit in blue, white and red, in solidarity with the people of #France.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTxBos2UsAEegxd.jpg)
Wow. Thanks for posting these, Nancy.
Thinking of you, Ingy.
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You're welcome, Sonja. And I just saw this...
French Artist Tells How He Created ‘Symbol of Peace for Paris’
"In all this horror there’s something positive that people are coming together in a sense of unity and peace."
Jean Jullien had just begun his vacation when he heard on the radio about the terrorist attacks in his native France that killed more than 120 people on Friday. While others around the world struggled to put their feelings about the violence in Paris into words on social media, Jullien, a professional illustrator, picked up his brush instead.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftimedotcom.files.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F11%2Fscreen-shot-2015-11-14-at-12-17-29-pm.png%3Fw%3D486&hash=ca596d7eaac5f5d979c62fe991f6d79425a19a47)
http://time.com/4113068/paris-peace-sign-artist-interview/ (http://time.com/4113068/paris-peace-sign-artist-interview/)
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Almost unbearable!
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Another mass shooting, this time, in San Bernadino, California. Am remembering Dave Cullen's caution, from years ago, not to rely on the first reports, or even the days after.
This one has me over the line. I was passing a friend in the hallway, as she was taking her dog out, for a walk. She's the only other news groupie in this building, so, we keep up, together. As she passed, it was just a toss-off, but I said "No active shooters today?". And she said, no, thank God, all quiet on cable tv.
And I go upstairs, and there it is... and it's just affecting me differently.
My hope is that things remain limited, and my heart goes out for the victims and their families, as well as those traumatized.
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Is there no end to this madness, Tony?
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No, it seems there is not, Jess. It is extremely frustrating to the normal person living herein the US.
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Is there no end to this madness, Tony?
Jess, I think Linda is right, at least for the next few years. And am sorely worried that the graph line is upwards, never down.
One of your contributions to discussions of this subject, here, was your focus on the mental health aspect. I've been greatly influenced by that, and I really believe the educational system should start early and keep going.
But I don't know how we can unravel the social culture that lets this and other new wildnesses keep showing up and becoming more and more difficult to resolve or reduce, by reason and solid, serious change.
Meanwhile, the news is still unfolding, and it's all very, very sick.
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I can't see how guns can be taken out of US society when there are so many of them about. Here in the UK we have had amnesties which have brought forth tons of weapons, but I don't know if that would work in the US where attitudes to weapons are so different.
I wonder if as it is probably not possible to remove the guns at this stage. would it be possible to make it more difficult to obtain ammunition?
Perhaps making it only available to someone with a special licence or something like that.
Only to those who have been properly checked out and have been able to show a need for it.
I know it would still take years to do.
On mental health, I suspect that most of us will be affected by mental health problems at some time in our lives. More knowledge, more information, less stigma, and more help would be a start.
And for God's sake nobody let someone with a current mental health problem anywhere near a gun!
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Why the hell would Time even consider this?? ??
The Absurd Reason Why Kim Davis Is Being Touted For TIME's Person Of The Year
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kim-davis-time-person-of-the-year_56619f95e4b079b2818e33b3?ir=Gay%2BVoices§ion=gay-voices&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
In one of the comments, someone posted this!! I love it!!
(https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/2887/4086/original.jpg)
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Why the hell would Time even consider this?? ??
The Absurd Reason Why Kim Davis Is Being Touted For TIME's Person Of The Year
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kim-davis-time-person-of-the-year_56619f95e4b079b2818e33b3?ir=Gay%2BVoices§ion=gay-voices&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
In one of the comments, someone posted this!! I love it!!
(https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/2887/4086/original.jpg)
They aren't really considering it are they? She was but a faint blip in the scheme of things.
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They aren't really considering it are they? She was but a faint blip in the scheme of things.
Yeah they actually are. This is legitimate. The others considered are Pope Francis and Malala Yousafzai.
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oh give me a break
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I went to the Time website and voted against her, so far the results are 7% yes and 93% no for having her as Time's person of the year.
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I went through the list of the nominees, and voted on each 'contestant'.
The leader for people's choice was Bernie Sanders with 73% for and 27% against. In second place was Malala Yousafzai with 64% for and 36% against. Third is Pope Francis with a 50% split.
I was very happy to see that the 'pop culture' people like Nikki Minaj, Adele, Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, and others like them were getting 'no' votes by wide margins of 80% or more.
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what is WRONG with him?
Obama: U.S. safe against ISIS attack
Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama said in an interview that aired Thursday that he is confident the U.S. is safe from a Paris-style attack from ISIS and that American law enforcement is well equipped to protect the nation during the holidays.
"ISIL will not pose an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses," Obama told CBS. "The American people should feel confident that, you know, we are going to be able to defend ourselves and make sure that, you know, we have a good holiday and go about our lives."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/politics/barack-obama-isis/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/politics/barack-obama-isis/)
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what is WRONG with him?
Obama: U.S. safe against ISIS attack
Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama said in an interview that aired Thursday that he is confident the U.S. is safe from a Paris-style attack from ISIS and that American law enforcement is well equipped to protect the nation during the holidays.
"ISIL will not pose an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses," Obama told CBS. "The American people should feel confident that, you know, we are going to be able to defend ourselves and make sure that, you know, we have a good holiday and go about our lives."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/politics/barack-obama-isis/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/politics/barack-obama-isis/)
Well, considering that you have a better chance of winning the lottery than being killed by a terrorist, I think Obama has his priorities straight.
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what is WRONG with them?
Senate rejects ban on gun purchases for people on terrorist watch list
The Washington Times - Thursday, December 3, 2015
The Senate turned aside a measure Thursday that would prohibit suspected terrorists from buying guns, as a marathon vote series to amend an Obamacare repeal bill morphed into a heated debate over the reach of the Second Amendment.
Though it would not become law — President Obama is poised to veto the underlying bill — Democrats wanted to put senators on record in the wake of yet another mass shooting Wednesday that killed 14 people in California.
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Just when I thought people couldn't get any worse...
Crazed Florida professor could be fired for harassing parents of Sandy Hook victim for 3 years while claiming school massacre was a hoax
A twisted professor at a Florida college is about to lose his job after waging a sick conspiracy campaign against the parents of one of the children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre.
Florida Atlantic University announced Wednesday it was taking steps to remove controversial communications Prof. James Tracy after his repeated claims that the shooting that left 26 people dead in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax.
Tracy reportedly was harassing Lenny and Veronique Pozner, claiming their slain son, Noah, never existed, according to the couple.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/professor-fired-harassing-parents-sandy-hook-victim-article-1.2468239 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/professor-fired-harassing-parents-sandy-hook-victim-article-1.2468239)
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Finally...
Bill Cosby Is Charged With Felony Sex Crime Over 2004 Case
Updated December 30, 201512:57 PM ET
Narrowly beating a statute of limitations deadline to file charges, prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced a felony sexual assault charge against comedian Bill Cosby on Wednesday. A former Temple University employee says Cosby drugged and assaulted her in January of 2004.
Montgomery County, Pa., prosecutors have charged Cosby with aggravated indecent assault, a first-degree felony.
"These charges stem from a sexual assault," according to prosecutor Kevin Steele, who said the assault occurred at Cosby's house in Cheltenham, a Montgomery County township that's just outside Philadelphia.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/30/461482697/bill-cosby-is-charged-with-aggravated-indecent-assault-in-philadelphia-area-case (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/30/461482697/bill-cosby-is-charged-with-aggravated-indecent-assault-in-philadelphia-area-case)
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This new year starts off with strangeness.
The Bill Cosby arrest, after so very many allegations, is justice delayed, but surreal. This guy was the reason my blue collar neighborhood friends never went racial or racist.
And the emerging truth about him, now that he's so very old, is strange, depressing, and sad. I hope the victims find some peace.
I am way disoriented, today, over the lack of news coverage on the 60 story hotel that burned, in Dubai. Given the timing, it was standing out - not a word of possible terrorism. I suppose a curtain fire in a modern hotel could take a building out, but the media never once wondered about any other reason. And they parsed their words carefully, and then dropped the story.
Then, the mega-storm that HuffPo said would wreck Iceland, and really be catastrophic in the UK, after which it would raise the temp at the North Pole by 70 degrees. Very little news, and some, or a lot, of hype.
I guess we've reached the formal tipping point, and, from here, news is not professional anymore.
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NATALIE COLE, GRAMMY WINNING SINGER, HAS DIED
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Natalie Cole, the daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, who carved out her own considerable success with R&B hits like "Our Love" and "This Will Be" before triumphantly intertwining their legacies to make his "Unforgettable" their signature hit through technological wizardry, has died. She was 65.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_NATALIE_COLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
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Wayne Rogers Dies: ‘M.A.S.H.’s Trapper John Was 82
Actor and entrepreneur Wayne Rogers, best known for playing Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre from 1972-1975 on the long-running CBS dramedy M.A.S.H. has died today following complications from pneumonia. His publicist confirmed the news to Deadline: he was 82.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1933, he was a graduate of The Webb School in Tennessee and earned a history degree from Princeton, then served in the US Navy before embarking on his career as an actor. Acting on both television and film, among his early roles he played Slim Davis on the soap Search for Tomorrow in 1959, appeared on Odds Against Tomorrow in 1960, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Rogers also co-starred on the ABC Western drama Stagecoach West as Luke Perry from 1960-1961.
http://deadline.com/2015/12/m-a-s-h-actor-wayne-rogers-dies-at-82-1201674635/
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Tony...I looked up the storm...it's true, the temp went way above freezing and you are also correct when you say that it wasn't breaking news. The fire in Dubai apparently had some injuries and 1 or 2 deaths. With that tall a building, that's very lucky. I've had to retire 2 months ago and now I don't listen to the CBC radio news in my car twice a day and I seldom watch news on the TV. I try not to depress myself too much. To find out about the storm, I had to put it into the internet word for word to get a hit. By the by. I kept up on what has happening in the world by listening twice a day for 15 minutes!
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About the so-called the Sandy Hook conspiracy...I live in Canada on the far west coast, in a very small town and I have a couple of friends who voiced these thoughts to me and were convinced it was true. I guess we have reached a point of so much information bombarding us daily, that we are unable to take any reality from it. How could you stop the rumours from spreading, short of flying people to Sandy Hook and showing them the graves. There is no end to stupidity and now we can spread it everywhere. :'(
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NATALIE COLE, GRAMMY WINNING SINGER, HAS DIED
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Natalie Cole, the daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, who carved out her own considerable success with R&B hits like "Our Love" and "This Will Be" before triumphantly intertwining their legacies to make his "Unforgettable" their signature hit through technological wizardry, has died. She was 65.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_NATALIE_COLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
I'm so surprised to read this, I hadn't heard it in the news at all.
Natalie was a hit-maker in the 70s, scoring quite a few Billboard Hot 100 hits.
"This Will Be" - #6
"Inseparable" - #32
"Sophisticated Lady" - #25
"I've Got Love On My Mind" - #5
"Our Love" - #10
"Someone That I Used To Love" - #21
After the success of "Someone That I Used To Love" (1980), Natalie began to use drugs, and the music suffered, and the hits pretty much stopped. She went to rehab and got clean. In 1987 she released the CD "Everlasting", and her comeback got a jump start with a song called "Jump Start".
"Jump Start" - #13
"I Live For Your Love" - #13
"Pink Cadillac" - #5
"Miss You Like Crazy" - #7
"Wild Women Do" - #34
"Unforgettable" - #14
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Tony...I looked up the storm...it's true, the temp went way above freezing and you are also correct when you say that it wasn't breaking news. The fire in Dubai apparently had some injuries and 1 or 2 deaths. With that tall a building, that's very lucky. I've had to retire 2 months ago and now I don't listen to the CBC radio news in my car twice a day and I seldom watch news on the TV. I try not to depress myself too much. To find out about the storm, I had to put it into the internet word for word to get a hit. By the by. I kept up on what has happening in the world by listening twice a day for 15 minutes!
I never found out until you posted, that the storm did, in fact, raise the temp.
The news is less and less balanced or reliable, but I still watch. Over-all, about the same total as you. And always get the weather!
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Awww man. Alan Rickman died. I am so upset to hear this. He was one of my favorite actors in everything he did. I did not know he was sick. :'(
Actor Alan Rickman Dies at 69
Beloved British actor Alan Rickman died on Thursday in London at age 69.
"The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69," the British actor's family said in a statement (via BBC News). "He was surrounded by family and friends."
Rickman had not previously spoken about his illness publicly.
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/actor-alan-rickman-dies-69-124700028.html
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Emma Thompson, who played Professor Trelawney (and also starred alongside Rickman in Sense and Sensibility and Love Actually), shared her feelings in a statement to The New York Times:
Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just
kissed him goodbye. What I remember most in this moment of painful
leave-taking is his humor, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. His
capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word. The
intransigence which made him the great artist he was—his ineffable and
cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me,
and the fact that he never spared me the view. I learned a lot from him.
He was the finest of actors and directors. I couldn't wait to see what
he was going to do with his face next. I consider myself hugely
privileged to have worked with him so many times and to have been
directed by him. He was the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics. I
trusted him absolutely. He was, above all things, a rare and unique
human being and we shall not see his like again.
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Sending sympathy out to Celine Dion.
On January 14, 2016 Celine's husband, Rene Angelil passed away after a long battle with throat cancer. He and Celine were married for 22 years. Two days later, January 16th, the news is that Celine's older brother (47) died today, also after a battle with cancer.
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Thinking of you, Ingy.
Danke.
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Sending sympathy out to Celine Dion.
On January 14, 2016 Celine's husband, Rene Angelil passed away after a long battle with throat cancer. He and Celine were married for 22 years. Two days later, January 16th, the news is that Celine's older brother (47) died today, also after a battle with cancer.
Yes, my sympathy goes out to her too.
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2016 is starting out a deadly year for celebrities.
The Eagles' Glenn Frey dead at 67
By Melonyce McAfee, CNN
Glenn Frey, a founding member of the rock band the Eagles, has died at 67, a publicist for the band has confirmed.
"Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia," reads a post on the band's official website.
Frey had been suffering from intestinal issues, which caused the postponement of the band's inclusion in the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors.
Frey and the other original members of the Eagles — Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon -- came together to form singer Linda Ronstadt's backup band in the early 1970s.
They were all experienced musicians who forged a laid-back, country-tinged sound that the Eagles would eventually make famous.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/18/entertainment/glenn-frey-obit-feat/
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The Eagles scored a number of Billboard Top 40 hits, and Glenn Frey got a few solo hits on the chart as well.
"Take It Easy" - #12
"Witchy Woman" - #9
"Peaceful Easy Feeling" - #22
"Already Gone" - #32
"Best of My Love" - #1
"One Of These Nights" - #1
"Lyin' Eyes" - #2
"Take It To The Limit" - #4
"New Kid In Town" - #1
"Hotel California" -#1
"Life In The Fast Lane" - #11
"Please Be Home For Christmas" - #18
"Heartache Tonight" - #1
"The Long Run" - #8
"I Can't Tell You Why" - #8
"Seven Bridges Road" - #21
"Get Over It" - #31
Glenn Frey solo songs
"I Found Somebody" - #31
"The One You Love" - #15
"All Those Lies" - #40
"Sexy Girl" - #20
"The Heat Is On" - #2
"Smuggler's Blues" - #12
"You Belong To The City" - #2
"True Love" - #13
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"Smuggler's Blues" - #12 Miami Vice
rest in peace, like you say bad start to the new year!! :(
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No-one mentioned David Bowie? *surprised*
I wasn't a Bowie fan, but I have to say his death hit me. So sudden...
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Hello sonja,
I think people were talking about his death in the "What are listening to"
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So many people have died since Christmas.
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Really didn't know where to post this. It is not world news...but it certainly made me gasp.
She may be a lovely woman and they say she "looks healthy".... but there's being slim and there's being skeletal thin.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3402809/Angelina-Jolie-Kung-Fu-Panda-3-premiere.html
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I don't think she looks healthy at all, despite what THEY say!
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No Memorial For Slain Migrant Worker In Sweden For Fear Of Offending Migrants
The municipal government in the Swedish town where an asylum centre worker was stabbed to death refuses to allow a memorial at the centre for fear of offending migrants.
Swedish media SVT reports that the co-workers of the victim wished to honour the memory of 22-year-old Alexandra Mezher (pictured) who was stabbed to death by an underage Somali male on the 25th of January. The case provoked an international uproar which has led many to question the Swedish government’s handling of the migrant crisis.
The story of the murder has resonated across Sweden and with the Swedish people. Inspired to take action because of the events, Swedish men joined together to form groups to protect women in Stockholm train station from unwanted sexual advances from migrants.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/04/2939393/ (http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/02/04/2939393/)
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Way to go, girls...
How Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem Betrayed Women Everywhere
02/08/2016 09:29 pm ET | Updated 1 day ago
Katie Dreyer
I am a young woman, a feminist, and I support Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. Up until this past weekend, I did not see anything contradictory in this statement. However, two feminist icons, Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem have recently made statements implying that my position is both a betrayal of my gender and my identification as a feminist.
In the past few days, Albright and Steinem have shamed young female feminists for not supporting Hillary Clinton in her bid for the presidency. "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other!" Ms. Albright declared at a rally for Clinton in New Hampshire. Mrs. Clinton, apparently in agreement, grinned proudly at these words.
Ms. Steinem is also frustrated with the young women who have abandoned Clinton to support Sanders. Last Friday, she told Bill Maher that younger women were selling out by supporting Bernie Sanders, a sad phenomenon that can apparently be explained by young people's desire to impress the opposite sex: "When you're young, you're thinking: 'Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie," she said glibly. While Ms. Steinem has since apologized, her words still sting.
The depth of my disappointment in both Steinem and Albright is immeasurable. These are two fiercely intelligent women who stood up for women's rights, who rose to preeminent positions in society, and served as towering role models for many young women like myself. The reason I am upset though, is not because I find their comments flippant, dismissive, and shallow (even though I do). I am upset because both Albright and Steinem are betraying their own ideals and definitions of feminism in their desperate attempt to vote a woman into the White House.[/b]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-dreyer/madeleine-and-gloria-betrayed-women-everywhere_b_9190676.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-dreyer/madeleine-and-gloria-betrayed-women-everywhere_b_9190676.html)
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First of all, I sat through ten months of Carly Fiorina ads and interviews
when she ran for California Senator and I absolutely HATE that woman.
The mere mention of her name makes me angry. It's all I can do not to
resort to epithets here just thinking about her. She is absolutely vile and
makes Hillary Clinton look like Mother Teresa. That cartoon is quite false.
IF Fiorina's baggage is as small as portrayed there, then it also weighs ten
times as much and is all poison.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthecriticalmind.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F12%2Fquote.jpeg&hash=00c2f3deb3ce7a12281c2368feddf89d267c75b9)
Second, though I only know about the controversy you mention peripherally, I happen
to be dismayed that anybody is supporting Bernie Sanders to the degree they are.
What his campaign is doing is the equivalent of giving as much candy to children as they
want. Sure--what he's saying sounds really good, and I like what he has to say, too, but
there is no way he's going to be able to push those far left socialist policies through Congress.
Has he even registered as a Democrat, yet?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-vuktuJAx85o%2FVaO4EuwORYI%2FAAAAAAAAD5Q%2FzrXj73eSduU%2Fs1600%2Fangry%252Bbernie.tiff&hash=a859791ed7bacd61d5258963146c6645cda0a02e)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk%2Fi%2Fkeep-calm-and-stop-the-bs-1.png&hash=771a989d03b03d5a7fb9847c2d28ccb27a575697)
Plus, if Trump is actually the Republican nominee he will wipe the floor with Sanders.
He reminds me of McCarthy's following in 1968. He had a huge following among the youth
of America (and you had to be 21 then) because he was giving them what they wanted to
hear. His popularity caused Johnson to decline to run for another term. I hope the people
come to their senses pretty quickly. But this year voters don't seem to be thinking much
about what they're doing. They're just gravitating toward the candidates who're acting like
Howard Beale or "the man behind the curtain" in The Wizard of Oz.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frlv.zcache.com%2Fdont_get_berned_by_bernie_sanders_2_inch_round_button-rcd5c12ffbf744b78a153310c50537694_x7efx_1024.jpg&hash=a4f6cb4f2f7826b79fdd877e203db02bf2b29b43)
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I don't like Fiorina, the cartoon could have been any of the other candidates.
If Trump (or any other Republican) wins, we're doomed. Bernie is the lesser of two evils, and I doubt he has a chance. But HRC is evil at its worst. She should be in prison, not running for president...
eta: Trump will not win, he will not be the Republican nominee, he will not win the general election. No. He will not. He is an empty shirt with no ideas, only rhetoric. He is not electable. There. I put it in writing...now MSNBC can stop worrying about it...
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Heh! :)
Why do you think Hillary is "evil at its worst?"
I don't have that feeling about her.
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It's very difficult for us over here to have hopes for anyone that's on offer. :( Any guidance available?
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Heh! :)
Why do you think Hillary is "evil at its worst?"
I don't have that feeling about her.
Some overlap with Bill, but she knew about everything. I know that none of these things will matter to Hillary lovers, and this list will be dismissed...I just don't know why....I won't engage further in defending how I feel about them both.
It's also my personal opinion that she was indirectly involved in Vince Foster's death, but I realize my belief is mostly because I hate her so much for all the other shit...
I also think she doesn't like "the American people" that she says she "serves". It's all personal opinion...
Benghazi: Four Americans killed, an entire system of weak diplomatic security uncloaked, and the credibility of a president and his secretary of state damaged.
Asia fundraising scandal: More than four dozen convicted in a scandal that made the Lincoln bedroom, White House donor coffees and Buddhist monks infamous.
Hillary’s private emails: Hundreds of national secrets already leaked through private email and the specter of a criminal probe looming large.
Whitewater: A large S&L failed and several people went to prison.
Travelgate: The firing of the career travel office was the very first crony capitalism scandal of the Clinton era.
Humagate: An aide’s sweetheart job arrangement.
Pardongate: The first time donations were ever connected as possible motives for presidential pardons.
Foundation favors: Revealing evidence that the Clinton Foundation was a pay-to-play back door to the State Department, and an open checkbook for foreigners to curry favor.
Mysterious files: The disappearance and re-discovery of Hillary’s Rose Law Firm records.
Filegate: The Clinton use of FBI files to dig for dirt on their enemies.
Hubble trouble: The resignation and imprisonment of Hillary law partner Web Hubbell.
The Waco tragedy: One of the most lethal exercises of police power in American history.
The Clinton’s Swedish slush fund: $26 million collected overseas with little accountability and lots of questions about whether contributors got a pass on Iran sanctions.
Troopergate: From the good old days, did Arkansas state troopers facilitate Bill Clinton’s philandering?
Gennifer Flowers: The tale that catapulted a supermarket tabloid into the big time.
Bill’s Golden Tongue: His and her speech fees shocked the American public.
Boeing Bucks: Boeing contributed big-time to Bill; Hillary helped the company obtain a profitable Russian contract.
Larry Lawrence: How did a fat cat donor get buried in Arlington National Cemetery without war experience?
The cattle futures: Hillary as commodity trader extraordinaire.
Chinagate: Nuclear secrets go to China on her husband’s watch.
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It's very difficult for us over here to have hopes for anyone that's on offer. :( Any guidance available?
Sara, I've been uneasy about all the candidates, except O'Malley (?),governor of Maryland, and Jim Webb, and they went nowhere. It's like the political system has jumped the shark (meaning, like a tv show, it's run through its script).
What bothers me most is that we are so divided, I fear we are near to ungovernable.
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It's my opinion that your fear that "we are near to ungovernable" has been
nurtured along by the right wing of the Republican party that has been telling
their people for decades that "government is bad". Imagine so many people
wanting IN to an institution that they hate. It became a slogan when Reagan
proclaimed in his very first address to the country: “Government is not the
solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
The country started becoming more and more divided ever since that moment
until now we have both sides who rarely listen to each other any more.
So, who to vote for?
On the basis of a possible 4 Supreme Court nominees that may be up for appointment
in the next term, I will vote for whatever Democrat is nominated. I don't believe for a
moment B.S. can do nearly anything he is espousing based on this division of which Tony
speaks and even though people will say (though no one's asked yet) that his being Jewish
wouldn't affect any voters (like they said about Romney being Mormon) I do feel it will in
some places, much less the fact he's an extreme left-wing socialist. He makes McGovern
seem almost centrist and look what happened to him in his election. I've had my issues
with Bill Clinton over the years and Hillary, too. I do feel that much of what Morrobay
listed, and thank you for sharing your opinions, are issues that were severely trumped
up by the opposition, as much as lists of things George Bush or Obama are accused of,
have been exaggerated. You take a problem, exaggerate it to no end so people start
believing that "something" isn't right about it, but no definitive facts are ever proved,
and you leave the public wary, and tired.
The truth is, also, that politics is messy. Perfection is not possible and no one is ever
happy with them. How could they be when families hardly ever get along in such
fashion.
So, with the possibilities presented right now, I go with Hillary Clinton. Whatever anyone
thinks of her, I do not think she's out to destroy the country. Her party doesn't feel that
"government IS the problem") and I don't think I'd ever vote for someone who wants to
sabotage the very thing they want to be a part of.
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Good post, Lyle !
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Thanks for your posts, Tony and Lyle. Well, we can only watch helplessly.
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So, with the possibilities presented right now, I go with Hillary Clinton. Whatever anyone
thinks of her, I do not think she's out to destroy the country. Her party doesn't feel that
"government IS the problem") and I don't think I'd ever vote for someone who wants to
sabotage the very thing they want to be a part of.
I fully agree.
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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies At 79
Control of the nation's top court now hangs in the balance.
Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at a ranch in West Texas on Saturday, opening up a vacancy on the nation's narrowly divided highest court with less than a year left in President Barack Obama's term.
Scalia appears to have died in his sleep of natural causes, according to reports.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/antonin-scalia-dead_us_56bfa5f7e4b0b40245c6f0d9?ir=Politics§ion=us_politics&utm_campaign=021316&utm_content=FullStory&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics
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And of course the Republicans are already threatening.
Conservatives Quickly Refuse Obama Court Replacement After Scalia's Death
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scalia-obama-replacement_us_56bfabe4e4b08ffac1258cf5?ir=Politics&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003§ion=us_politics&utm_campaign=021316&utm_content=FullStory&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics
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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies At 79
Control of the nation's top court now hangs in the balance.
Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at a ranch in West Texas on Saturday, opening up a vacancy on the nation's narrowly divided highest court with less than a year left in President Barack Obama's term.
Scalia appears to have died in his sleep of natural causes, according to reports.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/antonin-scalia-dead_us_56bfa5f7e4b0b40245c6f0d9?ir=Politics§ion=us_politics&utm_campaign=021316&utm_content=FullStory&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics
Finally some good news!
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Manny Pacquiao is doubling down on his anti-gay stance -- posting a bible verse that condones putting gays to death ... hours after he was fired by Nike.
The Filipino news agency ABS-CBN captured an Instagram Manny put up early Thursday morning quoting Leviticus 20.13:
"If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death, their blood will be on their own heads."
The post has since been deleted.
TMZ Sports spoke with Manny's longtime promoter Bob Arum who says although he finds Manny's views abhorrent, he understands them because they're rooted in religious belief. Manny is a born again Christian.
Earlier this week, Manny said gays are "worse than animals" -- though he later apologized, while noting that he is still very much anti-gay marriage.
By the way, Manny's getting SUPPORT in the Philippines -- opposition senator Juan Ponce Enrile issued this message for the LGBT community: "It's better for them to go to planet Mars."
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2016/02/18/manny-pacquiao-death-to-the-gays/#ixzz40XVwv1Q1
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MSNBC’s Town Hall With Donald Trump Was Disgraceful
Is Donald Trump in trouble? After facing hostile questions from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Wednesday night—they comprehensively laid out his flip-flops, presented him with damning videotape, and asked him to explain the inconsistencies in detail—Trump was confronted by hostile audience members at MSNBC’s televised town-hall forum. When a Muslim questioner got up to ask why he had said such bigoted things about minorities, Trump seemed to struggle while Scarborough forced him to respond. The candidate looked uncomfortable, unhappy, and somewhat lost. It could be a turning point.
If only. Of course, none of this actually occurred Wednesday night, just like it hasn’t occurred once this entire campaign season. Instead, Scarborough and Brzezinski hosted what appeared to be a rehearsed and “safe” town hall, in which American voters asked the candidate such hard-hitting questions as “Why did you decide to run for president?” and “how will you set yourself apart” from other Republicans? It was completely worthless television, except in one sense: The program highlighted the many ways in which the media’s coverage of Trump has been soft, insufficient, and without substance.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/02/msnbc_s_town_hall_with_donald_trump_was_disgraceful.html (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/02/msnbc_s_town_hall_with_donald_trump_was_disgraceful.html)
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Finally some good news!
What's the difference between celebrating the death of a conservative and celebrating the death of a gay?
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What's the difference between celebrating the death of a conservative and celebrating the death of a gay?
Gays can be conservative too. Anyway, conservatives tend to want to take rights away from people.
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Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Of 'To Kill A Mockingbird,' Dies At 89
Celebrated American writer Harper Lee, best known for penning the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, has died at the age of 89.
The city clerk of Monroeville, Alabama, confirmed Lee's death to The Huffington Post.
Lee's seminal novel, which became required reading in many middle and high schools, focused a critical lens on themes of racial injustice and traditional class and gender roles. Published in July 1960, the book was an international bestseller. Lee was awarded the Pulitzer Prize the following year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harper-lee-dead-dies_us_569d601ce4b04c81376133b7?ir=Daily+Brief&utm_campaign=021916&utm_content=FullStory&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-
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Away from the US Presidency race....I read this ....this morning. Don't know whether to feel sorry for the parents....or angry at the girl ! The thought that came to my mind was:
*You can take a horse to water...but you can't make it drink* !
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3453786/I-just-want-weep-Shona-flogged-home-jewellery-pay-daughter-s-100-000-education-defiant-teen-s-dropped-school-bar-job-Magaluf.html
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Gays can be conservative too. Anyway, conservatives tend to want to take rights away from people.
Thousands of mourners pay respects at Scalia's funeral
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/20/politics/antonin-scalia-funeral/index.html
More than 6,000 mourners, including Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and members of Congress, stood in long lines Friday at the Supreme Court building for the chance to view Scalia's casket as he laid in repose.
He even has a son who is a Priest!
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One more down.
Jeb Bush Drops Out of Republican Presidential Race
David Jackson, USA TODAY 10:26 p.m. EST February 20, 2016
Jeb Bush withdrew from the Republican presidential race after his loss in South Carolina, abandoning a campaign that struggled frequently in the glare of anti-establishment politics.
"The people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken," Bush said Saturday, "and so tonight I am suspending my campaign." Bush failed to win or even place third in any of the first three GOP contests.
The son and brother of previous presidents, Bush entered the race with high name recognition and big money. But those assets turned into liabilities as Donald Trump rose in the polls and voters rebelled against traditional Republican politics.
Few candidates symbolized the establishment more than the former governor of Florida, and voters from Iowa to South Carolina said they could not support the idea of a "third Bush" in the White House in 30 years.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/20/jeb-bush-republican-presidential-race/80033408/
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https://www.rutherford.org/commentary (https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/the_people_vs._the_police_state_the_struggle_for_justice_in_the_suprem)
Here's a lengthy article/commentary to ponder many things about any new Supreme Court Justice
and he makes a lot of good points:
This is yet another spectacle, not unlike the carnival-like antics of the presidential candidates, to create division, dissension and discord and distract the populace from the nation’s steady march towards totalitarianism. Not to worry. This is a done deal. There are no surprises awaiting us. We may not know the gender, the orientation, the politics, or the ethnicity of the replacement, but those things are relatively unimportant in the larger scheme of things. The powers-that-be have already rigged the system.
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So how are you Americans dealing with the GOP leadership race? I mean, what the fuck is that all about?! It's like a bad dream. President Trump?! Is that really a possibility?! Kill me now! And on the Democrat side we have Hillary Clinton French kissing Kissinger's ass. God help us all (and I'm an atheist).
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(CNN) It's over. Donald Trump is the Republican nominee.
He just added Nevada to the growing list of caucus primary wins, and while he needs more delegates to clinch it, who the heck can stop him now?
...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/opinions/trump-will-be-republican-nominee-robbins/index.html
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"It ain't over til it's over."
--Yogi Berra
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If you read that article, one thing the author describes as a reason for
Trump's appeal is that "a lot of people hate Washington."
Well, I said that recently that it's the Republican's own fault. They
have cultivated their voters to hate Washington and hate Government.
I guess "hate" is the operative word then.
[...] Imagine so many people
wanting IN to an institution that they hate. It became a slogan when Reagan
proclaimed in his very first address to the country: “Government is not the
solution to our problem; government is the problem.” [...]
D.T. feeds nicely into this idea. What we have here is essentially a typical
third party candidate who has found the best way to run is to do it in one
of the major parties. Thanks, again, Republicans, you reap what you sow.
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AND people LOVE to watch him in debates! ;D
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So many people have died since Christmas.
Just watch some fool begin a campaign to stop Christmas now...
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Oh brother, what a combo. CC going for VP? That would piss off Joe Scarborough, who seems to be auditioning for that job on his show every morning...
NJ Governor Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president
Everett Rosenfeld | @Ev_Rosenfeld
8 MinThis story is developing. Please check back for further updates.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorsed GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Friday, the latest sign that Republicans are beginning to accept the idea that the real estate magnate may win the party's nomination.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/26/nj-governor-chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump-for-president.html (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/26/nj-governor-chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump-for-president.html)
eta: Trump won't be the nominee...
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NJ Governor Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president
Funny, because just 18 months ago we had this:
Chris Christie: Donald Trump doesn't have the 'temperament' to be president
Colin Campbell - Aug. 14, 2015, 9:53 AM
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Thursday that GOP presidential rival Donald Trump has the right mindset to be president.
"Donald's a great guy and a good person. But I just don't think that he's suited to be president of the United States," he told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren as they walked along the Jersey Shore.
He added: "I don't think his temperament is suited for that and I don't think his experience is."
Christie, often accused of having his own temperament issues, was responding to Van Susteren asking if he would be willing to "take a swipe" at at the Republican front-runner and real-estate tycoon.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-christie-donald-trump-temperament-president-2015-8
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There's always a lot of IF's. but this scenario seems to be generally agreed upon:
If CRUZ can win his home state of TEXAS
and RUBIO can win his home state of FLORIDA
and Kasich can win his home state of OHIO
then the Republicans will have a brokered convention
with no one having enough delegates to to win on the
first ballot. You can vote for anyone after that.
If this does not happen--Trump is the nominee. And it will be
largely because the Republicans have WINNER TAKE ALL primaries
in most states where the top vote getter gets ALL the delegates.
They aren't proportioned out. It's likely they never envisioned a
scenario where there'd be more than, say, two or three candidates
vying for the vote and the top vote getter might only have 25-30%.
Short-sighted reasoning again.
So, the latest poll in Texas:
Cruz: 39%
T.Rump: 26%
The latest poll in Florida:
Rubio: 25%
T.Rump: 45%
Ohio:
Kasich:26%
Trump: 31%
If you could convince the 3rd through whatever place voters in those
states that don't want Trump, to vote for their home state guy, it could
happen, but if the voters are stubborn and not voting strategically, it looks
like the unthinkable and unmentionable could happen.
And it's really crazy when you think about the results of another new poll
that asked Republicans only: If Trump becomes the party's nominee, how
would you feel about that: 40% said UNHAPPY and the next highest group
at 25% said ANGRY. Would 65% of Republican voters then up voting for
Trump over the Democratic candidate if that many are UNHAPPY and/or
ANGRY! Boggles the mind.
In the meantime HILLARY WINS BIG in South Carolina last night: 74%!
Someone tweeted and it was read on THE VIEW Friday--they said:
"I never understood how Hitler could've been voted into power until
this Republican primary season with Donald Trump."
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Tough-guy journeyman actor George Kennedy dies at 91
LOS ANGELES – George Kennedy, the hulking, tough-guy character actor who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a savage chain-gang convict in the 1960s classic "Cool Hand Luke," has died.
His grandson Cory Schenkel says Kennedy died on Sunday morning of old age in Boise, Idaho. He was 91.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/02/29/tough-guy-journeyman-actor-george-kennedy-dies-at-1/
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Super PAC pitches GOP donors on plan to stop Trump
Updated 9:28 PM ET, Tue March 1, 2016 | Video Source: CNN
Washington (CNN)Katie Packer, the Republican operative leading the anti-Donald Trump super PAC, pitched her strategy to stop the Republican front-runner on a call with more than 50 GOP donors and power brokers Tuesday, including those with ties to the campaigns of Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Chris Christie.
Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, who was Chris Christie's national finance co-chair, and Brian Baker, a Republican operative connected to the Ricketts family, both spoke on the call, sources who were on the call told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/republican-donald-trump-super-pac-call/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/republican-donald-trump-super-pac-call/)
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Christie’s face behind Trump is mocked on Twitter
March 1, 2016
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie introduced Donald Trump at a press conference in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday night, and then took his place behind the Republican frontrunner. And Christie’s pained facial expression behind the podium did not go unnoticed.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcguF4YUcAE1m1B.jpg)
On Friday, Christie endorsed Trump for president.
“I am proud to be here to endorse Donald Trump for president of the United States,” Christie said. “He’ll provide strong, unequivocal leadership. He will do what needs to be done to protect the American people first and foremost, both in the homeland and in creating jobs for this country. And he will make sure that people around the world know that America keeps its word again.”
On Sunday, Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman, who served as the national finance co-chairman for Christie’s failed presidential campaign, called his endorsement of Trump “an astonishing display of political opportunism.”
On Tuesday, New Hampshire’s Union Leader newspaper, which endorsed Christie, admitted it was wildly wrong to do so.
“Boy, were we wrong,” Union Leader publisher Joseph W. McQuaid wrote in an editorial. “Watching Christie kiss the Donald’s ring this weekend — and make excuses for the man Christie himself had said was unfit for the presidency — demonstrated how wrong we were. Rather than standing up to the bully, Christie bent his knee. In doing so, he rejected the very principles of his campaign that attracted our support.”
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/christie-face-trump-press-conference-super-tuesday-033930161.html (https://www.yahoo.com/politics/christie-face-trump-press-conference-super-tuesday-033930161.html)
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When Trump initially announced -- way back when -- he was going to run for President,
someone asked me what I thought about that and my response is still the same: "To
me, someone who is a "birther" is automatically disqualified for the Presidency."
AMONG OTHER THINGS.
Who knows how all this will play out. I personally don't want to see Trump as the nominee
because the campaign will be unsavory to say the least. The other reason is that watching
people interviewed who support him--well, there seems to be enough people out there that
would allow him to win. When people are "angry", anything's possible. Gov. Schwarzeneggar
anyone? Gov. Jesse Ventura anyone? Ross Perot with 20% of the vote in a three way race
anyone? Hitler anyone?
And if third party candidates get into the mix? Boggles the mind.
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0854/8758/products/IMWH-magnets_medium.jpg)
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Oh brother, what a combo. CC going for VP? That would piss off Joe Scarborough, who seems to be auditioning for that job on his show every morning...
NJ Governor Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president
Everett Rosenfeld | @Ev_Rosenfeld
8 MinThis story is developing. Please check back for further updates.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorsed GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Friday, the latest sign that Republicans are beginning to accept the idea that the real estate magnate may win the party's nomination.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/26/nj-governor-chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump-for-president.html (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/26/nj-governor-chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump-for-president.html)
eta: Trump won't be the nominee...
Last Saturday morning, as I was waiting for the train to go visit my dad, I caught a glimpse of the front page of a newspaper--I believe it was some New York tabloid--that had a picture of Trump and Christie, and the headline read:
The Clod Couple
;D
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Justice Dept. grants immunity to staffer who set up Clinton email server
By Adam Goldman March 2 at 8:20 PM
The Justice Department has granted immunity to a former State Department staffer, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server, as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official.
The official said the FBI had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the server in her New York home in 2009.
As the FBI looks to wrap up its investigation in the coming months, agents are likely to want to interview Clinton and her senior aides about the decision to use a private server, how it was set up, and whether any of the participants knew they were sending classified information in emails, current and former officials said.
[Clinton personally paid State Department staffer to maintain server]
The inquiry comes against a political backdrop in which Clinton is the favorite to secure the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-clinton-email-investigation-justice-department-grants-immunity-to-former-state-department-staffer/2016/03/02/e421e39e-e0a0-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571_story.html (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-clinton-email-investigation-justice-department-grants-immunity-to-former-state-department-staffer/2016/03/02/e421e39e-e0a0-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571_story.html)
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Hmmm, just a few months too late, and no substance...he's just putting together a string of tweets into a speech with name-calling, and that always works...like the immunity given to HRC's staffer won't change the minds of her supporters (after all, who cares if she's a criminal, she's Hillary Clinton), this won't change the minds of Trump's base...
Mitt Romney to Eviscerate Donald Trump as 'Phony' and 'Fraud'
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will deliver a scorching indictment of Donald Trump on Thursday, calling the candidate a "phony" and a "fraud" who'd threaten America's future.
Romney is due to speak Thursday in Utah at the Hinckley Institute of Politics Forum on the state of the 2016 presidential race. Already a vocal critic of Trump, excerpts released ahead of the speech show Romney will go a step further in his attacks on the Republican frontrunner.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/mitt-romney-eviscerate-donald-trump-phony-fraud-n530877 (http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/mitt-romney-eviscerate-donald-trump-phony-fraud-n530877)
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What I don't understand is that if they really want to stop Trump, I can't believe there aren't reams of bad shit in his history that they could bring out. True events that happened to show how he treats women and/or minorities, shady business deals etc...even trying to force him into stating an actual policy for any of the "ideas" he's putting forth...
Rubio fell into the Trump trap of name-calling, and spent the whole weekend talking about DT's small hands and his tan, etc...epic fail...if you aren't going to point out true problems about your opponent, calling him names just makes you look ridiculous and childish…just like Trump himself…
(I did like it when Trump kept calling Rubio "little Marco Rubio")
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Barack and Michelle Obama to Speak at SXSW Music Festival
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president and first lady to attend and deliver speeches at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival.
The Obamas will deliver separate keynote addresses at this year’s festival, which begins next week in Austin, Texas.
President Barack Obama is also slated to attend a Democratic National Convention fundraiser in Austin on the same day that he delivers his SXSW keynote speech.
The fundraiser will be held at the Austin Music Hall on March 11, but the two events are not affiliated. Tickets for the Democratic fundraiser are as high as $33,400. Attendees can snap a photo with President Obama for an addition cost of $10,000.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcjglxJWEAI2x5k.jpg:large)
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Hmmm, just a few months too late, and no substance...he's just putting together a string of tweets into a speech with name-calling, and that always works...like the immunity given to HRC's staffer won't change the minds of her supporters (after all, who cares if she's a criminal, she's Hillary Clinton), this won't change the minds of Trump's base...
I know that you do not like Hillary Clinton and mentioned why in a post some time ago. That's fine, but in the case of
the email server business, I have to comment.
--If setting up a "private email server" was NOT illegal, why or how is she a criminal.
--If emails that the state department NOW say are classified, but were NOT when they were sent, how is that criminal?
--Why is it that Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell are not criminals for doing the EXACT same thing?
"The shocking truth about the last two Republican secretaries of state has finally come out: Colin Powell and aides to Condoleeza Rice trafficked in classified information on their personal email accounts. This is an enormous scandal!
Oh, wait. No, it's not."
That's from a recent Newsweek article, which, if read, shows that this whole thing about Hillary Clinton's emails is nothing but
one of those nebulous "cloud" balloons that Republicans like to float so as to get people thinking their must be SOMETHING to
it, even though there isn't. One of those, "I can't put my finger on it, but...." ideas to get people thinking incorrectly or not
thinking at all.
If one doesn't like someone they can have all sorts of reasons for doing so, but leaving facts out of the equation shouldn't be
one of them. There's a reason things like this are called: trumped up charges.
And here's that article:
http://www.newsweek.com/colin-powell-emails-hillary-clinton-424187
I repeat: "The shocking truth about the last two Republican secretaries of state has finally come out: Colin Powell and aides to Condoleeza Rice trafficked in classified information on their personal email accounts. This is an enormous scandal!Oh, wait. No, it's not."
...like the immunity given to HRC's staffer won't change the minds of her supporters (after all, who cares if she's a criminal, she's Hillary Clinton), this won't change the minds of Trump's base...
In that case, who care's if Condoleeza Rice or Colin Powell are criminals?
Oh, wait...
The Republicans have been throwing anything they can against the wall and hope it sticks with voters
against any of their opponents. True. False. Whatever. No wonder their same voters don't care what
their own candidates are doing or saying. It's all become the "Razzle Dazzle" song from Chicago.
Give 'em the old, double whammy
Daze and dizzy 'em
Show 'em the first rate sorcerer you are
How can they spot, you got no talents
Long as you keep 'em way off balance.
Razzle dazzle 'em, razzle dazzle 'em
And they'll make you a star.
Give 'em the old razzle dazzle
Razzle dazzle 'em
Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Give 'em the old three ring circus
Stun and stagger 'em
When you're in trouble, go into your dance
Razzle dazzle 'em
And you've got a romance.
Give 'em the old hocus pocus
Bead and feather 'em
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?
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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The constant harping on those goddamn e-mails reminds me of the constant harping on that goddamn Whitewater. I'm sick to death of it, and it's only March. :(
Never mind. ...
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I know that you do not like Hillary Clinton and mentioned why in a post some time ago. That's fine, but in the case of
the email server business, I have to comment.
--If setting up a "private email server" was NOT illegal, why or how is she a criminal.
--If emails that the state department NOW say are classified, but were NOT when they were sent, how is that criminal?
--Why is it that Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell are not criminals for doing the EXACT same thing?
"The shocking truth about the last two Republican secretaries of state has finally come out: Colin Powell and aides to Condoleeza Rice trafficked in classified information on their personal email accounts. This is an enormous scandal!
Oh, wait. No, it's not."
With all due respect, that’s the kind of thinking that gives Clinton/s a pass on all her previous back room deals. It’s all a vast right wing conspiracy and B&H are pure innocents. I don’t see it that way. And this is only my opinion...obviously millions disagree, and for that, I'm sorry....
Beginning with her lottery-winning-type “luck” at turning $1k into $100k (you can’t win if you don’t “play”, or if you don’t know James Blair), to Whitewater where no charges were filed (thank you for doing their time for them, Susan & Jim), to The Clinton Foundation slush fund (allowing a donor to use tax-exempt funds to build a shopping center, and going to bat for Freddie Mac who then donated handsomely to her campaign fund) to lower-level manipulation and devious actions (Filegate, etc). I think her tactics are sleazy and underhanded, probably like all politicians, but they have tap-danced around the law too many times for me.
Their main talent, and it is significant, is surrounding themselves with people who will take the fall for them. How they find them, I don’t know…poor Vince…
As for Rice and Powell, if they’ve done the same thing, they should be investigated. I’ve read that Rice never used email…a likely story. But they aren’t running for president and cannot (as of now) affect my future.
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What I don't understand is that if they really want to stop Trump, I can't believe there aren't reams of bad shit in his history that they could bring out. True events that happened to show how he treats women and/or minorities, shady business deals etc...even trying to force him into stating an actual policy for any of the "ideas" he's putting forth...
"Drumpf" IS in fact facing a class action suit accusing him of fraud regarding his now defunct Trump University, which offered real estate seminars for business professionals. He has been accused in recently filed court papers of threatening to financially ruin the woman who is a lead plaintiff in the suit. Trump’s comments, according to the filings, came in a secret deposition he gave just two months ago, on Dec. 10 — the same day he was making international headlines over his pledge to ban Muslim immigrants from the country.
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/trump-is-accused-of-financially-threatening-woman-170253552.html
Just last week — three days before Makaeff made her court filing — a judge in Washington, D.C., overruled the objections of Trump’s lawyers and ordered him to submit to a deposition in a suit he filed against one of the restaurateurs.
http://tinyurl.com/jytxk7y
But the upcoming civil trial could be a much bigger burden on Trump’s time. If it takes place in May, that would put it in the middle of the final phase of the GOP primary schedule: Nebraska and West Virginia vote on May 10, Oregon on May 17, and Washington state on May 24. Then on June 7, the biggest prize of all: the California primary (with 172 delegates at stake). New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota vote the same day.
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/with-gop-nomination-looming-trump-slated-to-take-191550876.html
The issue could plague the Trump campaign simply because of optics, however. These suits accuse Trump defrauding customers of thousands of dollars for what turned out to be worthless courses. And the California suit is not the only case that has been brought against Trump for his involvement in Trump University. Back in 2013 New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a civil suit against Trump for his involvement with what Schinderman called an “illegal” educational institution.
http://fortune.com/2016/02/26/donald-trump-fraud/
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Caitlyn Jenner: 'I Like Ted Cruz' Despite His Stance on Trans Issues
Caitlyn Jenner's conservative politics continue to create controversy in the transgender community.
When asked who she supports for president, the lifelong Republican told The Advocate in an interview Wednesday, "I like Ted Cruz."
"I think he's very conservative, and a great constitutionalist, and a very articulate man," she explained. "I haven't endorsed him or anything like that. But I also think, he's an evangelical Christian, and probably one of the worst ones when it comes to trans issues." .
.....
http://www.people.com/article/caitlyn-jenner-likes-ted-cruz-president
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That is great! I've been waiting to see who he was going to endorse, so I could finally make a decision.......oh, he didn't endorse, he just likes him....well, that's something....there's always Mitt as write-in...
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"Drumpf" IS in fact facing a class action suit accusing him of fraud regarding his now defunct Trump University, which offered real estate seminars for business professionals. He has been accused in recently filed court papers of threatening to financially ruin the woman who is a lead plaintiff in the suit. Trump’s comments, according to the filings, came in a secret deposition he gave just two months ago, on Dec. 10 — the same day he was making international headlines over his pledge to ban Muslim immigrants from the country.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. As usual, Trump's on defense and hiding the truth...
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This from the guy who is reason Trump is ahead in the polls by 20%.........
Romney implores: Bring down Trump
(CNN)Mitt Romney delivered a sweeping broadside against Donald Trump on Thursday, laying into the Republican presidential front-runner with a sharper attack than any of the party's 2016 contenders have made against the billionaire business mogul.
"Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud," Romney said. "His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/mitt-romney-presidential-race-speech/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/mitt-romney-presidential-race-speech/)
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That is great! I've been waiting to see who he was going to endorse, so I could finally make a decision.......oh, he didn't endorse, he just likes him....well, that's something....there's always Mitt as write-in...
it's she...
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you say tomato...
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you say tomato...
Respecting Transgender people 101:
You can start by respecting the person's self-identity and using the same terms and pronouns that the person uses to describe themselves.
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^^^
he seems to be very tolerant, I'm sure he doesn't care if i use the H word...
At Republican Debate, a Field of Four on Fox News
With Donald J. Trump on the verge of running away with the Republican nomination, there will be no shortage of drama. As he continues to win primary contests, the pressure on Mr. Trump has been rising, and if the most recent debate was any guide, Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz will be attacking him from all angles in an effort to show that he lacks the knowledge and temperament to be president.
Since their last meeting, Mr. Trump has mocked Mr. Rubio (little Marco Rubio) for sweating and repeatedly called him a “lightweight.” Mr. Rubio has poked fun at Mr. Trump as having small hands and using spray tan that is overly orange. Few pleasantries are expected when they meet on stage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/us/politics/republican-debate-fox-news.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/us/politics/republican-debate-fox-news.html)
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^^^
he seems to be very tolerant, I'm sure he doesn't care if i use the H word...
I am sure she would care, as I am sure the transgender people on the board care!
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Parsing Hillary Clinton's Disingenuous Foreign Policy Record
02/12/2016 04:27 pm ET | Updated Feb 12, 2016
In their most recent debate in Wisconsin, the two remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination for president, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, clashed on a number of domestic and foreign policy issues. According to many experts and political observers questioned by the main stream media in the aftermath of this debate, Hillary Clinton separated herself from Bernie Sanders on the issue of foreign policy, in a large part because of the perceived strength of her record as a former Secretary of State under President Barack Obama.
Senator Sanders questioned Secretary Clinton's judgment in voting in support of a war with Iraq back in 2002, and furthered the issue of poor judgement by highlighting her support of policies promoting regime change in Libya and Syria since then, noting that such policies, while playing well to public sentiment, often have unintended consequences that prove to be far worse than the problem they ostensibly sought to resolve. Hillary Clinton responded by declaring "a vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS."
Hillary Clinton has denied any knowledge of CIA efforts, run from the now-infamous "annex" in Benghazi, to collect and ship captured Libyan arms and munitions to Turkey. Once in Turkey, the government of then-Prime Minister Erdogan transferred these arms to Islamist militants, including the Al Nusrah Front and other pro-Al Qaeda elements, who were fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad. "You'll have to direct that question to the agency that ran the annex," the then-Secretary of State said to Senator Rand Paul after being questioned directly about a link between the CIA, Libya and Turkey when it came to illicit gunrunning. "I don't have any information on that."
In this response, Hillary Clinton is clearly lying. Her representative in Libya, Ambassador Christopher Stevens (who tragically died in an attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012), was at the center of a massive arms smuggling operation that saw hundreds of millions of dollars worth of guns and ammunition shipped from Libya to Turkey and Qatar (both of these nations were, and are, key supporters and suppliers for the anti-Assad Islamist militants fighting in Syria). Stevens was personally involved in getting US Government approval of a $200 million contract to ship weapons and munitions from Libya to Qatar (which then flew the weapons into Turkey for further transshipment to Syria), and on the day of his death he had met with the Turkish ambassador to Libya to coordinate shipments of additional weapons and ammunition via sea transport from Libya to Turkey, again for use in supplying Islamist rebels inside Syria.
The notion that a US Ambassador would engage in such action without the express knowledge and permission of the Secretary of State is ludicrous. The CIA is a powerful organization, but there are limits to that power, and getting the permission of a US Ambassador for covert operations of the sort that were being conducted in support of supplying the Syrian rebels with Libyan weapons is one such limitation. To accept at face value Hillary Clinton's contention that she had no knowledge of this is to accept that Christopher Stevens, a renowned veteran American diplomat, had gone "rogue" and was working for the CIA independently of his State Department masters. The argument that Hillary Clinton knew nothing about either Ambassador Stevens' actions, or those of the CIA, simply does not pass muster.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-ritter/hillary-clinton-foreign-policy-record_b_9221284.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-ritter/hillary-clinton-foreign-policy-record_b_9221284.html)
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At least he owns up to his mistakes...
Bernie Sanders offers mea culpa on VA delays
By Drew Griffin, Nelli Black and Scott Bronstein, CNN
Updated 10:34 AM ET, Thu February 4, 2016
(CNN)Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders offered on Wednesday night as close to an apology as he could when pressed on why he -- as the former chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee -- waited so long to act on the burgeoning wait list scandal at the VA.
When pressed by CNN's Anderson Cooper on Sanders lack of action, the Vermont senator responded, "We should have done better."
The admission came during a CNN town hall forum in New Hampshire hosted by Cooper, who confronted Sanders with the candidate's own record.
Sanders has been criticized for his lack of action during the two years he chaired the committee, all but ignoring the government's own investigations pointing out quality of care and wait list issues at VA medical centers across the country.
Cooper pointed to 18 VA inspector general reports detailing problems plaguing the VA and asked Sanders why it took him so long to act.
"Well, a fair question. And I think you know the answer is that we have worked on many, many issues," Sanders said. "And your point is fair, that we should've acted sooner. We should've known what was going on in Phoenix, those long waiting lines and the lies that some administrators were telling us."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/politics/bernie-sanders-veterans-affairs-delays/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/politics/bernie-sanders-veterans-affairs-delays/)
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wait, what? Isn't there a TV movie coming out, is this hype for that?
Knife reportedly found on former O.J. Simpson property is being tested by LAPD
In another twist in the long-running O.J. Simpson saga, Los Angeles police are investigating and testing a knife that was reportedly recovered on property once owned by the former football star.
The elite Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating a buck knife now in the possession of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The knife was apparently turned over to a police officer a number of years ago by a person doing construction work at the property, a law enforcement source said.
At a press conference at LAPD headquarters Friday morning, Capt. Andrew Neiman said the officer was a traffic cop and was working on a movie set when he was given the knife.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-knife-found-on-o-j-simpson-property-being-tested-by-lapd-20160304-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-knife-found-on-o-j-simpson-property-being-tested-by-lapd-20160304-story.html)
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wait, what? Isn't there a TV movie coming out, is this hype for that?
Knife reportedly found on former O.J. Simpson property is being tested by LAPD
In another twist in the long-running O.J. Simpson saga, Los Angeles police are investigating and testing a knife that was reportedly recovered on property once owned by the former football star.
The elite Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating a buck knife now in the possession of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The knife was apparently turned over to a police officer a number of years ago by a person doing construction work at the property, a law enforcement source said.
At a press conference at LAPD headquarters Friday morning, Capt. Andrew Neiman said the officer was a traffic cop and was working on a movie set when he was given the knife.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-knife-found-on-o-j-simpson-property-being-tested-by-lapd-20160304-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-knife-found-on-o-j-simpson-property-being-tested-by-lapd-20160304-story.html)
There is TV series on FX, so yeah.
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Nancy Reagan has died ... TMZ has learned from a close family member.
The former first lady was living in Bel Air and has been in failing health in recent years.
Mrs. Reagan married Ronald in 1952 and went on to became a First Lady who at first was severely criticized for her fancy taste -- particularly in china -- but went on to become beloved, along with her husband.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/06/nancy-reagan-dead/#ixzz428tZcFY1
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Nancy Reagan has died ... TMZ has learned from a close family member.
The former first lady was living in Bel Air and has been in failing health in recent years.
Mrs. Reagan married Ronald in 1952 and went on to became a First Lady who at first was severely criticized for her fancy taste -- particularly in china -- but went on to become beloved, along with her husband.
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/06/nancy-reagan-dead/#ixzz428tZcFY1
Inexplicably.
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wait, what? Isn't there a TV movie coming out, is this hype for that?
Knife reportedly found on former O.J. Simpson property is being tested by LAPD
In another twist in the long-running O.J. Simpson saga, Los Angeles police are investigating and testing a knife that was reportedly recovered on property once owned by the former football star.
The elite Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating a buck knife now in the possession of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The knife was apparently turned over to a police officer a number of years ago by a person doing construction work at the property, a law enforcement source said.
At a press conference at LAPD headquarters Friday morning, Capt. Andrew Neiman said the officer was a traffic cop and was working on a movie set when he was given the knife.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-knife-found-on-o-j-simpson-property-being-tested-by-lapd-20160304-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-knife-found-on-o-j-simpson-property-being-tested-by-lapd-20160304-story.html)
There is TV series on FX, so yeah.
And Marcia Clark has showed up on at least one chat show.
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And Marcia Clark has showed up on at least one chat show.
Of course she has!! :P
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Inexplicably.
Yeah, my thought as well. I always felt she thought she was too above everyone and everything. Her treatment of Rock Hudson during his final days was shameful, toward someone whom she claimed to be friends with.
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My Mom always told me not to speak ill of the dead. 8)
(CNN) Joey Martin Feek, one half of the country duo Joey + Rory, died Friday after a battle with cervical cancer, her husband announced on Facebook. She was 40 years old.
"My wife's greatest dream came true today," Rory Feek wrote. "She is in heaven."
Rory Feek said his wife died about 2:30 p.m. with her family around her in a home in Indiana.
Martin Feek and her husband were discovered in 2008 after they competed on CMT's music competition show "Can You Duet." Their first single, "Cheater, Cheater," had a popular video with a cameo by Naomi Judd, a judge on "Can You Duet."..
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/entertainment/joey-martin-feek-obit/index.html
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Hmmm, there’s something weird on CNN. They said it’s a debate, but the audience isn’t screaming, the two people onstage are answering specific questions about the problem in Flint, there hasn’t been any name-calling, or vulgarity…strange…
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Hmmm, there’s something weird on CNN. They said it’s a debate, but the audience isn’t screaming, the two people onstage are answering specific questions about the problem in Flint, there hasn’t been any name-calling, or vulgarity…strange…
So, no Repubs are involved?
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MSNBC talking heads are desperately trying to talk themselves into a Clinton win in Michigan...it's pretty funny to watch as they go over and over the counties that she is leading in...but Bernie is winning the state so far. Poor Rachel, she just...can't...
I hope he takes it...
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Obama compares ISIS to Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight saying they just 'just want to set the whole region on fire'
Obama's comments drawing analogy between militant group of movie villain appear in new issue of The Atlantic
President famously dismissed ISIS as a 'JV team' in a 2014 interview
Obama revealed he would have ordered airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities had last year's deal fallen through
Addressing his relationship with Russia's Vladimir Putin, Obama said he is 'not completely stupid'
Obama revealed that he clashed with Britain's David Cameron over low defense spending, saying 'free riders aggravate me'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3485984/Obama-likens-ISIS-Joker-Dark-Knight-says-capacity-set-Middle-East-Gotham-fire.html#ixzz42WeaKY3e
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2016%2Fnews%2F160321%2Fjustin-trudeau-800.jpg&hash=b51fc72faf73b70553f51ed3b0f4c1f175f170fc)
The Canadian Kennedys Have Arrrived: New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Wife Sophie Meet the Obamas in D.C.
http://www.people.com/article/justin-trudeau-canada-state-dinner-arrives-washington-dc
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2016%2Fnews%2F160321%2Fjustin-trudeau-800.jpg&hash=b51fc72faf73b70553f51ed3b0f4c1f175f170fc)
The Canadian Kennedys Have Arrrived: New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Wife Sophie Meet the Obamas in D.C.
http://www.people.com/article/justin-trudeau-canada-state-dinner-arrives-washington-dc
To be honest I feel a bit uncomfortable with the Kennedy comparison, if you know what I mean.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Ftrudeau-washington-01_zpsol3iw6f0.jpg&hash=442e22611591e2b9890afd63151ca97a0e509125) (http://s176.photobucket.com/user/oilgun/media/trudeau-washington-01_zpsol3iw6f0.jpg.html)
Here's the perfect family arriving in Washington.
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The constant harping on those goddamn e-mails reminds me of the constant harping on that goddamn Whitewater. I'm sick to death of it, and it's only March. :(
Never mind. ...
Republican congresspeople spent over $90,000,000 on the Whitewater 'investigation,' and kept on saying the Clintons were unco-operative even after they'd turned over five boxcars full of related paperwork! ...And you can add Jeb Bush to the list of Republicans who did the exact same thing with their emails. Of course, thankfully, there's no reason to waste time on that now, but come the revolution!!!
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Why would she say something she knows isn't true? Oh, I forgot...she tends to do that...
"It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980's and because of both President and Mrs Reagan—in particular Mrs Reagan—we started a national conversation, when before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it. And, you know, that too is something that I really appreciate was her very effective but low-key advocacy, but it penetrated the public conscience, and people began to say "hey we have to do something about this too."
Update 4:30pm ET Friday, March 11, 2016: Secretary Clinton just issued the following apology, "While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I am sorry."
http://www.motherjones.com/contributor/2016/03/hillary-clinton-aids-sorry (http://www.motherjones.com/contributor/2016/03/hillary-clinton-aids-sorry)
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This judge must be a BS man.
Ohio Judge Rules in Favor of 17-Year-Olds Wanting to Vote
CLEVELAND, March 11 (Reuters) - An Ohio state judge ruled that teenagers celebrating their 18th birthday before November's general election are entitled to have their votes for presidential nominees counted in next week's state primary.
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/03/11/ohio-judge-rules-in-favor-of-17-year-olds-wanting-to-vote/21326514/
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Inexplicably.
What you were referring to didn't say "beloved" by whom.
OMG y'all!
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They're showing Trump's rally in Kansas City...he is certifiable...he's been bad before, but this is the worst I've ever seen him...he's just ranting...but what scares me is the audience...
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Nevertheless, it was a potentially very bad situation in KC due to the Snake Saturday parade and the basketball crowds coming into town for the Big 12 championship game on the same day. Mayor Sly James asked everyone making the scene to "act like Kansas Cititians", and they did.
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Nevertheless, it was a potentially very bad situation in KC due to the Snake Saturday parade and the basketball crowds coming into town for the Big 12 championship game on the same day. Mayor Sly James asked everyone making the scene to "act like Kansas Cititians", and they did.
"Snake Saturday"?
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Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama lamented a "vulgar and divisive" presidential campaign Tuesday, saying that GOP presidential candidates were setting bad examples for children and tarnishing the United States' reputation abroad.
"In America, there is no law that says we have to be nice to each other, or courteous, or treat each other with respect. But there are norms. There are customs. There are values that our parents taught us and that we try to teach to our children to try to treat others the way we want to be treated," Obama said during a St. Patrick's Day luncheon on Capitol Hill...
www.cnn.com/2016/03/15/politics/obama-donald-trump-violence-rhetoric/index.html
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Why would she say something she knows isn't true? Oh, I forgot...she tends to do that...
"It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980's and because of both President and Mrs Reagan—in particular Mrs Reagan—we started a national conversation, when before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it. And, you know, that too is something that I really appreciate was her very effective but low-key advocacy, but it penetrated the public conscience, and people began to say "hey we have to do something about this too."
Update 4:30pm ET Friday, March 11, 2016: Secretary Clinton just issued the following apology, "While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I am sorry."
http://www.motherjones.com/contributor/2016/03/hillary-clinton-aids-sorry (http://www.motherjones.com/contributor/2016/03/hillary-clinton-aids-sorry)
Ronald Reagan did not utter the word AIDS publicly until late in the last year of his presidency, despite knowing of its existence in 1980.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.theweek.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Ftw_image_9_4%2Fpublic%2FScreen%2520Shot%25202016-03-22%2520at%25207.40.44%2520AM.png%3Fitok%3DgdY1Bl1P&hash=096ce6a5cb613e10c3ad3d6768706fb7333fcd48)
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I know a couple of Belgian boys who live in Brecht, I believe to be near the northern border of Belgium.
So...thinking of them today.
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What a lovely gesture by France....lighting up the Eiffel Tower in the colors of the
Belgian flag. A simple thing to do......but heart felt on this black day.
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I have boarded planes in Brussels airport twice. In 2002 I flew to Munich then onto Istanbul. Not a journey I would take lightly now.
In 2007 I flew with my sister to Frankfurt then onto Bangkok and Sydney. While waiting, I ordered a small beer and the waitress brought me a large one because it was 'Happy Hour". I protested "I am about to fly to Australia" Well you are not the pilot are you, was her reply. :)
I am flying into Bucharest and changing at Belgrade on April 27 and then flying out of Munich airport on May 28. However I have just read a request from someone from the UK on Tripadvisor worried about earthquakes in NZ. Not much point travelling if you get worried about too much.
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Terrorists have selected so many different targets: football grounds, theatres, London buses, the metros (how terrifying that must have been, in the darkness of the tunnel), restaurants, a marathon, just a busy street...
I suppose we can't really let if affect how we want to live.
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Terrorists have selected so many different targets: football grounds, theatres, London buses, the metros (how terrifying that must have been, in the darkness of the tunnel), restaurants, a marathon, just a busy street...
I suppose we can't really let it affect how we want to live.
I agree. If we do, they win. :(
"Keep calm and carry on." I don't say that to be funny. I say it because I believe we have to, or they win.
I have to board a train Friday morning to go spend Easter weekend with my father. I expect to take the subway to get to the station. I could take a bus, but buses are targets, too. I could even walk, but it's a bit far carrying even a small amount of luggage. The Philadelphia train station is a major "hub." It isn't a long train trip, but I can think of at least one bridge on the line that would make a lovely target. And then late Sunday afternoon I have to do the whole thing in reverse. But what's my alternative? Cower at home in my condo? My home is on the top floor of a high-rise building; don't think I haven't thought of the possibility of someone flying a plane right into my home. And I take either the subway or a bus to get to work and then return home each day. No choice but to carry on--and say a prayer for those whose lives are affected by these heinous acts. :(
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I'm not cowering either. Tomorrow I'm travelling down to London to an exhibition at the Royal Academy. I shall use the tube as usual and just do everything normally. We just carry on like we always do.
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I'm just trying to book for that for beginning of April, Janie! The RA website is being a pain in the butt. :D Enjoy it - I've heard it's wonderful.
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I went through Liverpool Street station in London a couple of weeks ago on the way to meet my daughter and her children at Tate Modern. There were policeman on the balconies above the concourse with sub machine guns!
We are not used to that here.
I wouldn't let the terrorist threat stop me travelling though.
We lived through the IRA bombing campaign and we will get through this.
It is essential not to give in to terrorists.
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^^^^^
However ...... I will NOT be flying to Turkey again to see friends for my vacation this year.
I think that would be foolish. :(
And "Yes" ....they are Turkish and are the most lovely family.
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words from the PRES! ...... And that is the kind of resilience and kind of strength that we have to continually show in the face of these terrorists. They cannot defeat America. They don't produce anything. They don't have a message that appeals to the vast majority of Muslims or the vast majority of people around the world. What they can do is scare and make people afraid. And disrupt our daily lives and divide us. And as long as we don't allow that to happen, we're going to be OK.
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Jian Ghomeshi acquitted on all charges in sexual assault trial
Judge says inconsistencies in complainants' stories were key in acquittal of former CBC broadcaster
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/jian-ghomeshi-judge-ruling-1.3504250
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Comedian Garry Shandling Dead At 66
http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/24/garry-shandling-dead/
Comedian Garry Shandling died at an L.A. area hospital on Thursday ... TMZ has learned.
The 66-year-old star was not suffering from any illness ... as far as we know ... so, it appears this was sudden. A source connected to Shandling says he was healthy and speaking to people on Thursday morning.
Our source says there was a 911 call from "The Larry Sanders Show" star's home, and he was transported to the hospital. We're told Shandling was alive when he arrived at the hospital.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35893804 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35893804)
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been convicted of genocide and war crimes in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, and sentenced to 40 years in jail.
UN judges in The Hague found him guilty of 10 of 11 charges, including genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
Karadzic, 70, is the most senior political figure to face judgement over the violent collapse of Yugoslavia.
His case is being seen as one of the most important war crimes trials since World War Two.
He was responsible for the slaughter of more than 8000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica, mainly men and boys.
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It couldn't happen to a nicer man.
I hope he has a horrible time in gaol.
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40 years is beyond understanding. that's 1.8 days for each life
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Three Democratic caucuses today: Hawaii, Alaska and Washington.
I'd say B.S. has the edge in Washington, known for it's liberal progressives.
Don't know about Hawaii, they usually are solidly mainstream Democrats,
probably Hillary, but there's absolutely no polling from Hawaii.
Politico thinks B.S. has a good shot at all three because "All three states are
holding caucuses, an activist-heavy format that Sanders has so far thrived on.
Washington state and Alaska are also very heavy on white Democrats, a core
Sanders constituency, and have relatively few African Americans."
Which brings me to this prescient article:
All-out Warfare is About to Break Out Between
Bernie Sanders’ Supporters and the Political Press
by Joshua Holland
March 24, 2016
Some excerpts:
specifics in the article, but basically...
...we have 286 delegates that will be awarded in prime Sanders territory between this Saturday and April 9, followed by a 10-day pause, and then 753 more delegates will be awarded in a two-week period in what’s looking, at this point, like solid Clinton country.
This stretch of primaries is going to set off a war-of-words between Sanders supporters – and liberal media outlets that back the Vermont Senator — and more neutral political reporters, especially data-based journalists who keep an eye on the delegate count and the calendar. That’s because there’s going to be a natural disconnect between what appears to be a lot of momentum on Sanders’ side, and the way the mainstream media will characterize the race.
Serious reporters know that the next five contests will shave some delegates off of Clinton’s healthy lead [...] which still leaves her well ahead as the fight for the nomination moves to friendlier ground for the Clinton campaign.
Journalists with knowledge of the calendar won’t report that Sanders is turning the race on its head. They won’t report that it’s a whole new ballgame, or that a win in Alaska predicts a victory in Maryland. They won’t report that Sanders is surging.
A lot of Sanders supporters will want them to cover these victories in sweeping terms, and write that the momentum has shifted, but they won’t. They won’t report these things because they aren’t true, or at least because there will be no reason to expect them to prove true at the time (one never knows what might happen in the future). If Sanders had swept five early contests and gained a lead in the delegate count, it might have caused primary voters in later states who leaned toward Clinton to re-evaluate their choice. But we’re more than halfway through the campaign, opinions are becoming set and when the candidates get to New York, Clinton will still be up by at least a couple of hundred pledged delegates.
[...]
A lot of Sanders supporters have been primed by progressive media outlets that support the candidate – and various Facebook memes – to see these things through the prism of a conspiracy by the “establishment” media to keep Sanders down. So while the reporting will be factual and responsible — and based on the delegate math – we can expect our social media feeds to fill up with a million pissed off posts complaining that Sanders’ big win in Wyoming (18 delegates) wasn’t front-page news, or demanding to know why the media refuse to report the obvious fact that these next five contests are game-changers that will surely propel Sanders to a glorious victory over Hitlery Killton.
[...]
And a legion of pro-Sanders writers at The Huffington Post and Salon and US UNCUT will stoke their fury by telling them what they want to hear. They will confidently write that Sanders’ win in the Washington Caucuses makes him the clear front-runner in the race for the nomination. They will accuse the mainstream media of covering up what they’ll see as an obvious reality.
So hang on, the next month of the Democratic primaries are going to be a bumpy ride. The only way this scenario doesn’t come to pass is if Clinton out-performs expectations over the next few weeks.
___
In so many comments I've read after articles about the Democratic primaries, it sure is true that the young voters
attracted to B.S. believe that the DNC is conspiring toward Hillary Clinton and actively working against B.S. They
do not have the wisdom to see that all things considered, a self-described socialist is not going to win a Presidential
election despite his progressive stance on many things in other areas. It's also distressing to see that they have no
real realization to even question the fact that a Jewish man running for President might encounter a lot of resistance
in that area, though it is good to see they don't have a problem with that. It's also distressing to see the young voters
on the news being asked about why they are for Sanders and most of them reply with "free college tuition, legalizing
marijuana and free healthcare for all." It's like they think he is Santa Claus or something. The most distressing is that
they actually seem to believe he would accomplish all of these things. Ah, youth. I am afraid the more disillusioned
they all get, the less likely they'll vote or worse.
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BREAKING: Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke dies aged 69 of sepsis from a ruptured intestine
Patty Duke passed away on Tuesday at the age of 69 of sepsis from a ruptured intestine
'She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a mental health advocate and a cultural icon,' said her rep Michael Stubbs in a statement
Duke, who was born Anna Pearce, shot to fame as a teenager winning an Oscar at 16 for playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker
She followed that with three seasons on The Patty Duke Show, where she starred as two wildly different cousins
Duke then took on the iconic role of Neely O'Hara in the big-screen adaptation of Valley of the Dolls
She was married four times and had three sons, actors Sean and Mackenzie Aston and Kevin pearce
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3514315/Oscar-winning-actress-Patty-Duke-dies-aged-69-sepsis-ruptured-intestine.html#ixzz44JclMgip
Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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I forgot to post this yesterday:
___
Yowsa!
Did you all hear about Trump's huge campaign announcement?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO-1ePYypdU&list=PLs4hTtftqnlBF-m4Nq6j8jGC14ucunShW&index=1
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yeah, I saw that on Morning Joe. I hate that show but can't stop watching.........they're even more elitist than anderson cooper.......
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yeah, I saw that on Morning Joe. I hate that show but can't stop watching.........they're even more elitist than anderson cooper.......
I watch Anderson Cooper on occasion, and the last thing that comes to mind is elitist. What exactly is your definition of elitist?
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I'm shocked, shocked
that there is gambling going on in this establishment that we disagree on something...
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Yeah, I figured you wouldn't answer, lol!
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lol!
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[...]
Which brings me to this prescient article:
All-out Warfare is About to Break Out Between
Bernie Sanders’ Supporters and the Political Press
by Joshua Holland
March 24, 2016
...we have 286 delegates that will be awarded in prime Sanders territory between this Saturday and April 9, followed by a 10-day pause, and then 753 more delegates will be awarded in a two-week period in what’s looking, at this point, like solid Clinton country.
This stretch of primaries is going to set off a war-of-words between Sanders supporters – and liberal media outlets that back the Vermont Senator — and more neutral political reporters, especially data-based journalists who keep an eye on the delegate count and the calendar. That’s because there’s going to be a natural disconnect between what appears to be a lot of momentum on Sanders’ side, and the way the mainstream media will characterize the race.
[...]
A lot of Sanders supporters have been primed by progressive media outlets that support the candidate – and various Facebook memes – to see these things through the prism of a conspiracy by the “establishment” media to keep Sanders down. So while the reporting will be factual and responsible — and based on the delegate math – we can expect our social media feeds to fill up with a million pissed off posts complaining that Sanders’ big win in [fill in the blank] wasn’t front-page news, or demanding to know why the media refuse to report the obvious fact that these next five contests are game-changers that will surely propel Sanders to a glorious victory over Hitlery Killton.
[...]
And a legion of pro-Sanders writers at The Huffington Post and Salon and US UNCUT will stoke their fury by telling them what they want to hear.
EXAMPLE:
This is what's happening now after headlines like this came out tonight:
This New York Daily News Interview was Pretty Close to a Disaster for Bernie Sanders
and
Bernie Sanders Comes Under Blistering Fire for Opposing Efforts by Families of Sandy Hook Shooting Victims to Sue Gun Makers
Yes, his supporters are crying: it's a conspiracy against their beloved Bernie Sanders.
Asking unfair questions and pointing out negative attributes. How dare they? There
will be more.
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"George Mason University said it received $30 million in gifts after announcing that its law school
would be named the “Antonin Scalia School of Law.” The university quickly announced the school
would be named Antonin Scalia Law School, because nobody wants to say they got their degree
from the A.S.S.O.L."
--NPR
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Of course, now those who attend the school may be referred to as ASLS chaps.
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^^^^^Love it!! :D
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Anne Hathaway Gives Birth to Baby Boy: Find Out His Name!
And a baby makes three!
Anne Hathaway has given birth to her first child with husband Adam Shulman. The two welcomed a baby boy named Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman early on March 24 in Los Angeles, E! News has learned exclusively. Anne's rep also confirmed the exciting news.
"The baby is extremely healthy and is surrounded by friends and family in L.A.," a source said. "Anne and Adam are ecstatic to be parents."
http://www.eonline.com/news/747685/anne-hathaway-gives-birth-to-baby-boy-find-out-his-name
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Anne Hathaway Gives Birth to Baby Boy: Find Out His Name!
And a baby makes three!
Anne Hathaway has given birth to her first child with husband Adam Shulman. The two welcomed a baby boy named Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman early on March 24 in Los Angeles, E! News has learned exclusively. Anne's rep also confirmed the exciting news.
"The baby is extremely healthy and is surrounded by friends and family in L.A.," a source said. "Anne and Adam are ecstatic to be parents."
http://www.eonline.com/news/747685/anne-hathaway-gives-birth-to-baby-boy-find-out-his-name
I wonder whether he looks just like his gran'pa? ;D
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Finally this little sh*t got at least SOME time for killing 4 people, even if it is in county jail. And he wasn't smirking today either.
Judge Imposes 720 Days of Jail on 'Affluenza' Teen Ethan Couch
A judge on Wednesday imposed four consecutive 180-day jail terms on infamous "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch.
"You're not getting out of jail today," State District Judge Wayne Salvant told the Texas teen, sentencing him to 720 days — one 180-day sentence for each of the four victims he killed in a June 2013 drunk-driving accident.
Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, received 10 years' probation in juvenile court following the car crash. He was accused of violating the terms of his juvenile probation after a video surfaced online last December that appeared to show him at a party where alcohol was served. He and his mother fled to Mexico, evading authorities for several weeks.
Wednesday's hearing was his first appearance in adult court. Couch showed up with long hair and a beard, wearing a red jumpsuit. His mother Tonya was not in court.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-you-re-not-getting-out-n555366
I think they ought to make that poor excuse of a mother of his serve the same time as him, if not more.
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To provide some background to what follows I mention that I'd posted the following information on the thread, and include a comment from Sara:
Impoverished mother Pattaramon Chanbua claims the couple, who have not been identified, rejected Gammy and returned to Australia with his healthy sister.
Although I didn’t introduce this News topic I feel it’s intrinsically of sufficient interest to monitor its progress in the press.
“Breaking” news items in general don’t tend to provide a full picture until all the facts of a situation are known (as we all realise) and it’s been interesting to see how what was initially presented in a black/white context had acquired shades of grey, as occurred in several other issues raised here.
I refer of course, to the Edward Snowden, Malaysian Airlines flights 370 and 17 and Crimea/Russia situations, in which information presented in the press was/is less than accurate. Incomplete or inaccurate information affects responses, and this is why I’ve tended to not rely on attention-grabbing headlines/news articles to make some sense of what we’re being told. I expect that this is what most people do, but it's a difficult task, and one not necessarily automatically successful, if some social media and “tabloid” press sites are any indication, especially when emotional issues are involved, and more so when people use the guise of anonymity to spout their bile, as I've found, for instance, with YouTube comments...
Then there's the issue of empathy to be considered, where those who might, through no fault of their own, be what could be described as being “collaterally damaged,” such as the passengers of MH370 and MH17, baby Gammy and others elsewhere; well, after all, such feelings aren't diminished by the facts eventually coming to light. Those men, women and children still deserve our sympathy.
(I wonder) whether anyone is ever entitled to comment on any news at any stage of its unfolding? I'm serious about this - it is understandable, and right, to react, but in a case as complex as this one wonders if the true story will ever emerge.... But there it is - the media will continue to present us with truths, half-truths, and attempts to cover up their own ignorance - if they are even aware how ignorant they sometimes are.
The true story has now emerged, Sara, and is presented in a Document Cloud PDF file # of 190 pages as a formal record of the trial between the Applicants (David Farnell and his wife Wendy Liu) and the Respondent (Pattaramon Chanbua), involving the CEO of the Department for Child Protection and Family Support, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Attorney General for Western Australia.
It was Heard by Chief Judge Stephen Thackray of the Familiy Court of Western Australia on 9-13 November 2015, 15 December 2015, and 30 March 2016. His judgement was Delivered today (14 April 2016). Although the proceedings had been pending since July 2014, it was only in April 2015 that Mrs Chanbua applied for Pipah to live with her.
The 26 Orders of the court are detailed on pages 177-190 and include 20 Attachments to be observed by the Farnells and Mrs Chanbua.
Baby Gammy: Surrogacy row family cleared of abandoning child with Down syndrome in Thailand
Family Court of Western Australia rules baby with Down syndrome at the centre of an international surrogacy dispute in 2014 was not abandoned in Thailand by his Australian parents.
Baby Gammy and his twin sister Pipah were born in Thailand in December 2013 to surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, using Bunbury man David Farnell's sperm and donor eggs, after Mr Farnell and his wife Wendy were unable to conceive a baby.
The Farnells returned to Australia with Pipah in February 2014 and Ms Chanbua sought orders from Western Australia's Family Court to have Pipah returned to her.
However, in a judgement released today, Chief Judge Stephen Thackray said he had decided she should continue to live with the Farnells. The case caused a furore when it was claimed the Farnells had abandoned Gammy, who has Down syndrome, in Thailand.
But in his judgment, Justice Thackray found the Farnells did not abandon Gammy, and had wanted to keep him. Justice Thackray said Pipah had "settled into her new home" and was "thriving in the care of a loving network of family and friends, including Mr Farnell's ex-wife, and their adult children and their families." He said Gammy also "appears to be thriving" in Thailand where he has the "love and support of the members of [Ms Chanbua's] extended family".
"I have decided Pipah should not be removed from the only family she has ever known, in order to be placed with people who would be total strangers to her, even though I accept they would love her and would do everything they could to care for all her needs," he said.
Surrogacy problems highlighted
Justice Thackray said the case "should also draw attention to the fact that surrogate mothers are not baby-growing machines, or 'gestational carriers.' They are flesh and blood women who can develop bonds with their unborn children. The appalling outcome of Gammy and Pipah being separated has brought commercial surrogacy into the spotlight.
Quite apart from the separation of the twins, this case serves to highlight the dilemmas that arise when the reproductive capacities of women are turned into saleable commodities, with all the usual fallout when contracts go wrong."
Proceedings before the WA Family Court are normally confidential, but Justice Thackray ruled the case could be made public because of the level of public interest.
"This matter highlights the difficulty in achieving a balance between the right of the public to learn of the full background to an important case while ensuring that the best interests of the children involved are protected," he said. He said the Farnells had "suffered great humiliation and enormous stress for things they did not do".
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-14/baby-gammy-twin-must-remain-with-family-wa-court-rules/7326196
I include some extracts from the court's judgment:
The court’s decision
For the reasons that follow, I have decided Pipah should not be removed from the only family she has ever known, in order to be placed with people who would be total strangers to her, even though I accept they would love her and would do everything they could to care for all her needs.
In reaching my decision, I have primarily taken into account the strong attachments that Pipah has now formed with the Farnells and many others in Bunbury,as well as the quality of the care she is receiving. While it is a matter of grave concern to leave any child in the home of a convicted sex offender, I have accepted the expert evidence that while there is a low risk of harm if Pipah stays in that home, there is a high risk of harm if she were removed. I have also taken into account the measures that can be put in place to ensure Pipah is kept safe.
Should a formal finding be made that the Farnells did not abandon Gammy
The Farnells have been vilified in the media relating not only to the separation of the twins, but also in relation to them endeavouring to access Gammy’s trust fund. Such vilification can only have further damaged their reputation, and has the potential to impact adversely on Pipah. I consider it would be better for Pipah if those who are caring for her, and who she will regard as her parents, are held in higher esteem in the local community.
It is not only unfair but also emotionally debilitating for Mr and Mrs Farnell to be thought of as people who deliberately caused twins to be separated, and then tried to get their hands on money donated for the benefit of the twin they allegedly left behind. In my view, it is likely that a positive finding by the court that they have been falsely accused of these things will lead to an improvement in their own emotional health and thus an improvement in their capacity to care for Pipah. In saying this, I recognise that a proportion of the community will be likely to continue to shun them because of Mr Farnell’s record.
For these reasons, I find that the Farnells did not abandon Gammy.
Publication by the media
Ordinarily, it is an offence to publish an account of proceedings under the State Act that identifies parties to the proceedings, or persons related or associated to them. However, ... permission has already been given for a report of an earlier stage of these proceedings. There has also been unauthorised publicity concerning the alleged attempt by the Farnells to access Gammy’s trust fund.
I have decided to permit publication of my judgment for the following reasons:
• the story is already in the public domain;
• an account has already been permitted of what occurred at an interim stage;
• there has been significant public interest in the case and it has been at the forefront of discussion about possible law reform;
• the public has a legitimate interest in knowing how Australian law deals with the complex issues that arose in the proceedings;
• it would be impossible to publish an account in a way that did not immediately link the story to the notorious 'baby Gammy' case; and
• if the Farnells are to receive the 'vindication' they want, it would be of limited value unless published in the way the earlier inaccurate story was published.
Ultimately, no one expressed any objection to me making an order permitting publication of an account of the proceedings, and some counsel urged me to make such an order. It was submitted that publication should be limited, because “if too much information is given about the restrictions under which [the Farnells] are living, that will be used as a stick to beat them with and could well be the cause of malicious complaints, ill-founded accusations”.
I do not agree that publication should be limited in any way. If some details are redacted, it will lead to suspicion in some quarters that there has been a cover-up of some sort. Furthermore, the major point of the exercise is to ensure that the public is aware of the way in which the law has been applied. The conditions I intend to impose on the residence order are a crucial element of my decision and should therefore be known. I do not see any disadvantage for Pipah in the wider public being aware of those conditions. On the contrary, dissemination of the details of those conditions in itself could be a protective feature.
In my view, once the court gives permission for an account to be published, it is open to any official or citizen to comment as they see fit. Indeed, many people within the family law system crave greater transparency in order to dispel the myths and misunderstandings that surround this area of law and the way it is applied.
...
This matter highlights the difficulty in achieving a balance between the right of the public to learn of the full background to an important case while ensuring that the best interests of the children involved are protected. Families involved in proceedings in this court normally have their anonymity protected, but for reasons previously stated, the parties here will be exposed to the full glare of public scrutiny. My concern is to ensure that the order permitting publication of the proceedings will not cause further upset to Pipah. The previous invasion of the Farnells’ privacy by some elements of the media caused great anxiety and anguish and, in my view, severely impinged on their ability to provide proper care for Pipah.
To ensure that Pipah’s interests are protected, I will impose conditions on the publication order. Any outlet wishing to publish the story will be permitted to do so only if they do not contact the Farnells, Mrs Chanbua, or their families, and they will be required to use only file footage as part of any story. If the Farnells or Mrs Chanbua wish to comment, they can make contact with the media directly.
To give the flavour of what the Farnells have experienced, I have set out part of the evidence of Jane Farnell. This will explain why it would not be in the interests of Pipah for there to be any repetition of the conduct of some parts of the media, which led to the Farnells having to move out of their home during the media frenzy in 2014.
[BERRY, MR:] Can you just explain what you observed?
---They were camped out on the front lawn. … when the media first broke out, I actually wasn’t in the country. But when I came home and tried to go to Dad and Wendy’s, they ran up to the car and put the cameras right in our face. Actually, my mum and brother picked me up from the airport, and they were at my brother’s house in Perth, waiting. And they followed us, I would say chased us, from Perth all the way down to Bunbury, to my brother’s house, and ran up the driveway with cameras in our face, until we got into the door, badgering for questions and stuff. And, again, when we would leave the house and got to Dad and Wendy’s house, they were camped at Dad and Wendy’s house. They were camped outside my brother’s house, my mum’s house – down the street from my mum’s house.
[BERRY, MR:] In terms of your dad’s house, are you able to say how many media, roughly, were there?
---At the start, I would say there was at least seven SUVs and vans. There were some parked down the street. So maybe there were 10, but there was a lot. With the second media, probably about the same – when the last media outbreak came out, which was March this year, maybe, there was about three. I phoned the police, because they were knocking on the door before 7 am and woke my baby up, and I didn’t want to look crazy opening the door and yelling at them.
[BERRY, MR:] Okay. So in terms of the impact that that had on you and the household, are you able to describe how it felt to have that degree of intrusion?
---It was extremely frustrating, having a newborn baby and having them wake him up all the time. They were banging on the doors, yelling absurd things, banging on the windows – if you would make a noise, yelling through the windows, “I know you’re in there. Why don’t you answer us? Why did you do this? You know you’re horrible people.” It was very traumatic.
# The Principal Registrar of the Family Court of Western Australia has authorised this version of the judgment for publication by the media.
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Some of the Australian media are the pits as further seen in the recent arrests in Lebanon. Heath experienced and objected to some of their methods.
Another reason to be grateful for now living in NZ. I guess they also have their moments but the Media here seem to be more restrained.
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That was interesting, Paul.
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"Snake Saturday"?
The Saturday before St. Pat's. Supposedly a reference to his "driving the snakes out of Ireland", which was probably a cute way of referring to making war agin The Old Tyme Religion.
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The Saturday before St. Pat's.
Ah. Thanks, Marge.
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Can you sue?
Donor 9623
Donor 9623 is not a model donor with an IQ of 160 on a Ph.D. track, as Xytex, a sperm bank based in Georgia, described him.
He lied on his application and is, in fact, a college dropout “who has been diagnosed with bipolar and narcissistic personality
disorders and schizophrenia and has spent time in prison for burglary.” His sperm was used to create at least 36 children in
Canada, the US, and the UK. Families discovered his identity after Xytex accidentally included his name in an email and they
Googled his name. [KTLA] (http://ktla.com/2016/04/15/sperm-banks-perfect-donor-was-mentally-ill-fathered-36-kids/)
Hmmm...if a woman's been impregnated from a sperm bank like Xytex under the assumption that what they told her was
accurate, could a creative lawyer sue Xytex for rape? Schizophrenia, for one problem, can be hereditary, so there's plenty
of lawsuits to go forward. I'd hate to be any of those 36 families. Who knows what they signed. Maybe Xytex has cleverly
worded documents that pre-empt lawsuits. I, for one, would never trust any of those places.
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Doris Roberts, Star of 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' Dies at 90
The five-time Emmy winner excelled at playing motherly types. "I'm not some celebrity thinking, 'I'm greater than anybody else,' " she once said.
Doris Roberts, who delighted audiences as the meddling mother next door on Everybody Loves Raymond, has died, her representative confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 90.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/doris-roberts-star-everybody-loves-885315
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UK Brokies. Victoria Wood has died aged 62. What a sad loss.
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I just heard - very sad.
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From the N.Y. Times:
$27,500 is the maximum civil penalty for flying a plane with no registration. This is of particular concern to Donald Trump, who has been flying in a jet owned by an LLC he controls with a registration that lapsed Jan. 31.
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However, I really don't think this is a "particular concern" for Daffy Donald.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-2.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2016%2Fnews%2F160502%2Fqueen-elizabeth-2-435.jpg&hash=f5037350f237095610f59c4a5fb6682a17912afd)
Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!
Queen Elizabeth was showered with celebratory wishes on the streets around Windsor Castle as she hit the big 9-0 mark on Thursday.
Wearing spring grass green wool and silk weave coat and matching hat accented with flowers – made by her personal assistant and chief dresser Angela Kelly – the record-breaking monarch spent about 20 minutes receiving bouquets, gifts and even a cake alongside her husband of 68 years, Prince Philip..
http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20395222_21001561,00.html
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Prince has passed away at the age of 57
The artist known as Prince has died, according to TMZ. He was 57.
Prince’s body was discovered at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota early Thursday morning, April 21st.
The singer — full name Prince Rogers Nelson — had a medical emergency on April 15th that forced his private jet to make an emergency landing in Illinois. But he appeared at a concert the next day to assure his fans he was okay. His people told TMZ he was battling the flu.
Prior to his most recent appearance however, Prince had cancelled two shows due to health concerns.
Prince became an international superstar in 1982 after his breakthrough album “1999.”
He went on to churn out a ton of hits — racking up seven Grammys in the process. He also performed at the Super Bowl in 2007 in one of the greatest live performances of all time.
http://fox6now.com/2016/04/21/tmz-prince-has-passed-away-at-the-age-of-57/
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Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!
Queen Elizabeth was showered with celebratory wishes on the streets around Windsor Castle as she hit the big 9-0 mark on Thursday.
You beat me to it as, of course, it was yesterday here in Australia and I thought to leave it until her birthday in real time UK. She has always been my greatest idol. Happy Birthday, Your Majesty.
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Does anyone want to submit a limerick with the chance to win 1,438 USD?
Introducing ‘The President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition’ – £1000 prize to be won
Douglas Murray
(...)
At the end of last month, during a late-night comedy programme, a young German comedian called Jan Böhmermann included a poem that was rude about Erdogan. Incidentally the point of Mr Böhmermann’s skit was to highlight the obscenity of Turkey already trying to censor satire in Germany.
What happened next happened in swift order. First of all the Turks complained to their German counterparts. Within a few days the programme had been pulled. A few more days and it was whitewashed out of existence altogether. In the meantime Mr Böhmermann himself was forced to go under police protection. The worst blow then came late last week when Chancellor Merkel allowed the prosecution of Mr Böhmermann to go ahead in Germany.
(...)
Well I’m a free-born British man, and we don’t live under the blasphemy laws of such despots. So in honour of this fact I have spent the weekend writing rude limericks about Mr Erdogan. And I would hereby like to invite all readers to join me in a grand Erdogan limerick competition. That isn’t to say that entries which come in the form of Iambic pentameters, or heroic couplets will be completely discounted. I think a work in the Homeric mode, for example, about the smallness of Erdogan’s manhood could (if suitably disgusting) stand some chance of winning. But I recommend limericks because almost everything insulting that is worth saying can usually be included within the five lines of that beautiful and delicate form.
(...)
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/introducing-the-president-erdogan-offensive-poetry-competition/
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You beat me to it as, of course, it was yesterday here in Australia and I thought to leave it until her birthday in real time UK. She has always been my greatest idol. Happy Birthday, Your Majesty.
thanks for answering and long live the Queen!!
Here is one more "of the family"!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-1.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2016%2Fnews%2F160502%2Fprince-george-o-800.jpg&hash=42aa034f05e430fb0f9cc8cf81fb5624852e8f58)
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Thanks for that. Amazing to be so young, meet such important people and not really understand. There was a story in 1953 that a nanny was dressing Charles for the coronation and he asked her who was the Queen and she, although flustered, told him. He was suppose to have said "Mummy Queen?"
That was the first time I was allowed to stay up late and listen to the radio (the coronation) I was 9.
A few weeks later we were all marched to the local cinema to watch the movie, no TV in Australia in those days.
There is a great photo of the Queen, Charles, William and George who is standing on a pile of books.
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Thanks for that. Amazing to be so young, meet such important people and not really understand. There was a story in 1953 that a nanny was dressing Charles for the coronation and he asked her who was the Queen and she, although flustered, told him. He was suppose to have said "Mummy Queen?"
That was the first time I was allowed to stay up late and listen to the radio (the coronation) I was 9.
A few weeks later we were all marched to the local cinema to watch the movie, no TV in Australia in those days.
There is a great photo of the Queen, Charles, William and George who is standing on a pile of books.
She was so young when she became Queen, it has literally been her life!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi4.mirror.co.uk%2Fincoming%2Farticle7789083.ece%2FALTERNATES%2Fs615%2FRoyal-stamps-featuring-Prince-George.jpg&hash=8ff161f1c08f0d234ca01f087a9aacfed09b4235)
I think I have asked this before, but I wonder if there is enough interest in a thread on the ROYALS?
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In some photos she looks so much like her sister Princess Margaret (as in the lower left stamp), but from other angles not nearly so much.
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My BAFTA friend's brother works in the palace! No, I have no gossip,
but when my friend and his partner went to London a couple years
ago they got a special tour of the place.
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I think I have asked this before, but I wonder if there is enough interest in a thread on the ROYALS?
You're welcome to go to the "Start Your Own Thread" section, and start a thread about the Royal Family. If you do this before Monday night, I can make mention of the new thread in the next TDS.
Just make sure that you list in your first post a general description of what the thread is for. Are pics allowed? News stories? Gossip? Negative comments? Serious political debate about the royal family?
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Thanks Chuck, I started one, we will see how it goes! :-*
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Well done bubba. As for the Queen, hubby and I were remarking yesterday that she's been there throughout our lives. I think that's really wonderful to have such a steady reliable anchor when everything else is in turmoil. Her dedication and expertise is incredible.
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Thanks Chuck, I started one, we will see how it goes! :-*
Good, posts about that family of parasites will stop polluting this thread. ;D
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You beat me to it as, of course, it was yesterday here in Australia and I thought to leave it until her birthday in real time UK. She has always been my greatest idol. Happy Birthday, Your Majesty.
I heard on BBC America that even some anti-monarchy guy in the Commons saluted the Queen for her dedication. That's saying something, I think.
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Thanks Chuck, I started one, we will see how it goes! :-*
Not sure I'll be going there much, Bubba, but good luck with it!
I have mixed feelings about the royal family, but on the whole I'd rather have one than not, with perhaps some financial streamlining.
After all the marital ups and downs of the Queen's children things seem to have settled down again, with William, Kate and Harry moving things more into the modern world, and I have nothing but respect and affection for the Queen, doing a job that she was not born for with the utmost dedication.
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Take New Orleans off my bucket list!
Will Smith killing: Cardell Hayes indicted for 2nd degree murder
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/us/new-orleans-will-smith-cardell-hayes-hearing/index.html?adkey=bn
Standing in front of a photo collage showing the faces of the 1,003 people killed in the six years since he became mayor, Landrieu said, "It has been rightly said about all these murders that tragedy is on both sides of the gun."
The problem affects the whole nation. Since 1980, 650,000 people have died in gun violence in the Unites States -- more than the number of Americans killed in all wars in 100 years, he said.
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Everybody talks about how the presidential primaries have uncovered intense voter anger at the political establishment. It’s actually revealed something more troubling: The widespread ignorance of basic economic truths that spans across the political spectrum. Has there ever been a bigger disconnect between economic reality and public perception?
Polls taken during the primary season have found Democrats embracing socialism, Republicans rejecting trade, and majorities in both parties saying Wall Street is hurting the economy. That’s despite the general consensus among mainstream economists that none of these things is true.
http://www.politics/.com/editorials/election-season-reveals-rampant-economic-illiteracy-among-voters/ (http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/election-season-reveals-rampant-economic-illiteracy-among-voters/)
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Governments have been cutting back education for decades in order to save money. We're inheriting that legacy.
Because of this lack of emphasis in education, quite a few people are taking pride in their ignorance, and believing that their ignorance is as good as another person's knowledge.
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Because of this lack of emphasis in education, quite a few people are taking pride in their ignorance, and believing that their ignorance is as good as another person's knowledge.
Oh I like that last statement a whole lot, Fritz! This describes it so well. I want to steal it for FB, and give you credit!!
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Feel free! Thanks!
Actually the belief of ignorance as good as knowledge goes back to Isaac Asimov.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism
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Because of this lack of emphasis in education, quite a few people are taking pride in their ignorance, and believing that their ignorance is as good as another person's knowledge.
Oh I like that last statement a whole lot, Fritz! This describes it so well. I want to steal it for FB, and give you credit!!
That really hits the nail on the head.
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Which explains our election season so far.
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EXACTLY, Lyle!!
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Also the state of the parties in the UK, and the poll figures for our impending European Referendum.
Simple, (and pretty stupid), answers to difficult questions are all the rage at present.
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Governments have been cutting back education for decades in order to save money. We're inheriting that legacy.
Because of this lack of emphasis in education, quite a few people are taking pride in their ignorance, and believing that their ignorance is as good as another person's knowledge.
And SARAH PALIN is the perfect example of this.
Check this story out:
https://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/jimmy-kimmel-destroys-sarah-palins-climate-babbling-scientists-arent-just-fcking-with-you/
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A perfect example Lyle. The only consolation is that eventually she'll be swallowed by the melting permafrost, probably still in denial as she goes down for the last time!
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Prayers heading out to all these poor people!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2016%2F05%2F04%2Farticle-urn%3Apublicid%3Aap.org%3A96c666f5e9ca4ab29db0b408d484f67a-1AyYTcHVAh4a72cd035c20b25b5d-211_634x926.jpg&hash=0edc220db01931709241aeaf5fff18f8823e4db3)
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — A raging wildfire emptied Canada's main oil sands city, destroying entire neighborhoods of Fort McMurray, Alberta, where officials warned Wednesday that all efforts to suppress the fire have failed.
About 88,000 residents successfully evacuated as flames moved into the city surrounded by wilderness in the heart of Canada's oil sands. No injuries have been reported.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said all 105 patients at the local hospital had been safely airlifted to other care centers. She said, so far, the fire had destroyed or damaged an estimated 1,600 structures.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3572533/Residents-evacuated-fires-threaten-Canada-oil-sands-town.html#ixzz47imNSmfK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Prayers heading out to all these poor people!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2016%2F05%2F04%2Farticle-urn%3Apublicid%3Aap.org%3A96c666f5e9ca4ab29db0b408d484f67a-1AyYTcHVAh4a72cd035c20b25b5d-211_634x926.jpg&hash=0edc220db01931709241aeaf5fff18f8823e4db3)
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — A raging wildfire emptied Canada's main oil sands city, destroying entire neighborhoods of Fort McMurray, Alberta, where officials warned Wednesday that all efforts to suppress the fire have failed.
About 88,000 residents successfully evacuated as flames moved into the city surrounded by wilderness in the heart of Canada's oil sands. No injuries have been reported.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said all 105 patients at the local hospital had been safely airlifted to other care centers. She said, so far, the fire had destroyed or damaged an estimated 1,600 structures.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3572533/Residents-evacuated-fires-threaten-Canada-oil-sands-town.html#ixzz47imNSmfK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Oh, my gosh, that's terrible! Those poor people. :(
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Thank you for responding Jeff, I thought it was terrible, the world thinks it is. I could kill two birds (threads) with one stone on this one, even the Queen released a statement on the situation.
Just horrific!
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Good Lord, this is the first I've heard of this. Are there any deaths reported?
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No as it says above, no injuries have been reported, let alone deaths, but I honestly find it hard to believe...
Makes you wonder what you would do, I would just grab my husband and my dog and get the hell out of Dodge as fast as I could!
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I keep my important paperwork in one place, so if an emergency comes, within seconds I can grab my insurance, passport, bank paperwork, lease, and get out.
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One thing I keep saying I'm going to do is make copies of family photos and keep them in a fireproof safe...but as of now they're in frames in the living room. I'd hate to lose them - I need to make it a priority...
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I keep my important paperwork in one place, so if an emergency comes, within seconds I can grab my insurance, passport, bank paperwork, lease, and get out.
Oh I totally do that, I have a safe, a bit big to lift, but I would grab my good jewelry, I may need to sell it! :laugh: And our passports, important papers etc...
Maybe my teddy I got when I was one........but mostly medication, the dog, his food, he has a special diet!!
But all kidding aside, a lot of these people had no time for anything, fire moves so fast!
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One thing I keep saying I'm going to do is make copies of family photos and keep them in a fireproof safe...but as of now they're in frames in the living room. I'd hate to lose them - I need to make it a priority...
I know, so many pictures can't be replaced, good thought!!
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One thing I keep saying I'm going to do is make copies of family photos and keep them in a fireproof safe...but as of now they're in frames in the living room. I'd hate to lose them - I need to make it a priority...
Do you have the negatives of the photos? If so, I think you can have them scanned onto disc, and stored away, so that you'll always have them.
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The fire is an awful thing.
A lot of my customers worked up in that area. They work up there and their families live here.
I have had to evacuate because of an impending tidal wave.....grabbed my glasses, hearing aids, meds, cat and whippet.
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Fort McMurray wildfire burning so hot, only weather can stop it
'Perfect storm' of factors makes Alberta wildfire a powerful force, but such fires could be 'the new normal'
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/alberta-wildfire-science-background-1.3565932
Meds and pets! I just pray everyone was able to get their poor pets out, and that some weren't trapped at home..
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This is a real tragedy. Poor people...and animals. It seems that the devastation of the native trees has a big part to play in this, giving huge tracts of dead dry forest for wildfires to take hold.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/pine-beetles/rosner-text
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I'm so used to hearing about fires at least once a year in SoCal, but this one I've seen covered
quite a bit on the national news is quite something else. I remember a reporter trying to convey
something like this to the viewers once by saying, "Imagine right now that you get up from your
couch or chair, walk over and open the door and then shut it behind you...and you never come back."
Whatever Sarah Palin thinks of climate change or global warming, it struck me many months ago that
if one watched the nightly national news broadcasts, "weather events" were an occasional news story.
The aberrant hurricane or tornado or whatever. Now, some weather catastrophe seems to be a regular
feature of every news cast.
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And because the news likes to scare people, even the threat of a catastrophe is covered
incessantly, like this one you couldn't escape the last two days:
The headline from a geologist convention in Long Beach yesterday:
San Andreas Fault is 'Locked, Loaded and Ready to Roll' with Big Earthquake, Experts Say
Los Angeles Times / May 4, 2016
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-87078314/
This fault runs nearly the length of California and scientists say their calculations show that pressure is
relieved on this fault approximately every 100 years (in both the North and South sections, separately).
The 1906 S.F. quake was the last big one in the Northern section, but the Southern California part of the
fault hasn't moved since 1857 when a magnitude 7.9 earthquake ruptured an astonishing 185 miles between
Monterey County and the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles -- so it's about 160 years since then, way
over due for about an 8.0 quake. Not to mention the side faults that could rupture if the San Andreas does.
(They keep saying not IF, but WHEN it does.)
The potential of this, as shown in simulations, is quite mind boggling. The largest quake I've ever experienced
was the 1994 Northridge quake and that one lasted about 20 seconds. Depending on where the San Andreas fault
ruptures they say the quake could last anywhere from one to three minutes! And you'd have several aftershocks
that would be as big as the Northridge quake. I can't imagine it all. I mean, if one water main breaks it takes days
to repair. Imagine the sewer system being out for months?
"It has been quiet since 1857 — too quiet," said Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center.
“The springs on the San Andreas system have been wound very, very tight. And the southern San Andreas fault, in particular,
looks like it’s locked, loaded and ready to go,” Jordan said in the opening keynote talk. Other sections of the San Andreas fault also
are far overdue for a big quake. Further southeast of the Cajon Pass, such as in San Bernardino County, the fault has not moved
substantially since an earthquake in 1812, and further southeast toward the Salton Sea, it has been relatively quiet since about
1680 to 1690. It's all way overdue.
Does anyone think it's amusing that earthquakes often fall under the heading of "weather?"
Should they be? I don't even think of them as weather related, though when we had a small
series of quakes in the 80's, they always seemed to occur during cooler morning hours after
a period of extremely hot days and when we have weather like that now you'll still find people
calling it "earthquake weather."
For you east coasters:
We Finally Know Why the D.C. Area Had an Earthquake in 2011
May 4, 2016 / Gizmodo
http://gizmodo.com/we-finally-know-why-dc-had-an-earthquake-in-2011-1774765721
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"Today, I'm pleased to announce that in addition to the government of Canada providing future assistance... the government will also be matching individual charitable donations made to the Canadian Red Cross in support of disaster relief," said Trudeau, who was drowned out by applause from MPs across party lines.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fort-mcmurray-federal-response-red-cross-1.3567828
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Cinco de Mayo do's and don'ts
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/living/cinco-de-mayo-etiquette/index.html
'Happy Cinco de Mayo!'
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We Finally Know Why the D.C. Area Had an Earthquake in 2011
May 4, 2016 / Gizmodo
http://gizmodo.com/we-finally-know-why-dc-had-an-earthquake-in-2011-1774765721
This is fascinating information, Lyle. Thanks so much for posting it.
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Yes Lyle, thanks! I've forwarded the link to Earl. I was in Iowa at the time (I first got the news via a call from Linda), then I called Earl. No damage, but a few things were knocked from their shelves.
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California's Smoking Age Raised From 18 to 21
May 4, 2016 / LOS ANGELES TIMES
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a pack of bills that will raise the smoking age in California from 18 to 21,
restrict the use of electronic cigarettes in public places and expand no-smoking areas at public schools.
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And today:
F.D.A. Imposes Rules for E-Cigarettes in a Landmark Move
WASHINGTON — After years of debate about the health risks of electronic cigarettes, the federal government on Thursday made it final: They need to be regulated and kept out of the hands of children.
The Food and Drug Administration issued sweeping new rules that for the first time extend federal regulatory authority to e-cigarettes, banning their sale to anyone under 18 and requiring that adults under the age of 26 show a photo identification to buy them.
The long-awaited regulations, 499 pages of them, shifted the terms of the public debate over e-cigarettes, putting the federal government’s heft behind a more restrictive approach to the devices. Many health experts fear that e-cigarettes will eventually hook a new generation on traditional cigarettes, while others worry that a tougher approach will make it harder for addicted smokers to get access to devices that may be their best hope of quitting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/science/fda-rules-electronic-cigarettes.html?_r=0
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^^^^^^
While listening to news stories about this yesterday, I was wondering
why, since everyone knows that smoking and nicotine are very bad for
you, not to mention illegal drugs, what is it about humans that they want
to always delve into these things that are toxic to them? It still amazes me
how many people still smoke. Smoke anything.
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HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!
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I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
So, that's your sig line, so is that how you get your house clean? ;)
Happy M's Day!
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So, that's your sig line, so is that how you get your house clean? ;)
Happy M's Day!
Let's not dominate the board again, you and I are going to bore everyone!
My house is always clean - I keep it clean - and I have a cleaner! :laugh:
:-* cleanliness is next to godliness :-*
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Let's not dominate the board again, you and I are going to bore everyone!
Well, one of us is. ;D
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Well, one of us is. ;D
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
AND what does that mean exactly............coming from a moderator??? 8)
Same rules apply.
News and current events discussions.
Be neighborly to one another!!
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Extreme up-close video of tornado near Wray, CO!
These storm chasers are REALLY close too!
https://youtu.be/bjb7QtMEBUg
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:o
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Incredible footage.
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:o
I KNOW!!!! One of my Bucket List items is to travel with some storm chasers, but even I think that was a bit too close!!!
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Incredible footage.
That was just a tad too close for me, Lyle, although as you said it was incredible. Reminded me of the movie "Twister".
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A quote I heard today:
"I do have faith in the American voter, I really do. But
when two-thirds of this country say they are unhappy,
a rational outcome can’t be taken for granted."
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I KNOW!!!! One of my Bucket List items is to travel with some storm chasers, but even I think that was a bit too close!!!
You'll have to select your tornado carefully! :D
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You'll have to select your tornado carefully! :D
Or the storm chasers!! Most usually don't get that close.
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I don't know who this is attributed to, but:
"If you're very, very stupid, how can you possibly realize
that you're very, very stupid? You'd have to be relatively
intelligent to realize how stupid you are. This explains
almost the entirety of Donald Trump supporters."
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https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/indian-woman-70-gives-birth-first-baby-100752048.html
Crazy....and irresponsible by the parents and definitely by the medical services
over there.
I really don't believe she...or him..... if he is going to join in the looking after of the baby....realize the long hours and hard work they have let themselves in for. I have seen women in their 20's looking like zombies after only a couple of weeks of "parentdom" !!!
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/what-is-the-new-ira-why-has-the-terror-threat-been-raised-from-northern-ireland-to-the-uk-a7024276.html
Did anyone reeeally believe the Irish troubles were over and done with ??
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Today, Marco Rubio said that he wasn't backing away from any of his previous and negative remarks
about Trump. But Rubio argued that—because he signed the RNC pledge and because he doesn't want
Hillary Clinton to win—he must support a man that e says, "Is so unfit for office he cannot be trusted
with access to the nuclear football."
What does Rubio's logic say about his own fitness for the highest office in the land? Nothing good.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/what-is-the-new-ira-why-has-the-terror-threat-been-raised-from-northern-ireland-to-the-uk-a7024276.html
Did anyone reeeally believe the Irish troubles were over and done with ??
I wish nothing but well to the people of both Ireland and Northern Ireland, but there is a long and painful history there, which is why most Brits don't get all misty-eyed and sentimental on St. Patrick's Day.
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One of my Bucket List items is to travel with some storm chasers, but even I think that was a bit too close!!!
Mine, too.
There are professional storm-chasing "tours" that you can take, but you have to make your reservation incredibly far in advance, because the groups are small. I looked into one of them a couple of years ago. I was put off by the nonrefundable reservation required as much as six months in advance to secure a spot. But I'd still like to do it.
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Extreme up-close video of tornado near Wray, CO!
These storm chasers are REALLY close too!
https://youtu.be/bjb7QtMEBUg
That was cool!
Did I see a cow go by at about the two-minute mark? :D
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That was cool!
Did I see a cow go by at about the two-minute mark? :D
Could be. I wonder if anyone chucked a bottle of Jack Daniels at it. ;) :D
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Governments have been cutting back education for decades in order to save money. We're inheriting that legacy.
Because of this lack of emphasis in education, quite a few people are taking pride in their ignorance, and believing that their ignorance is as good as another person's knowledge.
When Ronald Reagan took office as Governor of California, a semester at any University of California campus was $50 - yes that's right, FIFTY BUCKS! He immediately, if not sooner, raised the price to $500. Republicans do suffer when the proles get eddycated.
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Could be. I wonder if anyone chucked a bottle of Jack Daniels at it. ;) :D
Is that something from Twister that I've forgotten? ??? It's been a while now since I last saw the movie.
While I was watching that clip, I did think to myself how remarkably accurate they got some of the effects in Twister.
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Is that something from Twister that I've forgotten? ??? It's been a while now since I last saw the movie.
While I was watching that clip, I did think to myself how remarkably accurate they got some of the effects in Twister.
When they were at Aunt Meg's house for steak and eggs, the guys were telling stories about Bill to his fiance, telling her about when they met Bill for the first time, and how he walked up to the tornado and chucked a bottle of Jack Daniels into it and it never hit the ground.
https://youtu.be/XSSLv0bZ2es
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When Ronald Reagan took office as Governor of California, a semester at any University of California campus was $50 - yes that's right, FIFTY BUCKS! He immediately, if not sooner, raised the price to $500. Republicans do suffer when the proles get eddycated.
This is not even close to being factual.
This, on the other hand is:
http://www.dailycal.org/2014/12/22/history-uc-tuition-since-1868/ (http://www.dailycal.org/2014/12/22/history-uc-tuition-since-1868/)
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When they were at Aunt Meg's house for steak and eggs, the guys were telling stories about Bill to his fiance, telling her about when they met Bill for the first time, and how he walked up to the tornado and chucked a bottle of Jack Daniels into it and it never hit the ground.
https://youtu.be/XSSLv0bZ2es
Thanks, Linda.
A waste of a perfectly good bottle of Jack Daniels. Unless the bottle was empty. ;D
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Thanks, Linda.
A waste of a perfectly good bottle of Jack Daniels. Unless the bottle was empty. ;D
You're welcome, Jeff. It is one of my favorite movies.
Well, according to the guys, Bill was drunk, so it may have been empty!! :D
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You're welcome, Jeff. It is one of my favorite movies.
Well, according to the guys, Bill was drunk, so it may have been empty!! :D
:laugh:
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I have cruised and no idea how you fall overboard!
Isn't it quite common? Every time I turn on NBC's Dateline it seems
there's a story on it about people falling overboard and going missing!
___
One story I remember was about a guy falling off a ship in the Gulf of Mexico
and he was in the middle of the Gulf for I don't remember how long and he
actually got found and rescued. Was quite unbelievable; I can't imagine.
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http://www.dailycal.org/2014/12/22/history-uc-tuition-since-1868/ (http://www.dailycal.org/2014/12/22/history-uc-tuition-since-1868/)
Hi, Gary!
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Ted Cruz is back in Washington, on Thursday, according to CNN, "He came and he spoke at a lunch, and he said,
'I didn't really want to come back to the Senate.' And John McCain stood up and said, 'Well, we didn't really want
you back, either.'"
Kitty has claws.
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Isn't it quite common? Every time I turn on NBC's Dateline it seems
there's a story on it about people falling overboard and going missing!
___
Oh I know, and I keep saying "how"? I think a person in that link said .........drunk, murder, suicide, acting out the scene from Titanic. All possibilities I suppose, I know I was not wondering the decks at 2:00 am.
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I have cruised and no idea how you fall overboard!
Stupid-drunk, perhaps?
That poor woman. :(
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Reports say she was sitting on the railing, facing the ship not the sea, at 2am. Obviously alcohol was involved. She had 4 children.
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I can't even think of a word for this...it's so far beyond disgraceful...
May 17, 2016 4:18 PM EDT
Texas grand jury does not indict officer who fatally shot naked teen
By Jon Herskovitz
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas grand jury has decided not to bring charges against an Austin police officer who fatally shot an unarmed and naked teenage male in February, a local prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Officer Geoffrey Freeman was permanently suspended in March, a procedural step for firing, after he was found to have violated department policy by shooting black 17-year-old David Joseph a few seconds after confronting him.
Freeman, who also is African American and has worked as an Austin police officer for 10 years, appealed the suspension.
The case drew scrutiny as questions of racial bias in U.S. policing have been raised after the fatal shootings of several unarmed African-American men by police in recent months.
The grand jury met on five separate days and heard testimony from 12 witnesses, including Freeman and members of Joseph's family, before reaching its decision, the Travis County District Attorney's office said in a statement.
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Reports say she was sitting on the railing, facing the ship not the sea, at 2am. Obviously alcohol was involved. She had 4 children.
I was going to come back with an update, people are saying "a married women with kids can't have a holiday"?
Well you know they can't, they can't go on a cruise (a women with FOUR kids) and get drunk (and that is what is supsected) the first night and climb onto a railing at 2:00 am and fall off the ship...
Apparently her husband was one of the top horse trainers in the country.
I mean it is just senseless!! And it is stupid, I do feel bad for her, must have been a terrible way to die, but she did that to herself.
Anyway they have called off the search, I doubt they will ever find her body.
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Ted Cruz is back in Washington, on Thursday, according to CNN, "He came and he spoke at a lunch, and he said,
'I didn't really want to come back to the Senate.' And John McCain stood up and said, 'Well, we didn't really want
you back, either.'"
Kitty has claws.
This will only mean anything to those Brokies in the UK I suspect, but could someone please say something similar to Boris Johnson. :)
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An acquaintance of mine who used to work in the House of Commons says that Boris is a delightful person and highly intelligent, all of which I can believe... So WHY does he make himself look like an idiot?
-
I can quite believe it too.
When he is talking about Ancient Greece and Rome he is riveting, and obviously highly gifted.
Then.........he starts being "Boris" again.
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I mean it is just senseless!! And it is stupid, I do feel bad for her, must have been a terrible way to die, but she did that to herself.
Careful. You'll get accused of blaming the victim. :(
But it is awful for her family. :(
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I thought the same thing, Jeff. She was careless and paid a dear price, but we've all done foolish, maybe dangerous things, as well. No need to punctuate it with exclamation points.
I also think a mother of 4 CAN take a cruise, why the hell not? She can even get drunk; the kids weren't on the cruise, it was an adult trip. She made a disastrous decision to sit on the railing, but to say a mother can't take a vacation, can't go on a cruise? Silly...
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I thought the same thing, Jeff. She was careless and paid a dear price, but we've all done foolish, maybe dangerous things, as well. No need to punctuate it with exclamation points.
I also think a mother of 4 CAN take a cruise, why the hell not? She can even get drunk; the kids weren't on the cruise, it was an adult trip. She made a disastrous decision to sit on the railing, but to say a mother can't take a vacation, can't go on a cruise? Silly...
I can't believe people are actually saying she wasn't entitled to take a vacation. That's stupid. Of course she was! It's horrible for her and her family the way it's ended, but no way was she not entitled to a vacation.
I understand your point, "No need to punctuate it with exclamation points," and I even agree with it, but I also don't like to see people get attacked for stating the obvious (hey, it's happened to me often enough, so I sympathize when it happens to someone else). After all, nobody threw her overboard. But I also agree with you, indeed, we've all done foolish and maybe dangerous things at times. It's just being human.
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I think part of it is that it seems to keep happening so much.
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Well most Mothers of four are not fortunate enough to be able to escape their everyday life and go on a cruise with friends.
And of course people are entitled to a holiday, I had one when I had children, I chose to go with my spouse though. But my sister in laws often took holidays together, girls getaways, I never did..
But if I did (and if I had four - I am assuming young kids she wasn't that old) no I don't think I would be going and getting that drunk. Having some fun of course, but keep your wits about you, because you do have responsibilities.
Bottom line is those children are left without a Mom and what/how is anyone explaining to them how she died?
I just wonder why the railing, did she maybe sit up there so that "someone" could take a picture? And then when she fell back did that person just not notice, were they drunk?
Would they not show on camera?
If I were her husband or her Parent (or her child) I would just have so many questions!!
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But if I did (and if I had four - I am assuming young kids she wasn't that old) no I don't think I would be going and getting that drunk. Having some fun of course, but keep your wits about you, because you do have responsibilities.
That, of course, is good advice for anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Bottom line is those children are left without a Mom and what/how is anyone explaining to them how she died?
Good grief, yes. They must be very young, and how do you explain that to a very young child? :(
I just wonder why the railing, did she maybe sit up there so that "someone" could take a picture? And then when she fell back did that person just not notice, were they drunk?
If I were her husband or her Parent (or her child) I would just have so many questions!!
Indeed! Very good questions. Does someone know something he or she isn't telling?
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Well most Mothers of four are not fortunate enough to be able to escape their everyday life and go on a cruise with friends.
And of course people are entitled to a holiday, I had one when I had children, I chose to go with my spouse though. But my sister in laws often took holidays together, girls getaways, I never did..
But if I did (and if I had four - I am assuming young kids she wasn't that old) no I don't think I would be going and getting that drunk. Having some fun of course, but keep your wits about you, because you do have responsibilities.
Bottom line is those children are left without a Mom and what/how is anyone explaining to them how she died?
I just wonder why the railing, did she maybe sit up there so that "someone" could take a picture? And then when she fell back did that person just not notice, were they drunk?
Would they not show on camera?
If I were her husband or her Parent (or her child) I would just have so many questions!!
One really can't generalize..."most mothers of 4 are not fortunate enough"...and because you wouldn't do it, doesn't mean anything at all.
And of course, as you said, the bottom line is her kids and family...
CNN:
Surveillance video indicates she fell overboard from the 10th deck early Friday morning. The footage suggests she was sitting on a deck railing and fell backwards into the water, Carnival said.
Neither the U.S. Department of Transportation nor the U.S. Coast Guard specifically track incidents of passengers going overboard from cruise ships.
But CruiseJunkie.com, which does compile such statistics, said four people, including Broberg, have fallen off cruise ships in 2016. Last year, 27 people fell off ships, according to the site.
Those incidents include a woman who went overboard during a cruise ship dance party off Cuba, a 22-year-old man rescued after five hours in the water, and a Canadian man believed to have jumped from a cruise ship near Puerto Rico.
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Another point of view and I think a good point:
On land, bars face liability when they over-serve people to the point that they become literally falling-down drunks. The same liability on cruise ships. Intoxicated guests acting foolishly are foreseeable, especially on cruise ships. Carnival encourages the drunkenness with all-you-can-drink packages. Carnival knows that people will become highly intoxicated but does not have reasonable policies to deal with the problem. Then it does not invest in the proven technology of automatic MOB systems to immediately alert the bridge when someone goes overboard. It is a failure driven by the cruise line’s overarching priority to place profits over safety.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2069170-missing-cruise-ship-passengers-friends-didnt-notice-her-missing-for-10-hours/
Also by the same person, regarding the MOB system:
According to Cruise Law News‘ Jim Walker, the Carnival cruise ship she was on “was apparently not equipped with a automatic man overboard system.”
The system, if in place, would “have alerted the bridge immediately when the young woman went over the rail so that immediate rescue measures could have been undertaken,” Walker wrote. He said the the 15-hour delay from when Broberg fell overboard and when the Coast Guard was called in is unacceptable.
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Indeed! Very good questions. Does someone know something he or she isn't telling?
That's what I am wondering!
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News from the UK!
I suppose people have heard about "Brexit" ? Should we stay in or leave the EU.
Love him or loathe him..Boris Johnson does have a great turn of phrase. From one of our newspapers it reported Boris Johnson branded the Prime Minister's EU reforms as "the biggest stitch-up since the Bayeux Tapestry".
I just burst out laughing when I read it !! Bang on Boris !! :laugh: :laugh:
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"the biggest stitch-up since the Bayeux Tapestry".
That is a good one! :D
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EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo disappears from radar
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36309492 (http://EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo disappears from radar
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36309492)
This looks bad. No distress message was received.
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EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo disappears from radar
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36309492 (http://EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo disappears from radar
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36309492)
This looks bad. No distress message was received.
Heard about that on TV news this morning. :(
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Just terrible, those poor people and they are saying terrorist attack. :'(
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3598117/EgyptAir-flight-MS804-Paris-Cairo-goes-missing.html
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On land, bars face liability when they over-serve people to the point that they become literally falling-down drunks.
I know that bars can be sued if they serve those who obviously shouldn't be and then the
person goes out and causes an accident or worse.
Why can't gun shops be held responsible in a similar vein?
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News from the UK!
I suppose people have heard about "Brexit" ? Should we stay in or leave the EU.
What is your opinion?
For the latest update on polls of tihs question see:
https://brexit-polling.com/sites/ig.ft./ (https://ig.ft.com/sites/brexit-polling/)
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Definitely stay.
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I know that bars can be sued if they serve those who obviously shouldn't be and then the
person goes out and causes an accident or worse.
Why can't gun shops be held responsible in a similar vein?
You can't possibly equate the two. If a bartender sees an obviously intoxicated person who may be driving, it's more obvious that he shouldn't be served more alcohol.
I'm sure if a guy was in a gun shop trying to buy a gun and was threatening to kill people as soon as he got it, he might just get turned down.
Gun manufacturers can't be held liable either, in my opinion. That would allow people who eat at McDonald's all the time suing because they're fat, or have heart or diabetes issues.
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Just terrible, those poor people and they are saying terrorist attack. :'(
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3598117/EgyptAir-flight-MS804-Paris-Cairo-goes-missing.html
Somebody had CNN on the TV in our lunchroom here at work. I believe I heard a report that the Egyptians are saying they've found the wreckage.
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I know that bars can be sued if they serve those who obviously shouldn't be and then the
person goes out and causes an accident or worse.
Why can't gun shops be held responsible in a similar vein?
They should be, did you read this?
Families of the victims in the 2012 massacre by shooter Adam Lanza in Newtown, Connecticut, are no longer united only in their grief. Some of them are also now part of a potentially precedent-setting lawsuit seeking accountability from the gunmaker, Remington.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/13/health/sandy-hook-lawsuit-lessons-from-big-tobacco/
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Somebody had CNN on the TV in our lunchroom here at work. I believe I heard a report that the Egyptians are saying they've found the wreckage.
:'( :'(
Off to check....
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Somebody had CNN on the TV in our lunchroom here at work. I believe I heard a report that the Egyptians are saying they've found the wreckage.
Yes, Jeff. Including life jackets :(.
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Cairo (CNN)Searchers scouring the heavily traveled waters of the Mediterranean Sea for EgyptAir Flight 804 on Thursday have found the plane's wreckage, airline Vice Chairman Ahmed Adel told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
The debris was about 150 nautical miles north of the Egyptian coast, Adel said. He did not elaborate on the location or condition of the wreckage but said the search and rescue operation was "turning into a search and recovery" mission.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/middleeast/egyptair-flight-disappears/index.html
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You can't possibly equate the two. If a bartender sees an obviously intoxicated person who may be driving, it's more obvious that he shouldn't be served more alcohol.
I'm sure if a guy was in a gun shop trying to buy a gun and was threatening to kill people as soon as he got it, he might just get turned down.
Gun manufacturers can't be held liable either, in my opinion. That would allow people who eat at McDonald's all the time suing because they're fat, or have heart or diabetes issues.
What if the person is not obviously intoxicated, but in reality is intoxicated?
I'm not saying that I believe in those laws that bartenders or bars can be sued. What if you serve a pregnant
woman and the baby has problems, etc. But there are age limits to drink and consequences if you do. There
doesn't seem to be any age limits on people using guns, as there are classes for children and weapons designed
for them. The question I ask is why doesn't anyone want to do anything about it? When you have a statistic that
more people have been killed in the U.S. by guns than in all of the wars we've ever been involved in, then something
is wrong and the fact is no one seems much interested in doing anything about it.
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Bernie Sanders is starting to really tick me off.
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The question I ask is why doesn't anyone want to do anything about it? When you have a statistic that
more people have been killed in the U.S. by guns than in all of the wars we've ever been involved in, then something
is wrong and the fact is no one seems much interested in doing anything about it.
Like I said above, someone is doing something about it, or trying to..
I hoped and prayed this story would never/could never just fade away, glad to see it has not.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children aged between 6 and 7 years old, as well as six adult staff members.[5][6] Prior to driving to the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home.[8][11][12] As first responders arrived at the scene, Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
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Bernie Sanders is starting to really tick me off.
Same here.
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What if the person is not obviously intoxicated, but in reality is intoxicated?
I'm not saying that I believe in those laws that bartenders or bars can be sued. What if you serve a pregnant
woman and the baby has problems, etc. But there are age limits to drink and consequences if you do. There
doesn't seem to be any age limits on people using guns, as there are classes for children and weapons designed
for them. The question I ask is why doesn't anyone want to do anything about it? When you have a statistic that
more people have been killed in the U.S. by guns than in all of the wars we've ever been involved in, then something
is wrong and the fact is no one seems much interested in doing anything about it.
If someone isn't "obviously" intoxicated but is drunk and is served, it's personal responsibility of the drunk driver if he kills someone, not the bar or the person serving...you know, in my opinion.
As for why no one cares about gun violence, I have no answer for that one. Maybe it's the one "freedom" that people are desperate to hold onto, they have an amendment and a strong lobby...a blue collar worker in Kentucky might lose his job, but he ain't losin' his gun...idk...
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How did Nancy Grace get a (non Fox News) TV show? She is completely batshit crazy.
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lmao!!!
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Bernie Sanders is starting to really tick me off.
I believe in listening to points of view which may not agree with my own. In that spirit, I subscribe to a publication called Laissez Faire Books which you could describe as a Libertrarian/Anarchist site. Some of the articles are truly thought-provoking and some are hopelessly naive in my opinion. They sent out an email yesterday on Bernie Sanders which you wouldn't see in a typical mainstream publication which explains a lot if the facts are true:
No, We're Not Screwed
It’s easy to see why so many people in America think we’re screwed.
For example, a deceased woman just cast a legendary (and yuge!) burn from the grave on both top “hopefuls” Trump and Hillary.
Obituary
"Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Ann Noland of Richmond chose instead to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday May 15, 2016 at the age of 68..."
Let’s not leave out, though, our other “choice” (the so-called anti-establishment figure), Bernie Sanders.
Who is, of course, just an old fogey whose ideas are just as messy and disheveled as he is. As Investor’s Business Daily put it in a recent editorial piece called “Bernie Sanders, the Bum Who Wants Your Money”:
Sanders took his first bride to live in a maple sugar shack with a dirt floor, and she soon left him. Penniless, he went on unemployment. Then he had a child out of wedlock. Desperate, he tried carpentry but could barely sink a nail. “He was a shi**y carpenter,” a friend told Politico Magazine. “His carpentry was not going to support him, and didn’t.
...
[He] tried his hand freelancing for leftist rags, writing about “masturbation and rape” and other crudities for $50 a story. He drove around in a rusted-out, Bondo-covered VW bug with no working windshield wipers. Friends said he was “always poor” and his “electricity was turned off a lot.” They described him as a slob who kept a messy apartment -- and this is what his friends had to say about him.…
...
His family [did manage] to send him to the University of Chicago. Despite a prestigious degree, however, Sanders failed to earn a living, even as an adult. It took him 40 years to collect his first steady paycheck -- and it was a government check … one of his first jobs was registering people for food stamps, and it was all downhill from there.
That last point is why, of course, he’s so relatable to so many millennials.
Only difference is, he grew up in a time when college was more affordable and it was much easier to find a job. While millennials have the right to be angry about the economy, Sanders had his chance and never grew up.
He has absolutely no excuse.
Which is why the #BabiesForBernie hashtag is, in our eyes, the most relevant to his campaign.
Sure, we see the appeal of Bernie Sanders. In fact, when taking the ISideWith.com test, we sided with Bernie Sanders on 65% of issues. He understands a lot of the problems -- his solutions to these problems, though, is where the train leaves the tracks and flies off a cliff.
But the truth of it is, none of these people -- not Trump, Hillary or Sanders -- really matter. Human history is filled with people who make big promises, many of which they could never possibly fulfill, then the REAL change happens from the bottom-up regardless of who sits on the throne.
Today, to illustrate this point further, we invite T.K. Coleman to rap about why we’re not screwed -- and why believing so is only holding you back.
It’s short. It’s sweet. And it’s worth the read. (Hey, when have we ever steered you wrong? Wait. Don’t answer that.)
Read on…
No, We Are Not Screwed
By T.K. Coleman
“In our effort to be honest about our problems, it is not necessary that we cease to be mindful of our potential.” – Freedom Without Permission: How to Live Free in a World That Isn’t
To my friends who insist on saying things like “we’re screwed” in response to some political candidate gaining momentum in their campaign: No, we are not screwed.
We are not screwed unless we voluntarily decide to look at ourselves as a bunch of powerless dopes who can’t do anything besides complain and cry when a political event doesn’t go our way.
It’s not only self-defeating to think and speak in this manner, but it perpetuates the problem of exaggerating the power of politicians and downplaying the power of the individual.
There will always be people, situations, and events that we can’t control. And there will always be creative things we can do to create a freer society in spite of those things. There’s nothing wrong with being frustrated by an undesirable political outcome, but it only makes things worse when we use such situations as evidence that everything is inevitably going to hell regardless of the reactions and responses we choose to have.
We are not defined by the politicians who beg, grovel, perform, and plead for our votes. We are defined by the fact that we are a people with a voice, with a power to imagine, and with a capacity to innovate that cannot and will not ever be extinguished by any political regime.
Go ahead and bemoan all the bad policies and politicians you hate. Life is only going to give you so many opportunities to complain before it forces you to get back to work anyway. So go ahead and get it all out of your system.
When you’re done, however, I invite you to entertain the radical possibility that you are a being who still has power, who still has options, who still has the potential to create massive change after your vote has been cast, after your most hated political candidate has won, and after you’ve been let down (yet again) by the things you can’t control.
When we truly wake up to our potential, the only thing that will be screwed will be the sources of indoctrination that are apparently doing a fantastic job at convincing us that we have no other option than living in constant fear of unwanted political outcomes.
Instead of sitting around feeling inconsolably screwed by the latest bit of political scandal or the latest act of political stupidity, let’s invest our time, attention, and energy into conversations and activities that offer us a way forward. We don’t have to lie to ourselves about the screwed up stuff that’s going on, but we also don’t have to treat it like it’s the end-all-be-all of our existence either.
Regards,
T.K. Coleman
Co-Founder, Praxis
Food for thought!
Richchan
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^^^^^^
Thanks for posting this and I agree with it. It's like what Obama said when he was elected.
He wanted his supporters to hold his feet to the fire. I believe he said "not to let him get away
with anything." In other words, people have to keep working at the things they want, besides
voting, and regardless of the people who get elected and especially to those who are willing to
help you.
However...
But the truth of it is, none of these people -- not Trump, Hillary or Sanders -- really matter. Human history is filled with people who make big promises, many of which they could never possibly fulfill, then the REAL change happens from the bottom-up regardless of who sits on the throne.
...change might happen from the bottom up "regardless of who sits on the throne," but it can be easier to effect change depending on who's
actually sitting there--so it does matter. Would we have the end of DADT if Obama hadn't been elected, for example? I really believe it would
not have happened. And people don't live in "human history" terms, they live day to day, so to say that none of these people really matter--that
actually gives Trump a backward kind of legitimacy that I just couldn't accept.
If only Sanders would read this post. He doesn't seem to be living in a "human history" frame of mind, rather he seems to
be getting very petty--petulant. Really? He's going after the DNC chair now?
Bernie Sanders Backing DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Primary Opponent.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sanders-backing-dnc-chair-debbie-wasserman-schultz-opponent-article-1.2645304
It's not pretty.
I sort of feel the lines I quoted give a certain legitimacy to NOT VOTING. I mean, why, if it really doesn't matter who's in office?
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So, Sanders supporters were claiming bias in New York's primary because
you had to be registered to vote by last October or something near that.
Now, in California, Sanders supporters have filed a lawsuit to keep voter registration
open until the state’s June 7 primary, contending that there is widespread confusion
among unaffiliated voters about how to register to vote in the Democratic election.
"Widespread confusion?"
If one wants to vote wherever they are, they need to just register and then vote.
Since the primaries have been going on all year and California's date to register by
was yesterday--May 23rd--then if you're not registered already it's your own fault.
And if there's confusion at all it's because no one took the time (a minute or two) to
google the information.
So, I'm sorry. Sanders voters have been complaining all season long about anything that doesn't
let them have their way. Super delegates have to vote for them. Primaries should all be open.
Proportional delegation should be winner take all, unless their opponent wins. Do I really want
these people who can't even find out how to vote to vote at all? If they can't take the time to
find out how to vote where they live than how much time am I confident they've given to find
out about the candidates they support?
I, myself, looked up the primary rules for California because they have changed throughout the
years. At one time, if you are a registered independent voter, when you went to the polls you
could request to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary election if you wanted to.
Except for the Presidential primaries California now has a system where all the candidates for a
given office, like Senator or your Representative, are listed together, whether Green or Democrat
or Republican etc. (You don't even have to list a party if you don't want to.) The TOP TWO vote
getters run in the fall election. Which means that two people of the same party can be running
against each other. It's thought that we are going to have two Democratic women running for
Barbara Boxer's open Senate seat this fall: Kamala Harris (our Attorney General) or Loretta Sanchez,
a member of the House of Representatives. No Republican.
As for the Presidential primary--this year for the Republicans it's a closed Primary. You have to be
a registered Republican to vote in that one. For the Democrats you can be registered as either a
Democrat or Independent.
None of this is confusing. None of this couldn't have been found out in 5 minutes online, like I did
a few months ago.
As for that lawsuit, it hasn't been addressed, but last night at midnight the time was
up and I'm betting the court won't say let's open it up again. Especially when there was
ample time to prepare for what you wanted to do.
I'm voting for Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
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It's striking that a person who became a Democrat just for the upcoming election wants non-party members to be able to vote in a party primary. Presumably not enough party members would be interested in supporting him.
Wendell Willkie became a Republican in order to run against Roosevelt in the 1940 election.
A longtime Democratic activist, Willkie changed his party registration to Republican in late 1939. He did not run in the 1940 presidential primaries, but positioned himself as an acceptable choice for a deadlocked convention. He sought backing from uncommitted delegates, while his supporters, many youthful, enthusiastically promoted his candidacy. As Hitler rampaged through Western Europe in the spring of 1940, many Republicans did not wish to nominate an isolationist like Thomas E. Dewey, and turned to Willkie, who was nominated on the sixth ballot over Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft. Willkie's support for aid to Britain removed it as a major factor in his race against Roosevelt, and Willkie also backed the president on a peacetime draft. Both men took more isolationist positions in the final days of the race. Roosevelt won a third term, taking 38 of the 48 states.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Willkie
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while his supporters, many youthful
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Sounds familiar.
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a loser who has nothing better to do...but this is a bad idea. Talk about a terrorist winning...it's not the only bridge in Austin, he'll just move...
APD considering shutting down I-35 lower deck over rock throwing incidents
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25TH 2016
Police said Wednesday they are considering shutting down the lower deck of I-35 through Downtown Austin overnight due to continued rock throwing incidents.
Austin Police say they believe the rocks are coming from oncoming traffic so they say the upper deck is your safest route. The proposed closure of the lower deck would be from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
There were 13 rock throwing incidents reported over this past weekend, five people were injured.
No arrests have been made -- but police are offering some safety tips to drivers. They are encouraging you to avoid the lower deck if at all possible. And if you if you have to use it, use the outer lanes. Also make sure to be aware of your surroundings as you drive.
To date, 83 rock incidents have been reported since 2014.
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^^^^^^
Yeah, why don't they install cameras to catch the perpetrators, or install some policeman.
But close down a road?
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OOPS!
You know the embarrassment you feel when you send an email to the wrong person? Well, multiply that by about 100 and that's probably how the Donald Trump campaign feels right now.
In an effort to dig up dirt on likely general election opponent Hillary Clinton, a Trump campaign adviser emailed a researcher at the Republican National Committee to get information on Whitewater, an old Clinton scandal. In a reply, a campaign spokeswoman responded to Marc Caputo instead of Michael Caputo; Marc works for Politico.
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State Department report slams Clinton email use
(CNN)A State Department Inspector General report said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to follow the rules or inform key department staff regarding her use of a private email server, according to a copy of the report obtained by CNN on Wednesday. ..
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/25/politics/state-department-report-faults-clinton-over-email-use/index.html
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^^^^^^
Yeah, why don't they install cameras to catch the perpetrators, or install some policeman.
But close down a road?
Exactly what I thought. They had a news conference yesterday, after 13 incidents over the weekend, and said they've spent "thousands of hours" on the case and have nothing. And I-35 isn't a little back street; if they shut down the lower deck, traffic, especially on the weekend, would slow to a crawl.
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1,000's of hours? What were they doing?
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good question...that's since 2014 when it all started, but still...nothing to show for it.
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State Department report slams Clinton email use
(CNN)A State Department Inspector General report said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to follow the rules or inform key department staff regarding her use of a private email server, according to a copy of the report obtained by CNN on Wednesday. ..
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/25/politics/state-department-report-faults-clinton-over-email-use/index.html
I don't think this email problem is going to sway many voters because the Republicans have kept it in the news so long
and cloudied the issue for so long that it's become a partisan divide instead of factual. People who are going to vote for her
aren't going to switch and people who weren't won't either. If you look at/read this report, what was the purpose of it?
The only thing that would change the equation is if there is some actual legal ramifications involved. Not following guidelines
isn't breaking the law, breaking a law is breaking a law. CBS did a report last night on how much the State Department and
other government agencies are behind the times in terms of updating the technologies they use. Some places still use floppy
disks in their management of their corners of the government and it's stated that because of this outdated technology still being
used it's getting to a point where it's more expensive to maintain it than replace it.
Having said that, this whole thing is maddening because it's Clinton's fault. We don't know what her thought processes were for
having the setup she did, we only know the result and it's causing her trouble and a big distraction. It leads people wary of her in
the first place to cast doubt on her judgment about other things. It creates the opportunity for a cloud of suspicions to keep developing
that create distrust. It lingers. It becomes a news story because news people like to talk about things that rile people up because news
is about ratings now. Nowadays "Tweets" are considered valid news sources.
I, personally, don't care about any of the email business. Other Secs. of State did the same thing. Guidelines were updated the year
she took over, but the definition of "guidelines" isn't based in law. "Guidelines: Recommended practice that allows some discretion or
leeway in its interpretation, implementation, or use." Recommended doesn't mean mandatory. Therein lies months of babble over it all.
And if you have opposition they can keep babbling about it because they want to harm you.
Ask yourself if this also should be considered in a year when the opposition candidate will say or do anything about anything and get away with it?
As I wrote once, I have two choices to vote on, I'm picking Hillary Clinton.
Trump is a birther; believes President Obama doesn't have a legitimate birth certificate.
Just from that one sentence Trump is not qualified to be President and so why move beyond that?
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In western Sydney where I use to live, the M4 motorway had problems of this type especially at night on weekends. The solution was to put barricades. I know they bend in so impossible to climb especially while holding a rock. I have only seen them from the road below while driving.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi57.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg218%2Fbrianr44%2Fcc77f28343548cfa7a7e3e560a3334f4_zpszxhjav4t.jpg&hash=9c7a09d5f24da041ad5830d7266e093c45b210b1)
Expensive as the motorway goes for about 40 km but I have not heard of any recent problems but I no longer live there.
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The thought of Trump actually being a candidate for President of the United States frightens me.
I can't get beyond the fact it's happened at all so then what?
Trump was on Jimmy Kimmel last night and it's clear that Kimmel was treating his candidacy as a joke,
by the questions he was asking. Trump played along. Also frightening. And the audience was laughing
and enjoying it all. I sat there numb. When Kimmel asked if Trump had ever seen a psychiatrist, and
he needs one in my opinion, I thought of poor Thomas Eagleton.
Yes, the Trump candidacy is a joke. But Rob Ford was elected mayor of Toronto, too, so it's not so
amusing to me. I don't know if I'm ready for the next few months.
The media has treated much of Trump's campaign as a joke, but on the other side of the coin, you now see them
talking about chances to win here and there and if he has policies about this or that etc., in short--starting to give
him legitimacy by accepting him and where he's at. Admiring the Republican party for starting to get behind him in
rapid order. This is not amusing, either.
So, he's an acceptable joke? What do you do with someone like Trump now that he is where he is?
Joke? Acceptance? Joke? Acceptance? Joke? Acceptance? Joke? Acceptance? Joke? Acceptance? Joke? Acceptance?
Remember that ad a few years ago from a woman running for the Senate in Delaware when she had to actually make
a campaign commercial where she begins, "I am not a witch."
Will Trump have to come out with an ad and say, like his daughter did recently, "He is not a Hitler."
As someone pointed out, Hitler wasn't Hitler before he got elected, either, though the seeds were there.
I don't have an answer right now, but Trump disconcerts me more than someone like GWB ever did.
Warning bells in the night: will people hear them or want to hear them:
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/-1/article/p2p-87323265/
____________________________________
THE DANGEROUS ACCEPTANCE OF DONALD TRUMP
by Adam Gopnik / The New Yorker
May 20, 2016
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-dangerous-acceptance-of-donald-trump
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If this country gets Donald Trump for President, then he's what the majority of voters deserve. And that's both sad and frightening. :(
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^^^^^^
Although a majority (?) of voters don't always vote.
_______
So, earlier this week Sanders requested a recount in Kentucky. Why? It was close
and he wouldn't have gotten many if any more delegates. Just to say he "WON"
perhaps? It's sounding petty to "me." He's sounding like Trump, now. I won,
I won, I won!
Well, Hillary won according Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes and the
results of the recanvass will be re-certified by the state's Board of Elections on
May 31. You lost and thanks for wasting the taxpayer's money, Bernie.
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I guess it depends on the state, frequently the complaining candidate has to pay the costs of the recount.
And those who didn't vote voted by their silence, which gives consent.
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^^^^^^
Although a majority (?) of voters don't always vote.
If they don't vote, then they aren't voters. ;)
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And if things aren't already screwy this year, Trump and Sanders might be having a debate together?
WTF ???
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A Sanders supporter, Victor Vizcarra, 48, of Los Angeles, 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 happens 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 want to just see everybody be happy with each other. You want
to see someone fighting somebody.”
...from a N.Y. Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/opinion/trumps-delusions-of-competence.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=Trending&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article)
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A Sanders supporter, Victor Vizcarra, 48, of Los Angeles, 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 happens 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 want to just see everybody be happy with each other. You want
to see someone fighting somebody.”
...from a N.Y. Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/opinion/trumps-delusions-of-competence.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=Trending&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article)
"People love to hate, it's fun!" - A Trump supporter on a TV Q&A
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I still believe this has all grown out of the fact that running for President is now a two year
process and, with all the available media now, become a reality-show, and audiences, like the
man I quoted above, feel it's for their entertainment: "a Trump presidency would be more
exciting than a 'boring' Clinton administration." Because, you know, it's all about him being
entertained.
What is wrong with people? I had a boss like that once. She hired someone who was largely
incompetent and caused numerous rifts within the employees and after she fired him after a
bit she admitted she had hired him "just to stir things up."
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Personally, i think this election year, even more than usual, is more about lessers of evils...I can't vote for trump and I despise, detest hate, loathe and abhor hillary...that's why, even though I disagree with a lot of his policies, I was hoping Bernie would be the nominee.
And I'm still waiting for obama to endorse hrc...
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I thank Bernie Sanders for getting all of his followers to demonize Hillary Clinton all out
of proportion, even though their voting record matched 93% of the time, and then to
have them think Trump is just as good a choice, as in just one of two evils. Thanks Bernie!
In the Republican party there is definitely a current of misogyny in the anti-Hillary rhetoric.
It's so very obvious. They even have campaign m,erchandise for examples. As much as the
Obama rhetoric from them has been racist. If Hillary was a man I don't think this hate would
be so apparent. On the right, Margaret Thatcher had as much vitriol levied against her from
the left.
I know, Nancy, you "despise, detest hate, loathe and abhor hillary" Clinton, so much so you won't even
capitalize the "h" in her name, and you are definitely not alone in those feelings, just read comments
from Bernie supporters after an online article appears, but to me it seems all out of proportion than
simply not liking a candidate, like I couldn't stand GWB, but I never got so worked up about it to use
vehement language suggesting violent animosity.
I'm just going on my own experience, but I've had female bosses. One, in particular, owned a couple
businesses and I saw firsthand how some men treated her when they had to deal with each other and
I was particularly shocked by it, because it didn't seem to come from anything else other than she was
a woman. This is what I read into the viciousness behind these anti-Hillary feelings. I mean, Trump is
way more offensive than Hillary and he's getting a free pass over all of it. He's a bully, treats people like
crap, name calls and worse and Hillary is a villain? He's never even held a political office. And we don't know
exactly if he's the greatest businessman ever because why? His tax returns, "Are none your business,"
he says. Even Bernie hasn't released his tax returns. And he's supposed to be poor. Or at least, not wealthy.
"Believe me," he says, "there's nothing in there." But we can't see it.
I've asked a few people that I know who field the same emotional terms against Hillary that you've written,
and I ask them why they feel this way and none of them have any concrete thing they point to. They just
have this feeling. They repeat the "she lies, she's dishonest, she's out for herself (and Trump isn't? Or any
other politician or businessman?), or there's just "something" I don't like memes that you always hear, the
Republicans have made sure of that for decades, but WHAT exactly that is I don't get an answer to.
I am enthusiastically supporting Hillary because I have only one choice. TRUMP is not a choice to me and never
has been. He's patently unqualified to be President. Way back he's believed Obama doesn't have a legitimate
birth certificate--Trump's a birther--I don't need to go any further. This one thing alone makes him unqualified,
I don't need to look any more than that.
I've voted for many a candidate I have differences with or don't care for, but I can't say I've ever hated any of
them as much as some seem to hate Hillary. I don't know how they might get over that, except that TRUMP
is absolutely worth a lot of hate, too, he even espouses his own hate. There's just no comparison. In my eyes
Hillary is a saint compared to D.T.
Let me use an odd example, perhaps. Does anyone know the musical 1776? From that, and, of course, from history
books and even the John Adams mini-series, it's clear there were many many people that abhorred John Adams, too,
and were not shy about saying it, or writing it. They talk about John Adam's being stubbornly obnoxious and disliked
to the point of violence. It's even in the song lyrics of the musical, such as:
Congress: Oh for God's sake, John, sit down!
Adams: Oh, good God! Consider yourself fortunate that you have John Adams to abuse, for no sane man would tolerate it!
Congress: John, you're a bore; we've heard this before Now for God's sake, John, sit down!
Adams: I say vote yes!
Congress: No!
Adams: Vote yes!
Congress: No!
Adams: I say vote yes!
Congress: Sit down, John!
Congress: Will someone shut that man up?
And in another song there's a running lyric about Adams being "Obnoxious and disliked."
Just trying to say that even though there are people one might have an aversion to, in the year
1776, with so much more at stake and unknown, that they at least listened to each other's ideas
and were able to do that while not liking certain people for the sake of eventual movement on the
issues of the day.
It's going to be a long year.
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And I'm still waiting for obama to endorse hrc...
It's customary to wait until the candidate has enough delegates to become the nominee,
or when all opponents have dropped out. You sound as though you have some skepticism
that he won't endorse her. I have no doubt that he will, why wouldn't he? He has higher
approval ratings right now than she and Trump, so he'll be a good asset in the campaign.
Many reporters have said he's really itching to get into it, support her, and attack Trump
and I have no doubt he will. Elizabeth Warren gave an indication the other day that she's
willing to go at this fall, too. She's one person that really irritates Trump. I'd love to see
Clinton pick her as the V.P., but as I said, misogyny being an issue, those hesitating to
vote for Hillary because she's a woman would have an even bigger hesitation with that.
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"so much so you won't even capitalize the "h" in her name,".... for the record, I didn't capitalize trump or obama, either...
One thing we can maybe agree on is that politicians, by (my) definition, lie, pander, cheat if necessary, say whatever they have to, to whoever they’re sucking up to at the time, do anything, to get elected. Whatever I say against Hillary, you can also say against Trump and Bernie and Obama, for that matter...and certainly against the Bush dynasty.
So take this and fill in the blank with whoever (or is it whomever, I always forget) you like: What I dislike about HRC is her smug, holier-than-thou attitude, her refusal to acknowledge that she must play by the “rules”, her involvement is more scandals than I can count and accusations of wrong-doing, most of which were unprovable but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen – Capone went to jail for tax fraud, not murder… (and don’t forget Don Corleone!!)
I do not believe the Clintons are innocent of most of what they are accused of doing. The reason I am inclined to believe that she may have been involved, in some capacity, with Vince Foster’s death is that it isn’t that far out of the realm of possibility to believe.
So it all really comes down to a popularity contest. Hillary doesn’t care about Mexicans or blacks or muslims or anyone else, even women, who aren’t on the same social/economic scale that she is. But she has to pretend she does so she can win, that’s just the way the game is played. Trump is the only one who will say who he doesn’t like, but he’s a lunatic...I just hope he doesn't end up running the asylum.
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Obama’s shameful "apology tour" lands in Hiroshima
An American president’s highest moral, constitutional and political duty is protecting his fellow citizens from foreign threats. Presidents should adhere to our values and the Constitution, and not treat America’s enemies as morally equivalent to us.
If they do, they need not apologize to anyone.
The White House says that President Obama won’t apologize as he visits Hiroshima Friday. But who believes his press flacks?
His penchant for apologizing is central to his legacy. He may not often say “I apologize” explicitly, but his meaning is always clear, especially since he often bends his knee overseas, where he knows the foreign audiences will get his meaning. It is, in fact, Obama’s subtlety that makes his effort to reduce America’s influence in the world so dangerous.
He started in Cairo in 2009, referring to the “fear and anger” that the 9/11 attacks provoked in Americans, saying that, “in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals.” He later said, “Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions . . . based on fear rather than foresight” — a characterization Americans overwhelmingly reject.
In Europe, saved three times by America in the last century, Obama apologized because “there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.” And in this hemisphere, Obama said, “We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms,” culminating in his recent fawning visits with the Castros in Cuba.
The list goes on and on.
Then there’s his penchant for bowing to foreign leaders. He has bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia. He bowed to the emperor of Japan on a previous visit. He has bowed to China’s leader, Xi Jinping. And these are not casual nods of the head, but unmistakable gestures of obeisance.
For those who may wonder, the diplomatic protocol on bowing is clear: Heads of state don’t bow to other heads of state, monarchs or otherwise. Period. And Americans don’t bow to anyone. We fought a revolution to establish that point.
Obama’s apologies and gestures prove yet again, in his words, that he isn’t like those other presidents on our currency. And Friday, in Hiroshima, Obama may prove conclusively that, on national security, he’s no Franklin Roosevelt or Harry Truman.
Obama’s narcissism, his zeal for photo opportunities with him at the center, whether in Havana or Hiroshima, too often overcomes lesser concerns — like the best interests of the country. He puts his vanity before our nation’s pride.
Even without an express apology, there will likely be moral equivalence like: Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and we bombed Hiroshima. We’re all guilty, but let’s put it behind us.
Undeniably, World War II is history, and further strengthening the US-Japan alliance profoundly important. But there is no moral equivalence here.
Pearl Harbor was “a date which will live in infamy,” in Roosevelt’s words. Hiroshima (and Nagasaki) came after four years of brutal war and a desperate race against Nazi and Japanese efforts to develop atomic weapons. We won the race, and Truman acted decisively and properly to end the war.
Truman understood that not using the atom bombs would have condemned millions of service members to death or debilitating injury. Japanese resistance grew significantly as US forces neared Japan, and, expecting fanatical Japanese resistance, American military planners repeatedly increased projected US casualties. The calculus could not have been clearer.
Retrospectively, critics argue that Japan was incapable of winning the Pacific war, thereby invalidating any arguments favoring dropping the bomb.
But being unable to win is not equivalent to surrendering in defeat. Truman pursued Roosevelt’s goal of “unconditional surrender” because recreating the prewar status quo, with a belligerent Japanese military again threatening international peace, was simply unacceptable.
Truman wanted to end World War II and save American lives, and also lay the basis for sustained international peace. Before Obama casually trashes Truman’s courageous decision, he should reflect on what the alternative would have been.
http://nypost.com/2016/05/26/obamas-shameful-apology-tour-lands-in-hiroshima/ (http://nypost.com/2016/05/26/obamas-shameful-apology-tour-lands-in-hiroshima/)
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^^^That's one way to look at it. Too bad is wrong.
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"so much so you won't even capitalize the "h" in her name,".... for the record, I didn't capitalize trump or obama, either...
I admit this caught my eye because I started doing that with the "o"scars after BBM was not awarded for Best Film.
(No matter how many times spell check wants me to!)
_____
As for the article, written by the hawk John Bolton, I take little worth from what he has to say and other neocons of his ilk who
believe that unless we are engaged in a war we're not worthy.
So many conservatives think the simple act of being considerate and trying to get along with one another is weakness,
for some reason, so they call it bowing down. It's also a way to discredit Obama, to see him as a "yes, massa" servant
that should be treated like one.
I have to ask Mr. Bolton why he is so afraid? The tone of this article is one of a bully. But that's not surprising since, Bolton, as our
one time U.N. representative had such contempt for his job that he said, "...there is no United Nations... there is an international
community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that´s the United States, when it suits our
interests, and when we can get others to go along."
Talk about arrogance.
He also said, "The Secretariat [U.N.] Building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost ten stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
Maybe not if it was the story he was working in.
He also had a prominent role in the recount in Florida that got GWB elected.
The bully mentality might work on some people, but I refuse to be affected by people like that.
Bullying comes from fear and fear makes people do a lot of things against their own self-interests.
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I forgot to point out that Bolton is accusing Obama of apologizing to Japan before he's even
said anything and has pretty much stated that whatever he's going to say IS an apology. Why
believe his press flacks? Yeah, John boy, why believe anyone but you?
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^^^That's one way to look at it. Too bad is wrong.
sez you...(my all-time favorite comeback...thank you, West Wing writers)
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No Gorilla thread?
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robyn-urback-earth-to-the-sanctimonious-about-harambe-the-gorillas-death-moms-arent-perfect
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No Gorilla thread?
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robyn-urback-earth-to-the-sanctimonious-about-harambe-the-gorillas-death-moms-arent-perfect
It's surprising. The worst part is the mother bragging about it on Facebook. She said God protected her son. Too bad she didn't. It was kind of surreal to watch the kid being dragged through the moat by the doomed gorilla. Also, the screaming crowd probably didn't help, but was understandable. I think zoos have run their course and should be phased out.
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I hope the parents are prosecuted...how much you wanna bet she was on FB when the kid fell?
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I guess I didn't hear the whole story, and I don't watch local news, but today I heard it isn't a person standing on a bridge and throwing down, it's someone in a car going in the opposite direction!! This time a dad with 2 kids in the car at 6:30 am.
Austin Police Report Another Rock Throw Occurred From I-35
The Saturday attack is the 84th rock launch in a series of attacks that began in June 2014 that police have been unable to solve.
Downtown Austin-UT, TX
May 29, 2016
AUSTIN, TX -- Another rock was thrown from Interstate 35 on Saturday, bringing the total number of such attacks to 84 since they began in June 2014.
The latest incident comes less than a day that the Texas governor's office announced they would add $6,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the culprit.
The victim told KVUE-TV he was in his car with his two sons when the rock hit.
"I just immediately blocked my face from the glass," James Joseph told the television station. "It was like a big, softball-sized rock."
The latest rock throw took place on I-35 near Lady Bird Lake.
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So, you mean the rocks are being thrown from another car?
I don't see why a camera can't catch the cars going by and their license plates in that case.
You'd know what car was hit and then the other cars in the vicinity. I must be missing something
because it makes no sense otherwise.
______
As for the kid falling, a woman who was there said that in order for this to have happened, the
kid had to have deliberately made an effort to crawl over or under something to get to the point
where he'd actually have fallen. So why the parent didn't see that is a question. Don't most kids
know that getting into a zoo enclosure is dangerous thing to do. Certainly unwise. Was this kid
that stupid? I don't call it an accident because he apparently was arguing with his mother about
doing what he did and then he fell after he got in there. It was no accident. The parent should have
some consequence. A fine or something at the least.
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Yes, they're being thrown from a car across the freeway into another car going in the opposite direction. The incidents are up and down I-35, all over the place, some near bridges, some not, so where do you put a camera? If cars are going 70, and the idiot is throwing from the opposite direction, it's not easy for other drivers to even know what's going on.
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MSNBC is reporting a shooting at UCLA, but I don't see anything on the net yet. They're monitoring police scanners, 2 people down? Still a question...
Shots fired at 10:02, 2 victims, but no details
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Two Killed In Apparent Murder-Suicide At UCLA
LOS ANGELES — Two men were shot and killed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, in what authorities believe was a murder-suicide.
At least three shots were fired in a small office in the Engineering IV building, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at a press conference. Authorities are still searching the building and recovered a gun at the scene.
“The victim was a professor, the shooter is unknown at this time,” LA City Councilman Paul Koretz told The Huffington Post. He said the motivation for the shooting remains unknown.
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It's surprising. The worst part is the mother bragging about it on Facebook. She said God protected her son. Too bad she didn't. It was kind of surreal to watch the kid being dragged through the moat by the doomed gorilla. Also, the screaming crowd probably didn't help, but was understandable. I think zoos have run their course and should be phased out.
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s526x395/13344815_1084452561608045_1474754316643910041_n.jpg?oh=84566025371ae2cfc421a5a72a733417&oe=57C8B7E1)
;D
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Another set of parents who shouldn't have been allowed to have kids...and oh yeah, the "teacher"
CPS investigating family of boy who allegedly had sex with teacher
HOUSTON – Students remember Alexandria Vera as the “cool teacher” who let kids at Stovall Middle School use cell phones in class. They also long suspected her to be in an inappropriate relationship with an eighth-grader.
According to court documents, they were right. Harris County prosecutors say Vera had sex with a 13-year-old student almost daily for nine months. She got pregnant but later had an abortion, she allegedly told investigators.
Vera, 24, is charged with continuous sex abuse of a child. She turned herself in Wednesday morning in Conroe.
CPS is now investigating the boy's family because they allegedly supported the relationship, according to investigators.
http://www.khou.com/news/crime/aldine-isd-teacher-accused-of-getting-pregnant-by-student/224957391 (http://www.khou.com/news/crime/aldine-isd-teacher-accused-of-getting-pregnant-by-student/224957391)
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Another set of parents who shouldn't have been allowed to have kids...and oh yeah, the "teacher"
They're certainly an argument for dumping some bleach in the gene pool. ...
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They're certainly an argument for dumping some bleach in the gene pool. ...
Hahaha! Excellent
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Another set of parents who shouldn't have been allowed to have kids...and oh yeah, the "teacher"
CPS investigating family of boy who allegedly had sex with teacher
HOUSTON – Students remember Alexandria Vera as the “cool teacher” who let kids at Stovall Middle School use cell phones in class. They also long suspected her to be in an inappropriate relationship with an eighth-grader.
According to court documents, they were right. Harris County prosecutors say Vera had sex with a 13-year-old student almost daily for nine months. She got pregnant but later had an abortion, she allegedly told investigators.
Vera, 24, is charged with continuous sex abuse of a child. She turned herself in Wednesday morning in Conroe.
CPS is now investigating the boy's family because they allegedly supported the relationship, according to investigators.
http://www.khou.com/news/crime/aldine-isd-teacher-accused-of-getting-pregnant-by-student/224957391 (http://www.khou.com/news/crime/aldine-isd-teacher-accused-of-getting-pregnant-by-student/224957391)
Yeah, but some 13 year olds look 16 or older, give her a break. ;D
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So now we know. Prince died of an overdose of fentanyl. :(
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So sad, and maybe needless? I know they train in all weather but was this training at this time really necessary?
5 Soldiers Dead, 4 Missing After Fort Hood Vehicle Overturns in Flooded Area
Updated June 3, 2016 12:43 p.m. ET
Five soldiers from Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, are dead and four others remain missing after their vehicle overturned in high water in a flooded region of the state, U.S. Army officials said late Thursday.
Three more soldiers were rescued from the water and were in stable condition, Fort Hood officials said.
A search operation, including boats, aircraft and canine search teams, was scrambling to find the missing soldiers, who were assigned to the First Cavalry Division, according to Fort Hood.
The soldiers were on a routine training mission when their truck, which was driving down a dirt road, was swept away in a flash flood from a local creek, said Chris Haug, spokesman for Fort Hood.
The creek has been swollen with rains that have been pounding the region, Mr. Haug said. “The whole area is flooded,” he said.
The truck the soldiers were in was found overturned in water, he said.
Rescue workers initially found three of the deceased soldiers, but the death total rose to five Thursday night after the bodies of two more soldiers were found, Army officials said.
In a brief news conference Friday morning, Maj. Gen John Uberti of Fort Hood called the situation a “tragic accident,” and said search efforts were continuing for the missing soldiers.
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I read an online article abut that teacher. Have you seen photos of her?
You should read the comment sections about this. Decidedly different than
if it had been a man and a thirteen year old girl.
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Loved Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday. Finally, someone is speaking back effectively against Trump.
And all he could in reply was spout his juvenile tweets. What I don't look forward to is that this will go
on for months. It's all Trump knows how to do. Bully. Attack. Degrade.
Watch the speech: (about 35 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQt4KxUmnzw
I have two candidates to choose from, one of which will be elected President.
I'm with HER.
For something nice without Trump in it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Y9abmNuRw
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So sad, and maybe needless? I know they train in all weather but was this training at this time really necessary?
5 Soldiers Dead, 4 Missing After Fort Hood Vehicle Overturns in Flooded Area
Yes, that's just awful. :(
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I read an online article abut that teacher. Have you seen photos of her?
You should read the comment sections about this. Decidedly different than
if it had been a man and a thirteen year old girl.
I have seen pictures, she looks like she works nights not days...haven't read comments, but I can imagine...
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Muhammad Ali has died at age 74. He had been hospitalized with respiratory problems, but suffered for decades with Parkinson's Disease.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/muhammad-ali-greatest-all-time-dead-74-n584776
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This is most of the article, there's more at the link, if you have the stomach...
Pakistani men can beat wives 'lightly,' Islamic council says
By Sophia Saifi and Faith Karimi, CNN
Updated 8:13 AM ET, Sat May 28, 2016
(CNN)The leader of a Pakistani Islamic council has proposed a bill that allows husbands to "lightly beat" their wives as a form of discipline.
In the 75-page proposal, Mohammad Khan Sheerani suggests a light beating is acceptable should the need arise to punish a woman. The proposal bans forceful beating, saying only a small stick is necessary to instill fear.
The Council of Islamic Ideology is a powerful constitutional body that advises the Pakistani legislature whether laws are in line with the teachings of Islam.
Its proposed bill is seen as a response to the rejected Punjab Women Protection bill for abused women. The council shunned it as "un-Islamic" and wrote its own bill, which includes the recommendation for the light beating.
"A husband should be allowed to lightly beat his wife if she defies his commands and refuses to dress up as per his desires; turns down demand of intercourse without any religious excuse or does not take bath after intercourse or menstrual periods," Pakistan's Express-Tribune newspaper cited the proposal as saying.
The proposal also calls for a beating if a woman does not wear a hijab, if she interacts with strangers, speaks too loudly or gives others cash without her husband's permission, according to the newspaper.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/28/asia/pakistan-women-light-beating/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/28/asia/pakistan-women-light-beating/)
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When the husband decides what is "light", the wife may be killed.
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the whole thing is like a sick joke...you're right, even a "small stick" can kill...
The proposal bans forceful beating, saying only a small stick is necessary to instill fear.
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I wonder if the proposal says that the husbands can use a club as long it's no bigger around than a thumb? >:(
Sad news about Muhammad Ali. I saw that coming last night when the reports were that he was on life support.
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HOw stupid is that 'law'......lightly beat.....sounds like a recipe instruction.
Well, have you seen a video made in Italy, apparently abusing women is an issue in Italy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2OcKQ_mbiQ
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HOw stupid is that 'law'......lightly beat.....sounds like a recipe instruction.
Well, have you seen a video made in Italy, apparently abusing women is an issue in Italy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2OcKQ_mbiQ
it's an issue here, too. That's a great video, someone here should copy it as a PSA
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Yes, I've seen it before. Lovely boys.
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This is most of the article, there's more at the link, if you have the stomach...
Pakistani men can beat wives 'lightly,' Islamic council says
By Sophia Saifi and Faith Karimi, CNN
Updated 8:13 AM ET, Sat May 28, 2016
(CNN)The leader of a Pakistani Islamic council has proposed a bill that allows husbands to "lightly beat" their wives as a form of discipline.
In the 75-page proposal, Mohammad Khan Sheerani suggests a light beating is acceptable should the need arise to punish a woman. The proposal bans forceful beating, saying only a small stick is necessary to instill fear.
The Council of Islamic Ideology is a powerful constitutional body that advises the Pakistani legislature whether laws are in line with the teachings of Islam.
Its proposed bill is seen as a response to the rejected Punjab Women Protection bill for abused women. The council shunned it as "un-Islamic" and wrote its own bill, which includes the recommendation for the light beating.
"A husband should be allowed to lightly beat his wife if she defies his commands and refuses to dress up as per his desires; turns down demand of intercourse without any religious excuse or does not take bath after intercourse or menstrual periods," Pakistan's Express-Tribune newspaper cited the proposal as saying.
The proposal also calls for a beating if a woman does not wear a hijab, if she interacts with strangers, speaks too loudly or gives others cash without her husband's permission, according to the newspaper.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/28/asia/pakistan-women-light-beating/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/28/asia/pakistan-women-light-beating/)
Horrible article - what a twisted mentality.
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Sounds like something Donald Trump could get on board with.
And I'm not kidding, I could hear him say something, like, "in
some cases it sounds like they have the right idea," or "it should
be left up to the husbands," or "I wouldn't rule it out completely,
especially in the cases of Rosie O'Donnell or Hillary Clinton."
___
The video is charming, it's just nice to see people, children or otherwise, being nice about anything.
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Now 9 soldiers dead...
Texas Floods: 9 Fort Hood Soldiers Dead, 3 Released From Hospital
The death toll in a tragic flooding accident at Fort Hood climbed to nine Friday after search and rescue crews recovered the bodies of four service members who went missing when fast-moving Texas floodwaters swept away their truck Thursday.
Three other soldiers inside the vehicle were rescued when the tactical vehicle overturned during a training exercise at Fort Hood military base. The soldiers were in stable condition and released from the hospital, officials said.
The Army said three of the bodies were first recovered downstream Thursday, while two more were found later that night. Maj. Gen. John Uberti says the last three bodies were found Friday.
Officials have not identified the soldiers, but Marlene Strongs told NBC News that her daughter, Eddy Gates, was one of the nine killed during the exercise. Gates, 20, "worked to help people," her mother said.
20 years old...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.s-nbcnews.com%2Fj%2Fnewscms%2F2016_22%2F1565371%2F160604-eddy-gates-fort-hood-401p_372fbfb1302d122ba2c77c909bde709f.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg&hash=01a4b85db871cf53331da015233939ea7781e797)
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I was watching a news program talking about Trump today and it reminded me of that
song "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" from Cabaret and I was thinking how easy it would be to
play that song and place images from Trump rallies to it. Then I thought, someone must
already have done it because it's just so obvious. So I looked up on youtube and, no,
no one's done that, but two people did something even more creative.
One person did a split screen with that song from Cabaret and on the other side that
rally where Trump had those little girls performing that patriotic (so they thought) song
to support Trump. It's a disconcerting provocative video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUiR6IOJm4
Even better, a woman parodies the song with her own lyrics, after a minute of actual Trump
rally footage: Tomorrow Belongs to Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y4fN6WqQBY
You must watch these! (If so inclined.)
And this one is still scary even a year after it was posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajqWJEVKMLc
-
For the latest update on polls of this question see:
https://brexit-polling.com/sites/ig.ft./ (https://ig.ft.com/sites/brexit-polling/)
Voting on BREXIT happens in about three weeks. Currently it's pretty close.
Anyone there sensing any movement one way or another?
___
I just read some online articles and it seems to me a lot of fear tactics are being used
to sway people to vote one way or another. Much of it disinformation. The current one
on the news pages seems to be that if Britain votes to stay in the EU then the NHS will
be sacrificed. On the face of it that seems hardly likely.
How come such an important policy like being in the EU or not is one that the voters are
getting to decide on? I mean, if this is something that could be brought up for a vote
periodically then wouldn't that cause an awful lot of turmoil in the way things run?
And what's with Boris Johnson?
EU referendum: Nick Clegg brands Boris Johnson as 'Donald Trump with a Thesaurus'
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/eu-referendum-nick-clegg-brands-boris-johnson-donald-trump-thesaurus-1563466
-
I was watching a news program talking about Trump today and it reminded me of that
song "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" from Cabaret and I was thinking how easy it would be to
play that song and place images from Trump rallies to it. Then I thought, someone must
already have done it because it's just so obvious. So I looked up on youtube and, no,
no one's done that, but two people did something even more creative.
One person did a split screen with that song from Cabaret and on the other side that
rally where Trump had those little girls performing that patriotic (so they thought) song
to support Trump. It's a disconcerting provocative video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUiR6IOJm4
Even better, a woman parodies the song with her own lyrics, after a minute of actual Trump
rally footage: Tomorrow Belongs to Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y4fN6WqQBY
You must watch these! (If so inclined.)
And this one is still scary even a year after it was posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajqWJEVKMLc
Interesting viewing, thanks. I unfortunately started reading the comments and couldn't believe the racism and the hatred being spewed by the Trump supporters. One actually said that it doesn't matter if Trump doesn't win because he has made it acceptable for people to voice their hatred of immigrants. Or some such thing.
-
^^^
Lately, the meme in the news media has been "look at all the anger directed
at the poor Trump supporters. People are violent toward them and throwing
eggs at them and starting fights."
For example, there's this article today:
The Violence at Donald Trump's Rally is Unwelcome News for Democrats
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-87447417/
And a line from another article:
"Embracing the role of the victim, Mr. Trump has been able to paint his critics as the ones sullying the democratic discourse."
This always has the feel of "blame the victim" to me. You have a candidate espousing hateful ideas about so many people, if he comes to your town are you really wanting to let it go by unnoticed? And if you go there, that mix is sometimes going to erupt in violence.
People get tired of being dumped on and the backlash usually comes to those who ACT-UP on the front lines, not to those who are spouting the venom. Apparently it's okay to spout the venom and feel no consequences.
How many times did they show some of that violence at the Trump rally in San Jose, and you'd hear a commentator say, "Look how that poor girl was pelted with eggs." I was thinking, how can a young girl with any intelligence support Donald Trump? Maybe an egg would have her rethink this.
Apparently this particular event grew spontaneously from a Latino man on Facebook who is from San Jose and finds Trump's rhetoric particularly unwelcome as his city "is not like that." He didn't want his appearance there to go unnoticed.
In a lot of pubic protests concerning anything, I don't personally think violence is usually on most people's minds, but I do see how it can start and escalate etc. having been a part of some LGBT related protests over the years.
(I don't see how or why violence escalates when sports teams win championships, though, that
is crazy to me.)
Perhaps someone will now rewrite the lyrics to "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"
-
^^^
Okay...I tried some lines...
Did you know that Trump's in San Jose?
If he speaks here too long
I may go wrong and lose my way
But if Trump is here in San Jose
I'll go protest to find my peace of mind in San Jose
Donald is a great big phony
And he doesn't represent my town
This orange re-al-it-y star reknown.
But beneath it all
Huuuge lies and fears
To tear us down not lift us up
We need to speak or no one hears.
That's why I spoke up in San Jose...
Me and all my friends in San Jose...
Did I throw an egg or two in San Jose...
-
^^^
I saw a news reporter yesterday discussing this egg-throwing issue with another person and when another said that things like that were inexcusable, she said it isn't as though Trump has been egging them on all year with his rhetoric, is it? Lol.
-
I think it's interesting and rather terrifying that the media is focused on Trump and how he's going off the deep end, but rarely (what I watch) mention his legions of supporters...their beliefs are his beliefs, what does that say about the state of the country?
And did you see his latest idiot statement at a rally over the weekend?
Redding, California (CNN)
Donald Trump sought to tout his support among African-Americans on Friday by pointing out a black man in the crowd and calling him "my African-American."
"Oh, look at my African-American over here. Look at him," Trump said. "Are you the greatest?"
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/politics/donald-trump-african-american/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/politics/donald-trump-african-american/)
-
I think it's interesting and rather terrifying that the media is focused on Trump and how he's going off the deep end, but rarely (what I watch) mention his legions of supporters...their beliefs are his beliefs, what does that say about the state of the country?
And did you see his latest idiot statement at a rally over the weekend?
Redding, California (CNN)
Donald Trump sought to tout his support among African-Americans on Friday by pointing out a black man in the crowd and calling him "my African-American."
"Oh, look at my African-American over here. Look at him," Trump said. "Are you the greatest?"
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/politics/donald-trump-african-american/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/politics/donald-trump-african-american/)
Of all the bone-headed, thoughtless, asinine, condescending, insulting. ...
And people want him to have the launch codes.
We're all gonna die. He's gonna win the election and we're all gonna die. ...
-
Of all the bone-headed, thoughtless, asinine, condescending, insulting. ...
And people want him to have the launch codes.
We're all gonna die. He's gonna win the election and we're all gonna die. ...
My sentiments exactly, Jeff!!!
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I'll confess, Trump scares me. He really scares me. Not in an abstract way. He really scares me.
We get him as President, first they'll come for the immigrants. Then what's to keep them from coming for the gays?
Who knows what idiotic thing he'll say that will "legitimize" who knows what kind of anti-gay violence?
May God forgive me but I would shed no tears--except maybe some of relief--if somebody put a bullet through his head.
:(
-
"I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."
Clarence Darrow
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/05/darrow-obituary/
-
Voting on BREXIT happens in about three weeks. Currently it's pretty close.
Anyone there sensing any movement one way or another?
___
I just read some online articles and it seems to me a lot of fear tactics are being used
to sway people to vote one way or another. Much of it disinformation. The current one
on the news pages seems to be that if Britain votes to stay in the EU then the NHS will
be sacrificed. On the face of it that seems hardly likely.
How come such an important policy like being in the EU or not is one that the voters are
getting to decide on? I mean, if this is something that could be brought up for a vote
periodically then wouldn't that cause an awful lot of turmoil in the way things run?
And what's with Boris Johnson?
EU referendum: Nick Clegg brands Boris Johnson as 'Donald Trump with a Thesaurus'
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/eu-referendum-nick-clegg-brands-boris-johnson-donald-trump-thesaurus-1563466
It is absolutely terrifying, Lyle.
The referendum has only been called to settle many years of bitterness in the Tory party. What it has unleashed is bitter and very unedifying.
When I was at work, before I retired, lots of labour laws were changed by the EU to make sure that part time workers, (who are mostly women), received holiday pay, pay for Bank Holidays, maternity pay etc. We would, in my opinion, never have achieved any of it from a right wing Tory government.
The idea that Boris Johnson, Michael Gove or Ian Duncan Smith would protect the NHS is laughable.
Ex prime minister John Major (Conservative) and a good man, said yesterday that it would be like offering a pet hamster to a hungry Python.
Boris Johnson is very popular because he is "a character" and can be very funny, but his position on this is inextricably linked with his desire to be prime minister.
The whole campaign has unleashed a horrible xenophobia and a distrust of politicians similar to that surrounding Donald Trump in the USA.
The idea of Trump as president of the USA and Boris Johnson as prime minister of the U.K. fills me with horror.
A move to the right in the USA and in a collapsing EU would be very destabilising and dangerous and I know of no occasion when isolationism has been very successful.
At the moment, all politicians and economists are distrusted and Brexit is gaining ground.
Presumably some of the Brexiteers would ask a member of the public to do their heart transplant because doctors can't be trusted.
Maybe I am just a cynic...........
-
"I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."
Clarence Darrow
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/05/darrow-obituary/
True!!
-
Jess, my feelings too.
-
That is so good to know, Sara.
I started worrying when the "Leave" side rubbished the governor of the Bank of England,and it has got worse in so many ways since then.
It is very right wing here and in most of the seaside towns on the east coast.
Sometimes I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness.
-
When I was waiting for my cataract op yesterday both the nurses and one of the two other patients (the other was don't know) wanted out. And they all seemed like nice people too. But all they could think of was being swamped by immigrants. Europe is fine for holidays.
Some people talk as if being in the EU will be something new, and forget that we've been in it for years.
-
Hope your op went OK. I was thinking of you.
Yes, really nice people want to leave because of immigration(?)
I don't think they will like what they are asking for though.
Apparently if we can't get doctors and nurses from Europe as we do now they will have to come from the Comonwealth.
Those nice (?) people think that means Australians and Canadians, what it actually means is more doctors and nurse from India and Bangladesh.
Not a problem for me, but they will be appalled.
Immigrants tend to do the jobs that we can't do or won't do.
The overall manager of the NHS says that without people from abroad the system will collapse from a severe staffing crisis.
Oh Dear.
-
Thanks for your opinions Janjo and Sara.
It's strange to me that the whole referendum news always comes under the Brexit heading,
when that is just one side of it.
Why doesn't the other side have a slogan like that? (Trying to think of one.)
Seems in both our countries there's a lot of people who want something different.
These people don't think about that or have any ideas of their own, they don't care
about what it means, they just want it regardless of any consequences. And it's odd
because it's coming from a lot of conservatives who don't usually want something like
that. But conservatives, here at least, haven't been happy about a lot of things in a
decade and so they don't care if the change is worse, because they don't like what's
changed in the first place.
The rhetoric on these issues all seems to come down to fear.
The idea of Trump as president of the USA and Boris Johnson as prime minister of the U.K. fills me with horror.
I cannot even go so far as to think that Trump could be elected. When he was gaining some traction
in the news last fall a friend of mine asked me if I thought he could get the nomination and I am one
that even if I think something's improbable I wouldn't rule anything out, but what I did say is that, "I
don't think Trump is interested in doing the work it takes to be the President." I still believe that. And
I don't mean the work in running for the office, because that's not work to him, it's the cult of celebrity
that he likes. You can see it in the brouhaha over him attacking the judge who's heading the Trump U.
case because he has Hispanic heritage, though he was born in Indiana. "His rulings have been very unfair."
Trump believes things are only fair if they go his way. Anything said against him or negative to him is
unfair. You see it when he berates anyone who criticizes him or when journalists ask him critical questions."
Now his patently racist remarks in this case are being called racist, even by Republicans who've endorsed him,
and they're all acting so surprised. WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN THE LAST NINE MONTHS? I have no respect for
any Republican that is outright endorsing Trump. They all have the glimmer of hope for power that makes them
so transparent. Where are the "profiles in courage" moments for doing the right thing? Marco Rubio looks like a
complete wimp for endorsing him, after the way Trump treated him during the campaign and the things Rubio
said about him. Paul Ryan was in a tough position, but people have been in tougher ones. Even Newt Gingrich
was spouting disapproval of Trump and that even got Trump's notice, where no one else has. For some reason,
these Republicans seem to think he can be controlled. He can't. WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN THE LAST NINE MONTHS?
If I were a conservative Republican I know that it would be ever so hard to have a candidate I despised running for
President, but I could NOT in all conscience keep coming out and saying that the opponent, in this case Hillary Clinton,
would be a disaster worse than Trump if elected.
I think Trump acts the way he does because he truly doesn't care and that's dangerous. That goes back to what I said,
that he's not really interested in doing the work a President needs to do. (How obvious can you be about it?) It's almost
like he's sabotaging himself at every turn to prove that, too. Unfortunately we have an electorate who doesn't seem to
care, either, and that's proving very disappointing. Nothing is impossible, but not everything is probable, either.
The next five months are going to be...? Who knows.
-
Why doesn't the other side have a slogan like that? (Trying to think of one.)
How about BREMAIN.
-
I have heard people in the UK think that they can return to trading with the Commonwealth. It was a big shock for Australia and more so New Zealand when the UK joined the EU but that was 1973. We turned to Asia, for better or worse, and are not going to go back.
-
The "out" crowd definitely think that, Brian.
Actually as you say, it is not on.
Apart from the fact that the Australians and New Zealanders have found new markets, it also makes no environmental sense to transport food over such long distances if there is any other choice.
I suspect in the UK now we all have acquired a taste for continental foods.
In a way I think the Brexiteers don't so much want to come out of the EU but rather to go back to a time when they were young and therefore life was full of promise. If they could return to how things were fifty years ago they would be happy.
-
Well, what a surprise. Thanks, your honor. Women are still nothing in this society. 1/2 step above the way they treat saudi women...hey, at least we can drive >:(
Stanford rapist Brock Turner lied about his regular substance abuse in letter to judge
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, June 8, 2016, 11:05 AM
Stanford University rapist Brock Turner portrayed himself as an innocent country bumpkin in a letter to his Santa Clara judge — claiming he never partied much before he raped an unconscious woman behind a Dumpster last year.
But a simple glance through Turner’s cell phone — filled with evidence of his drug use and underage drinking — revealed him as a regular substance abuser, and a liar, according to a sentencing memo.
The file shows Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky was well aware of Turner’s drug use, and his lies about it, but that apparently had no effect on the predator’s puny punishment.
Turner, 20, last week received a six-month sentence for his felony rape conviction — sparking national outrage and accusations that privilege helped him skirt justice.
In a letter to the judge, the celebrated swimmer swore he had a humble upbringing, free from the temptations of drugs and alcohol.
“Coming from a small town in Ohio, I had never really experienced celebrating or partying that involved alcohol,” he wrote.
But footage on his cell phone shows his small town life wasn’t squeaky-clean, prosecutors said.
His phone included a video of Turner smoking from a bong and drinking a bottle of liquor in December 2014, a month before he raped a woman near a Stanford frat party.
In letters of support, Turner’s loved ones and defenders insisted the rape was simply a drunken mistake.
“There is no doubt Brock made a mistake that night — he made a mistake in drinking excessively to the point where he could not fully appreciate that his female acquaintance was so intoxicated,” retired federal prosecutor Margaret M. Quinn wrote to the judge.
Former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner guilty of rape
“I know Brock did not go to that party intending to hurt, or entice, or overpower anyone.”
In a now-infamous letter, Turner’s father said his son’s life should not be ruined over ”20 minutes of action.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stanford-rapist-brock-turner-lied-substance-abuse-history-article-1.2665733 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stanford-rapist-brock-turner-lied-substance-abuse-history-article-1.2665733)
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From an item in this morning's newspaper, here's something I'm really sorry I didn't see:
Meryl Streep, in full Donald Trump costume, and Christine Baranski, as Hillary Clinton, singing a duet to the tune of Brush Up Your Shakespeare.
;D
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^^^^^^
Re: Nancy's post above...
What's all this about writing letters to the judge in this case on both sides.
___
I don't know, exactly, what the law is on sentencing for rape. Is it state by state so it's different?
My guess is it is. I do know that the rapist and/or family always think the sentence is too much
and the victim always thinks it is never enough. In this scenario, how can a fair judgment ever
be made? What is a fair judgment? Has anyone ever heard of any lesbian or gay instances of
rape being prosecuted? I have heard of married women prosecuting their husbands for rape
because they said no. I cannot conceive of how it must feel to any woman to have experienced
something so personally violating, but until pretty recently we were always led to think rapists
were other than the teens and college students that look like Harry Potter or resemble Michael
Cera. We are told that rape is an act of violence. It does not seem so simple.
-
Jeff, you can find little clips of that performance here and there online, but not the whole thing.
At least I have not.
-
Women are still nothing in this society.
NO ONE has mentioned the huuuge historic news that we have the first woman ever nominated (presumptive
nominee) for President by one of the two major political parties. I think it is quite extraordinary and wonderful.
I know that the accepted meme is that both presumptive candidates are evil and no one is supposed to like them.
You don't hear Trump supporters saying this, but you do hear people who support Hillary saying things like, "Well,
she wouldn't be my first choice, or she's the lesser of two evils, or she's not perfect or has flaws, but I support her,"
I did not support her in 2008 while she was running then. At that time I was tired of the 4 years of a Bush, 8 years of
Clintons, 8 years of another Bush and it seemed we were never going to get out of that cycle with Jeb waiting in the wings.
At this point, I am fully on board Hillary becoming President, regardless of who the Republican nominee is or would have been.
She's earned it. I don't think any man who ever ran for President has put up with as much as she's had to put up with. She's
been unfairly attacked for three decades with anything the conservatives could try to throw in the air to make stick and there
hasn't been any lawful judgment against her to date. And like Pres. Obama's race was a factor in many on the right not liking him
I see a whole lot of misogyny going on against Hillary on the right AND left that is fueling a lot of the rhetoric against her. I, frankly,
don't know how she's learned to cope with all the crap that's been thrown at her for decades. I think once she's been in office for
awhile that "some" of this will go away, but I don't underestimate the right's belligerence of the past decades.
As for those who say you shouldn't support someone just because she's a woman, I say why not? As a gay man I can say that
the women politicians have always supported and done more for me than any male politician. All of the women in the Senate,
including Republicans like Susan Collins of Maine, helped to rid the country of DADT. Even conservative Supreme Court Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor was often acceptable. Not to mention my Senators of the last thirty years, Diane Feinstein and retiring
Barbara Boxer. And our State Attorney General for the past six years, Kamala Harris, rocks! (And yesterday, her and Loretta
Sanchez, both Democrats, won the primary and will be vying for the CA Senate seat, vacated by Boxer, this fall. Yes, CA has
a strange system where the top two in the primary will run against each other, regardless of party.) So yes, why not vote for
a woman candidate just because she's a woman?
I always point out that no candidate is perfect and all have flaws, especially one that's been around the block for so long, but I am
going to Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive as the song goes. I am simply going to say, I LIKE HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT and celebrate
this historic moment.
-
I am simply going to say, I LIKE HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT and celebrate this historic moment.
Now, after his drubbing in California last night, if only Bernie Sanders would shut up be quiet give up acknowledge reality.
Sanders Vows to Stay in Presidential Race
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html?_r=1
[some excerpts from the article]
...despite the crushing California results that rolled in for him on Tuesday night, despite the insurmountable delegate math and the growing pleas that he end his quest for the White House, Senator Bernie Sanders took to the stage in Santa Monica and basked, bragged and vowed to fight on.
In a speech of striking stubbornness, he ignored the history-making achievement of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, who became the first woman in American history to clinch the presidential nomination of a major political party.
“It’s a blown opportunity to build bridges that are going to be extremely important in the fall,” said David Gergen, an adviser to four presidents, both Democratic and Republican. He worried that Mr. Sanders was becoming “a grumpy old man.”
This would be the time, under normal circumstances, for a primary rival to acknowledge insurmountable odds, salute a prevailing opponent and begin the work of stitching together a divided political party. That was the conciliatory message that a vanquished Mrs. Clinton delivered eight years ago to the day, on June 7, 2008, four days after Barack Obama had sealed his party’s nomination — a contest that was mathematically closer than the one with Mr. Sanders now. “We all know this has been a tough fight,” Mrs. Clinton said at the time. “But the Democratic Party is a family. And now, it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together.”
Party unity, it seems, is the farthest thing from his mind at the moment. Far from backing down, Mr. Sanders promised to take his campaign to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia this summer, raising the possibility that he could remain in the race, without ever conceding defeat, until July. “We will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get,” Mr. Sanders thundered. Declaring that the movement he has begun is “more than Bernie,” Mr. Sanders sounded at times messianic.
___
And his supporters have become more and more antagonistic to Clinton over his campaign and Sanders has done nothing to stop it.
When I was watching the 11pm news last night they had a reporter on air showing the crowd and election returns from California,
heavily favoring Clinton, were coming on their screens and the crowd started chanting "BULL-SHIT, BULL-SHIT, BULL-SHIT." They
cut away from the scene and when they went back later the reporter said the crowd was chanting out really base things about Clinton
after that. Bernie's supporters are like Trump supporters it appears. Bernie is so self-absorbed by all this it's becoming very unattractive.
I have never supported Sanders, but I never thought he wasn't a good guy until recently. Especially when in an NBC interview the last
week when a reporter, I believe it was Chuck Todd, asked him some details on how he planned to get through Congress many of the
initiatives he espouses and Sanders replied, "If you haven't noticed, I've been too busy running for President to bother with the details."
Yes, this heady excitement of young people's support and adulation has gone to his head. A gay group in West Hollywood was out on the
streets this week drumming up Bernie votes and when approached I apparently burst a person's bubble by declaring "Sorry" but, I was all
in for Hillary, and I started getting verbally attacked--I'll say confronted, by this supporter who declared "you're just an old establishment
Hillary clone" or something like that. I pointed out that he is supporting a candidate who's 20 years older than I am and probably 50 years
older than himself.
What another article has to say about Bernie's glitter in his eyes:
Even as Sanders acknowledged a “very, very steep fight” to winning his party’s nomination, he did not signal an end for now — still electrified, it seemed, by the crowds chanting his name. Howard Dean, a Democrat and a former governor of Vermont, can sympathize. “It’s very hard to concede,” he said. “You are tired. You are cranky. You’ve worked your butt off for two years.” Nobody, Mr. Dean said, resisted ending a presidential campaign more than he did. Once a high-flying front-runner, he had a string of setbacks that left him feeling, by February 2004, much as Mr. Sanders does today: furious at an unfair system and determined to fight on. Then Al Gore called. Mr. Dean fulminated, uninterrupted, for 10 minutes, “ranting and raving,” he recalled. But Mr. Gore, schooled in the art of painful concessions, was blunt. “You know, Howard,” he said, “This is not really about you. This is about the country.”
Mr. Dean, taking the advice to heart, quit the campaign a few days later. “The minute he said it,” Mr. Dean recalled, “I looked like an idiot to myself.”
Dean said he wonders whether Mr. Sanders will heed the warning. “Bernie has changed politics, but his changes are not going to be realized unless he leads — and leading is not going to mean tilting at windmills at the convention,” Mr. Dean said. “He has to switch into the mode of a statesman.”
“You don’t get any points for carrying on or complaining about it,” Mr. Dean added. “You get points for sucking it up.”
-
Hear Hear, Lyle.
Gay men should have some understanding of what women face. It is because men see us being like women that we have been persecuted and as you say much of our recent gains have been due to women finally gaining some power in politics.
You will like an article I read yesterday. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-08/caro-time-to-celebrate-hillary-clinton's-victory/7489398 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-08/caro-time-to-celebrate-hillary-clinton's-victory/7489398)
Just part
"Even among those who accept we will see a Clinton versus Trump Presidential election come November, there has been only grudging acceptance. We are told that this is a contest between two unlikable candidates. This criticism almost offends me the most. The fact that any sensible human being could see hard working, moderate, indefatigable, sane Clinton as being as unlikable as Trump can be explained by only one phenomenon - our extreme, millennia-long neurotic fear about women in power.
Clinton is not perfect. I do not agree with her on everything but - so what? She has certainly worked harder, for longer and in the face of more vilification than any other politician I can think of. That she has survived to clinch the nomination and so make history is an astonishing tribute to her courage and determination. I wait (no doubt in vain) for her to at least be given credit for that.
If she wins the Presidency - which she must for the future of the world - she will not be given credit for it. We will be told that she only won because she had a lunatic opponent, and because the Republican party was riven with division and so she was "lucky" to get such an easy ride.
Far from an "easy" ride, I am lost in admiration for Clinton's ability to get up every morning and face more of the same."
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^^^
Thanks for the link! Unsurprising, but sad to see the comment section for that article
has the same kind of people commenting that the U.S. does. I try to avoid comment
sections, it's an exercise in futility. I was curious in this case, though, hoping it would
be different somehow! It makes you seem that no one likes anything or anyone. Has
the internet just allowed everyone to air grievance instead of anything positive? Are
people being taught to only reach for the bottom? Reminds me of a Lily Tomlin line from
one of her shows: "Man learned to speak because of his deep inner need to complain."
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Police alert bikers to rock throwing incidents ahead of busy ROT Rally
Motorcyclists are starting to roll into town for Thursday's opening day of the 21st annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally.
Austin Police and ROT Rally organizers are alerting bikers to the dangerous rock throwing incidents under investigation along I-35.
"Just imagine what it does to a car. Think of what it could do to an exposed body," said motorcyclist Mack Estelle who works downtown.
That's why ROT Rally organizers are alerting motorcyclists through social media and information in registration materials, to be aware and call the police tip line if they see anything.
http://keyetv.com/news/local/police-alert-bikers-to-rock-throwing-incidents-ahead-of-busy-rot-rally (http://keyetv.com/news/local/police-alert-bikers-to-rock-throwing-incidents-ahead-of-busy-rot-rally)
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Police respond to mass shooting at Pulse nightclub; shooter reportedly dead
A shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub has resulted in mass casualties.
Dozens of emergency vehicles surrounded the chaotic scene at the club at 1912 S. Orange Ave. after the 2 a.m. shooting and rescue squads were transporting multiple victims to area hospitals.
The Orlando Fire Department called for its bomb squad and hazardous material team to the scene after 3 a.m. Police K-9 dogs are searching the area around nearby Orlando Regional Medical Center with an armed deputy in head-to-toe military gear.
Emergency workers were seen taking victims away from the scene in large trucks--in one case, an emergency worker was doing chest compressions on one of the victims.
Just after the shooting, Pulse Orlando's posted a note to its own page that said, "Everyone get out of pulse and keep running." The popular gay bar was full of people at the time of the incident.
Police reported just before 6 a.m. that the shooter inside the club was dead.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-orlando-shooting-pulse-nightclub-story.html (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-orlando-shooting-pulse-nightclub-story.html)
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after OPD press conference...
Terror attack at Orlando gay club Pulse leaves about 20 people dead, 42 others wounded; gunman dead following hours-long standoff with police
A terrorist opened fire inside a popular Orlando gay club early Sunday leaving "approximately" 20 people dead and 42 others wounded, according to authorities.
Authorities described the 2 a.m. attack as “well organized and well prepared” and said the shooter, who was not from the Orlando area, may have had “leanings” toward radical Islam.
Cops found the lone gunman and multiple victims dead inside the Pulse nightclub about four hours after the closing time bloodbath that sparked a tense standoff with police.
Police bombarded the club with a “controlled explosion” and killed the suspect - who was armed with an assault-type rifle, a handgun and "some type of device" - while rescuing about 30 hostages.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gunman-opens-fire-orlando-gay-club-report-article-1.2670322 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gunman-opens-fire-orlando-gay-club-report-article-1.2670322)
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Oh no. I'd just seen this latest report - so much worse than the earlier ones... Terrible.
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This is absolutely awful.
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oh my God, they've upped the deaths to 50, 53 injured, motive may be a hate crime on gay community
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All those lovers and friends, sons and daughters....
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worst mass shooting in US history, and I just dread seeing his name and picture all over the news...
the FBI and police at the press conference aren't confirming much beyond the numbers of dead and wounded, they don't know much yet, and won't say much this early in the investigation. They said they will brief every 3 hours...
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If this wa a "hate" crime shouldn't this man have asked himself why Allah makes gay people if he doesn't want and love them?
Such terrible, terrible news.
All those lost lives.
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I'm pretty sure extremists don't reason like that.......
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Pulse Orlando Night Club Founded in Memory of Owner's Brother: 'Where He Is Kept Alive in the Eyes of His Friends and Family'
In 1991, Barbara Poma's older brother John died after battling HIV. In 2004, Poma and her friend Ron Legler founded Pulse Orlando in memory of John. For Poma and many others, Pulse is described as "more than 'just another gay club.' "
According to police, a shooter opened fire just after 2 a.m. local time on Sunday at Pulse, a popular gay club south of downtown Orlando. An officer working at the club initially responded to the shooter, "engaging in the gun battle with the suspect" before the suspect went back into the club, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said at a Sunday morning news conference. Authorities say that at least 50 people have been killed and at least 53 are injured, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
But the tragic scene of what is being called an act of terrorism by officials was started to provide "acceptance and love."
:'(
"Being raised in a strict Italian family, being gay was frowned upon," Poma says on the Pulse Orlando website says. "However, when John came out to his family and friends, the family dynamic transitioned from a culture of strict tradition to one of acceptance and love."
The name "Pulse" is derived from the idea of John's heartbeat "reverberating throughout the club." As a memoriam to her brother and safe space, the venue also served as the location for community events in support of the LGBT community, according to its website. The event on the night of the attacks was "Latin Night," according to the club's Facebook page. Hours after the club opened on Saturday night, the page updated its status to read, "Everyone get out of pulse and keep running."
"It was important to create an atmosphere that embraced the gay lifestyle with décor that would make John proud," the website says. "Most importantly, (we) coined the name Pulse for John's heartbeat – as a club that is John's inspiration, where he is kept alive in the eyes of his friends and family."
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The killer in the Orlando nightclub slaughter is 29-year-old Omar Mateen. TMZ has done a records search and found he held a Florida security officer license and a state firearms license.
...
Mateen's father told NBC News, "This has nothing to do with religion." He says his son became angry after seeing 2 men kissing a few months ago in Miami, and he speculates that could have triggered his decision to kill.
http://www.tmz.com/2016/06/12/terrorist-omar-mateen-gay-nightclub-murder/
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Orlando Police: "Officer was hit, Kevlar helmet saved his life"
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkwwl.images.worldnow.com%2Fimages%2F10759806_G.jpg&hash=eb5dcf56fe34c49e1acb9ae96118283d22b3c2d3)
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Hundreds line up 2donate blood
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ckwo7E-UUAI-aBP.jpg)
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CNN, not the FBI, is reporting that the killer had pledged alligence to isis...the next news conference is at 1:30
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I just read about this and I have been crying ever since. My heart breaks for all the families and friends. Who can understand the hatred that lives in the souls of some people. A dark, dark day for the gay community.
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me, too...so hard to believe.
I refuse to post the killer's name or picture...
Terrorist Who Attacked Orlando Gay Club, Had Been Investigated by FBI
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Mateen's father told NBC News, "This has nothing to do with religion." He says his son became angry after seeing 2 men kissing a few months ago in Miami, and he speculates that could have triggered his decision to kill.
I just read this to my husband and he said "what, he got angry because they weren't kissing him"!
I mean seriously what could trigger this kind of hate? I know this situation comes down to access to guns (there is a problem there) but it's more than that.
What could make a person do something like this, weapons or no weapons, where does that kind of hate come from?
That's what is so scary to me.
My heart just breaks for everyone, all the families, the lost souls..
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surely even the most ardent pro-gun groups would agree with this proposed law..
That said, “No fly, no buy” is a simple philosophy that would have a positive, far-reaching impact on our national and global security and help to keep firearms out of the hands of terrorists. If a person is on our country’s terror watch list, he or she shouldn’t be allowed to purchase a gun of any kind. Simple, right?
The surprising answer is that it’s not so simple. A loophole in U.S. law allows people on that list to legally buy guns, defying all logic. The no-fly list is compiled using information received by the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies. The Government Accountability Office reports that more than 2,000 suspects on the FBI’s no-fly list have purchased weapons in the past 11 years.
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Waking up on Pride Weekend in L.A. - parade this morning.
Not expecting a blow to the heart and head.
Extreme and noticeable police activity along the boulevard.
Will be...I don't know.
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take care of yourself Lyle at the parade,
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ckw8Of0WsAE_0VS.jpg:large)
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Arie Perliger, director of terrorism studies at the U.S. Military Academy, said that U.S. terrorists are turning to guns because since Sept. 11, the federal government has monitored the use of explosives and the trade of materials that can be turned into explosives. People on the terrorism watch list aren’t barred from buying guns, by contrast, although such a ban probably wouldn’t have stopped the Charleston or San Bernardino shootings, because the suspects weren’t on the watch list. Guns are easier for terrorists to work with than explosives “and are less likely to result in a terrorist operation being compromised,” said Jeffrey Simon, a visiting lecturer in the department of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of the book “Lone Wolf Terrorism: Understanding the Growing Threat.” “That’s particularly appealing to lone wolves.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/terrorists-are-turning-to-guns-more-often-in-u-s-attacks/
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take care of yourself Lyle at the parade,
Thank you Nancy, so much...you know all week I have not felt like partaking in this annual event,
was actually kind of dreading some of the nuisance that goes with it because it's right in my backyard
(front yard!), so I can't ignore it, but this awful event has actually made me want to go and hug my
dear friends this morning and share the day with them, not in a spirit of sadness, but in a spirit of
thankfulness and joy. I Must remind myself to feel this way on any average day as well.
And hugs and thanks to all of you on the forum as well!
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You and your friends would probably feel better if you do that, go and share...what a sad thing to have to share :'( but as you said, thankfulness and joy...strength and solidarity in numbers.
****************************
Orlando shooter made 911 call pledging allegiance to ISIS around time of attack - via @NBCNews.
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SUSPECT W/ ARSENAL IN CAR TAKEN INTO CUSTODY IN SANTA MONICA
Updated 3 mins ago
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- Authorities took a suspect into custody in Santa Monica after discovering an arsenal in his car that included tannerite powder, assault weapons and a camouflage outfit.
The suspect told authorities that he was there for the Los Angeles Pride festival.
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“And just a few weeks ago the key spokesman for ISIS called on American ISIS supporters to launch a surge of attacks during Ramadan. Ramadan just started a few days ago, ISIS has been telling their supporters you’ll get ten times the rewards in the afterlife if you carry out attacks during Ramadan.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/12/cnn-warns-of-surge-of-isis-attacks-in-america-during-ramadan-video/#ixzz4BO8vYxXb
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What could make a person do something like this, weapons or no weapons, where does that kind of hate come from?
My heart just breaks for everyone, all the families, the lost souls...
^^^^^^^ What Bubba said.
Speechless :'(
Be careful, Lyle. Hugs to you xx
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Take care, Lyle.
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Waking up on Pride Weekend in L.A. - parade this morning.
Not expecting a blow to the heart and head.
Extreme and noticeable police activity along the boulevard.
Will be...I don't know.
Pride in Philadelphia today, too. I haven't marched in the parade with my brothers in the Leather contingent for years. Today I skipped church and marched with them, as I felt a need to be there with them.
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they're beginning to release the names of the victims...I don't know if it's right to list them here or not...
this is the link to OPD twitter with the names
https://twitter.com/OrlandoPolice/status/742083628834885637?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet (https://twitter.com/OrlandoPolice/status/742083628834885637?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet)
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so much for believing anything the father said in his interview...
The Latest on the shooting at an Orlando nightclub (all times local):
The Latest: Ex-Official: Gunman's Dad Was on Anti-US TV Show
4:20 p.m.
The father of the gunman in the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub is ____, a native of Afghanistan who appears on a television program on broadcast on a California channel.
The show is known for "its anti-US tirades" and "pro-Taliban" remarks that are broadcast in the Dari language, according to a former Afghan official. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be linked to coverage of the shooting.
Mateen is the father of Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed 50 people at the nightclub.
The official said Seddique Mateen's "Durand Jirga Show," is anti-Pakistan. The name of the show references the Durand line, the long disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Seddique Mateen campaigned in the United States for current Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who appeared on his program in 2014. The program's studio has an address in Fort Pierce, Florida.
———
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-orlando-police-report-controlled-explosion-39789724 (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-orlando-police-report-controlled-explosion-39789724)
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this is great
$496,021 of $1.0M
Raised by 12,445 people in 7 hours
https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund (https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund)
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There is a gay artist on FB who has already designed a T Shirt and offering it for sale, with 100% of sales going to the fund.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2F13417708_10153622406576863_3445550238629408913_n.jpg&hash=bcea39d6f2713c42830490cf0eadf841b9a7afa3) (http://s998.photobucket.com/user/tootsiemom/media/13417708_10153622406576863_3445550238629408913_n.jpg.html)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreviews.123rf.com%2Fimages%2Fvitalyedush%2Fvitalyedush0901%2Fvitalyedush090100053%2F4246187-Two-hearts-paint-of-six-colour-gay-symbol-surrounded-small-candles-light-on-a-black-background-Stock-Photo.jpg&hash=e738eedd699cd6f1aa2a09f88cf192eb19c0b277)
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WASHINGTON — The tableau at the White House was chillingly familiar: The somber president, nearing the end of his eight-year term, walked grim-faced to the podium to offer his condolences, promised action in the wake of suffering and pleaded for a new resolve that just might prevent more deaths in a hail of bullets.
The list of tragedies on President Obama’s watch seems countless by now. An elementary classroom. A church. A military base. A movie theater. And, now, a gay nightclub. Mr. Obama said Sunday’s massacre, by a gunman with a handgun and an assault weapon, is another brutal reminder of how easy it is for someone to slaughter dozens.
“We have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be,” Mr. Obama said on Sunday as he mourned the nation’s deadliest mass shooting. “And to actively do nothing is a decision, as well.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/politics/president-obama-expresses-outrage-over-massacre-at-nightclub.html
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Dearest Brokies
I'm speechless with shock and grief.
My warmest hugs to all in the US.
To Lyle & Jeff and others going to Pride events, I wish I could be there with you, but I will be there in spirit. (We celebrate Pride in January in our summer.) Do take good care of yourselves.
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Thank you Nancy, so much...you know all week I have not felt like partaking in this annual event,
was actually kind of dreading some of the nuisance that goes with it because it's right in my backyard
(front yard!), so I can't ignore it, but this awful event has actually made me want to go and hug my
dear friends this morning and share the day with them, not in a spirit of sadness, but in a spirit of
thankfulness and joy. I Must remind myself to feel this way on any average day as well.
And hugs and thanks to all of you on the forum as well!
I've felt exactly the same way today, Lyle.
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Dearest Brokies
I'm speechless with shock and grief.
My warmest hugs to all in the US.
To Lyle & Jeff and others going to Pride events, I wish I could be there with you, but I will be there in spirit. (We celebrate Pride in January in our summer.) Do take good care of yourselves.
Thank you. That's very kind of you.
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I learned about the latest outrage this evening. To all my gay friends, to all the gay members of the Forum, I offer my deepest sympathies for the shockwave that has been sent through the gay world today.
Regards from my bit of the Mountain.
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Texas official facing backlash for tweeting, deleting Bible verse after Orlando attack
The lieutenant governor of Texas is drawing criticism for tweeting a Bible verse hours after an attack at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub catering to the LGBT community left 50 people dead and many more injured.
Dan Patrick tweeted a photo with the words from Galatians 6:7: "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows," on Sunday morning. That tweet was later deleted.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283187-texas-lt-gov-facing-backlash-from-tweeting-bible-verse-after
US government officials are quoting bible verses? WTF?!
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200 people gathered this afternoon at the rainbow crossing in Fitzroy, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia to mourn those who were killed at the Pulse nightclub.
Melbourne will hold a formal memorial on Thursday.
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Good to see you here, Tony.
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US government officials are quoting bible verses? WTF?!
Incredible! :-X
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Incredible! :-X
Doesn't surprise me in the least. I was just wondering how long it would take before some knucklehead would be posting something about the gays getting what they deserved.
I'd almost be will to bet the Texan will try to claim that he was referring to the shooter, who, after all, did end up shot dead himself, but that explanation won't wash. Even if it's true, that tweet was unbelievably insensitive and boneheaded.
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They just can't help themselves. I like the fact that many times you'll
hear "so and so tweeted" something and then "that tweet was later deleted,"
as though that makes it better somehow, like I said this and now I unsay it.
By the way, WHO deletes tweets? Is that something Twitter does or can a
person who sends one actually delete same?
____
Thank you to all commenters who've posted, it's just nice and nice to hear from you.
____
Our Pride Parade was tempered with the jolt of reality (or unreality really) but felt more
"prideful" than in many a year in a lot of ways.
It seems there were some initial impulses to cancel things yesterday, like some of the pride
events and very briefly, the Tony's, but I'm glad those things weren't done. I happen to feel
those things send the completely wrong message. Remember when they cancelled the Emmy's
twice because they were afraid of offending anyone?
_____
There has been no more news about the person in Los Angeles (it was actually Santa Monica)
who was arrested with a car full of guns and explosives, saying he was meeting someone to go
to the Pride Parade here, and what exactly his intentions were.
_____
I heard on last night's late news that the club had 320 people inside. (I don't know if that
included employees.) 100+ people were shot or wounded in there. That means that every
person who went to that club had a 1 in 3 chance of being physically shot.
I watched an NBC special about the Orlando event last night. I can't get the heartbreaking images
of the three mothers, one white, one hispanic and one black, who were looking for their sons and
not knowing anything.
The white mother said her son was with his boyfriend and she knew the
boyfriend had been shot and was in the hospital at the moment, but no
word of her "only" child. She was so proud of him--when he was in high
school he started a gay/straight alliance club there.
The black mother had gotten texts from her son locked in a bathroom who
said the gunman was in there, that he had been shot and thought he was
going to be killed.
The hispanic mother's son had gone to the club to celebrate his birthday and
she knew nothing of his whereabouts.
I know that we've seen things like this in other shooting incidents, but as a gay person
showing parents with the depth of affection and love for their gay children was something
I think I've rarely seen like that and it affected me very deeply.
I'd prefer to make up a happy ending for all three of those stories. The program concluded
without knowing all their exact fates.
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Matt Lauer spoke to the white mother on TV this morning. She still had not been able to learn the fate of her son.
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:'(
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Sobering...
The shooter is reported to have canvassed other gay clubs in the Orlando area before settling on Pulse.
The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks hate crime statistics across many different demographics, and
while its most recent data is from a 2011 analysis, the Center reported that the basic pattern holds year
to year. From the years 1995 to 2008, there were 15,351 anti-LGBT hate crime offenses against people
(that excludes crimes against property). The LGBT community makes up an estimated 2.1 percent of the
population, yet accounts for 17.4 percent of the total reported violent hate crimes (and many hate crimes
are never reported). LGBT Americans, therefore, were victims of hate crimes at about 8.3 times the expected
rate. For perspective on that, it’s more than double the rates of Jewish and black Americans and more than
quadruple the rate of Muslim Americans, and more than 41 times the rate of non-Hispanic whites.
Info from these two links:
http://eastorlandopost.com/report-orlando-nightclub-shooter-cased-other-gay-clubs
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2011/anti-gay-hate-crimes-doing-math
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The 1994 ban on assault weapons expired in 2004, 12 years ago.
In the past 10 years, assault-style weapons have been used in 14 public mass
shootings, according to The Washington Post. That includes the Orlando killings,
the San Bernardino, California, attack and Umpqua Community College shooting
in 2015 and also the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater and Sandy Hook Elementary
School shootings in 2012. Of those 14 shootings, seven have occurred in the past
12 months.
Orlando: AR-15
Aurora: AR-15
Sandy Hook: AR-15
San Bernardino: AR-15
Umpqua Community College: AR-15
But the NRA says this gun is only for hunting and home protection.
Doesn't say for hunting what, though.
Some info from a Michael Skolnick tweet thread and also here:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2016/06/12/gun-used-orlando-shooting-becoming-mass-shooters-weapon-choice/8CsglZoMR1jbkoW
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A link to Dave's very moving article in Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/dave-cullen-on-orlando-shooting (http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/dave-cullen-on-orlando-shooting)
If there's a better way to do this feel free to change it.
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They just can't help themselves. I like the fact that many times you'll
hear "so and so tweeted" something and then "that tweet was later deleted,"
as though that makes it better somehow, like I said this and now I unsay it.
By the way, WHO deletes tweets? Is that something Twitter does or can a
person who sends one actually delete same?
Yes, Lyle: they are called Twits.
Re: "as though that makes it better:" I don't know if you watch "black-ish," but in one episode the wife squares off with the dragon mother-in-law, mistress of passive aggression, who has just made yet another disparaging remark ending in "no judgement!" Wife comes back with "You can't just put no in front of something and it goes away. Otherwise, I could go 'No Ruby!' and you'd be gone! But look: 'No Ruby! No Ruby'" fake gasp "She's still here!"
Exactly.
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Doesn't surprise me in the least. I was just wondering how long it would take before some knucklehead would be posting something about the gays getting what they deserved.
I was reading an article on FB this morning, Jeff, talking about the massacre,and it pointed out the posts on social media that started almost immediately saying this exact thing. I only read a couple and almost threw up.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but I keep asking myself "Who ARE these people??"
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I was reading an article on FB this morning, Jeff, talking about the massacre,and it pointed out the posts on social media that started almost immediately saying this exact thing. I only read a couple and almost threw up.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but I keep asking myself "Who ARE these people??"
People with small minds who unaccountably feel threatened by gay people (usually by gay men). I cannot comprehend why.
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People with small minds who unaccountably feel threatened by gay people (usually by gay men). I cannot comprehend why.
It's hard for me to comprehend the level of hatred and stupidity based on some imagined threat. What do these men and women (there were comments from women) think is going to happen to them? From people who are just trying to live their lives and love who they love. It always makes me want to cry.
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http://www.thegailygrind.com/2016/06/13/anderson-cooper-breaks-down-live-on-air-while-reading-names-of-orlando-victims/
Watching Anderson Cooper choking up while reading the names of the victims is heartbreaking. So many young lives gone.
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So hard to watch and listen to.
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This killing is no different than any other mass shooting in respect to trying to figure out why someone would do it, you can't...
Some have went into church's, into movie theatres, Universities, High Schools......into a grade school! Why would anyone shoot children, six year olds, innocent kids?
There is no figuring it out, what has to be figured out is the gun situation.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.turner.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F151204185634-america-guns-illustrated-map-super-169.jpg&hash=bb15bffc09358840acc46b8d786d5ed2594de51d)
US home to nearly a third of world's mass shootings
(CNN)There are more mass shootings in the U.S. than in any other country in the world. Here is a snapshot of this all-too-familiar American reality:
Mass shootings are a largely American phenomenon
From 1966 to 2012, nearly a third of the world's mass shootings took place in the U.S. This is according to a 2016 study that used the FBI definition of 'mass shooting' below. It surveyed 292 incidents and found 90 of them occurred in America. Put another way: While the U.S. has 5% of the world's population, it had 31% of all public mass shootings.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/13/health/mass-shootings-in-america-in-charts-and-graphs-trnd/index.html
Should add the latest is that the shooter was gay! At least that is what is X wife is now saying. Last thing we need is the biggest mass killer to date in the U.S. being a gay man.
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Instead of pointing out the problem ad nauseam (adverb - referring to something that has been done or repeated so often that it has become annoying or tiresome.), and with pictures, why don’t you propose valid, achievable solutions.
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Should add the latest is that the shooter was gay! At least that is what is X wife is now saying. Last thing we need is the biggest mass killer to date in the U.S. being a gay man.
I hadn't heard that, but if it's true, it wouldn't surprise me. It does seem to me that the worst, most virulent homophobes are the self-hating, internalized ones. And I have been wondering what he was doing on Grindr? "Research"? Or the obvious?
At the risk of being crass, it also wouldn't surprise me if he got a lot of contacts on Grindr. He was hot-looking. (Shrugs.)
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the other speculation going around is that he was on the sites to get info, meet people and scope out how best to carry out his plan...witnesses say he had gone to Pulse several times.
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the other speculation going around is that he was on the sites to get info, meet people and scope out how best to carry out his plan...witnesses say he had gone to Pulse several times.
Yeah, that's what I meant by "research." I also heard that about his having gone to Pulse several times.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2-3.timeinc.net%2Fpeople%2Fi%2F2016%2Fnews%2F160627%2Fnelba-marquez-greene-1024.jpg&hash=f6f90c1d32ee4db49dc92a7996882961c36eb2fb)
A mother who lost her 6-year-old daughter in 2012's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is sending solidarity and support to the families of Sunday's Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando.
"I am so, so sorry," Nelba Márquez-Greene, who lost daughter Ana Grace in the Newtown, Connecticut, killing, wrote. "I am sorry that our tragedy here in Sandy hook wasn't enough to save your loved ones … And I know it will never be the same."
"My message was and is and always will be 'love wins,' " she continued. "Because hate, ugly, evil and prejudice cannot silence love, courage, good." ..
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,21012684,00.html
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According to NBC News, the murderer's wife KNEW he was planning this attack.
She drove him there to scope out the place one night.
She tried to talk him out of it.
She didn't.
She was with him when he bought ammunition and a holster.
Authorities are considering filing criminal charges against her for failing to tell them what she knew before the brutal attack.
___
Considering? Really? I'm considering dropping her in the middle of Pulse nightclub and let 102 families have at her.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/orlando-nightclub-massacre/omar-mateen-s-wife-tried-talk-him-out-orlando-attack-n592051
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I heard that on my way home from work, and couldn't agree with you more.
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Yeah, that's what I meant by "research." I also heard that about his having gone to Pulse several times.
oh ok, gotcha
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(CNN)There are more mass shootings in the U.S. than in any other country in the world.
And nothing is going to change. If we don't have the will power to change after the massacre of little children, we're not going to change after the massacre of a bunch of queers.
:(
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The father of Orlando killer has dismissed multiple claims that his son was gay.
Sediqque Mir Mateen had previously claimed that his son had got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami two months before Sunday’s attack.
However, regulars at Pulse nightclub, the scene of the attack, and others have since reported seeing Mateen on numerous occasions.
While another said he had come across him on Grindr.
But, speaking to reporters today, the killer’s father denied that his son was gay, adding: ‘I don’t believe that he was…whatever you call it.’
He added: ‘If he was why kill those he loved? Only God can punish homosexuality. This is not an issue for humans to punish.’
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Trump showed no sign of leadership during this tragedy, only wanting to attack Obama and Hilary. Then he got it wrong about Muslim terrorism (I haven't seen reports on ISIS taking responsibility). It is a HATE crime. One mans hate.
I didn't know that Obama has had to address American citizens 16 times about mass shootings that get higher and higher in numbers during his time in office. From children to gay people, how can it get worse?
I grieve for all the families and friends of the victims and I know that covers a huge number.
I cried a good part of Sunday and sent my gay friends virtual hugs.
Dave Cullen said that you have to wait awhile for all the facts to come out,,,,,,,how right he has been.
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And nothing is going to change. If we don't have the will power to change after the massacre of little children, we're not going to change after the massacre of a bunch of queers.
:(
I hesitate to discuss this as it only takes one nutter and one (in Australia) illegal firearm to create a massacre and we should not crow that we have prevented it since Port Arthur in 1996 but this quote comes from one Australian gun policy researcher.
"The reaction here in Australia to something like Port Arthur is, 'we've got to do something, let's do it quickly, let's do it now'.
"The reaction in America is to pray and then to blame somebody else, and then to buy more guns."
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Trump showed no sign of leadership during this tragedy, only wanting to attack Obama and Hilary. Then he got it wrong about Muslim terrorism (I haven't seen reports on ISIS taking responsibility). It is a HATE crime. One mans hate.
I didn't know that Obama has had to address American citizens 16 times about mass shootings that get higher and higher in numbers during his time in office. From children to gay people, how can it get worse?
I grieve for all the families and friends of the victims and I know that covers a huge number.
I cried a good part of Sunday and sent my gay friends virtual hugs.
Dave Cullen said that you have to wait awhile for all the facts to come out,,,,,,,how right he has been.
Were you really expecting a sign of leadership from Trump?
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No, I'm a Canadian, just saying.
It's strange but a lot of my friends and family have guns (mostly rifles) for hunting. I am a pretty good shot as my
father thought I should be taught how to shoot and he emphasized safety above everything. We don't, as a whole,
think of guns as a defence of our homes. Most people I know, have baseball bats, axe handles or hockey sticks by
the door. I'm just naïve, I guess. I have gone hunting but have never shot anything. I also say a quick prayer to
not have an opportunity to kill anything. One of my boyfriends did say that he didn't understand why we never got
anything when we went hunting. I just shrugged.
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Most people I know, have baseball bats, axe handles or hockey sticks by
the door.
Good heavens. I do not know anyone who has any sort of a weapon by the door. I have read about home invasions in the paper but have never known anyone who has experienced it. Our house was once robbed when I was a teenager and my coin collection was stolen but I have never experienced a robbery in the 44 years I have lived alone. The people who owned my house before me never locked their doors. However I do. I guess New Zealand (and Australia) are lucky countries. I have had my pocket picked twice, Once (1980) in San Francisco (in a gay bar) and last year on the Paris Metro.
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I often forget to lock my front door. :)
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I frequently leave my garage door up when I go to bed...forgetful...
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The father of Orlando killer has dismissed multiple claims that his son was gay.
Sediqque Mir Mateen had previously claimed that his son had got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami two months before Sunday’s attack.
However, regulars at Pulse nightclub, the scene of the attack, and others have since reported seeing Mateen on numerous occasions.
While another said he had come across him on Grindr.
But, speaking to reporters today, the killer’s father denied that his son was gay, adding: ‘I don’t believe that he was…whatever you call it.’
He added: ‘If he was why kill those he loved? Only God can punish homosexuality. This is not an issue for humans to punish.’
Clueless man.
"My son was not gay."
He believes in his religion which teaches him being gay is wrong.
So he has no conception his son would call it bad in front of him when he saw it?
So he denies his son could have been gay.
Why would his son act out?
Why indeed?
_____
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Clueless man.
"My son was not gay."
He believes in his religion which teaches him being gay is wrong.
So he has no conception his son would call it bad in front of him when he saw it?
So he denies his son could have been gay.
Why would his son act out?
Why indeed?
_____
I think he's more upset at the reports that he was gay, than that he killed and injured 100 people...
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And nothing is going to change. If we don't have the will power to change after the massacre of little children, we're not going to change after the massacre of a bunch of queers.
:(
I think (and hope) you're wrong...kids can't vote
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yes...
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I'd like to tell china to kiss our collective asses, but unfortunately they own said asses...
China says Dalai Lama-Obama meeting will damage bilateral ties
China has lodged diplomatic representations with the United States over a planned meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama at the White House on Wednesday saying it would damage Chinese-U.S. ties, the Foreign Ministry said.
China considers the exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader a dangerous separatist, and ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing the meeting would encourage "separatist forces".
"If the United States plans this meeting, it will send the wrong signal to Tibet independence and separatist forces and harm China-U.S. mutual trust and cooperation," Lu said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-tibet-idUSKCN0Z10NB (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-tibet-idUSKCN0Z10NB)
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I think (and hope) you're wrong...kids can't vote
Nobody dead can vote (except in Chicago and Philadelphia ::) ). But the parents, and grandparents, and aunts, and uncles of dead elementary-school-aged children can vote, and nothing changed after Connecticut.
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The father of Orlando killer has dismissed multiple claims that his son was gay.
Sediqque Mir Mateen had previously claimed that his son had got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami two months before Sunday’s attack.
However, regulars at Pulse nightclub, the scene of the attack, and others have since reported seeing Mateen on numerous occasions.
While another said he had come across him on Grindr.
But, speaking to reporters today, the killer’s father denied that his son was gay, adding: ‘I don’t believe that he was…whatever you call it.’
He added: ‘If he was why kill those he loved? Only God can punish homosexuality. This is not an issue for humans to punish.’
One of the news programs I watched last evening--I forget which, unfortunately--had a film clip of someone who claimed Mateen had contacted him via Grindr, and asked questions about what clubs were "popping"--I think that was the word used. Then, it seems pretty certain, Mateen visited Pulse a number of times--to scope out his target? In my book someone who demonstrates such a virulent hatred of homosexuality is clearly suspect, but it ain't necessarily so. I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure--unless some guys start coming forward and claiming they had sex with him, and even then, it's only their word.
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I have been touched with the beauty and warmth of so many of the world wide tributes
in solidarity with Orlando shown on the news. (I hope that is taken with the way I feel it.)
I saw a bit of the London Gay Chorus singing Bridge Over Troubled Water and was in tears.
Went looking for a complete version on youtube...there are a few dozen youtube videos of
it from various locations there. Here's a link to a shorter one, but it has the best sound, and
you can search for others if one's interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8f3Se1akIo
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.thedailybeast.com%2Fcontent%2Fdailybeast%2Farticles%2F2016%2F06%2F13%2Fwatch-london-gay-men-s-chorus-sings-like-a-bridge-over-troubled-water-at-vigil-for-orlando%2Fjcr%3Acontent%2Fimage.crop.800.500.jpg%2F48861849.cached.jpg&hash=b0e6fb157c8cdbbf574d0f4d36eae3bc52dc9a8c)
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Nobody dead can vote (except in Chicago and Philadelphia ::) ). But the parents, and grandparents, and aunts, and uncles of dead elementary-school-aged children can vote, and nothing changed after Connecticut.
Very well said and I agree 100 percent, if people didn't care enough to make some serious changes after 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 were "gunned down" in school, then why would a shooting at a gay night club change anything??
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I attended a vigil by the Otago University Students Association last night. I was probably the oldest person there.
I was pleased to see 2 Anglican priests there. In fact they were the only people I knew. One is gay, the bishop knows and was happy to license him, he had been a catholic priest so did not need to be ordained, but he does not want it openly known as he thinks it might hinder his work. (there are 2 openly gay priests in our diocese).
He told me one family had left his parish because they said our bishop is too liberal. I think he was relieved to be rid of them.
The other, Jo, is married with 2 kids but was part of our parish before she was ordained and now runs another parish. She has always been supportive though I had not seen her for a few years. She was wearing a rainbow coloured scarf.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/386983/big-octagon-turnout-orlando-vigil-video (http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/386983/big-octagon-turnout-orlando-vigil-video)
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The reason I have hope for change in the face of things is that I never thought cigarette smoking
could get banned and shunned aside. And yet now it's illegal to smoke almost anywhere. I remember
when seat belts were coming out how many people hated this idea that they'd "have" to wear them
and it infringed on their freedom etc. Now we just get in a car and put them on.
And then last night an interview (from June 14th) was rerun on a PBS program with Robert Greenwald
talking about his documentary, "Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA" and it gave me hope that
things could change, but it's going to have to be US who helps change things with as much work and
passion that the NRA and their followers have for keeping things the way they are. Here is that interview:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/filmmaker-robert-greenwald-3/
______
I purposely looked for some articles talking about these kinds of things after the murdering happened
this weekend to look and see what commenters were arguing about. I often try to avoid stuff like that, but
I wanted to see the arguments about it that commenters were spouting.
I'll blanketly call them NRA people for short. There's a number of things almost all of the people
who think the two words "gun control" mean something is being taken from "them" that they spout
a lot about. Some of them are:
--People who commit gun violence will get guns illegally if they can't legally.
"The criminals will get them regardless of these laws."
--Law abiding citizens shouldn't have to do anything to help with this issue. They should be left alone.
--NRA people have studies they always point to that gun control doesn't lessen these problems.
(So do opponents have reverse studies.)
--The NRA people never have solutions for any of it, they always have blame, though. It's a mental health
problem. It's those "other people", it's criminals, etc. "It's not the guns it's the people." I like to say "it's
not the guns, it's the people with guns."
--NRA people mantra: Gun control legislation (in any form) won't work. It's futile to try anything.
--The Second Amendment "allows me" to have guns. Apparently any and all kinds with no restrictions.
--The AR-15 (the weapon of choice for these mass killings) is a gun used for protection and hunting.
(From a bit of research and news reporting, if it is used for hunting then whatever's being hunted is
practically ripped to shreds when a bullet hits.)
I started making a few comments of my own to poke at them, and see what the responses were.
First, the responses are all dismissive from the NRA People about gun control ideas being useless
and politically correct etc. So, instead of arguing about that, I would ask them what they would
do then? What are your ideas about solving this problem?
This was not something they wanted to talk about. (It's easy to spout the obvious. Thinking
about what to do--not so easy.)
So, when they'd just respond with dismissiveness I tried to call them out on it saying they were
just being selfish and not caring about the worth of other human lives which could include their own
friends and family, and unpatriotic for their rigid stances about trying to come up with any solutions.
Needless to say, this went over like a lead balloon. The responses were rather vile and off the entire
point. But...I stayed on point and kept answering until they did not respond at all.
(I realize I have no idea who was responding and not a controlled experiment, but from what I've read and
heard over the years, the response and attitude is quite typical and not an outlier.)
--In some cases I talked about the NRA people just being greedy because guns are a big business
and the greed is overtaking common sense.
I just think it's true that people don't want to think of themselves as bad people, even people who
have strong beliefs or opinions about things they feel they hold dear. People don't want to be called
homophobes or racists or ignorant or unpatriotic or greedy.
Gun owners are law abiding citizens, after all. But it only takes one crime with a gun to not be law abiding
and therefore your opinion is still valid. I asked one person in the comments if gun control laws were enacted,
would they be law abiding and obey them or would they try to get around them? The answer was just that
they'd never happen. The "it's useless to try" answer. I pressed further and asked if somehow laws were
enacted akin to prohibition when liquor was illegal, would they obey those laws and the responses were
quite telling in that they admitted they would "not be law abiding citizens" in that case. So apparently "law
abiding" is in the eye of the beholder.
My experience is that people will try to justify doing what they want to do as long as they can.
(Ever see an intervention on a program?) In this case, opposition has to find ways to point out
things impeding progress on this issue--the greed of gun manufacturers and politicians who are
NRA enablers and such. Being shunned is not appealing.
If I were in the Senate, I'd look around that room and tell them to "look at each other
right now. Look at all of your colleagues in this chamber. More people were victims of
one man with an AR-15 rifle than are present here now. Do you think our lives are worth
more than theirs? Because you know that if this happened and we were the victims, laws
would change immediately and we owe it to the victims, their families and the American
people to do something about it. Or we deserve to be thrown out of office."
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Lake Buena Vista, Florida (CNN)
The 2-year-old boy who was grabbed Tuesday night by an alligator near a Walt Disney World resort hotel is believed dead, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said Wednesday. Demings noted that it has been 15 hours since the attack and rescue officials are trying to recover the body.
The boy's family was at movie night outdoors at the Grand Floridian resort when around 9 p.m. the boy waded into about a foot of water in a lagoon, authorities have said. Witnesses, including the boy's horrified parents, tried to save him. His father jumped in and tried to pry the gator's mouth open. His mother jumped in, too.
But it was too late. The child was dragged underwater in the Seven Seas Lagoon, witnesses told authorities. The lagoon is connected to a series of canals that feed into large bodies of water, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Nick Wiley...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/us/alligator-attacks-child-disney-florida/index.html
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The reason I have hope for change in the face of things is that I never thought cigarette smoking
could get banned and shunned aside. And yet now it's illegal to smoke almost anywhere. I remember
when seat belts were coming out how many people hated this idea that they'd "have" to wear them
and it infringed on their freedom etc. Now we just get in a car and put them on.
At the risk of going OT, I'm not sure they're your best analogies, Lyle. There were no constitutional rights to smoke or drive without a seat belt. I'm not trying to be funny, here--you did give me something to think about--but perhaps such changes as the abolition of slavery and women's suffrage, which did involve constitutional changes, are better. Unfortunately they both took a very long time.
Gun-rights advocates and right-to-lifers often strike me as two peas in a pod. They never have constructive suggestions for solving problems.
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I have been touched with the beauty and warmth of so many of the world wide tributes
in solidarity with Orlando shown on the news. (I hope that is taken with the way I feel it.)
I saw a bit of the London Gay Chorus singing Bridge Over Troubled Water and was in tears.
Went looking for a complete version on youtube...there are a few dozen youtube videos of
it from various locations there. Here's a link to a shorter one, but it has the best sound, and
you can search for others if one's interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8f3Se1akIo
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.thedailybeast.com%2Fcontent%2Fdailybeast%2Farticles%2F2016%2F06%2F13%2Fwatch-london-gay-men-s-chorus-sings-like-a-bridge-over-troubled-water-at-vigil-for-orlando%2Fjcr%3Acontent%2Fimage.crop.800.500.jpg%2F48861849.cached.jpg&hash=b0e6fb157c8cdbbf574d0f4d36eae3bc52dc9a8c)
Beautiful.
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Lake Buena Vista, Florida (CNN)
The 2-year-old boy who was grabbed Tuesday night by an alligator near a Walt Disney World resort hotel is believed dead, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said Wednesday. Demings noted that it has been 15 hours since the attack and rescue officials are trying to recover the body.
The boy's family was at movie night outdoors at the Grand Floridian resort when around 9 p.m. the boy waded into about a foot of water in a lagoon, authorities have said. Witnesses, including the boy's horrified parents, tried to save him. His father jumped in and tried to pry the gator's mouth open. His mother jumped in, too.
But it was too late. The child was dragged underwater in the Seven Seas Lagoon, witnesses told authorities. The lagoon is connected to a series of canals that feed into large bodies of water, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Nick Wiley...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/us/alligator-attacks-child-disney-florida/index.html
and his little body has now been found..
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This is interesting as well as a breath of fresh air amongst all the hateful hot air that is circulating.
https://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=40209267&nid=148&title=lt-gov-cox-speaks-at-vigil-for-orlando-my-heart-has-changed (https://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=40209267&nid=148&title=lt-gov-cox-speaks-at-vigil-for-orlando-my-heart-has-changed)
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What a great speech.
Last night I looked around at all the university students and thought how things have changed since I was at university in the early 1960's. No pro-gay rallies then. I thought I was the only one and would never admit it to my friends, a few I have met since on the gay scene. I was visiting psychiatrists who told me I was in danger if I wanted to be a teacher and should seek another career. :(
I only discovered gay bars more than 10 years later and I vividly remember how our hands would part as we went out the door even though it was the well known gay street of the city.
However it seems to have been 2 steps forward and 1 step (this week a very big step) back.
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Nobody dead can vote (except in Chicago and Philadelphia ::) ). But the parents, and grandparents, and aunts, and uncles of dead elementary-school-aged children can vote, and nothing changed after Connecticut.
Again, I think you (and bubba, of course) are wrong...maybe this was just all too much...and maybe they won't get the ban on assault rifles that they want, but at least they're trying which is more than they've done before...
Democrats Launch Filibuster-Style Blockade On Guns
Senators vow to keep talking until lawmakers agree to do something to deal with America’s massacre problem.
WASHINGTON — Led by the senators who represent Newtown, Connecticut — where a gunman fatally shot 26 people, including 20 children, in 2012 — Democrats took control of the Senate floor Wednesday and vowed to keep talking until lawmakers start doing something about gun violence.
“Newtown is still putting itself back together, probably will be for a long time,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who launched the filibuster-style takeover, declaring it was time for the Senate to do something about gun violence beyond the usual ineffective debates.
He said lawmakers could not go about business as usual after a mass killing at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday claimed 49 victims.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-launch-filibuster-on-guns_us_57617afae4b0df4d586ec7b5 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-launch-filibuster-on-guns_us_57617afae4b0df4d586ec7b5)
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Stanford sexual assault: embattled judge removed from similar case amid outcry
Aaron Persky, who declined to send Brock Turner to prison, faced concerns about his ability to ‘fairly participate’ in the proceeding.
The judge who gave a lenient sentence to a former Stanford student convicted of sexual assault has been removed from a similar case due to prosecutors’ concerns about his ability to “fairly participate” in the proceeding.
Judge Aaron Persky, who declined to send the former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner to prison for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, has been taken off a case involving a male nurse who sexually assaulted an anesthetized female patient, according to local prosecutors.
The Santa Clara County district attorney’s office, which successfully prosecuted Turner, has utilized a tactic known as “papering” a judge, which means prosecutors pre-emptively declared that Persky was “prejudiced”, automatically disqualifying him from the case.
The removal of Persky, who is facing a recall campaign over his decision in the Stanford case, speaks to the intense scrutiny facing the northern California judge since he sentenced Turner to six months in county jail instead of the minimum of two years in state prison prescribed by law.
Two weeks after the 2 June sentencing, which went viral when the victim released her emotional impact statement, Persky was responsible for overseeing a new misdemeanor case involving stolen property, according to the district attorney.
Persky dismissed that case before a jury deliberated in a move that surprised prosecutors. That decision, combined with the judge’s controversial actions in the Stanford case, led the district attorney’s office to take the unusual step of exercising its authority to remove Persky from the new sexual assault case involving the nurse.
“We are disappointed and puzzled at Judge Persky’s unusual decision to unilaterally dismiss a case before the jury could deliberate,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement to the Guardian. “After this and the recent turn of events, we lack confidence that Judge Persky can fairly participate in this upcoming hearing in which a male nurse sexually assaulted an anesthetized female patient.”
The statement emphasized that prosecutors would assess upcoming proceedings on a case-by-case basis, and noted that “this is a rare and carefully considered step for our Office”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/14/stanford-sexual-assault-judge-aaron-persky-removed-case
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Juror in Stanford sexual assault case says judge made 'mockery' of justice
Scathing letter saying ‘punishment does not fit the crime’ comes after judge was scrutinized for giving Brock Turner a significantly lenient sentence.
A juror in the Stanford sexual assault case said the “punishment does not fit the crime” in a scathing letter to the judge who issued a lenient sentence – widening the international scandal surrounding violence on college campuses.
A male juror who convicted former Stanford athlete Brock Turner of three felonies for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman outside of a fraternity party has released a letter to judge Aaron Persky. In it he says the sentence of six months in jail “makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape”.
The anonymous letter, published by the local paper Palo Alto Weekly, comes after two weeks of intense scrutiny surrounding Persky’s decision to give the 20-year-old a sentence that was significantly lighter than the minimum of two years in state prison prescribed by law.
After the 23-year-old victim’s statement on the trauma of the assault and trial went viral, critics of the judge announced a formal recall campaign against Persky, who justified his decision by noting that prison would have a “severe impact” on the defendant.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/14/stanford-sexual-assault-ruling-aaron-persky-juror-letter
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I live in very small town (between 3000-4000 people) and the point I was trying to make is that although most households
have hunting rifles, they aren't what we think of as defensive weapons against people. One would have to go to the gun safe,
go to where the ammunition is stored and then go to the door. Actually most people don't lock their doors and I have some
people tell me that they aren't sure where their house keys are. As for defence, I have through the years lost 2 cats to cougars,
my whippet was chased by a wolf and bears wander through the neighborhood often and I might need a rifle someday to scare
them away. I am NOT a gun advocate and I don't know anyone that owns a rapid fire gun. When someone from here goes
hunting, they wear regular clothing, often bright colored. The American hunters that come here to hunt bear, have camouflage
clothing, lots of fancy gear and numerous guns. Different attitudes.
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I apologize for losing focus on the tragic news of human slaughter. I still can't fathom the mentality that would lead to it.
Canada has gun control and it isn't a hardship for us.
Florida is really not a good place to be right now.
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Again, I think you (and bubba, of course) are wrong...maybe this was just all too much...and maybe they won't get the ban on assault rifles that they want, but at least they're trying which is more than they've done before...
I'm not sure about that. Sadly, this sort of thing happens so often now, but I believe in the wake of Orlando I heard that some attempt was made after Sandy Hook, and, typically, the Republicans blocked it. I could be quite wrong, but I don't think it's accurate or fair to say that "they" have never tried before.
I'd love for you to be right, that something will finally succeed, but I'm not holding my breath.
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I live in very small town (between 3000-4000 people) and the point I was trying to make is that although most households
have hunting rifles, they aren't what we think of as defensive weapons against people. One would have to go to the gun safe,
go to where the ammunition is stored and then go to the door. Actually most people don't lock their doors and I have some
people tell me that they aren't sure where their house keys are. As for defence, I have through the years lost 2 cats to cougars,
my whippet was chased by a wolf and bears wander through the neighborhood often and I might need a rifle someday to scare
them away. I am NOT a gun advocate and I don't know anyone that owns a rapid fire gun. When someone from here goes
hunting, they wear regular clothing, often bright colored. The American hunters that come here to hunt bear, have camouflage
clothing, lots of fancy gear and numerous guns. Different attitudes.
It stunned me when I heard a reporter say that the semi-automatic rifle that Mateen used is popular for hunting. When my dad and his uncles and cousins went deer hunting here in Pennsylvania, nobody used anything more powerful than a .30-06--but that was 50 years ago. Yet I still can't imagine going after deer with a semi-automatic. I don't know anything about bear hunting. As far as I know, Pennsylvania still requires hunters to wear a certain amount of "blaze orange" apparel when they hunt; too many deer hunters shot accidentally by other deer hunters. That's why my mother wouldn't let my dad make a hunter out of me.
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Here is Dave Cullen's first piece he wrote for Vanity Fair regarding the Orlando massacre.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/dave-cullen-on-orlando-shooting
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This is his second piece that came out today when more details have been revealed about his presence in the club numerous times before the shooting.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/dave-cullen-on-orlando-shooter-gay-community
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Dave Cullen discussed with VF digital director Mike Hogan on video on why Orlando hits home. It is on Facebook, so one cannot see it unless one belongs to FB. I never have been able to extract a video from FB for non members of FB.
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Really interesting discussion.
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Jeff, I've never heard of anyone using a semi-automatic when they were hunting. That would be wasting ammo and would ruin
the meat. The people I know hunt to eat. Who the heck would say a semi- automatic was a hunting rifle. Besides, the average
Canadian can't nor wants to own a semi-automatic.
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It would seem that whatever is found out about why the Orlando shooting happened, it won't make any sense.
Mental health is the buzz word now but how can one detect it and how can we as a society help? How can we
help people to stop hating someone because they are different. Such easy questions but no easy answers. The families
and friends of the victims will always grieve and never really have understanding. I seem to be mentally pacing in my head, all
I really want to is cry for them but I will and can move on.
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At the risk of going OT, I'm not sure they're your best analogies, Lyle. There were no constitutional rights to smoke or drive without a seat belt.
And there you have it. The second amendment means different things to people. I think it's the worst amendment in our constitution because it isn't at all clear what it means. Oh, if you want to have a gun it's clear, because you want a gun. The thing about what you said, though, is that no one was saying you couldn't smoke or drive, there's just that if you want to, you have to follow the regulations. But any regulations proposed against guns is taken as an infringement of the right to have them in the first place. That's just selfishness, greed, or what have you.
I've said many times if I had a time machine (wayback, hot tub, or Delorean among them) I would go back and ask those men what the hell they had in mind when they simply wrote:
"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."
Like I mentioned yesterday, the entire Senate could have been shot and half of them eliminated by one person with an AR-15 in a couple hours. Being smart men, I hardly think the framers of the constitution had that in mind.
Beyond the second amendment, though. The documentary of which I wrote about yesterday, ignores the second amendment and goes about things in a different way. Remember of all the things Al Capone was up to, he was brought down by something else, tax evasion. This documentary hints at ways to get around things in a different type of manner.
I don't feel our constitution can't be looked at differently, either. Right now we have people in power who interpret #2 as they want. We need a public and people in power who look at it differently. There's that maxim, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
In the meantime, those that keep spouting that nothing can be done***, law-abiding citizens shouldn't be penalized and gun control laws don't work, jusat keep making them answer what they would do then. They don't want to do anything. Show them they're selfish for not wanting to have any discomfort by adhering to a regulation. That they don't care about any victims. That they could support a gun tax for mental illness if that's what they blame it on, and would be selfish and unpatriotic if they woudn't. Stuff like that.
***There's an article today from one of these people saying, 1.) that the gun used was not an AR-15 (even though the police said it was) and that 2.) it wouldn't have mattered anyway because it was the fact many who were shot weren't treated because they were left in the club for three hours.)
I can't even tell you how disgusting I find these people trying to go to such great and convoluterd lengths to justify their selfish concerns.
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Jeff, I've never heard of anyone using a semi-automatic when they were hunting. That would be wasting ammo and would ruin
the meat. The people I know hunt to eat. Who the heck would say a semi- automatic was a hunting rifle. Besides, the average
Canadian can't nor wants to own a semi-automatic.
The NRA says it:
NRA president David Keene blasted those critics who “neither understand the nature of the firearms they would ban, their popularity or legitimate uses.” Keene noted there are several valid, non-murderous uses for rifles like the AR-15—among them recreational target shooting, hunting, and home defense—and argued that law-abiding firearms owners shouldn’t be penalized because of homicidal loners who use semi-automatics like the AR-15 for criminal purposes.
NRA president David Keene ridiculed the notion that AR-15-style rifles ought to be banned just because “a half dozen [AR-15s] out of more than three million have been misused after illegally falling into the hands of crazed killers.” But the AR-15 is very good at one thing: engaging the enemy at a rapid rate of fire. When someone like Adam Lanza uses it to take out 26 people in a matter of minutes, he’s committing a crime, but he isn’t misusing the rifle. That’s exactly what it was engineered to do.
The whole article is HERE (http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/01/02/gun_control_ar_15_rifle_the_nra_claims_the_ar_15_rifle_is_for_hunting_and.html).
Speaking of changing a mind at a time--perhaps little by little, but in a new direction, the author of the above article states in it, "As I said, I generally think of myself as a Second Amendment supporter, and a month ago, I would’ve probably agreed with the NRA’s position. But the Newtown shooting caused me to start re-examining my stance—as is, I think, fitting—and to question some of the rhetoric advocates use to defend weapons like this."
I would like to point out in that paragraph that the NRA president David Keene said, "AR-15-style rifles ought [not] to be banned just because “a half dozen [AR-15s] out of more than three million have been misused after illegally falling into the hands of crazed killers."
First, as the article author points out, the Orlando shooter didn't "misuse" the weapon, but--he also purchased it legally. It didn't just magically fall into his hands by some imaginary uncontrollable force.
And this is the President of the NRA.
It's also their stance on gun issues: NO REASONABLE ACTIONS.
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Jeff, I've never heard of anyone using a semi-automatic when they were hunting. That would be wasting ammo and would ruin
the meat. The people I know hunt to eat. Who the heck would say a semi- automatic was a hunting rifle. Besides, the average
Canadian can't nor wants to own a semi-automatic.
I never heard of it, either, until that news report. That's why I was so shocked. When my dad and his relatives hunted deer, we never needed the meat, but we ate it when someone got one. I still fondly remember the venison steaks and deerburgers. :)
How retro is this? Having grown up watching the Daniel Boone TV show every week, the rifle I've always wanted to own is a black-powder flintlock! :laugh:
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I've said many times if I had a time machine (wayback, hot tub, or Delorean among them) I would go back and ask those men what the hell they had in mind when they simply wrote:
"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."
The Second Amendment is perfectly clear. What's lacking is historical perspective and, you might say, a willingness to admit that we are no longer living in the 1780s.
Americans brought with them from England a fear and distrust of standing armies. Also, while I'm not sure about this entirely, I believe that in most nations in Europe, ordinary people--peasants--were forbidden to own firearms. Guns were a privilege of the aristocracy and nobility, and of the monarchical governments--which taxed the people to pay for standing armies to keep the ordinary people in check. (Hunting was also a privilege of the aristocracy, and Europe had no Indians to be defended against.)
By the time the federal government was formed, there was a longstanding tradition that all men between the ages of 16 and 60 served in the militia, because the colonies--then states--had to defend themselves; there was no significant British military presence in America until the Seven Years' War. By and large you were also expected to provide your own weapons because the government couldn't or didn't maintain large arsenals. Also the early Federal government couldn't afford to pay for a particularly large national army--and nobody wanted to pay for one, anyway.
So, a well-regulated militia was very much necessary for the security of a free state, because there was pretty much no one else to defend it, and we'd just fought a war to avoid being subjected to the "armed tyranny of the British government," so we didn't want to restrict the ownership of firearms to privileged individuals and end up the like the French peasants who stormed the Bastille with pitchforks. I think some people--like Jefferson, perhaps--also feared that our own federal government could become a tyranny; well-regulated and armed militias in the individual states could prevent that.
But it's no longer the 1780s. By and large we're not afraid of a standing army any more; we think it's the duty of the federal government to support a large military to protect us. We don't expect every able-bodied man from 16 to 60 to turn out for military duty. I'm not advocating scrapping the Second Amendment. But I don't believe there is anything in the Second Amendment that forbids stricter regulation, background checks, and so forth.
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Here is Dave Cullen's first piece he wrote for Vanity Fair regarding the Orlando massacre.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/dave-cullen-on-orlando-shooting
This is his second piece that came out today when more details have been revealed about his presence in the club numerous times before the shooting.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/dave-cullen-on-orlando-shooter-gay-community
Thanks for posting the links, Linda. :-*
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I have long been reading the blogs of Elizabeth Kaeton, a Lesbian Episcopalian priest. She is now semi-retired and sadly I missed meeting her when I was in New York in 2010. I planned to travel to her parish in New Jersey for the weekend but she retired from the parish just before.
You might take heart from her latest (comparatively short) post.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again:
If Queer people can start a riot in a gay bar in the 1969 and, in doing so, launch an entire movement to bring Pride to being Queer and start a Civil Rights Movement to insure our rights as citizens;
AND . . .
If we can actually convince the medical research community to suspend the centuries-old scientific method to stop double-blind studies and fast track drugs during the AIDS crisis;
AND . . .
If we can make it possible for Queer people to create our own families by taking in foster children, adoption, insemination and surrogacy;
AND . . .
If we can start a Civil Rights Movement to provide Marriage Equality;
AND . . .
If we can - after thirty long, hard, well fought years - get the venerable Episcopal Church to authorize liturgical blessings for the covenants of marriage made by Queer people;
AND . . .
If we can actually start a movement so that people can pee in public toilets where they feel safe (are you kidding me right now?):
Then, by God (indeed) . . .
I think we can help to successfully complete a movement to ban assault weapons and bring about sensible gun control.
They done messed with the wrong demographic this time."
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^^^
Thanks for that!
The Second Amendment is perfectly clear. What's lacking is historical perspective and, you might say, a willingness to admit that we are no longer living in the 1780s.
I liked reading your post, but if it's so clear, our recent Supreme Court ruling on it wouldn't have ben 5-4, IMO.
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CNN is reporting that Disney is still looking for the alligator that attacked the 2 year old...how ridiculous!! For what? To kill him? To make themselves feel better?
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CNN is reporting that Disney is still looking for the alligator that attacked the 2 year old...how ridiculous!! For what? To kill him? To make themselves feel better?
I know, it was just doing what alligators do.
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I read online they've already killed 4 or 4 gators already.
Isn't that enough?
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I read online they've already killed 4 or 4 gators already.
Isn't that enough?
Nah, Florida can spare a lot more than just four.
(I'm not actually joking. Not too very long ago I heard that since they were protected, the population has boomed. They have become a problem--obviously.)
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I liked reading your post.
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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Thanks for posting the links, Linda. :-*
You're welcome, Jeff. He has posted them on FB, and I wanted to make sure people who are not on FB saw the articles.
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I swear to God, some people should just be spayed and neutered....
12 girls found living in Pa. home; homeowner faces sex charges
Last Updated Jun 18, 2016 12:15 AM EDT
FEASTERVILLE, Pa. -- An eastern Pennsylvania man is facing child sex assault charges after police say they found 12 girls living in his home. He allegedly admitted to fathering the youngest child -- a six-month-old -- and a three-year-old child with the oldest girl, 18.
According to an affidavit, the girl's father told an officer he gave his daughter to Kaplan after he helped the family out of financial ruin. He told police he thought it was legal after he did some research online.
Kaplan faces a number of charges including statutory sexual assault rape and aggravated indecent assault rape. The girl's father is charged with conspiracy of statutory sexual assault rape and children endangerment. His wife is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lee-kaplan-12-girls-found-living-in-pennsylvania-home-man-faces-sex-charges/ (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lee-kaplan-12-girls-found-living-in-pennsylvania-home-man-faces-sex-charges/)
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A Week For All Time
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/opinion/campaign-stops/a-week-for-all-time.html?_r=1 (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/opinion/campaign-stops/a-week-for-all-time.html?_r=1)
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^^^^^^
The last line of that opinion piece is quite unsettling.
(Note: One has to read the entire thing for the whole impact.)
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That opinion writer has another article link below the article above that sounds like a good idea.
Lord of the Lies
Given the scale of Trump’s mendacity,
we should go into the fall debates with
a new rule: an instant fact-check on
statements made by the candidates.
___
I'd like to read it, but NY Times lets you read a couple and then you get blocked
out unless you have a subscription and the like, you know how that goes.
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http://www.tmz.com/2016/06/19/star-trek-anton-yelchin-dead/
Cops do not suspect foul play.
Yelchin was 27.
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Just exactly what Dave said in his first Vanity Fair article would happen, has happened, with the very public outing of victims and survivors to their families, who did not know they were gay.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/orlando-shooting-leaves-gay-survivors-mourning-families-struggling-with-secrets-1466189740
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^^^
I never thought of that at all until I saw a commenter mention it
on a news article last Sunday. Being in or out of the closet seems
so unimportant in the light of the fact all of the victims' choice about
anything was taken away by the murderer. (I hate that people usually
say "shooter.") I hope these ideas don't mean that some think the news
media should have kept their identities a secret or something, because it
kind of feels that way. These people don't deserve that, in my opinion.
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The Gay Rights Movement Could Take on the NRA — And Actually Win
The gay rights movement knows how to change the culture, not just the law.
by Jennifer Carlson and David Pettinicchio
(https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/o-gayorganizing0619-web.jpg&w=480)
This time, things might be different. Not because of the record number of people killed in Orlando or because this heinous act was a terrorist attack, a hate crime and a mass shooting. It’s because the victims were part of a social movement with infrastructure and political know-how largely unmatched within the gun-control movement. It’s because the attack targeted gays — and their community is organized.
This hate-motivated killing in Orlando is but one example of the broad culture of violent intolerance that LGBTQ people face. Until now, the NRA — not just because of its sheer organizational strength and financial backing, but also because of its cultural ingenuity — has been able to define the terms of the gun debate and the terrain of the struggle. The LGBTQ movement might just be able to change that.
Entire article here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/orlando/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/17/the-orlando-shooting-could-actually-lead-to-meaningful-gun-reform-heres-why/)
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I read that article as well, Lyle and totally agree that a more positive outcome would happen if the LGBTQ movement took on the NRA.
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I'm wondering if it's something enough want to take on?
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At the risk of going OT, I'm not sure they're your best analogies, Lyle. There were no constitutional rights to smoke or drive without a seat belt.
I've been thinking more about this, Jeff.
To come up with a better analogy or two.
How about the 1st Amendment? U.S. Citizens have the right to free speech. But there are restrictions on that.
You cannot libel someone. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theatre. It also guarantees the right to peaceably assemble,
but there can be restrictions to that, too. It doesn't mean you don't have to have permits to do that in many places.
I just watched the Tab Hunter documentary. A group of men had a party one night in a house in 1950 and the police
came in and carted them all to jail. In 1950 being gay was a restriction.
The Constitution says that women have the right to an abortion. But, that right is being chipped away here and there by
as many people as can because they have an opposite view. Now many states are finding all sorts of restrictions to dilute
this right and/or to make it as difficult as possible to use it.
So in the case of the 2nd Amendment, we need to find ways of diluting that right and or restricting it. If one interprets it as
the right to own a gun, it should not be without restrictions as "the people" see fit. Just as those other rights are subject to.
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So in the case of the 2nd Amendment, we need to find ways of diluting that right and or restricting it. If one interprets it as
the right to own a gun, it should not be without restrictions as "the people" see fit. Just as those other rights are subject to.
When it comes to the right to gun ownership, don't call it "diluting" or "restricting." Those words will immediately cause your opponents to dig in their heels and close their ears.
I think your examples concerning the First Amendment right to free speech are good examples of reasonable regulation in the interest of public safety. It's also against the law to incite to riot and murder, I believe.
Speaking of murder, I was saddened to read this morning that those Westboro people were outside Drew Leinonen's funeral. I wouldn't be too upset to read obituaries for every one of them. ::)
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Speaking of murder, I was saddened to read this morning that those Westboro people were outside Drew Leinonen's funeral. I wouldn't be too upset to read obituaries for every one of them. ::)
Angels block Westboro Baptist Church
A group of anti-gay protesters were foiled in their plan to disrupt a Saturday funeral for one of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church showed up at the funeral in Orlando with anti-gay signs, but according to the Washington Post , the protesters were blocked by counter protesters from a local theater group dressed as angels with oversized wings. When the angels lined up, they blocked the funeral's view of the WBC.
Around 200 counter protesters formed a human chain and held rainbow banners and signs while singing “Amazing Grace.”
The Westboro protesters eventually retreated to their cars as the crowd roared in response, according to the newspaper.
The tactic dates back to 1999 during the protests at the trials of the men charged in the killing of gay college student Matthew Shepard.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmediaassets.tmj4.com%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F06%2F20%2FScreen%2520Shot%25202016-06-20%2520at%25205.55.59%2520AM_1466420227994_40704233_ver1.0_640_480.png&hash=1531177f6ed0dce78b5dea13cd5745ebb1ee69f1)
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Corey Lewandowski out as Trump campaign manager
(CNN)Donald Trump fired his controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Monday, unleashing a major shake-up as he comes under pressure from his closest advisers -- particularly his family members -- to urgently reset his struggling presidential campaign.
Lewandowski's abrupt departure is the campaign's most significant staff change to date and signals an acknowledgment from Trump that an overhaul is necessary ahead of the general election. Trump has suffered major setbacks since becoming the GOP's presumptive nominee last month, coming under intense criticism from party leaders, major donors and rank-and-file Republicans for an array of issues -- including his response to the terrorist attack in Orlando that killed 49 people.
"The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican Primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign," Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement Monday. "The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future."
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I'm frankly surprised it took this long ...
A 19-year-old man has been charged over an incident in which he tried to grab a police officer's gun at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas so he could kill the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
According to a complaint filed in US District Court in Nevada, Michael Sandford tried to disarm the officer at the June 18 rally at the Mystere Theatre in the Treasure Island Casino before being overpowered by Las Vegas police and handed over to the US Secret Service.
Mr Sandford had a British driver's license and claimed to have been in the United States for a year and a half, the documents showed.
They did not specify his nationality but said he had lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, after coming to the United States.
"Sandford revealed that he made a conscious effort to come to Las Vegas to kill Trump," the complaint states.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-21/us-man-charged-for-trying-to-steal-officers-gun-to-attack-trump/7528184 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-21/us-man-charged-for-trying-to-steal-officers-gun-to-attack-trump/7528184)
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I'm frankly surprised it took this long ...
A 19-year-old man has been charged over an incident in which he tried to grab a police officer's gun at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas so he could kill the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
According to a complaint filed in US District Court in Nevada, Michael Sandford tried to disarm the officer at the June 18 rally at the Mystere Theatre in the Treasure Island Casino before being overpowered by Las Vegas police and handed over to the US Secret Service.
Mr Sandford had a British driver's license and claimed to have been in the United States for a year and a half, the documents showed.
They did not specify his nationality but said he had lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, after coming to the United States.
"Sandford revealed that he made a conscious effort to come to Las Vegas to kill Trump," the complaint states.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-21/us-man-charged-for-trying-to-steal-officers-gun-to-attack-trump/7528184 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-21/us-man-charged-for-trying-to-steal-officers-gun-to-attack-trump/7528184)
This evening I heard a news report that suggested this young fellow had mental problems. On the contrary, he sounds quite sane to me. ... ;)
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Me too, Jeff!!! ;)
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They found a new word...the MSNBC talking heads use it even more than CNN...John Heilemann used it this morning 8 times in the answer to 1 question....
Politics, Pundits And The Problem With The Word 'Pivot'
I'm getting a little tired of all this pivoting.
Pundits and analysts — which, by the way, might be a good name for a new bar in Georgetown — say that Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Bernie Sanders are, must, or are soon expected to "pivot" into some new strategy for the fall campaign.
Try to go through a news cycle without reading or hearing "pivot." Bloomberg Politics' headline says, "Corker Says Trump Judge Comment 'Wrong,' Urges Him to Pivot." Politico banners, "Emails block Clinton's pivot to positive," and Fox News proclaims, "Trump advisors try to pivot not fishtail."
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/11/481604976/politics-pundits-and-the-problem-with-the-word-pivot (http://www.npr.org/2016/06/11/481604976/politics-pundits-and-the-problem-with-the-word-pivot)
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They found a new word...the MSNBC talking heads use it even more than CNN...John Heilemann used it this morning 8 times in the answer to 1 question....
Politics, Pundits And The Problem With The Word 'Pivot'
I'm getting a little tired of all this pivoting.
Pundits and analysts — which, by the way, might be a good name for a new bar in Georgetown — say that Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Bernie Sanders are, must, or are soon expected to "pivot" into some new strategy for the fall campaign.
Try to go through a news cycle without reading or hearing "pivot." Bloomberg Politics' headline says, "Corker Says Trump Judge Comment 'Wrong,' Urges Him to Pivot." Politico banners, "Emails block Clinton's pivot to positive," and Fox News proclaims, "Trump advisors try to pivot not fishtail."
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/11/481604976/politics-pundits-and-the-problem-with-the-word-pivot (http://www.npr.org/2016/06/11/481604976/politics-pundits-and-the-problem-with-the-word-pivot)
I don't think 'pivot' has reached us yet, but sure it's only a matter of time! I'll listen out for it, and then I can get just as annoyed as you. :D I do hate vogue words.
I dread to think what pivoting may happen after Thursday if the vote goes the wrong way and we have to leave the EU. This referendum has already been the cause of so much bitterness.
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I've been thinking more about this, Jeff.
To come up with a better analogy or two.
How about the 1st Amendment? U.S. Citizens have the right to free speech. But there are restrictions on that.
You cannot libel someone. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theatre. It also guarantees the right to peaceably assemble,
but there can be restrictions to that, too. It doesn't mean you don't have to have permits to do that in many places.
I just watched the Tab Hunter documentary. A group of men had a party one night in a house in 1950 and the police
came in and carted them all to jail. In 1950 being gay was a restriction.
The Constitution says that women have the right to an abortion. But, that right is being chipped away here and there by
as many people as can because they have an opposite view. Now many states are finding all sorts of restrictions to dilute
this right and/or to make it as difficult as possible to use it.
So in the case of the 2nd Amendment, we need to find ways of diluting that right and or restricting it. If one interprets it as
the right to own a gun, it should not be without restrictions as "the people" see fit. Just as those other rights are subject to.
This thought-provoking essay which is part of an ongoing series called This Week in Geopolitics by George Friedman addresses some of these issues:
" Last week, I wrote an article on the massacre in Florida. It drew many responses and some criticisms. In general, the critics fell into two groups.
Beyond the Current Fantasies in the Jihadist War
Some felt I should have demanded stricter gun control. Others, that I should have demanded an end to all immigration by Muslims. On the surface, both suggestions are reasonable, but they reminded me of something Will Rogers said.
Rogers was a renowned American humorist in the early 20th century. During World War I, German U-boats threatened the Allied war effort by sinking US ships headed to Europe. The Allied navies could not stop the slaughter.
Rogers was asked what he would do about it. He said that the only solution was to boil away the Atlantic Ocean, and then capture the U-boats sitting on the bottom. When asked how to do that, Rogers answered that he was responding as a policymaker, and that that question must be handled by others.
There was genius in this answer. Boiling away the Atlantic would have solved the U-boat problem. Any issues created by the solution would have been ignored. Whether or not it could be done was treated as someone else’s problem.
Policymaking is easy, if it ignores reality. And the problem we have is not only that policymakers craft policies designed to fail, but that citizens in a democracy do the same. The desire to do something is overwhelming. The solution is derived from interests and not connected with the reality of the problem. The result is that nothing is done.
So, those concerned with gun violence want to deal with terrorism through gun control. Those who see immigration as the problem want to solve it with immigration control. Both have decided to boil away the Atlantic Ocean. They move on, and nothing is done."
He goes on to explain why banning guns and Muslims simply won't work from a practical standpoint...
Policies Must Be Grounded in Reality
"The proposals for banning assault rifles and Muslims are, like Will Rogers’ proposal, conceptually sound. Their weakness is that they can’t be implemented. We are not going to boil away an ocean.
Terrorists will get the weapons they want and make the explosives they need. Muslim terrorists will find ways into the US. Some will be stopped, but not all.
This exposes a deep rift in American political culture: the advocacy of policies that are plausible but cannot succeed after even a casual review.
Let’s recall the war on poverty. It was clear that the “war” would not prevail in ending poverty. And it didn’t. But its critics were seen not as opponents of a wrongheaded policy, but as indifferent to poverty. Similarly, some will judge my views as indifference to gun crime or being soft on terrorism.
In terms of foreign policy, I think of the contrast between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson in war. Roosevelt defined his goals in WWII as the unconditional surrender of the enemy, working in concert with the British and Soviet Union. He was aware that Stalin was a mass murderer but judged Hitler the greater threat. Roosevelt aligned policy and reality.
Johnson believed that the US could compel the North Vietnamese to abandon their historic goal of unification under communism. He said he could do that without angering Russia and China, or asking the American public for massive sacrifices.
Roosevelt faced the cost of war in blood, wealth, and uncertainty. Johnson refused to face what the victory meant or what it would take. Roosevelt never denied the moral or material cost that defeating the Axis would require. Johnson never knew or never admitted the cost.
Banning guns and blocking borders is psychologically satisfying but an illusion—a victory of the imagination, not reality. Defeating Islamist terrorism involves defeating the organizations that encourage and enable it.
That will require a mammoth effort. If we are not prepared to make the effort, we must consider leaving the region and perhaps accepting the idea of the caliphate.
We are now in, what is most charitably described as, a “holding action.” One we cannot win. At best, we can maintain a stalemate until we tire… and then we’ll be defeated.
We can commit to all-out war or abandon the field. Anything in-between leaves us trying to boil away oceans."
He gives some very insightful essays on today's issues in geopolitics. If anyone is interested in reading further, you can click this link to explore it:
http://www.mauldineconomics.com/subscribe-twig
-
^^^^^^
Thank you, I will!
-
Mr. Sandford had a British driver's license and claimed to have been in the United States for a year and a half, the documents showed.
Now Trump will want to ban people from Great Britain.
-
The Senate Voted to Side with Terrorists Yesterday
The Senate Voted to Ignore a Majority of Americans Yesterday
None of the legislation proposed yesterday was passed by the senate.
The NRA controls them like puppets.
The American people support by a wide margin some sensible measures for gun legislation, but apparently
it's not our Government. It's the NRA's. They need to make more money off innocent victims to supply these
politicians with ever more campaign contributions; over the course of all these 50 senators’ careers, the NRA
contributed a total of $36,290,699. On thisissue: Greedy, Selfish, Unpatriotic all.
Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
$23,426
202-224-4944
Amanda Alvear, 25 years old,
can't tell you what she thinks of your vote.
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH):
$7,450
202-224-3324
Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
John Barrasso (R-WY):
$21,489
202-224-6441
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Roy Blunt (R-MO):
$1,439,902
202-224-5721
Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
John Boozman (R-AR):
$61,296
202-224-4843
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Richard Burr (R-NC):
$805,219
202-224-3154
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV):
$335,770
202-224-6472
Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Bill Cassidy (R-LA):
$2,861,047
202-224-5824
Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Thad Cochran (R-MS):
$65,833
202-224-5054
Cory James Connell, 21 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Susan Collins (R-ME):
$18,099
202-224-2523
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Bob Corker (R-TN):
$79,203
202-224-3344
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old,
can't tell you what she thinks of your vote.
John Cornyn (R-TX):
$57,135
202-224-2934
Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Tom Cotton (R-AR):
$1,968,714
202-224-2353
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Mike Crapo (R-ID):
$52,135
202-224-6142
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old,
can't tell you what she thinks of your vote.
Ted Cruz (R-TX):
$75,450
202-224-5922
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Steve Daines (R-MT):
$121,711
202-224-2651
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Mike Enzi (R-WY):
$24,722
202-224-3424
Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Joni Ernst (R-IA):
$3,124,273
202-224-3254
Frank Hernandez, 27 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Deb Fischer (R-NE):
$14,960
202-224-6551
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Jeff Flake (R-AZ):
$365,302
202-224-4521
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Cory Gardner (R-CO):
$3,879,064
202-224-5941
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Lindsey Graham (R-SC):
$49,049
202-224-5972
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Chuck Grassley (R-IA):
$113,602
202-224-3744
Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Orrin Hatch (R-UT):
$140,748
202-224-525
Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Dean Heller: (R-NV):
$122,802
202-224-6244
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
John Hoeven (R-ND):
$17,499
202-224-2551
Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old,
can't tell you what she thinks of your vote.
James Inhofe (R-OK):
$65,191
202-224-4721
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Johnny Isakson (R-GA):
$100,353
202-224-3643
Kimberly Morris, 37 years old,
can't tell you what she thinks of your vote.
Ron Johnson (R-WI):
$615,681
202-224-5323
Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old,
can't tell you what she thinks of your vote.
James Lankford (R-OK):
$11,463
202-224-5754
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old,
Mike Lee (R-UT):
$4,617
202-224-5444
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
John McCain (R-AZ):
$7,740,221
202-224-2235
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Mitch McConnell (R-KY):
$1,261,874
202-224-2541
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Jerry Moran (R-KS):
$22,171
202-224-6521
Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK):
$130,738
202-224-6665
Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Rand Paul (R-KY):
$2,500
202-224-4343
Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
David Perdue (R-GA):
$1,825,006
202-224-3521
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
(I hope your gay son does, though.)
Rob Portman (R-OH):
$1,412,819
202-224-3353
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Jim Risch (R-ID):
$18,850
202-224-2752
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old,
can't tell you what she thinks of your vote.
Pat Roberts (R-KS):
$1,584,153
202-224-4774
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Mike Rounds (R-SD):
$93,049
202-224-5842
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Marco Rubio (R-FL):
$4,950
202-224-3041
Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Ben Sasse (R-NE):
$68,623
202-224-4224
Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Tim Scott (R-SC):
$17,013
202-224-6121
Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Jeff Sessions (R-AL):
$35,750
202-224-4124
Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Richard Shelby (R-AL):
$259,464
202-224-5744
Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
John Thune (R-ND):
$628,645
202-224-2321
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
Thom Tillis (R-NC):
$4,418,042
202-224-6342
Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old,
can't tell you what he thinks of your vote.
David Vitter (R-LA):
$35,250
202-224-4623
The victims of San Bernardino and etc. etc. etc.,
can't tell you what they think of your vote.
Roger Wicker (R-MS):
$88,406
202-224-6253
They cannot tell these Senators what they think, but we can:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
-
.
-
Is the press responsible for Trump becoming the nominee and Hillary being looked at so negatively?
There's a Shorenstein Center (Harvard) study out showing that, at the very least, the media contributed to it.
http://shorensteincenter.org/pre-primary-news-coverage-2016-trump-clinton-sanders/
There's so much of interest in it, but here's a few conclusions:
Republican:
The report shows that during the year 2015, major news outlets covered Donald Trump in a way that was unusual given his low initial polling numbers—a high volume of media coverage preceded Trump’s rise in the polls. Trump’s coverage was positive in tone—he received far more “good press” than “bad press.” The volume and tone of the coverage helped propel Trump to the top of Republican polls.
Democrat:
The Democratic race in 2015 received less than half the coverage of the Republican race. Bernie Sanders’ campaign was largely ignored in the early months but, as it began to get coverage, it was overwhelmingly positive in tone. Sanders’ coverage in 2015 was the most favorable of any of the top candidates, Republican or Democratic. For her part, Hillary Clinton had by far the most negative coverage of any candidate. In 11 of the 12 months, her “bad news” outpaced her “good news,” usually by a wide margin, contributing to the increase in her unfavorable poll ratings in 2015.
[...]
The fact that journalists respond to news values rather than political values has numerous consequences for the shape of a presidential campaign, including the policy agenda. In 2015, the condition of the nation’s economy ranked high in polls as an issue of public concern, but got very little attention during the invisible primary, so little in fact that the economy was not even among the top ten subjects of news coverage.[42] At the top were the staples of election reporting—the horserace, the candidates’ strategies and tactics, the hot-button issues, the heated exchanges.
"Once a metanarrative is in place, it’s hard for journalists to argue to the contrary and equally hard for them not to play up trivial developments that align with the stereotype."
_________
In regards to that last sentence, I am really tired of journalists who talk about how much people dislike Donald Trump, think they
have to be fair and add in that people don't like Hillary Clinton, either, when it's their coverage of her, as demonstrated in this study,
that's fueled that idea.
Ariana Huffington has written about that for years. That journalists nowadays often don't just report the news in election coverage,
that for everything that might be negative that's reported they think they have to find something negative to report on the other
side, or else it's not fair. Fair is trying to just tell the truth of the matter, regardless of how it's perceived by any individual voter.
As we know, Republicans perceive anything negative reported about them as a left wing media conspiracy against them.
Don't believe Hillary Clinton is getting an unfair shake in the news? Look at this article I happened on this morning:
Hillary Clinton Hit a Milestone Today! And It Wasn’t a Good One!
by Chris Cillizza / The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/21/hillary-clinton-hit-a-milestone-today-and-it-wasnt-a-good-one/)
What's so bad it had to have an article written about it? That she hasn't done any formal press
conferences with members of said media in several months. They don't count her one on one
interviews with the media, or interviews on the Sunday morning news shows, but one of those
press conferences where the candidate stands in front of a hundred reporters and they fire questions
at you. This is not a strength of hers, so why would one do it, first of all. Second, Trump loves this
format and what have we learned from it? Nothing. But it all feeds into the media narrative that
so many have glommed onto, that Hillary must be hiding something.
This from the study:
What accounts for Clinton’s negative coverage? One reason is the schizophrenic quality of journalists’ coverage of a “front-running” candidate. It is the story of a candidate with a solid lead, which is the main source of the candidate’s “good news.” There is, however, a less positive aspect to a frontrunner’s story. The candidate is typically described as overly calculating and cautious—the implication is that the candidate is withholding something from the voters. And if the frontrunner loses support in the polls—a virtual certainty given the artificial boost that comes from high name recognition in the earliest polls—the narrative tilts negative. The candidate is slipping, which cries out for an explanation of one sort or another, which is always found in soft spots in the candidate’s character, message, or organization and not in the vagaries of polling.
____
I was reading a different article where the commenters were discussing this issue of press coverage and one person
was completely believing the media wasn't covering Hillary much at all citing each and every one of the bad things
they believed she should be hammered with and imprisoned for. Someone else brought up this study to refute their
stances (they referred to it as the Shorenstein Study) and someone else replied and said it was linked to Harvard, so
all the anti people then just summarily dismissed it. I mean, how could a study from Harvard be truthful?
-
One never knows how accurate these kinds of things are, but it's being
reported, according to the Associated Press, among others, that Hillary
Clinton is now down to a short list of just three potential running mates:
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine
Texas Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro
I like all three.
-
On it's own, which names sound the best together?
Clinton / Warren; Clinton / Kaine; Clinton / Castro.
Whenever you check in, Fritz: Do you like your Senator?
-
It's about that time...most current polling for the EU referendum vote:
https://ig.ft.com/sites/brexit-polling/
Polls updated today say
Bremain: 43%
Brexit: 44%
Brundecided: 13%
(Last night NBC news said it was slightly in the stay column. We shall see.
When do polls open and close? Is there anything else on the ballots? What's
the turnout generally like for voting?)
-
One never knows how accurate these kinds of things are, but it's being
reported, according to the Associated Press, among others, that Hillary
Clinton is now down to a short list of just three potential running mates:
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine
Texas Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro
I like all three.
Well, since you said, "I like all three," Lyle, I'll just put in to say that I like everything I've ever heard or read about Elizabeth Warren, but I'm not sure she's a good choice to be a breath away from the Presidency. Not enough experience in government.
Despite the warming of relations with Cuba, I wonder whether it's a good idea to put someone named Castro on the ticket. I'm not trying to be funny here. It might be a good idea to put a Hispanic on the ticket, but is someone named Castro the right choice?
-
Well, this summer is going to have a lot of big news events:
(That we can all discuss, heh!)
EU Referendum
June 23, 2016.
Republican Convention
Cleveland, Ohio at the Quicken Loans Arena July 18th-21st, 2016.
Democratic Convention
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania July 25th-28th, 2016.
Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil
August 5th–21st, 2016.
-
It's about that time...most current polling for the EU referendum vote:
https://ig.ft.com/sites/brexit-polling/
Polls updated today say
Bremain: 43%
Brexit: 44%
Brundecided: 13%
(Last night NBC news said it was slightly in the stay column. We shall see.
When do polls open and close? Is there anything else on the ballots? What's
the turnout generally like for voting?)
Well, I shall be devastated if the result is to leave (I can't use that horrible phoney word :)) And everybody whose opinion I respect seems to feel the same.
No, just the one question.
"Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"
Voting from 7am to 10 pm, British Summer Time, GMT +1.0 And apparently we should have a good idea by early Friday.
Turnout for in the last general election was 66%, slightly higher than usual, but I feel this will be higher.
-
Well, since you said, "I like all three," Lyle, I'll just put in to say that I like everything I've ever heard or read about Elizabeth Warren, but I'm not sure she's a good choice to be a breath away from the Presidency. Not enough experience in government.
Although, compared to Trump...
So many articles always say that the V.P. choice is always made out to be much more important
than it actually comes down to. Quayle's the poster boy for the inexperience qualms, but it never
hurt Bush in picking him. I don't think it matters to me in Warren's case, but if it came to that, there's
so much structure around the actual President, that a V.P. could fit into that, or be made to, for awhile,
regardless of their experience. They say that when President Wilson had a stroke that his wife became
"the first female President!"
Despite the warming of relations with Cuba, I wonder whether it's a good idea to put someone named Castro on the ticket. I'm not trying to be funny here. It might be a good idea to put a Hispanic on the ticket, but is someone named Castro the right choice?
I actually thought of that, too, wondering if his name would bother some people. (It wouldn't bother the
San Francisco boys!) He's not that experienced in Government, either. He was Mayor of San Antonio (were
you there then to vote for him, Linda?) before becoming a member of Obama's cabinet.
Tim Kaine seems like the perfect choice in any other year but this one. People seem to want someone less
connected with Government, the proverbial outsider, more rogue, less beholden to ___ , and so maybe Hillary
needs more of an excitement factor that Warren would bring, or Julian. (He'd be the first identical "twin" elected
to the V.P. slot!) Kaine just seems too status quo and the safe choice in a year when people don't want that. He
was DNC Chairman and can speak Spanish. He's from a swing state that could be beneficial. He does have at
least one negative: abortion. While he's not in favor of overturning the Supreme Court decision he is on record as
not favoring it and has backed many controversial restrictions, such as parental notification.
Personally, I'd be "most" excited about Elizabeth Warren.
-
Well, I shall be devastated if the result is to leave (I can't use that horrible phoney word :)) And everybody whose opinion I respect seems to feel the same.
No, just the one question.
"Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"
Voting from 7am to 10 pm, British Summer Time, GMT +1.0 And apparently we should have a good idea by early Friday.
Turnout for in the last general election was 66%, slightly higher than usual, but I feel this will be higher.
Thanks for the info! In my limited knowledge of all the ramifications, I've thought a stay
vote would be the correct one. It feels like in the U.S. when there's a lot of discontent and
different areas think breaking away from the whole would help and be more beneficial.
Like when Northern California periodically wants to become a separate state from Southern
California or when the San Fernando Valley wanted to become a separate city on it's own from
Los Angeles. People think somehow it means more control over things. When people feel they are
not being responded to the way they'd like they turn inward and don't think about the consequences.
It's like when the South broke away from the North in the U.S. Regardless of the slavery issue, the
North had all the manufacturing plants that used the South's cotton and other resources. They were
doomed from the start. What did they think would happen?
-
Personally, I'd be "most" excited about Elizabeth Warren.
I suppose I might also have asked, Is it a good idea to put two women on the ticket?
Of course I'm just trying to look at the question from the perspective of someone other than myself. If it's Hillary vs. Trump, Hillary could run with Bugs Bunny and she still has my vote.
-
I thought about that a lot, too, Jeff, about two women on the ticket, and wondered if it
would be wise, because those who might not want to vote for a woman, and there are
some, though I doubt that's a poll question anyone's going to ask so we'll know how many,
or, if anyone would answer truthfully in the negative, so those people would have trepidation
about both being women, but I go back to the caveat they always say, "People vote for the
President, not the Vice President." Also, as a Bernie Sanders supporter said, "She's the
female Bernie Sanders," so it would generate excitement in the base, it would put the
historic candidacy element back into the campaign that somehow is being dismissed with
Hillary herself, and that can become the "change" agent, the "something new" that people
seem to be looking for this year. You couldn't dismiss the team as same old same old. You
just have to gamble sometimes and it might be worth it now. Warren is one person (out of
how many) Trump does not like, either, but doesn't know how to handle her and she's game
in pushing back against him.
In this year when the news keeps insisting that "nobody likes either candidate," and that
the election has "two of the most unpopular candidates ever running for President," her choice
might give some people who might otherwise feel like staying home a reason to want (like) to
vote and not stay home. Castro would do that to a lesser extent. As much as Tim Kaine is
qualified and in other years would be a great choice, this year he would seem the same old
standard and Hillary would seem the same old "establishment" hack for picking him.
The New York Times had an article yesterday with the title "Why Hillary Probably Will Not
Pick Elizabeth Warren," but they never mentioned the idea of two women being a negative,
they mostly were framing a compatibility issue. They see the two not totally comfortable with
each other and having problems with some issues on either side. But in 1980, people may forget
that Reagan and Bush were not buddies, but he was chosen anyway and that worked out for them.
-
And, by the way, I believe Bugs Bunny would make a dang fine President.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-WNixQlQ9rT8%2FUoUDbVYG53I%2FAAAAAAAAACg%2FwfhI6FistMw%2Fs1600%2FElection-Poster.jpg&hash=96faeed930370773921b0e09faa013329c70e067)
-
Dear
Britain,
Good
luck
today.
Your
friend,
Lyle P.
-
And, by the way, I believe Bugs Bunny would make a dang fine President.
I agree!
-
Dear Britain,
Ditto what Lyle said!
Another friend,
Linda
-
Hello Ultimate Brokeback Forum Members.
Recently, an image with a copyright marking was posted on the forum. This resulted in Dave Cullen being contacted by the attorney of the photographer who owns the rights to the image.
A lawsuit is now possible, with the maximum fine against the forum in the amount of $150,000.00.
It is vital that no one posts copyrighted images on the forum. It is stealing. The posting of copyrighted images cannot and will not be tolerated, and anyone knowingly posting copyrighted images and putting the forum in jeopardy this way will be banned.
Usually, a copyrighted photo will have this familiar symbol on it:
©
If you come across an image that his this marking on it, it has a copyright on it, and can't be used publicly unless the poster pays for it. Another way to tell if an image has a copyright, when you search the images on Google, when you select the image, instead of selecting "view image" click on "visit page". If this brings you to a page with the image and a list of prices, the image carries a copyright and you need to pay to download it. To download it without paying for it is stealing.
Thank you.
Dave Cullen
-
I thought about that a lot, too, Jeff, about two women on the ticket, and wondered if it
would be wise, because those who might not want to vote for a woman, and there are
some, though I doubt that's a poll question anyone's going to ask so we'll know how many,
or, if anyone would answer truthfully in the negative, so those people would have trepidation
about both being women,
Happened upon an article posted today about this very subject:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gender-matter/ (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gender-might-matter-in-this-election-but-other-factors-probably-matter-more/)
-
Dear Brokie friends
Thank you for thinking of us :-*. We'll just have to wait anxiously to see what tomorrow brings.
-
Do you have 2 days of voting, Sara, or just today and have to wait for the results till tomorrow?
-
Just today, Linda, and it finished two minutes ago. I think we'll know early tomorrow morning.
-
Thanks, Sara.
-
You are probably lucky if you are asleep, Sara. I have been watching the results come in and it is nail biting territory. Remain are now very slightly ahead but that is mainly due to the overwhelming vote in favour by the Scots.
Oh Oh now it has dropped behind.
-
World money markets and the Australian stock exchange (and I guess other that are awake) are acting like yo yos.
-
Not asleep....
-
The contrast between England and Scotland is amazing. If Leave wins, I cannot see Scotland remaining in the UK.
-
I bet not!!
-
CNN over here is saying there is an 85% probability that LEAVE is going to win.
-
Leave does seem to be gaining. Scotland counting is almost complete with 1,584,746 remain and 955,806 leave but England has over a million now ahead for Leave. Wales is for leave but Northern Ireland is decidedly remain.
-
The BBC has just forecast that Leave will win. How sad.
-
Well, that seems to be it. How extremely depressing.
-
So sorry. Australian stock market has tanked as has Pound and to a lesser extent the Aussie dollar. I think the free flow of people within the EU was a major problem. I was annoyed on my last visits to UK when I arrived by ferry, 2010 from Denmark and 2011 from Spain. Both times all the other passengers, bing EU citizens just walked off while I was last as I had to fill in forms. I felt like shouting "Hey I have the same Queen" ;D
While the concept of free flow of people is good, in reality different cultures have trouble mixing especially if unemployment grows and the UK attracted the much poorer Rumanians etc.
-
The difference between city and country is also remarkable. York has come in 56% remain yet surrounded by huge areas for Leave. Southwark (South London) has come in 72% for remain. I am surprised that much of the South Coast, where you live Sara, has voted for leave.
I regularly watch a show on TV, (not sure of name) about English couples looking to buy homes mainly in France. Wonder what will happen to them.
-
Oh, dear, what now?
-
Trump is coming to visit you today. Can you detain him?
-
:'(
My neighbor and friend Paul, who had lived here in my apartment building 4-5 years and
moved out earlier this year, came around to visit tonight and we chatted awhile about some
things and the conversation turned to Orlando. He's from Florida and I was disheartened to
find out that Paul knew one of the people that was in Pulse nightclub and killed in the Orlando
shooting: Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old. That was quite a shock. Six degrees
of separation and all that. These attacks may happen in one location, but it spreads far and wide.
Sobering.
-
Trump is coming to visit you today. Can you detain him?
The Quitters can deal with him :D
-
On it's own, which names sound the best together?
Clinton / Warren; Clinton / Kaine; Clinton / Castro.
Whenever you check in, Fritz: Do you like your Senator?
I've been away!
Yes, I've liked Tim Kaine ever since he first ran for governor, and voted for him each statewide office he ran for.
He'd make and excellent VP candidate, as would Castro and Warren.
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As I was thinking last night after hearing the results of the vote in Britain, Trump has a good chance of becoming President in the US.
"The pro-Brexit vote in the U.K. is a cry of defiance by what’s left of that Anglo-American white tribal faith, and the decision to leave the European Union should send a shudder through those who think that Donald Trump is a xenophobic, racist nationalist with no chance to win the U.S. presidency."
Before going to bed last night, I read 3 articles stating this same thing. There were a lot more out there.
We are really doomed!
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Grrr.
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Regarding the killings in Orlando...got an email from someone saying that there are "grumblings" on some forums (none were named) "about 300 people in one small place not having the guts to take out one guy with a gun."
I'm not easily horrified, and I'm pretty cynical, but this horrified me. 300 mostly what I would call kids - 20s and 30s - at a club for fun, probably drinking, maybe some drunk, dark, loud, everything confused, not knowing what to do, hearing the lies from the murderer about him wearing an explosive vest...not to mention hearing automatic weapons fire and seeing dead bodies around you, some of which may have been your friends...
oh my God, don't we have compassion for anyone anymore? It brought me to tears...........
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Trump is coming to visit you today. Can you detain him?
NO........we have enough idiots and crazies of our own !!
:D
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I was shocked to hear the vote to leave was by over 1 million...
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Regarding the killings in Orlando...got an email from someone saying that there are "grumblings" on some forums (none were named) "about 300 people in one small place not having the guts to take out one guy with a gun."
I'm not easily horrified, and I'm pretty cynical, but this horrified me. 300 mostly what I would call kids - 20s and 30s - at a club for fun, probably drinking, maybe some drunk, dark, loud, everything confused, not knowing what to do, hearing the lies from the murderer about him wearing an explosive vest...not to mention hearing automatic weapons fire and seeing dead bodies around you, some of which may have been your friends...
oh my God, don't we have compassion for anyone anymore? It brought me to tears...........
Geez. How many of those grumblers have the guts to take on someone with an automatic weapon without a weapon or protective gear of their own? >:(
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Before going to bed last night, I read 3 articles stating this same thing. There were a lot more out there.
So far, the statistics are not bearing that idea out. The news people
like to be provocative. Some might even write articles like that to scare
the people into action. Who knows? I have to believe it will not happen,
because I can't fathom otherwise.
As for the news, in at least the last several Olympics cycles, both winter and summer,
you know how the news is always saying "this" could happen and "that" could happen?
The London games weren't safe. (Remember Romney saying that in Britain right before
they started?) The Soschi Olympics would be full of protests because of their stance on
several issues, including their new anti-LGBT laws. In 1984, the Los Angeles Olympics would
be a smog filled disaster with traffic nightmares and no audience because the Russians were
playing politics with them. They turned out to be successful beyond anyone's dreams. The
IOC President was asked, on the last day of them, what he'd rate them on a scale of 1 - 10.
He said, "10." Remember Athens would not be ready and the games wouldn't even be able
to be held? There was even talk of moving them to another city a year before. (They turned
out to be one of the best ever, IMO.) Now the Rio Olympics aren't going to be safe because
of Zika and pollution and unfinished work. A CBS reporter this week, in talking about these
issues, acknowledged that past pre-Olympics news coverage dwells on these things and then
when the Olympics start they don't come to pass, but, in the interest of scaring people, which
is what news is in the business of doing*** so that you'll watch, she stated, "But this is the year
(oooh) that these issues might come to pass."
***ABC had a program not too long ago where a study they did found that, basically, the more
people that watched news, the more scared they were of just about everything.
So, Trump brings viewers to news programs. So the news covers him. He brings viewers who
both like and hate him. He's like a car wreck that people can't turn away from. In his run for
the Presidency "TWEETS" are a news source. Really, should "tweets" ever be a substantial news
source? I'm sure they will be, though. In fact, thinking about it, I'm sure they probably are now!
(I just looked this up. There's actually a website you can go to, enter the url of the
tweet you want to reference and it will automatically format it for you: http://tweet2cite.com/)
...sigh...
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Regarding the killings in Orlando...got an email from someone saying that there are "grumblings" on some forums (none were named) "about 300 people in one small place not having the guts to take out one guy with a gun."
I'm not easily horrified, and I'm pretty cynical, but this horrified me. 300 mostly what I would call kids - 20s and 30s - at a club for fun, probably drinking, maybe some drunk, dark, loud, everything confused, not knowing what to do, hearing the lies from the murderer about him wearing an explosive vest...not to mention hearing automatic weapons fire and seeing dead bodies around you, some of which may have been your friends...
oh my God, don't we have compassion for anyone anymore? It brought me to tears...........
You put too much thought into that reply, Nancy, unlike those that are spouting the vile.
It took the police three hours to do it, much less untrained party goers. How about this:
How about one woman who could have made a phone call. (His wife.)
I've always liked the Indian (native American) saying that you don't know someone until
you've walked a mile in their moccasins. (Did the Indians say "mile?") In other words,
being in someone elses shoes. People have less and less desire to empathize with anyone,
it seems.
In politics, when's the last time you heard someone say "I understand where you're coming from,
but I think the best way forward is to do this or that. Do it this way or that way." Now it's "you're
wrong and I'm right." "You want to destroy the country." "We want to take the country back." Etc.
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Jack Evans, Who Waited 54 Years to Wed Partner George Harris on Day of Supreme Court Ruling, Dies at 86 – Days Short of First Anniversary
http://www.people.com/article/jack-evans-dallas-same-sex-couple-dies-before-anniversary
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The EU Referendum: I kept asking my British friend why such an important decision as
this can be decided upon by people voting. We elect our representatives to make the
decisions we want to lean to. They're the ones who supposedly are doing it in our interests.
I mean, look at marriage equality referendums, etc. Do we always trust "the people."
I'm not sure he ever answered to my satisfaction. My takeway is that Cmeron promised this
vote on it largely because he didn't think it would pass. (True?) In an article this morning I read
something, though., that said what happens now:
Simon Wells, HSBC's chief U.K. economist in a note Friday: "The U.K. government has a moral but not a legal obligation to leave. The next steps will be dictated by politics, not law," he wrote.
So, the vote isn't legal, so anything can happen?
Here's an article about this vote: "What You Need to Know"
The short answers to these questions and situations:
1.) The results are in.
2.) Markets are ugly.
3.) A frantic search for safety.
4.) Cameron out.
5.) Appeals for calm.
6.) How did this happen?
7.) The big questions.
8.) The big takeaway?
http://cnn.com/news/economy/uk-european-union-vote/index.html?iid=EL (http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/24/news/economy/brexit-uk-european-union-vote/index.html?iid=EL)
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On the BBC News I was watching early last night they were talking about
some really bad weather in England yesterday that could have suppressed
turnout. This was said it would affect the remain side more, although it wasn't
stated why that would be the case. Does anyone there think, even with good
weather, another million plus votes could've been garnered for remaining?
My British friend told me last night that his father voted to remain and his mother to exit.
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One other thing: Economists have been saying that, "Leaving the EU will cost the average
person in Britain £4300 a year, or the U.S equivalent of roughly $7,000, and yet the electorate
ignored that and voted to leave.
So much for "voting your pocketbook." I absolutely would be in much trouble if my budget
was slashed by $7,000. Roughly, indeed.
An 8 second take on the EU vote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMcUDtXFxbU
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Regarding the killings in Orlando...got an email from someone saying that there are "grumblings" on some forums (none were named) "about 300 people in one small place not having the guts to take out one guy with a gun."
I'm not easily horrified, and I'm pretty cynical, but this horrified me. 300 mostly what I would call kids - 20s and 30s - at a club for fun, probably drinking, maybe some drunk, dark, loud, everything confused, not knowing what to do, hearing the lies from the murderer about him wearing an explosive vest...not to mention hearing automatic weapons fire and seeing dead bodies around you, some of which may have been your friends...
oh my God, don't we have compassion for anyone anymore? It brought me to tears...........
You might like this.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi57.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg218%2Fbrianr44%2FIWillDance_zpslofeopou.jpg&hash=3e83b4ae3b4b2111ab4e39b67a690f288cfbaa8a)
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I do like it!
I love it!
Thank you!
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This should be disconcerting to any number of people:
The #2 most googled search in Great Britain the day after the vote was:
"What is the EU?" :o
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I'm sure a great many people had no idea what they were doing when they wrote their X. The consequences are already looking ominous.
And I also feel a real sense of grief. I AM a European as well as as English and British, and I don't want to feel isolated from this huge and many-faceted - good and bad - family.
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As a Canadian and member of the commonwealth, I'm saddened to hear of the Brexit vote. Also surprised at the Northern Ireland and Scotland vote. What havoc will this reek? I watched your man called Boris. Is he related to Trump? Same funny blond hair, pinkish skin, outlandish ideas. Wonder what profanity the Queen would like to utter about this?? All I can say is to hang in there, maybe some good will come of this.
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Boris is actually highly intelligent, though I never trusted him because he acted the fool. He changed his apparent views on the EC in order to further his hopes of being prime minister, in many people's opinion
-
He looked pretty stunned at his press conference yesterday, as if he didn't expect to win, and now he had he didn't have a clue what to do next.
-
I have signed the petition asking for a second referendum. No idea if it will do any good, but I think with that many votes the government do have to take it seriously.
There is also a lot of talk about a general election, so maybe there will be something we can do there if there was perhaps a coalition of "IN" groups / parties standing
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Me too.
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Conversation over heard today in our local M&S Cafe.
Two elderly ladies who have see more Government changes than me:
" In, out,up down....no matter who the tillerman will be...they will
run it exactly how they want it " !!!!!!!!!!
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Boris is actually highly intelligent, though I never trusted him because he acted the fool. He changed his apparent views on the EC in order to further his hopes of being prime minister, in many people's opinion
Boris is waste of hair.
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I have signed the petition asking for a second referendum. No idea if it will do any good, but I think with that many votes the government do have to take it seriously.
There is also a lot of talk about a general election, so maybe there will be something we can do there if there was perhaps a coalition of "IN" groups / parties standing
So have I Jess. We have to try.
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I really think such an important decision should need more than 50%+1 to pass. There have been interviews on our TV showing some people having 2nd thoughts about how they voted.
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When I was young, if you had a grandparent born in the UK you could apply for citizenship. I think it now has to be a parent. My great grandfather was born in the uK and I was disappointed. Not because I want to go to the UK that much, but for easy access to the rest of Europe.
I have a good friend whose mother was born in the UK and he lived and worked there for many years. He now has a home in Southern France which I visited last year. He stays about 6 months there and 6 months back in Australia. He never has a winter. I do not know how this will affect him.
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I’m sorry that the Orlando shootings seem to have dropped off the media’s radar, since I’m still fighting the situation with friends…or people I thought were friends.
I’m astounded to see that some people I “know” and consider “online friends” blame the victims in the club for not “standing up” and taking down the killer…though he was armed to the teeth, yelling lies about other killers being in the club and about wearing a suicide vest that he continually threatened to detonate.
Are we to blame if we get shot and killed by a terrorist?
Are we to blame if, during an evening out, we aren’t prepared to attack and take down a killer who wants to die, who longs to die, for allah?
People I see at work every day could care less about what happened; they have their own problems with getting their lawn to grow, high airfares for their summer vacations, getting gutters put on their house…every day crappy things…
I know, I KNOW, life goes on… we need gutters, we need vacations…but in the midst of all our everyday lives, can we at least NOT blame the victims for dying?
I'm having a very hard time with this..........
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I’m sorry that the Orlando shootings seem to have dropped off the media’s radar, since I’m still fighting the situation with friends…or people I thought were friends.
I’m astounded to see that some people I “know” and consider “online friends” blame the victims in the club for not “standing up” and taking down the killer…though he was armed to the teeth, yelling lies about other killers being in the club and about wearing a suicide vest that he continually threatened to detonate.
Are we to blame if we get shot and killed by a terrorist?
Are we to blame if, during an evening out, we aren’t prepared to attack and take down a killer who wants to die, who longs to die, for allah?
People I see at work every day could care less about what happened; they have their own problems with getting their lawn to grow, high airfares for their summer vacations, getting gutters put on their house…every day crappy things…
I know, I KNOW, life goes on… we need gutters, we need vacations…but in the midst of all our everyday lives, can we at least NOT blame the victims for dying?
I'm having a very hard time with this..........
I'm so sorry. I wish I knew something to say that would help you get through this.
Anyone who blames those poor people for their own deaths deserves a kick somewhere where it will really hurt. >:(
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Thanks, Jeff. I just do not understand some people's view of what happened...I just....don't..............
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We had a small mass shooting here in one of the bars, three people died (two people plus the shooter). Both victims died when they rushed the shooter. The last victim rushed the shooter outside the bar when the police had almost talked the rifle out of his hands.
It usually makes things worse to try and over whelm the attacker. Anyone who has not been under deadly threat of fire from a madman
should shut up. We should spend our time on helping and supporting and being thankful we weren't there.
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I am fuming. I read the Sydney Morning Herald and there is a story about a woman in her 50's. Her birth mother and father were Australian but her mother was unmarried so, as common in those days, she was sent to New Zealand to have the birth. The mother returned home with the baby after a week but the State (also common in those days especially in Queensland) forced her to adopt as they would not give security benefits.
The adopting parents were both Australian. In those days no passport was needed to travel between Australia and New Zealand. She has grown up in Australia, paid taxes, had 3 Australian children, travelled overseas on an Australian passport. She tried to renew her passport but was refused. New laws have come in due to terrorism that you must now prove you were born in Australia. She was told she could apply ($190) for Australian citizenship, sit the test and go to the ceremony. What an insult. Was told they are sorry but that is the new law.
She has been given a New Zealand passport even though she has only spent 1 week (her first) in the country.
Australian friends cannot understand why I have become a NZ citizen. This is one, Australian politicians and bureaucrats are F**wits.
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Rand Paul: Sandy Hook Shooting Could Have Been Prevented If Teachers Had Guns
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/rand-paul-sandy-hook_n_3006743.html
Does no one remember this?? Anytime there is a mass shooting, they always come out with "the victims should have been armed" In this case obviously not the tiny children, but the Teachers and the Principal.
The NRA even proposed training and arming school employees.
So why would it be shocking to suggest that someone (or everyone) in that night club should have been armed?
I can see it one day, someone will go into a store, pull out a gun and "everyone in the place" will pull out a weapon at once.
What a world... :-X
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There was a short story on CBS Sunday Morning today, I wanted to post it here but there is a copyright at the bottom, so here's the link. It's about a man (he seems more like a boy, I guess people are looking younger to me as I get older :) ) who made a big decision after the Orlando shootings...
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/orlando-shooting-inspires-alabama-man-to-come-out-as-gay/ (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/orlando-shooting-inspires-alabama-man-to-come-out-as-gay/)
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^^^^^^
CBS Evening News showed a "Steve Hartman" piece on Friday about that.
The Sunday Morning show sometimes does those in a bit longer format.
Thanks for posting that.
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It usually makes things worse to try and over whelm the attacker.
I believe this, too.
First, it is a human trait and response to flee danger. People with jobs such as law enforcement
and the military have to be rigorously trained to do otherwise. Yes, there's the exception that
someone might if they're cornered or if it involves a loved one or child, but normally you're not
going to run into the danger. To blame people for being human is just plain ignorant and probably
is just a way to feel better somehow about such horror, as in "If I were there I'd have been able
to do something about it."
In regard to the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, (there were two Fort Hood shootings, if you can believe it)
where military personnel were the targets and you might expect them to have some training
involving a scenario like this, most of them did not rush the shooter, either. But three did. They
were all shot.
All of sudden: The shooter initially "sprayed bullets at soldiers in a fanlike motion" before taking aim at individual soldiers. Eyewitness Sgt. Michael Davis said: "The rate of fire was pretty much constant shooting. When I initially heard it, it sounded like an M16."
[PEOPLE ARE GOING TO RUSH A SHOOTER LIKE THIS?]
Army reserve Captain John Gaffaney tried to stop Hasan by charging him, but was mortally wounded before reaching him. Michael Cahill also tried to charge Hasan with a chair, but was shot and killed. Army reserve Specialist Logan Burnett tried to stop Hasan by throwing a folding table at him, but he was shot in the left hip, fell down, and crawled to a nearby cubicle.
I think the NRA and gun enthusiasts have little by little evolved into getting people to believe in a
culture of fear. And to counteract the fear you need to have a gun. Or, better yet, as many guns
as you want. You must always be on guard that someone is out to get you. You must always be
in a state of mind to protect yourselves and your property and to be in that state of mind is to be
wary of anyone else that comes into your path. If danger happens, of course, you're going to be the
hero because you have a gun to retaliate with and because you are trained for it (I'm being facetious).
Somehow many have this fantasy that if a mass shooting happened where they were, if they had their gun they would know instantly what to do and whom to shoot. They would also actually "stay there" and do it.
It's no wonder people believe this. Have you seen movies lately, super-hero movies in particular,
but also movies like The Nice Guys. People rarely seem to get hit by any bullets flying around in
these films, no matter how many are shooting. People get punched and kicked and whacked in the
head with little consequence, it appears. It's fantasy thinking.
The fact is, too, that, unlike Orlando, most of these mass shootings with casualties happen in a
relatively short span of time. The deed is done and it's over. And even if you had a gun it might
not have mattered.
I always think back to an experiment a professor did in a college class once of a couple hundred
students. He started the lecture as normal and about ten minutes in he had someone come in the
door like a tardy student might, but then he went up to one of the class members (who was in on the experiment) and stole her purse off her shoulder and ran out.
As the class started to react he stopped them and told them it was an act and an experiment and
then had each student write down exactly what they saw and turn those papers in. Then he passed
out a questionnaire to see what they knew about the incident.
He presented the results in the next class and started by saying that this experiment may lead you
to never trust a single person labeled an eyewitness to anything again.
The 200 or so in the class varied so widely in their experience that you'd wonder in some cases
if the incident happened at all. In fact, some didn't notice anything. Others had the victim and the
perpetrator fighting with each other. Some thought the people involved were both male or both female. Some thought the purse snatcher was black. He wasn't, but had a black scarf around his neck. Some thought he had a gun. Others thought he had a knife. Some thought he stabbed the woman with a pencil and blood spurted out from her neck. (It's believed some thought this because
the woman had a red handkerchief in her hand and putting up her hand it may have seemed something like that.) It didn't seem to matter how close or far away from the scene you were,
either. (He had them mark their seat location on a chart included in the questionnaire.) I wish
I knew where I read all about this one time so I could read it again.
I only point this out because in this experiment, guns weren't involved, though some thought there
were, but so many people didn't really know what was going on that how could you trust anyone
in a mass shooting situation to be able to, either, and then expect them to do something about it?
If people were allowed to have guns on their person would you trust that they'd actually know who
the shooter was? They might see someone with a gun pointing and assume it was them and shoot
an innocent person.
I always wanted CSI to do an episode involving a mass shooting, where initially someone is singled
out as being a hero and law-abiding citizen, for pulling out a gun and shooting the "perpetrator," but
then, as the team assembles the forensics information they actually find out that people who had
concealed guns were shooting at each other, that the person thought to be the perpetrator was one of those people, and that "he, the supposed hero" actually turned out to be the shooter.
I'm rambling again, sorry, but I'm avoiding (my) __________.
-
I’m sorry that the Orlando shootings seem to have dropped off the media’s radar, since I’m still fighting the situation with friends…or people I thought were friends.
I’m astounded to see that some people I “know” and consider “online friends” blame the victims in the club for not “standing up” and taking down the killer…though he was armed to the teeth, yelling lies about other killers being in the club and about wearing a suicide vest that he continually threatened to detonate.
Are we to blame if we get shot and killed by a terrorist?
Are we to blame if, during an evening out, we aren’t prepared to attack and take down a killer who wants to die, who longs to die, for allah?
People I see at work every day could care less about what happened; they have their own problems with getting their lawn to grow, high airfares for their summer vacations, getting gutters put on their house…every day crappy things…
I know, I KNOW, life goes on… we need gutters, we need vacations…but in the midst of all our everyday lives, can we at least NOT blame the victims for dying?
I'm having a very hard time with this..........
Very good points. However, I'm not convinced that the shooter was an Islamist terrorist. I think he was a fucked-up self-loathing homosexual who pretended to be a terrorist to appear more "manly".
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He may have been both.
Or he may have said he was a terrorist to deflect true motives.
In any case, regardless of the adjective, he was a terrorist, no matter what kind.
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He may have been both.
Or he may have said he was a terrorist to deflect true motives.
In any case, regardless of the adjective, he was a terrorist, no matter what kind.
Perhaps, I just find it annoying that only people of colour get called terrorist.
BTW, totally off-topic: Is it true that Bloody Caesars (Vodka and clamato juice) are unknown to Americans?
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BTW, totally off-topic: Is it true that Bloody Caesars (Vodka and clamato juice) are unknown to Americans?
Not being an American but I had still never heard of it. Then I do not think i have ever drunk any sort of cocktail in my life. However Wikipedia says it was invented in Canada and is almost unknown outside. I also had never heard of clamato juice, sounds ghastly.
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9 Children and 2 Adults Injured After Scottish Rollercoaster Accident
Nine children and two adults have been injured after a rollercoaster derailed at the M&D theme park in Motherwell, Scotland, according to police.
The Tsunami, an inverted rollercoaster, flew off its tracks and landed on a children's biking area, according to ITV News.
http://www.people.com/article/scotland-rollercoaster-accident-tsunami-derails
As for a Bloody Caeser, they are the best!!
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/cb/47/fe/cb47fe811bcfad74d3b0e878addf8e93.jpg)
I think I need one after reading/thinking about that article.
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I always wanted CSI to do an episode involving a mass shooting, where initially someone is singled
out as being a hero and law-abiding citizen, for pulling out a gun and shooting the "perpetrator," but
then, as the team assembles the forensics information they actually find out that people who had
concealed guns were shooting at each other, that the person thought to be the perpetrator was one of those people, and that "he, the supposed hero" actually turned out to be the shooter.
I seriously think that was done in a movie!
I know what you mean though, even if you had a gun, would you be able to react that quick and accurately? Maybe if you were John Rambo. I would probably shoot myself in the foot.
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While not very optimistic, I think this is one of the best discussions on Brexit I have seen (read). I know no more about Margaret MacMillan than what is posted, perhaps the Canadians here can say more.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/margaret-macmillan-on-brexit-turning-point-1.3652569 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/margaret-macmillan-on-brexit-turning-point-1.3652569)
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As the United Kingdom prepared to leave the European Union, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation, the value of the pound fell and HBO had to assure worried "Game of Thrones" fans that future Northern Ireland film shoots were going to be fine, Sarah Palin came forth with her own take.
On Friday, the former Alaskan governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin congratulated the "smart Brits," likening the June referendum to the Declaration of Independence. After all, as she noted in a Facebook post, the citizens of the United Kingdom may have avoided nothing less than the end of the world.
Palin, a Donald Trump supporter, applauded the Leave voters for outfoxing "globalists" who would bring about an "apocalyptic One World Government," she wrote on Facebook. That is because the European Union, in her words, is a "One World Government mini-me." ..
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6741746-uk-avoided-apocalyptic-one-world-government-says-sarah-palin/
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Perhaps, I just find it annoying that only people of colour get called terrorist.
To quote Lord John Marbury in the West Wing, regarding terrorists: "A terrorist is a terrorist, even if he wears a green necktie and sings Danny Boy."
clip from episode Dead Irish Writers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL3vz5oeAfw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL3vz5oeAfw)
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BTW, totally off-topic: Is it true that Bloody Caesars (Vodka and clamato juice) are unknown to Americans?
I've never heard of it. I remember when that appeared (the 60's I believe) and you would think this the
worst idea for a product ever, but here it still is! You wonder how this came about.
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I agree, Lyle, but it must be nicer than it sounds!
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I seriously think that was done in a movie!
If you remember the movie. let me know, I'd give it a go. Seems like it woulda stirred up some
controversy though and we'd have heard about it.
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Palin, a Donald Trump supporter...
That's all we need to know.
Again, thanks John McCain for elevating this idiot to media status.
The British were actually considering banning Donald Trump from entering
the UK earlier this year, now I wonder how the country feels when he and
Palin are complimenting them on their vote and on their side.
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Well I hope you can assume what Brit Brokies feel! ;) :D
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How a Tragedy Unfolded: Inside the Facebook Posts of Christy Sheats, the Texas Mom Who Fatally Shot Her Two Daughters
http://www.people.com/article/christy-sheats-facebook-texas-mom-killed-daughters-guns-mental-health
The Facebook page of the Texas woman who fatally shot her two daughters before being shot and killed by police herself lends eerie retrospective insight given her proclamations of love for her children and her views on guns.
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some people seem obsessed with searching out and posting sad, bad news, especially if it's in the US. Maybe if they looked for happy things they wouldn't be so depressed.
Dog Rescued From Euthanasia Is Now Training To Be A Little Boy's Therapy Dog
Sherlock, a Samoyed/Great Pyrenees mix, was rescued from a high-kill shelter in rural Tennessee less than 24 hours from being euthanized. Today, he is in training to become a service dog for a young autistic boy in New England.
Thanks to Big Fluffy Dog Rescue (BFDR), the organization that saved Sherlock from impending doom, he can now return the favor by helping others in need.
"Sherlock is excelling as a student and will make a loving companion pup to his new owner," writes the Washington DC Patch.
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1687/Dog-Rescued-From-Euthanasia-Is-Now-Training-To-Be-A-Little-Boy-s-Therapy-Dog (http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1687/Dog-Rescued-From-Euthanasia-Is-Now-Training-To-Be-A-Little-Boy-s-Therapy-Dog)
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She Asked Her Trucker Dad To Babysit Her Doll, So He Documented Their Big Adventure
June 27, 2016
When Trent McCain's 9-year-old daughter Josleyn asked him to babysit her favorite doll, the Kansas trucker took her on the road.
Trent sent Joselyn photos throughout the day documenting the big adventure.
"With all the upheaval in the world right now and the negativity you've got going on, it was refreshing for everybody to see something positive," McCain said.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sunnyskyz.com%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2F8pzro-trucker-1.jpg&hash=2a403cd1c819c6d8d26acb8c204ead6dad05bdb3)
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1686/She-Asked-Her-Trucker-Dad-To-Babysit-Her-Doll-So-He-Documented-Their-Big-Adventure (http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1686/She-Asked-Her-Trucker-Dad-To-Babysit-Her-Doll-So-He-Documented-Their-Big-Adventure)
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some people seem obsessed with searching out and posting sad, bad news, especially if it's in the US. Maybe if they looked for happy things they wouldn't be so depressed.
Dog Rescued From Euthanasia Is Now Training To Be A Little Boy's Therapy Dog
Sherlock, a Samoyed/Great Pyrenees mix, was rescued from a high-kill shelter in rural Tennessee less than 24 hours from being euthanized. Today, he is in training to become a service dog for a young autistic boy in New England.
Thanks to Big Fluffy Dog Rescue (BFDR), the organization that saved Sherlock from impending doom, he can now return the favor by helping others in need.
"Sherlock is excelling as a student and will make a loving companion pup to his new owner," writes the Washington DC Patch.
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1687/Dog-Rescued-From-Euthanasia-Is-Now-Training-To-Be-A-Little-Boy-s-Therapy-Dog (http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1687/Dog-Rescued-From-Euthanasia-Is-Now-Training-To-Be-A-Little-Boy-s-Therapy-Dog)
"Big Fluffy Dog Rescue": I love that! :)
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She Asked Her Trucker Dad To Babysit Her Doll, So He Documented Their Big Adventure
June 27, 2016
When Trent McCain's 9-year-old daughter Josleyn asked him to babysit her favorite doll, the Kansas trucker took her on the road.
Trent sent Joselyn photos throughout the day documenting the big adventure.
"With all the upheaval in the world right now and the negativity you've got going on, it was refreshing for everybody to see something positive," McCain said.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sunnyskyz.com%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2F8pzro-trucker-1.jpg&hash=2a403cd1c819c6d8d26acb8c204ead6dad05bdb3)
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1686/She-Asked-Her-Trucker-Dad-To-Babysit-Her-Doll-So-He-Documented-Their-Big-Adventure (http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1686/She-Asked-Her-Trucker-Dad-To-Babysit-Her-Doll-So-He-Documented-Their-Big-Adventure)
Sweet!
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some people seem obsessed with searching out and posting sad, bad news, especially if it's in the US. Maybe if they looked for happy things they wouldn't be so depressed.
Dog Rescued From Euthanasia Is Now Training To Be A Little Boy's Therapy Dog
Sherlock, a Samoyed/Great Pyrenees mix, was rescued from a high-kill shelter in rural Tennessee less than 24 hours from being euthanized. Today, he is in training to become a service dog for a young autistic boy in New England.
Thanks to Big Fluffy Dog Rescue (BFDR), the organization that saved Sherlock from impending doom, he can now return the favor by helping others in need.
"Sherlock is excelling as a student and will make a loving companion pup to his new owner," writes the Washington DC Patch.
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1687/Dog-Rescued-From-Euthanasia-Is-Now-Training-To-Be-A-Little-Boy-s-Therapy-Dog (http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/1687/Dog-Rescued-From-Euthanasia-Is-Now-Training-To-Be-A-Little-Boy-s-Therapy-Dog)
That is a gorgeous dog, Nancy!! What a great story!!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36658187
Shocking news. So many injured and killed. So very sad.
I love Turkey. Have spent weeks and months there but this year. decided to give it a miss.
I just had a feeling something would go off there. Sadly I've been proved right.
Though I fly into a much smaller airport ....further down country....if they (ISIS) can target a large more guarded airport the chances of them targeting the smaller airports where most tourists tend to arrive and depart from....the chances of it happening are getting nearer.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36658187
Shocking news. So many injured and killed. So very sad.
I love Turkey. Have spent weeks and months there but this year. decided to give it a miss.
I just had a feeling something would go off there. Sadly I've been proved right.
Though I fly into a much smaller airport ....further down country....if they (ISIS) can target a large more guarded airport the chances of them targeting the smaller airports where most tourists tend to arrive and depart from....the chances of it happening are getting nearer.
Just terrible, so many real tragedies going on in the world, we can't stick our heads in the sand, they are happening.
:'(
I bet Turkey is beautiful..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3664710/Two-explosions-gunfire-Istanbul-s-Ataturk-airport-cause-multiple-injuries.html
28 dead, 60 injured..
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"Big Fluffy Dog Rescue": I love that! :)
I know, isn't that great?
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That is a gorgeous dog, Nancy!! What a great story!!
Isn't he adorable! I'm so glad he got a second chance...
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Sweet!
Not many dads would have thought to do that, I'm glad he did :)
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:) !
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Isn't he adorable! I'm so glad he got a second chance...
He is adorable! Don't you just want to hug him?
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We were thinking at one point of flying to Israel via Istanbul, kinda glad we went via Zürich and Frankfurt instead.
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We were thinking at one point of flying to Israel via Istanbul, kinda glad we went via Zürich and Frankfurt instead.
Sadly nowhere is really safe. Brussels ? I have been to both Brussels (2002 and 2007) and Istanbul (2002) airports. In fact in 2002 I flew from Brussels to Istanbul changing planes in Munich.
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Isn't he adorable! I'm so glad he got a second chance...
Me too!!!
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Sadly nowhere is really safe. Brussels ? I have been to both Brussels (2002 and 2007) and Istanbul (2002) airports. In fact in 2002 I flew from Brussels to Istanbul changing planes in Munich.
Wow amazing. My son flew into Munich last year. Sadly nowhere is really safe, but airports are always the scariest.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/europe/gallery/istanbul-airport-attacked/index.html
Poor families, my heart breaks for them..
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June 29, 2016
Today, we, the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) are releasing a moving and lasting tribute to the 49 victims of the Orlando shooting at Pulse nightclub on Latin night.
The 18-minute tribute – directed by Emmy Award-winning Ryan Murphy and Ned Martel, with the support of their colleagues at Ryan Murphy Television – features a diverse cast of 49 actors, directors and other entertainment leaders recounting individual stories of the victims of our nation’s most lethal mass shooting.
In the aftermath of the Orlando tragedy, Ryan asked how he could help drive awareness about the dual epidemics of anti-LGBTQ hate violence and gun violence that, together, claimed so many lives at Pulse nightclub. The result was this moving tribute, filmed over the course of three days, at FOX Studios in Los Angeles.
The 49 heroes who lost their lives on June 12 were brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. They were mostly young and mostly Latins. But above all, they were human beings who were loved, and who had hopes and dreams for long, full lives.
We need you now, and in the days and weeks ahead, to keep their memories alive and honor their legacies by ensuring our nation acts to end anti-LGBTQ hate and gun violence.
Today, you can start by watching this video, supporting the victims and survivors, and acting now to stop the hate.
You can watch the video here:
https://stopthehate.hrc.org/
Or here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq6xRZlCSoM
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Parrot could help prosecute murder suspect
June 24, 2016
SAND LAKE, Mich. - A Michigan woman faces first-degree murder charges and the case may hinge on whether or not a parrot named Bud can testify in court.
Glenna Duram was arraigned in court in connection to the shooting death of her husband Martin Durham.
Durham was shot five times and killed in his home in 2015.
After he died, Bud went to live with the victim's ex-wife, Christina Keller.
Soon after, Bud began mimicking what some believe to be a conversation that happened between the victim and the suspect that ended with "don't f------ shoot."
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/06/23/could-pet-parrot-testify-in-michigan-murder-case-prosecutor-says-no-precedent/ (http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/06/23/could-pet-parrot-testify-in-michigan-murder-case-prosecutor-says-no-precedent/)
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oh damn......can you imagine if that parrot's testimony, if you can call it that, is allowed?
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Will Rogers said you should live your life so that you wouldn't be afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. ...
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He was and is still "right on".
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5,300 U.S. water systems are in violation of lead rules
(CNN)Eighteen million Americans live in communities where the water systems are in violation of the law. Moreover, the federal agency in charge of making sure those systems are safe not only knows the issues exist, but it's done very little to stop them, according to a new report and information provided to CNN by multiple sources and water experts.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.turner.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F160628084826-map-nrdc-water-quality-report-01-exlarge-169.jpg&hash=88d434f5482d0b9a3fe759da0eafbe8268aeff09)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/us/epa-lead-in-u-s-water-systems/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/us/epa-lead-in-u-s-water-systems/)
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5,300 U.S. water systems are in violation of lead rules
(CNN)Eighteen million Americans live in communities where the water systems are in violation of the law. Moreover, the federal agency in charge of making sure those systems are safe not only knows the issues exist, but it's done very little to stop them, according to a new report and information provided to CNN by multiple sources and water experts.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.turner.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F160628084826-map-nrdc-water-quality-report-01-exlarge-169.jpg&hash=88d434f5482d0b9a3fe759da0eafbe8268aeff09)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/us/epa-lead-in-u-s-water-systems/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/us/epa-lead-in-u-s-water-systems/)
Who knew California had enough water to have any violations?
I would like to ask, though, what is that really dark area on the map in the Gulf of Mexico proximity that I don't know about?
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^^^
I made a guess and looked it up...I guess it is supposed to be Puerto Rico.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stepmap.com%2Fgetmapimg.php%3Fid%3D1228798%26amp%3Bw%3D206%26amp%3Bh%3D206%26amp%3Ba%3Dvorschau&hash=debfee328acee93e805049b66c89f436ec4010e0)
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HAPPY
240th
BIRTHDAY!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgifsec.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FGIF%2F2014%2F07%2FHappy-4th-of-July-GIF.gif%3Fgs%3Da&hash=8695242e7943a45ea8f496e66c9bad7913e8a75c)
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Sorry about reporting bad and sad news here on "Hot Topics"..another atrocity
commited in Bagdad. Will there ever be an end to all this violence where ISIS are even killing their own (Muslims) as well as people from other countries. I would trade Blair in to them....if it meant it would halt all the violence.It was like lighting the blue touch paper and putting a distance between him and it... with his false claims of weapons of mass destruction which were totally untrue . Things have been horrendous ever since.
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Concerning Donald Trump: (and he's very concerning)
From someone who couldn't understand why George W. Bush had been actively approached to run for President
by the Republican party, looking back on that, it wasn't from a point of view that I had an underlying feeling that
it would be a threat to our country, in the way that some foundation of it would be destroyed or anything like that,
but that, really, that's the best they could come up with? After all, it was people from an organized political party
that were promoting it and there was, at the verrry least, a sense of control in it all that the people could dismiss
it and vote it out of office or vote others into the congress to curtail it.
So, when for the past year I have seen Donald Trump become the candidate of the party and I again have that "I just
can't understand how anyone could see him as running for President, much less any further," I have to remind myself
that this one sentiment is extremely different this time around. For one, the Republican party as expressed by it's leaders
is not promoting this. They may have created it, but it's a creation they do not like. It's the public that has latched on to
it. The seeds of this have been brewing ever since Reagan declared that Government isn't the solution to our problems,
Government IS the problem." This one sentence, latched onto by the party and it's media blowhards from Limbaugh to
Fox News, has created an us against them mentality, starting with the conservative voters hating everything on the
Democrat side of the equation (they're all about big/more Government) to the present where these same people have
turned on their own party because, after all, their party IS government, too, and they've taught their own voters to hate
the government and now it's come home to roost. If you've taught them to distrust the Government, when did you not
think that would eventually mean YOU, TOO? The tea party was a manifestation of this 8 years ago and it's gotten worse.
Bernie Sanders has effectively gotten the Democratic young to now start hating it, too, if you haven't noticed...progressively
if you will.
The mantra of distrusting the media, all media, pounded on for years by conservatives has seeped into both sides of the equation.
If anyone's paid attention you saw that all through the Democratic primary. Bernie's anti-establishment rhetoric has gotten his
followers to blame the party for the fix being in, the rules in place are all a sham, etc. So now we have two candidates who are
distrusted by everyone, it seems, and why wouldn't they be in this climate of being told that you can't trust anything anyone
says--in government, in media; there are no credible sources.
So, imploding first is the Republican party and the voters have said they want someone to be their leader that I can't even
fathom and do I want to try to figure out why people support him?
I happened upon part of an article with these two lines:
"It’s clear enough to those of us who don’t like Trump why we don’t like him.
What isn’t clear is why it isn’t clear to those who like him."
So, I decided to read this article entitled:
Who Are All These Trump Supporters?
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/saunders (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/11/george-saunders-goes-to-trump-rallies)
It's from The New Yorker, a source that tries to get you to think or understand about current issues,
in my opinion. So many distrust everything that you have to argue about trusting a source.
In any case, the article is very long and in several parts. Did it enlighten me as to why people
like Trump? Well, I wanted to come away satisfied in a "I get it" sort of way, but to also feel in
some regard that his supporters could be persuaded to see that possibly they are misguided about
this dangerous person. Or that there's enough on the side of sanity to prevent it from moving on.
It wasn't going to happen.
Especially when the frightening last line of this long article is:
"I’ve never before imagined America as fragile, as an experiment that could, within my very lifetime, fail."
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The sounds you hear are heads exploding:
FBI Recommends No Charges for Clinton Over Email Server
Now we'll hear the fix is in, the rule of law was ignored, the FBI can't be trusted,
Hillary gets away with everything, I told you so, it's Obama's fault, etcetera etcetera.
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FBI Recommends No Charges for Clinton Over Email Server
The fix is in, the rule of law was ignored, the FBI can't be trusted, Hillary gets away with everything...
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"I’ve never before imagined America as fragile, as an experiment that could, within my very lifetime, fail."
And if it does, may God have mercy on us all. ... :(
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^^^
If he SHOULD get voted in...and it all goes pear shaped....bet you won't find one person who says they voted for him.
Same as here... with all the bad news about us leaving the EU every one you speak to say the voted to stay in the EU!! So why aren't we still in it ?
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On the contrary, the more that comes out about Clinton and her ability to get around the system and be put above others, people are more than happy to have someone else to vote for...
I can't vote for Trump, but we have conversations at work and everyone is saying they're sick of the "establishment" and are ready for something else, even if the only something else they have is Trump..lesser of two evils, and all that.
The meeting on the tarmac between Bill Clinton and the AG was a huge mistake, and can I just disagree with her dismal excuse that when you get on someone's private plane on the tarmac it's not by "chance", when that someone is the AG and your wife is under investigation...
The meeting on Saturday morning of the 4th of July holiday, the leak by the FBI that she would not be found guilty, then the announcement of Clinton's "no wrongdoing" by the CIA director, all tied together with Obama flying on Air Force One to NC to campaign for her.....all absolutely above board <insert sarcasm icon here>
In a stunning moment of Washington theater, Comey stepped up to the microphone to deliver the FBI's findings just over two hours before Clinton climbed aboard Air Force One to travel to her first campaign event with President Barack Obama.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/politics/fbi-director-doesnt-recommend-charges-against-hillary-clinton/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/politics/fbi-director-doesnt-recommend-charges-against-hillary-clinton/)
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In other words, she's guilty, but we're not going to charge her...I wish I had access to the video montage that ran this morning, here are some in print...
A montage broadcast on Wednesday’s edition of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” laid out the instances where the FBI contradicted claims made by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The montage included Clinton stating on March 10, 2015, “I thought it would be easier to carry one device.” Which was contrasted with FBI Director James Comey saying the day before that Clinton “used numerous mobile devices to send and to read email.”
The video then contrasted Clinton saying, “We went through a thorough process to identify all my work-related emails.” With Comey’s statement that “The lawyers doing the sorting for Secretary Clinton, in 2014, did not individually read the content of all of her emails.” And that it was “highly likely that their search missed some work-related emails.”
In addition, Clinton’s claims that the emails “were immediately captured and preserved.” Was contradicted by Comey’s statement that “There was no archiving at all of her emails.”
Clinton’s claims that “There were no security breaches.” And that there were no classified materials. Were also contradicted by Comey’s declarations that “It is possible that hostile actors gained access.” And “110 emails contained classified information at the time they were sent or received.”
A clip of Clinton stating that she “did not send classified material.” Was also contrasted with Comey saying “Even if information is not marked classified in an email, participants who know, or should know, that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.”
ETA: after much discussion on this topic this morning, one of the guests said "Oh my God, Donald Trump might stumble into the Oval Office."
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David Gergen:
Who, among other things, was Presidential advisor who served during the
administrations of Republicans Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.
FBI Gets It Right Over Clinton Emails
by David Gergen
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/opinions/fbi-clinton-decision-gergen/index.html
If there is a silver lining to this episode from a public perspective, it is that the investigation itself appears to have been conducted without fear or favor. James Comey is regarded as a straight shooter by both sides of the aisle. Who can forget that as deputy attorney general for President George W. Bush, it was Comey who raced into a hospital and stopped top administration officials from persuading an incapacitated attorney general to bless their wiretapping schemes? No one should forget that President Barack Obama appointed Comey, a registered Republican, to serve as FBI director.
Americans' trust in public officials and public institutions has fallen abysmally, as we all know. So far as we can now tell, the country in this instance has been well served by a leader and an FBI that has been diligent, hard-working and fair. Embittered partisans will disagree, but for my book, the FBI seems to have gotten this one right.
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Written a day before the FBI decision yesterday:
GOP Stoops for Scandal
by Eugene Robinson
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/gop_131094.html (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/07/05/gop_stoops_for_scandal_131094.html)
The Republican yearning to pin a scandal on Hillary Clinton knows no bounds. Any scandal will do, real or imagined. She must somehow be -- or appear to be -- guilty of something.
They tried Benghazi. Boy, did they try Benghazi.
[Longest such investigation in U.S. History. Longer than the Pearl Harbor inquiry.]
Adding insult to injury, the Benghazi committee came up empty-handed. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the panel's chairman, released a final report last week that found no smoking gun. In fact, it didn't find smoke.
[...] The Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on U.S. diplomatic and intelligence facilities in Benghazi, Libya,[...] should be blamed on the terrorists who committed the assault -- not on the secretary of state. Even if she happens to be named Clinton.
[...] So if Benghazi isn't the sought-for scandal, what else might be? Trump keeps threatening to relitigate the 1990's by dredging up Bill Clinton's womanizing and even the suicide of Clinton friend and associate Vince Foster. That is a realm peopled mostly by conspiracy theorists wearing tinfoil hats; Trump can go there if he wants, but the rest of the country won't follow.
Let's see, there's the Clinton Foundation and the vast amount of money it has raised, including from foreign governments, potentates and moguls. The problem with this line of attack is that the foundation, by all accounts, does a lot of good around the world. And it generally operates in a way that Republicans should applaud, not simply doling out money but instead boosting the capacity of local governments and organizations to solve their own problems.
_________
Now the lovely (and dyspeptic?) Charles Krauthammer has taken to calling Hillary Clinton a "Non-Criminal Liar."
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Another viewpoint that shows things are not as they sometimes appear to be:
Peeling Back Political Illusions
By Jeff D. Opdyke, Editor of Total Wealth Insider
“...It has to do with illusions that have become real, and the desperation with which all of us cling to certain beliefs — even when those beliefs are dead wrong.
Two words: Republicans. Democrats.
What are the immediate descriptions that come to mind?
Depending on your particular political persuasion — or, maybe, just what you’ve heard through the years in the media — you probably think of terms like fiscally conservative, tax cuts and small government when you think Republicans … and probably wasteful spenders, tax hikes and big government when you think Democrats.
I won’t lie. Those are beliefs I held, based on years of reporting for The Wall Street Journal and reading the reporting of other major news competitors.
But where do those descriptors come from?
And are they correct?
Given the relevancy of this year’s presidential election, the ever-worsening financial situation our country finds itself in today explicitly because of politicians and their agendas, and what Clinton and Trump have said about their own economic plan and each other’s plan, I went looking for empirical data on the imprint that presidential administrations have left on America.
I found it inside the White House, where data is kept on income and outflow going back to 1789.
The data do not tell the story you think they should. They tell a Gekko-like tale in which illusion has become real.
Republicans, beginning precisely with the Reagan administration, have constructed a fantasy built on an ideology of conservatism. They’ve shaped their media message to appeal to Americans who value fiscal prudence and unobtrusive government. And yet every Republican from Reagan onward has delivered exactly the opposite of that.
The big-spending Democrats?
They’ve actually done a better job of growing the economy while relying far less on deficit spending than have Republicans...”
For the full article complete with figures and graphs, see:
http://thesovereigninvestor.com/government-politics/peeling-back-political-deficit-illusions/
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I'm shocked, shocked, that there is gambling going on in this establishment...
This may not be the best time for Clinton allies to float Loretta Lynch as her attorney general
The idea that Loretta Lynch would stay on as attorney general in a Hillary Clinton administration is not a new one. Lynch took over relatively late in President Obama's two terms as president — April 2015, after Eric H. Holder's run as one of the longest-serving attorneys general in history — giving her less than two years on the job come January. And before last week, she had earned generally positive reviews, even becoming the favorite of some to be Obama's nominee to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. (She later withdrew from consideration.)
But this line, from deep inside a New York Times report over the holiday weekend, comes at a particularly poor time for Lynch — and, by extension, the Clinton campaign:
Having women make up half of [Clinton's] cabinet would be historic (in recent years, a quarter to a third of cabinet positions have been held by women), and Democrats close to Mrs. Clinton say she may decide to retain Ms. Lynch, the nation’s first black woman to be attorney general, who took office in April 2015.
It's not clear whether that speculation came before or after Lynch's private tarmac meeting with former president Bill Clinton last week. But even if that meeting had never happened, raising all kinds of chatter about the appearance of impropriety: Lynch remains the person responsible for reviewing and signing off on the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/05/this-may-not-be-the-best-time-for-clinton-allies-to-talk-about-keeping-loretta-lynch-as-attorney-general/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/05/this-may-not-be-the-best-time-for-clinton-allies-to-talk-about-keeping-loretta-lynch-as-attorney-general/)
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^^^^^^
Bobby Kennedy's appointment set off a firestorm more than this would.
It's just looking for reasons to find a conspiracy somewhere. Keep her on.
Don't. It's really irrelevant.
"When you look for conspiracies everywhere, you find truth nowhere."
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On the contrary, the more that comes out about Clinton and her ability to get around the system and be put above others, people are more than happy to have someone else to vote for...
I can't vote for Trump, but we have conversations at work and everyone is saying they're sick of the "establishment" and are ready for something else, even if the only something else they have is Trump..lesser of two evils, and all that.
If these conversations are really meant by those having them, are they going to vote down ticket for other candidates in the same manner?
If up for re-eelction will they vote out Attorney general Ken Paxton, Governor Greg Abbott, Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz,
for example?
I think that notion of "Hillary Clinton and her ability to get around the system and be put above others" notion is false, as in the link I posted
previously. "We keep blowing smoke so there has to be fire somewhere."
Not liking someone is not a good reason to vote for their opponent. This voting for the lesser of two evils notion is bull. I don't
subscribe to the motion that Clinton is profoundly immoral and malevolent. Not immoral especially because current standards of
accepted morality don't seem to be agreed upon, at least by the left and right. I'd even give Trump a pass on that one. And I hardly
think of Clinton's policies or actions as malevolent. She's not showing an active desire to harm anyone. Trump, on the other hand,
has been showing that desire and inspiring it in his followers.
-
Dammit, Lyle, now you're starting to make sense, I might have to rethink this whole thing...
J/k....but I do enjoy your movie reviews...
-
And I hardly think of Clinton's policies or actions as malevolent. She's not showing an active desire to harm anyone. Trump, on the other hand,
has been showing that desire and inspiring it in his followers.
Which is why he frightens me so much. :(
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I just signed this petition, please please feel free to do the same - shut him up.
CNN - Drop Harry Houck
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/CNNDropHarryHouck/ (http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/CNNDropHarryHouck/)
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my heart is breaking for my country
11 officers shot, 5 fatally, by snipers in Dallas during protest over police shootings
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dallas-shooting-20160707-snap-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dallas-shooting-20160707-snap-story.html)
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Yes even though it is sad, bad news, and it is in the US. I feel like I had to come in an comment on the latest and risk depression..
'He wanted to kill white people, especially white officers': Police kill sniper after twelve cops were shot - and FIVE killed - during furious nationwide protests over U.S. police shootings of two black men that ended in a four hour stand-off
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3680097/Protests-sweep-nation-thousands-demand-justice-Alton-Sterling-Philando-Castile-black-men-shot-dead-police.html#ixzz4DpUdjnlM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
The five casualties were all male cops; Two have been identified as Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa
Seven other officers (including two female cops) and two bystanders are among the injured
President Barack Obama called it ‘vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement’ in a statement made from Warsaw, Poland
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my heart is breaking for my country
The country is disintegrating around us. It's absolutely disintegrating. :(
11 officers shot, 5 fatally, by snipers in Dallas during protest over police shootings
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dallas-shooting-20160707-snap-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dallas-shooting-20160707-snap-story.html)
Unbelievable. Words just don't exist. :(
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Yes even though it is sad, bad news, and it is in the US. I feel like I had to come in an comment on the latest and risk depression..
'He wanted to kill white people, especially white officers': Police kill sniper after twelve cops were shot - and FIVE killed - during furious nationwide protests over U.S. police shootings of two black men that ended in a four hour stand-off
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3680097/Protests-sweep-nation-thousands-demand-justice-Alton-Sterling-Philando-Castile-black-men-shot-dead-police.html#ixzz4DpUdjnlM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
The five casualties were all male cops; Two have been identified as Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa
Seven other officers (including two female cops) and two bystanders are among the injured
President Barack Obama called it ‘vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement’ in a statement made from Warsaw, Poland
Wow that’s some zinger…must feel good that a national tragedy afforded an opportunity to use it. Only filthy quotes from the murderer, no pictures of blood-stained streets?
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The country is disintegrating around us. It's absolutely disintegrating. :(
Unbelievable. Words just don't exist. :(
I know :'( I cried in the car on the way home from work yesterday as i heard for the first time about the shooting in Minnesota...and again this morning watching the news...
I mailed a card to the girlfriend of the man who was shot in Minnesota, don't know if it will get to her since i only have her name...I didn't know what to say, but I had to tell her I was sorry for her loss...
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and can I just say that I hate CNN. They just showed, with a warning for graphic and disturbing content, a clip of an officer being shot to death. I did NOT watch it, i went to MSNBC after she said what was about to be shown.
Ratings, ratings, ratings, no regard for the families, though they say they do all day long "our hearts go out to the families". Then DON"T show them getting shot to death for ratings!
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This is a quote from a post on the Dallas PD Facebook page...
we love wat hapen to u may GOD keep it that way every day until all over america be in fire and go stright to hell
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Wow that’s some zinger…must feel good that a national tragedy afforded an opportunity to use it. Only filthy quotes from the murderer, no pictures of blood-stained streets?
some people seem obsessed with searching out and posting sad, bad news, especially if it's in the US. Maybe if they looked for happy things they wouldn't be so depressed.
Yes I too thought it was odd, when this was a reply to a post about a woman "gunning down her daughters in the street". I thought that was news worthy. And then it was followed by a post about a big fluffy dog and a trucker man and his doll.
Guess we are back to reality now, with police shooting people and people shooting police.
The loss of all life is tragic, be it one or twenty one, police man or private citizen, be it in Turkey or in the U.S. or any place else.
You would think we could all agree on that. And I have no control over what articles post or quote, everyone is free to click out.... or turn the channel. As I often do..
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I mailed a card to the girlfriend of the man who was shot in Minnesota, don't know if it will get to her since i only have her name...I didn't know what to say, but I had to tell her I was sorry for her loss...
I think that was a lovely gesture. I hope she gets it.
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The country is disintegrating around us. It's absolutely disintegrating. :(
Unbelievable. Words just don't exist. :(
This country's always gone through some periods of rough times where it's felt like things
are disintegrating, but we've moved on from them and hopefully in positive directions when
they happen.
The feeling lately is not unlike 1968 when you turned on the TV in January and the Vietnam war
escalated during the TET offensive, when you'd have nightly reports of how many soldiers killed
vs. "the enemy" which people would always be happy about because more enemy were always
listed than our soldiers. You'd turn on the TV in February and find a huge gulf between our citizens
during the primary battles with McCarthy. (And George Romney, Mitt's father.) Then in March LBJ
shocked by pulling out of the race. In April MLK was shot and riots started in many cities and they
continued in to May. In June RFK was shot. In the summer the war and growing "generation gap"
produced myriads of war protests and divides and the conventions turned into war zones. This was
followed into the fall by a bitterly contested election and congressional fights about--what? Passing
gun control legislation. Not to mention several high profile strikes that crippled the nation, the first
flight hijackings which became a regular thing, severe worries about the environment, minorities,
women and LBGT persons pushed to the edge, rampant drug use and I'm sure I've left out something.
Oh, yeah, and the Cubs Mets won the world series the next year!
Now can you imagine all that PLUS the personal media access and environment we have currently?
We can't despair...but the biggest danger we face is if we (whoever we is) don't do anything to at least
try and solve these things.
-
In the meantime...ouch...sigh.
-
(Have you ever seen such major headlines about a presumptive nominee right before their major party convention? Ordinarily unthinkable.)
Three Ways Republicans Could Dump Trump in Cleveland (NBCNews.com)
Republican-backed efforts to stop Donald Trump from claiming the party's
presidential nomination have flopped over the last four months (USA TODAY)
Would Donald Trump Quit if He Wins the Election? He Doesn't Rule It Out (New York Times)
(It is, of course, entirely possible that Mr. Trump is playing coy to earn more news coverage.)
Peacemaking Goes Awry as Donald Trump Lashes Out at G.O.P. (Newsweek)
Trump, seeking GOP unity, has tense meeting with Senate (NY Times)
Ann Coulter: My VP Prediction — Donald Trump's First Mistake (Breitbart)
(His FIRST mistake?)
Donald Trump's Dallas Statement Full Of Ennui Over Racial Tensions He Actively Incited (Politico)
Trump Campaign Official Blames Hillary Clinton for Dallas Shooting (New York Times)
Is Donald Trump Losing It? (The New Yorker)
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How would you handle things if you had the same name as the Dallas shooter, as does
Micah Johnson of the Green Bay Packers, or Micah Johnson of the Los Angeles Dodgers?
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Two squad cars have been set up as memorial in front of Dallas Police HQ & @dartmedia. PrayForDallas PrayForDart
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/34/e0/d3/34e0d36718d8810aee49f7a782b49c14.jpg)
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I'm always weeks behind in reading my issue of The New Yorker, and over dinner this evening I read an article by the historian Jill Lepore in the June 27 issue called "The Woman Card: How feminism and antifeminism created Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump." In the article, she has occasion to quote the great Margaret Chase Smith speaking out against Joseph McCarthy on the floor of the Senate. Smith said, "I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny--Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear." This, of course, is exactly what Donald Trump is trying to do.
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This is a quote from a post on the Dallas PD Facebook page...
we love wat hapen to u may GOD keep it that way every day until all over america be in fire and go stright to hell
I'll bet the person who wrote that on the Dallas PD Facebook page wouldn't have the courage to say that to the face of any police officer.
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I think that was a lovely gesture. I hope she gets it.
If she does get it, I don't know how she would see it...I don't know how I would see it, if I were in her shoes...
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I just read Trump saying something else stupid. Or is it? Or, what else is new? He said
if he got elected he wouldn't rule out resigning right away. Huh? That would place an
emphasis on his V.P. choice that is usually only hinted at. What else can he come up with?
It does make sense, though. He loves the attention, but doesn't really want the job.
I've said that from the start. Would people vote for that? Who can tell any more.
This whole thing is like a spoof of the 1968 election.
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ELECTION 2016:
The Hidden Sexism That Could Sway the Election
by Daniel Bush
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/features/hidden-sexism/
Article covers a lot of ground. A couple paragraphs:
An extensive body of research has shown that women who seek leadership positions often encounter resistance from both men and women if they violate gender norms by acting in stereotypically masculine ways, like being competitive, assertive and self-promotional. This is known among social psychologists as the "backlash" effect, and examples abound. [...] Dozens of women have run for president in the U.S., but Clinton is the only one who’s ever come close.
“The more female politicians are seen as striving for power, the less they’re trusted and the more moral outrage gets directed at them,” said T. Vescio, a psychology professor at Penn State who studies gender bias. “You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” she continued. “If you’re perceived as competent, you’re not perceived as warm. But if you’re liked and trusted, you’re not seen as competent.”
You can even measure your own ambivalent or hostile predilections:
Quiz: Are You Sexist?
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^^^^^^
One of the tenants of an interviewee in the article is that if a man
with all of Clinton's qualifications and positions had run against
Bernie Sanders, Sanders would have had a worse time.
I do think much of the talk about Hillary being disliked comes from the
fact she's a woman, because it's overkill, in my opinion. A lot of people
had a dislike for Richard Nixon, but it wasn't anywhere near the attitude
people are displaying over Clinton. I mean, realistically, where is this
all coming from? Look at the backlash that's been happening for weeks
by young men online bashing the new Ghostbusters film because it has
an all female cast. There's dozens of youtube videos complaining about
it and how their "beloved franchise" was ruined and torturous explanations
of their reasoning, explaining how none of it has to do with the fact it's an
all female cast. It's anything but. The biggest reason you can tell it "is"
about that? No one has seen this film yet.
Example:
From an article yesterday:
Few films arrive in theaters with the kind of backlash that “Ghostbusters” will when it finally opens in theaters next Friday, July 15. Internet outrage over the reboot has been at a fever pitch ever since the female-fronted project was greenlit back in August 2014, and every part of Sony’s release strategy (from trailers to soundtrack updates and even press screenings) has only seemed to encourage more mean-spirited attacks from fanboys and internet users unhappy with the new film’s direction.
Luckily for everyone else, the cast and crew of “Ghostbusters” have been making lemons out of lemonade in the best way possible, be it mocking internet trolls during late night show appearances or powerfully standing up for the film in editorial interviews. But now it seems that team “Ghostbusters” has done the best thing imaginable, as Yahoo Movies confirms that a scene was actually added to the film so that it could address the backlash head on. In an early scene in the movie, the Ghostbusters upload a video to YouTube and read some of the nasty comments aloud. Sound familiar?
Director Paul Feig and screenwriter Katie Dippold wrote in the scene, but like much of the movie, the filmmaker allowed his cast to improvise some of the comments so that each actress could surprise the next. The scene is a pretty bold way of addressing the months of controversy surrounding the film, and it admiringly proves that the cast and crew don’t really care what anyone thinks about a female-led “Ghostbusters.”
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/ghostbusters-scene-change-internet-backlash-1201703854/
If you didn't know about this, do an internet search and you'll be amazed at how many articles there are about this.
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Is it sexist to feel it's just a gimmick to have an all-female Ghostbusters?
I confess I rolled my eyes the first time I heard about, not because I thought some beloved franchise had been ruined (I only ever saw the first Ghostbusters) by having an all-female cast. But I admit I thought to myself, "Just another Hollywood gimmick."
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MSNBC & CNN are both reporting that Dallas police have cornered a "suspicious person" in a parking lot/garage. One story is that there was a group from Houston that planned to travel to Dallas to harm police, I don't think they've confirmed that, but they have dogs on the scene so they might have something...
-
looks like it was nothing.........
Dallas Police DepartVerified account
@DallasPD
As a precautionary measure, K9 is conducting a secondary search.
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please let it be nothing. We need some peace and quiet for a while.
-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36756723
Now what shall we say here :
a) Sad the Matador is dead ?
b) Every dog has it's day ?
c) What goes around ....comes around ?
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I have mixed feelings about it.
I'm sorry for the pain his family must be feeling. That being said, whenever I hear of someone getting hurt by a wild animal by getting to close, I wonder where that person's common sense was. Given this situation, I'm sure the bull was fighting for its life, so when the matador was killed, I sort of felt...."Well, what did you expect?"
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Back in 1980 when I was first in Madrid, I went to a Bull fight. Never again. I palled up with some Aussies and we were cheering for the Bull. ;D
When I got back to my hotel, the concierge, who had arranged my tickets, said it was a terrible fight. He had apparently watched on TV. I am afraid I do not understand.
At first I thought this was from the Pamplona running of the bulls where tourists get hurt every year. I do not understand the mentality of some people.
-
However picturesque and traditional, it's a pretty nasty sport.
-
Is it sexist to feel it's just a gimmick to have an all-female Ghostbusters?
I confess I rolled my eyes the first time I heard about, not because I thought some beloved franchise had been ruined (I only ever saw the first Ghostbusters) by having an all-female cast. But I admit I thought to myself, "Just another Hollywood gimmick."
The answer to your question is "no."
To me, I thought the original film Ghostbusters was more of a gimmick than a film.
I like the gimmick more than the film, actually.
It's the overblown reaction to this that has to be seen as sexist. How many times has Batman been
reinvisioned, for example. Where was all the hate spewed about that? There are whiny fanboys
suggesting that this film would be like making another Raiders of the Lost Ark with a female lead
as Indiana Jones. There's popular online reviewers who state they won't even see the film when that's
supposedly what they do. See films. There's a whole lot of investment in tearing down this film and one
asks why? No one's seen it, either, which is the main point to consider. Why such vociferous reactions
for weeks about a film no one knows anything about except it has female leads in it?
You have to remember how much hate was spewed upon Geena Davis when she was starring in several
action oriented films in the 1990's. One of them, The Long Kiss Goodnight, should be seen as one of the
best of the genre, comparable to any Bruce Willis or Dwayne Johnson vehicle, but it was hard to sell a
female action star to the public. There was an article a month or two ago about how female oriented
and starring films are routinely down-voted more on imdb than male oriented ones are. Jennifer Lawrence
broke out of that with The Hunger Games, but remains to be seen if that was an outlier.
You know what? The fact that this Ghostbusters IS an all female cast is the most interesting
reason to go see it, in my opinion. Otherwise, I'd probably have zero to little interest. I remember
one article reveling in the hate toward this film saying, "It would be like making Charlie's Angels
with all male leads. I was like, hey why not? Make "Charli" a woman and the detectives male
versions. I wouldn't mind that, either.
I just hope that this new version of Ghostbusters is good and makes alot of money. That would be
the best backlash.
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As a point of interest, one of the DART cops who was shot and survived in Texas this week
was Jesus Retana, 32. He began working for the DART police department in April 2006. Retana
and his husband, Andrew Moss, worked with the Resource Center, an LGBT organization, to get
same-sex partner benefits for DART a few years earlier. Andrew, his partner, was also a DART
officer, who had to quit his job because of health problems. Retana was taken to the hospital after
the shooting, and has been released. A former coworker of Retana, said when Retana joined the
force, he was eager to learn and wanted to be an active officer in the community. The coworker
said he was a resilient officer who would stay late at work and went the extra mile. Retana and
Moss had been married in California.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fwww.towleroad.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F07%2FCm1KfMGUMAAAjkD.jpg&hash=0e7d4b921f83962d86873cb8a0e019e9680ed112)
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Lyle, I won't take up the space to quote your whole response to my "is it sexist" question, but I will say thank you for it. Interesting thoughts and a good read.
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CATASTROPHE IN NICE
WE ARE DEVASTATED
-
Oh Ing, just watching now...I'm so sorry for your country, your city...I'm so sorry for all of us...
-
Terrible news and I have just posted on the French page abut our Prime Minister being in Paris on the official dais and Australian and NZ troops in the march especially the Maori contingent. I note they said there had been no terrorist activity in Paris despite fears.
-
NIGHTMARE COME TRUE
"THE VAN OF DEATH" HAS HIT
-
CATASTROPHE IN NICE
WE ARE DEVASTATED
I thought of you when I first heard the news. What a tragedy! I'm watching this horrific video showing all the bodies lying on the street. It's heartbreaking.
-
prayers, positive vibes and love sent to Nice.
-
Such another terrible incident. I am so sorry for you and your friends and hope they are alright. I looked at the horrible scene, and remember the beautiful place from when I visited.
I am so sad and upset as I know you and Mr. S are. I am thinking of all of you and your friends and family and the victims and their families. Such a horrendous tragedy.
-
Just unbelievably awful. And I'm visiting Ing and Mr S this afternoon - such a sad day.
-
I just woke up and heard about the terrible events in Nice.
Ingy, I hope all your family and friends are safe. Thinking of you. Take care.
What's wrong with the world? :'(
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I thought of you when I first heard the news. What a tragedy! I'm watching this horrific video showing all the bodies lying on the street. It's heartbreaking.
Thanks.
Yes we are shaken.
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prayers, positive vibes and love sent to Nice.
Merci Chuckster.
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Such another terrible incident. I am so sorry for you and your friends and hope they are alright. I looked at the horrible scene, and remember the beautiful place from when I visited.
I am so sad and upset as I know you and Mr. S are. I am thinking of all of you and your friends and family and the victims and their families. Such a horrendous tragedy.
(((Linda))) We are at a loss.
Yes you know the spot, we've been there together.
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I just woke up and heard about the terrible events in Nice.
Ingy, I hope all your family and friends are safe. Thinking of you. Take care.
What's wrong with the world? :'(
Merci, Sonja. yes they are all safe, thanks God.
And @your last question: A lot. Everything, frankly.
-
Ingy thank God you and yours are safe. Our thoughts are with France and everyone affected by this mindless violence.
-
Awful Just awful. :'(
-
Has Trump made his veep announcement?
Will the Republicans be singing,
"Feed the birds, Trumpence a bag
Trumpence, Trumpence, Trumpence a bag"?
-
Thoughts and prayers with and for everyone in Nice.
-
Has Trump made his veep announcement?
Will the Republicans be singing,
"Feed the birds, Trumpence a bag
Trumpence, Trumpence, Trumpence a bag"?
Well, with their new logo, it looks like Pence will be standing in for the Nation.
-
A military coup is in progress in Turkey:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/07/15/1548724/-Breaking-Something-serious-going-down-in-Turkey?detail=facebook
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A military coup is in progress in Turkey:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/07/15/1548724/-Breaking-Something-serious-going-down-in-Turkey?detail=facebook
Yeah I am just reading about the takeover now. Huffington says the military is saying they have taken over.
I wonder what all this is going to mean now.
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Has Trump made his veep announcement?
Will the Republicans be singing,
"Feed the birds, Trumpence a bag
Trumpence, Trumpence, Trumpence a bag"?
I thought of that same thing, Jeff. Was trying to come up with some lyrics.
Maybe this will be Trump's comeupPence.
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I thought of that same thing, Jeff. Was trying to come up with some lyrics.
Maybe this will be Trump's comeupPence.
:D
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Well, with their new logo, it looks like Pence will be standing in for the Nation.
You mean this one?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F67.media.tumblr.com%2F0902f5dfdff3d0d1409ecaa139a4a4b7%2Ftumblr_oadflgHi5F1qz4u07o1_500.gif&hash=b6381b9347930bc71c324328349e4aaeb7c23377)
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Yep!
Actually, a slight variation:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0246c5f6940a356fdef4b9ce1e488a91517e08e4c8df50f72c3fd29d329e66d5.gif
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Yep!
Actually, a slight variation:
(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0246c5f6940a356fdef4b9ce1e488a91517e08e4c8df50f72c3fd29d329e66d5.gif)
Oh, my! Looks like someone bouncing on a bed.
-
Oh, my! Looks like someone bouncing on a bed.
The "T" and the "P" looks to me like someone jerking off. ...
-
Has Trump made his veep announcement?
Will the Republicans be singing,
"Feed the birds, Trumpence a bag
Trumpence, Trumpence, Trumpence a bag"?
I thought of that same thing, Jeff. Was trying to come up with some lyrics.
Maybe this will be Trump's comeupPence.
So, I wanted to be creative this morning. So I tried song lyrics for "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins.
To refresh your memory you can hear the original song here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrRxQVUFN4
If you want to try to sing my lyrics to it, here's an instrumental version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKB8p8_mpZk
Any suggestions one might have to make it better is okay by me, too.
HEED THE WORDS
Early each day to the media zoo
Donald Trump struts to the fore
The media covers each tweet that he utters
"Come, buy the words that he roars."
"Come," says the Donald stump speech that he shouts
"Keep people out; build a wall."
Crowds listen intently
To what he's about
"Make America great again," y'all...
Heed their words, Trump/Pence they're vague
Trump/Pence, Trump/Pence, Trump/Pence they nag
Hear their words, rhetorical lies
I trust what they're selling--nobody buys.
As the hot air blows his hair the press poses questions
But his only talk's of his big bucks.
He won't be specific if he even answers
All we know is that the Donald ducks.
Though Trump U. might lead some to sue
Others, others, approve what you do
Heed their words Trump/Pence so vague
Trump/Pence Trump/Pence Trump/Pence so vague.
All around our good country the populace listens
As the Donald's promoting his brands.
This carnival barker, his orange face does glisten,
When he brags of the size of his hands.
Trump calls everyone nicknames so trite
And we can pray that on election night
The words we hear for Trump/Pence so wired:
Trump/Pence Trump/Pence Trump/Pence "You're Fired."
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Very good, Lyle! :D
-
You can’t reason with this mentality…this is part of what we’re fighting...this 7th century thought process of honor killing.
Men don't go to jail for killing women...it's ok...just a woman...just your sister...
"I really feel that no woman is safe in this country...until we start sending men who kill women to jail...,
.
Pakistani model killed after posting racy photos
Police say a social media celebrity in Pakistan died at her brother’s hands Friday after she stirred controversy by posting racy photos and posing with a prominent Muslim cleric.
Qandeel Baloch, 26, died when one of her six brothers strangled her to death as she slept in the family’s home in the province of Punjab, police said.
Multan Police Chief Akram Azhar told the Associated Press police were searching for the brother, identified by the family as Waseem Azeem, who runs a local cellular phone shop.
“Apparently the lady died of suffocation, but final opinion on her death would be possible only after report of chemical examination comes,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, who was among the team that conducted Baloch’s autopsy. “She might have been given some poisonous substance before being strangled.”
Baloch, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, shot to fame and notoriety with a series of social media postings that would be tame by Western standards but were deeply scandalous by conservative Pakistani societal norms. She cultivated an outrageous public persona, recently promising to perform a public striptease if the Pakistani cricket team won a major tournament.
Baloch had a large following of more than 700,000 people on her official Facebook page. She posted recently she was “trying to change the typical orthodox mindset of people who don’t wanna come out of their shells of false beliefs and old practices.”
Most recently, Baloch became embroiled in public scandal when she posted selfies with Mufti Adbul Qavi, a prominent cleric, in a Karachi hotel room during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. In one picture, she is wearing the cleric’s trademark fur-lined hat.
Following a string of racy video posts and controversies, Baloch started receiving death threats and requested security from the government, the English-language daily newspaper The Express Tribune reported.
Qavi maintained that he only met with her to discuss the teachings of Islam. But the government suspended Qavi and removed him from the official moon-sighting committee that determines when Ramadan starts and ends in accordance with the Islamic lunar calendar.
Condemnations from prominent politicians and filmmakers streamed online Saturday.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said government leaders recently failed to pass legislation aimed at curbing so-called honor killings that claim the lives of hundreds of women each year.
Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy also spoke out. Her documentary A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness won an Oscar earlier this year.
"I really feel that no woman is safe in this country, until we start making examples of people, until we start sending men who kill women to jail, unless we literally say there will be no more killing and those who dare will spend the rest of their lives behind bars," she told the AFP news agency.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnWUkDEWAAADzvE.jpg:large)
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Very good, Lyle! :D
Thank you so much, Jeff!
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After the killings in Baton Rouge today, Obama seemed beaten down when he gave his speech...too many speeches on the same subject...too many dead and no way to change it (thanks NRA lobby)...
The one thing I always gave him credit for was his great oratory...but it failed him today...he had no passion left...no way to politely say to the country "GODDAMN IT, STOP".
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Maybe Obama's passion is gone because he hasn't been personally touched by it, to him 's just another speech, and maybe he sees his legacy going down the drain when it comes to how he handled race relations...
She has been touched, she has passion...
Alton Sterling’s Aunt Gives Very Emotional Reaction to Baton Rouge: ‘Stop This Killing!’
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/alton-sterlings-aunt-gives-very-emotional-reaction-to-baton-rouge-stop-this-killing/ (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/alton-sterlings-aunt-gives-very-emotional-reaction-to-baton-rouge-stop-this-killing/)
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Maybe Obama's passion is gone because he hasn't been personally touched by it, to him 's just another speech, and maybe he sees his legacy going down the drain when it comes to how he handled race relations...
I think that is unfair, I feel very sorry for him. Besides these shootings he has had to comment on Nice and I guess also Istanbul was a worry. It is noticeable how your Presidents age in their 8 years. I wonder why anyone would take it on.
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I don't feel sorry for him in the least. If he wants to be the most powerful leader in the world, I damn well expect more from him than pretty speeches, but that's all we've gotten from him about race. Maybe he was afraid to take it on since he's black, maybe he was afraid he'd be seen as a militant, if he pushed the issue. Now he's just seen as a failure...has he advanced the cause of race relations in this country? Dallas and Baton Rouge, Minneapolis and Ferguson, Cleveland and Philadelphia might say no...
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If he wants to be the most powerful leader in the world, I damn well expect more from him than pretty speeches.
Well, what do you expect of him? The POTUS isn't a dictator and he isn't a magician.
And if he tries to do anything about guns, he runs smack into the bloody-handed NRA and its minions in Congress.
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What do I expect of him?? Don't you expect anything of him?
Well, I’m no politician but how about meeting with the governors oh, say once a year, meeting with the mayors of high risk cities like Detroit, Chicago, NO, Philly, asking them to put forth a plan for community involvement with police and making sure they follow through, more training at the police academy level before they hit the streets, a higher level of testing for incoming officers to try to weed out those with deep seated racial issues, more attention to mandatory minimums for minorities…maybe suggesting to police chiefs that they try to discourage their officers from shooting people in the back as they run away…but I’m just spitballing here…I guess we're doing ok as-is...
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The Federal government (President) cannot dictate to the Governors and Mayors of the individual states. It's not within his realm of duties. Besides, you think most of the thirty-one Republican Governors would even attend such a meeting? They won't even opt in to the Affordable Care Act for
the citizens of their states.
We currently have a two-party system that does not co-operate with each other on anything, even talking about an issue. They won't discuss anything. The current modus operandi of our parties is to shout at each other. Nothing is intended to convince or to provoke thought, but to confirm the biases its intended audience already holds. Not only are race relations seen as divisive, but the political culture is just as divided, and diseased, and it supports such rhetoric where the opposition is not merely misguided or wrong but evil incarnate. So when THAT'S the starting point, how can you hope to move much further?
How can a President appeal to the sensibilities of the G.O.P. when “66% of their voters believe that Obama is a Muslim … 61% think Obama was not born in the United States … And 63% want to amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship.
Let that one roll around in your head for a moment. Among ALL Republicans only 29% grant that President Obama was born in the United States seven plus years into the Obama presidency. A significantly higher percentage believe Ted Cruz was born in the U.S – AND HE WASN'T!
...sigh...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.shopify.com%2Fs%2Ffiles%2F1%2F1282%2F4227%2Fproducts%2F417QDQZEo3L.__UL1500_grande.jpg&hash=bf45fd4e028a39082ebfe4e264167358ac3fcaf0)
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Or...
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FfMSKc87.jpg&hash=c0667b3ece0c51622d2c4191a2fe0d67b29d5b63)
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Who said anything about dictate, did I say dictate? He does have the power (although apparently not the ability) to make it an issue, to start talking, to try to make a difference. Start with Democrats…if they could make even a small start and show even a little success, it might go a long way.
I know it's not as simple as calling a meeting. I know there would be push back from police because of lack of funding and other issues. But he didn't even try. Hell, Michelle was on the front page of every paper for planting carrots, for god sake.
He could have made an effort to make it important, I think he would have gotten a lot of support from the police, people might have seen that it meant something to him, meant enough to spend some time on it, spend some money on it. Wouldn’t it at least be worth it to try to make an effort up front to try to avoid having situations that bring the lawyers into it? Doesn’t it seem like it’s in everyone’s best interest, police, the public at large, even politicians, to work on closing the chasm between police and the people they serve? So you don’t get 100% backing…try.
Or just say we have a 2 party system where it’s impossible to get people to talk…we could do that...oh, wait...
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......
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Perfect picture of Obama - an empty shirt!
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And yet Obama's approval rating is 1% higher than Reagan's was at this point in his second term. Go figure. Does he get any credit for that? Does he get any credit for anything? In his second term, notoriously unproductive for most Presidents, President Obama has normalized relations with Cuba, implemented a historic Iranian nuclear deal, signed a global climate pact with nearly 200 nations, overseen the continued success of Obamacare, all while the economy has recorded 73 straight months of job growth.
And he's done all that while getting almost no support from Republican voters.
“Obama is the first president since polls existed to have never gone above 25
percent approval from the other side. Obama’s approval among Republicans currently
stands at just 14 percent, according to Gallup polls.
Seems to me if a President can stay at 50 percent, with nearly NO support from the other
side, he should be counted a remarkable success.
Empty shirt? Now you're just being provocative.
How about this: What are YOU going to do about it? About the problems of which you speak.
[Obama's] accomplishments [in the race relations area] may not be as epic as some have wished. But even the presidency has its limitations. When Valerie Jarrett told the audience in Aspen that it isn’t Obama’s responsibility to change race relations in the United States, it may have seemed like a punt. He is, after all, the man with the electoral mandate, the bully pulpit, the veto pen, the executive order, and, for his first two years, the Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress. But her response also had the effect of lobbing the question right back to her mostly white audience. Because here’s how she followed up: “The question is: What are we gonna do? It’s a collective responsibility. This is not something where suddenly, because the country elected him president, our history just evaporates. It has to happen family by family.”
The Paradox of the First Black President
As the historic administration nears its final year,
African-American leaders debate: Did Obama do
enough for his own community?
by Jennifer Senior
A very long article, here:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/paradox-of-the-first-black-president.html (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/paradox-of-the-first-black-president.html)
In a country whose basic genetic blueprint includes the same crooked mutations that made slavery and Jim Crow possible, it is not possible to have a black president surrounded by black aides on Marine One without paying a price. And the price that Obama has had to pay — and, more important, that African-Americans have had to pay — is one of caution, moderation, and at times compromised policies: The first black president could do only so much, and say only so much, on behalf of other African-Americans. That is the bittersweet irony of the first black presidency.
My postulations about your opinion that Obama should "do something" might seem like excuses for why he's done little, but you frame it in a way that the possibility is there for him to get co-operation from others in order "to do" something. Is it just that easy? Suddenly, these people who have been having a hissy fit ever since he was elected and vowed NOT to co-operate with him are suddenly going to have an Oprah "a-ha moment?"
Obama’s election brought out not just the best of the country, in other words, but its worst. “Portions of white America have literally had a nervous breakdown over a black man being in the White House,” says Anthea Butler, a religious-studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “I mean, here people are, acting so surprised about Donald Trump’s popularity. Hello? He’s the one who asked Obama for a birth certificate!”
Which is my first reason for Trump being unqualified to be President and I don't need a second.
What do I expect of him?? Don't you expect anything of him?
Obviously, Presidents would like to get "something" done. President Obama has never tried to put forth anything where he didn't have some expectation of it moving forward. In the political stalemates of the past 8 years he's even tried to do some things by Executive Order, which has infuriated those who vowed to stop everything he does from happening. You cannot possibly be blind to the fact that there's a huge segment of the society that absolutely hates the idea of Obama being the President in the first place?
That Gallup survey that trumpeted our optimism after Obama's election also found deep streaks of pessimism. Only 32 percent of McCain voters felt proud of Obama. More than half, 56 percent, felt “afraid.” By 2010, the tea party was ascendant, peddling racist imagery. “No one expected the pictures of him eating watermelon, the pictures making him look like a monkey, the Sambos,” says Arnwine. “The racism was so base.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates tried to show, brick by brick, how the Republican rhetoric of the Obama years has been racialized in ways both subtle and explicit. He noted that Obamacare was framed as “reparations.” (Bill Clinton’s stab at universal health care, meanwhile, was generally framed as an excess of “big government.”) In January 2012, Newt Gingrich declared that “more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in history,” when in fact that distinction goes to George W. Bush. When Obama criticized Arizona’s draconian immigration laws, Iowa congressman Steve King said Obama “has a default mechanism in him … that favors the black person.” And in response to the Gates incident, Glenn Beck said that Obama “has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”
This was the media, Congress, and electorate that Obama had to contend with. How much, realistically, could he explicitly say or do for African-Americans under such circumstances? “I’m deeply conflicted over this fact,” Coates told James Bennet, editor of The Atlantic, in a public discussion. “It’s smart politics for him not to talk about race.”
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So, Trump/Pence gave their first and only interview together (so far) to
Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes. One of Lesley's first questions, to Pence: "What
kind of a Vice President will you be?"
Trump answered the question.
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Have all the Brits who used to post on the Current topics thread Brexited the forum?
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In a segment on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulus program,
Martha Raddatz took a trip from Texas to Cleveland, the site of the Rep.
convention starting today, traveling through hotspots in the news of Dallas,
Louisiana, Ferguson, Chicago and the like, asking voters about their Presidential
election notions and preferences this year.
At one telling stop she visited a shooting range in Iowa where all the attendees
seemed to be 80 year old white men with rifles. Martha said, "OK, I have a
question for you, by a show of hands, who's for Donald Trump this year?" All
raised their hands. "Why is that," Martha asked?
"...'cause he's for guns."
On the hopeful side, to me, at one stop she interviewed a man concerned about
who would be best at keeping his family and the country safe. Martha: "Who would
that be?" "It looks like that would be Hillary," he said. "You've never voted for a
Democrat before, have you," queried Martha? "No," he replied, "I have not."
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Ingy thank God you and yours are safe. Our thoughts are with France and everyone affected by this mindless violence.
Merci.
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Thoughts and prayers with and for everyone in Nice.
Merci.
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LOL
(https://scontent-frt.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p480x480/13775363_1112713998784934_4536533825929973815_n.jpg?oh=2e92fe4d67357c9b0f7918f9c0caaf41&oe=57E966BE)
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Who else is watching the Republican National Convention? I'm finding it really fascinating, if somewhat vomit inducing. The fascinating part is how the CNN panel is discussing it as if it isn't the embarrassing clown show that it is. God help us !
Oh, it must be a washroom break, Ben Carson just walked on stage. (Black attendance has just doubled)
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Who else is watching the Republican National Convention?
To think I'm old enough to remember when there was hardly any difference to choose between the two parties. :(
I'd rather watch the Westerns on TCM. ...
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Speaking of Ben Carson, he went off script, apparently, and tried to
tie Hillary Clinton to Lucifer by way of a college thesis she wrote.
No wonder Ben Carson is so interested in brain surgery. Many
people are interested in things they do not possess.
I've watched parts of the Republican convention, I just didn't want to be in a bad mood all night.
What I have watched more are the late night shows really lambasting the proceedings.
Treating it like the clown show as you said. Especially Stephen Colbert who's
been doing live shows all week after the convention's over for maximum effect.
Live EST that is.
He even was inside the "Arena" the first night, why they let him have press credentials
is beyond me. He even went up the podium where he wasn't supposed to be. He said,
"This week, in this arena, the Republicans will show they are truly passionate about one
candidate: Hillary Clinton!" When the security came to escort him offstage he turned to
them and said, "Look, look, I realize I am not supposed to be up here, but let's be honest.
Neither is Donald Trump."
That Milania/Michelle photo is great, Ingy! The thing about the Republican party that you
just cannot take them seriously or believe anything they say is that there is absolutely no
consistency with them. The only consistency is that they want their way. You know that if
it was reversed and Michelle had plagiarized Milania's speech that you'd never hear the end
of it. There'd be calls for her to divorce President Obama and leave the city. Does anyone
remember back in 2004 when John Kerry was running for President and how awful it was
that his wife was French? There were serious concerns about that being unpatriotic. How
could you trust someone who married someone French? Now the party is embracing Milania
Trump, born in Slovenia and they love documentarian (propagandist really) Dinesh D'Souza,
born in India--two people that if they didn't know who they were, they wouldn't let into their
neighborhoods.
And Paul Ryan's speech, ugh. He portrayed the Republican Party, whose nominee has never
read a book about any president (Trump said so), as one that offers “a better way for our
country, based on fundamentals that go back to the founding generation.” How would Trump
know that. Ryan is out for power, that's the only explanation of his tightrope walking with that
party. He even wistfully had the convention remember he was their V.P. nominee 4 years ago.
Then there's Senate Leader Mitch McConnell. When he was announced as the next speaker there
was a sizable amount of the Republican convention that actually booed him. They don't even like
him. I loathe this man...ever since he came out right after President Obama was elected and
stated that his main job in the Senate would be to keep President Obama a one-term President.
(Fail.) So last night when he was booed by his own party (probably for not keeping that promise)
and began extolling the virtues of the Republican Party--he actually said that Republicans, unlike
the Democrats, are a party that does it's job and I just got livid, HOW ABOUT DOING YOUR JOB
AND HOLD HEARINGS ON A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE YOU ASSHOLE--that I had to turn it off.
I swear that if I was ever in proximity to that man I'd go over and punch him in the face. Then
I'd say, "Be glad I'm not a Republican or I'd have had a gun and it would've been worse."
More Milania news: Some reporters began questioning her education after her speech the other night. Her biography claims that she has "a degree in design and architecture from 'University in Slovenia'.” Her biographers, however, claim she was a college dropout after he freshman year.
From the biography: Later, in America, after meeting Donald Trump and officially becoming his partner, Melania Knauss told the media that she got her degree in architecture and design. This was almost certainly done in consultation with Trump and his advisors, as they were desperate to give off the impression that the Slovenian model was not just beautiful, but also smart and well-educated.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/melania-trump-college-claims_us_578dd95ce4b0c53d5cfac0dc
I love that the Huffington Post, after any article relating to Donald Trump, posts this note (with links supporting it) from the editor:
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
Thank you, Republicans and your party, for the last forty years, and probably longer, you've been getting your membership to hate Government ("Government isn't the solution to our problems, government is the problem," Reagan), first demonizing everything the opposition stands for and pillorying each and every candidate put forth so that they're seen as devils, then your members turned on their own party because they felt they elected you to destroy them and you didn't, so they formed their tea party offshoot with the same results, ultimately, and now they don't trust their own party, either, and have gone rogue with Donald Trump whose supporters just don't care what he says or does or thinks or anything, they just want to blow things up. Well done.
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What I have watched more are the late night shows really lambasting the proceedings.
Treating it like the clown show as you said. Especially Stephen Colbert who's
been doing live shows all week after the convention's over for maximum effect.
Live EST that is.
He even was inside the "Arena" the first night, why they let him have press credentials
is beyond me.
Well, if they're stupid enough to plagiarize a speech of Michelle Obama's and not expect to get caught. ...
The credentials people probably never get their heads out of their asses Fox News, so they probably never heard of him.
He even went up the podium where he wasn't supposed to be. He said,
"This week, in this arena, the Republicans will show they are truly passionate about one
candidate: Hillary Clinton!" When the security came to escort him offstage he turned to
them and said, "Look, look, I realize I am not supposed to be up here, but let's be honest.
Neither is Donald Trump."
:laugh:
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Well, if they're stupid enough to plagiarize a speech of Michelle Obama's and not expect to get caught. ...
1 in 1 trillion
Approximate probability that a 16-word phrase in one speech would coincidentally match a phrase of the same length in another speech, according to the company that makes Turnitin, a plagiarism-detection program. On Monday night, Melania Trump appears to have partially plagiarized Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention.
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Yeah, no way I could watch that, and we went out to a neighbor's for dinner anyway.
I'm perfectly happy to get a summary on NPR the next morning. Even that required offering a lot up for the poor souls in Purgatory.
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Have all the Brits who used to post on the Current topics thread Brexited the forum?
To use an old English expression Lyle....we are totally "Gobsmacked" about our own Political position.....and lost for words about America's !!
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To use an old English expression Lyle....we are totally "Gobsmacked" about our own Political position.....and lost for words about America's !!
Heh. Some of us Americans are lost for words about our political situation!
I have totally lost faith in my fellow Americans. An acquaintance of mine, someone I drink with almost every weekend, an otherwise (apparently) sensible older gay man, a retired educator (teacher, high school principal), is supporting Trump. All he keeps repeating is, "Hillary Clinton is a liar, Hillary Clinton is a liar, she lied in public office, she lied in public office." Never mind Trump's insulting women, the disabled, all Muslims, his refusal to release his tax returns. If someone like my drinking acquaintance is a Trump supporter, there is no hope.
The country isn't going to Hell in a handbasket. It's there already. I expect a Trump victory in November, and I expect this will be followed by an upsurge in anti-gay violence and attempts by social conservatives to roll back the rights we have won. I expect I will need to consult with a friend who is a retired police officer--and gay--on buying a gun for myself, and getting training and a permit for it. I expect I may need it to protect myself.
With apologies to the atheists in this community--may God have mercy on us.
(Yes, I'm serious.)
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To use an old English expression Lyle....we are totally "Gobsmacked" about our own Political position.....and lost for words about America's !!
I think that's about right, Sue!
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Have all the Brits who used to post on the Current topics thread Brexited the forum?
To retain my sanity I've had to Brexit most news info. Honestly, I really can't cope with any more of it so I've retreated into complete trivia to avoid meltdown. I did watch Melania though. I've always enjoyed farce. :)
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Thanks for peaking out Janie, Sara and Sue! I agree that overwhelming circumstances
can make one numb and want to hide, but then those concerned with our mental health
say that is really the time we should reach out to others and share!
As you may have noticed, I've been babbling a lot on the news thread! Whether
it's benefiting anyone else or not, it is helping me cope with things more! Also,
even in disagreement, people are way more friendly on this forum than most
other places you'll find on the internet!
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Heh. Some of us Americans are lost for words about our political situation!
I have totally lost faith in my fellow Americans.
I'm also at a loss for words about the current political situation, but I have to have the faith that our
fellow Americans will wise up come election time. If I have to help them realize this, I will do what I can.
An acquaintance of mine, someone I drink with almost every weekend, an otherwise (apparently) sensible older gay man, a retired educator (teacher, high school principal), is supporting Trump. All he keeps repeating is, "Hillary Clinton is a liar, Hillary Clinton is a liar, she lied in public office, she lied in public office." Never mind Trump's insulting women, the disabled, all Muslims, his refusal to release his tax returns. If someone like my drinking acquaintance is a Trump supporter, there is no hope.
If anyone remembers wading through years on the current events thread, we have discussed the Republican party's strategy of just repeating things until people believe them. They have been doing things like that for years and especially with the Clintons. Since they've been around for awhile, too, there's a lot of ground to cover. It's also that the old truth, biblical or philosophical, comes into play: "What ye shall seek, ye shall find," or as Sophocles put it: "Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected."
I guarantee that if you want to brand anyone a liar, including Mother Teresa, you could find something to point to. Repeat it long enough and it gets repeated and repeating gets people to believe things, whether they're really true or not. It becomes a meme and meme's aren't truth. Memes can be true or false. Or even both or neither.
So the Republicans have been after Hillary for eons and the meme of calling her a liar has stuck. By their own admission they wasted taxpayer money on the longest investigation in U.S. History to "bring down her poll numbers." The Benghazi investigation. And nothing came of it except they insist something was up, they just didn't find it. They have gone so far that they routinely trot out a grieving mother of one of the attack victims, Sean Smith, whose been convinced that her son's killing was explicitly the doing of Hillary Clinton. "I blame Hillary Clinton personally," she says. "Hillary for prison. She deserves to be in stripes." They had her speak at the convention. Shameless.
"Hillary Clinton is a woman, a mother, and a grandmother of two," Smith said. "I am a woman, a mother, and a grandmother of two. How could she do this to me?"
An audience member yelled, of Clinton: "She's a liar!"
"She sure is," Smith responded.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/18/politics/benghazi-mother-hillary-clinton-rnc/
One must also realize that in the age of ever increasing media, that news organizations need eyeballs or hits or tweets or whatever to justify their being. They've always been interested in playing up the horserace aspects of elections and so playing up the fact people think Hillary's a liar and Trump is unqualified is a way to be fair and balanced and get both sides riled up to pay attention to them. After all, "We're just reporting what people think," as one reporter said. Truth be damned.
Hillary's been pilloried more than any other political personage I can think of. How she can stand it is beyond me, but the more she does, the more I admire her. No political candidate is perfect. But as much as the conservatives would like to have you believe, Hillary is not the devil incarnate. (Even though Ben Carson tried tying her to Lucifer in his speech on Tuesday--sheesh!) No more than Reagan was a saint, according to these same people.
Republican Elites are Feeding Their Base’s Hatred of Hillary Clinton in Scary Ways
by Andrew Prokop on July 19, 2016
http://www.vox.com/republican-convention (http://www.vox.com/2016/7/19/12221346/republican-convention-hillary-clinton-lock-her-up)
And the same people who keep shouting and repeating the HILLARY IS A LIAR meme have a candidate that isn't?
Check out Politifact's pages on Donald Trump:
http://www.politifact.com/donald-trump/ (http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/)
Out of all the statements made by Donald Trump during his campaign they have aggregated, only a measly 11% are even rated True or Mostly True.
So--who is the LIAR? Do you need a hint?
You may have seen or heard of that video someone posted online claiming it is Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight.
Check out this article:
Hillary Clinton Is Not a Liar
by Ben Geier
http://fortune.com/2016/05/20/hillary-clinton-is-not-a-liar/
Birds fly. Fish swim. And politicians tell people what they want to hear. But that doesn’t make them liars.
People have a great capacity to look for what they want to find, ignore what they don't want to see, and convolute almost any idea that they want to.
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The country isn't going to Hell in a handbasket. It's there already. I expect a Trump victory in November,
Coming from a historical point of view, I'd have to say that our country has been in worse situations than this, like 1859-61, right before the Civil War, 1895 or so, the depression years leading to WWII, 1968, possibly others...
I hope this isn't offensive, Jeff, but why would you EXPECT something you don't want to happen? Isn't that kind of acquiescing or accepting an outcome that hasn't happened? I have two ways to think about it. I choose to think it will not happen, and, saying that, I then have to act accordingly. If I have a friend, like you do, who is a Trump supporter, I feel a sort of duty to point out what I can to dissuade them of that idea. I mean, this time it's more important than ever to do that, I'd say. With some people that's easier said than done, obviously, but something the experts say parents can do about raising children the way they'd like them to turn out is that the one thing that influences their children's behavior the most about things like smoking, drugs, sexual activity or the like is the simple fact of "knowing" where their parents stand on these issues. That's why if someone asks me about this election I have no hesitation in saying, I am happily supporting Hillary Clinton. I wear a campaign button, too, so everyone knows. I am not ashamed at all of voting for Hillary Clinton.
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...and I expect this will be followed by an upsurge in anti-gay violence and attempts by social conservatives to roll back the rights we have won. I expect I will need to consult with a friend who is a retired police officer--and gay--on buying a gun for myself, and getting training and a permit for it. I expect I may need it to protect myself.
(Yes, I'm serious.)
I'll offer a different scenario. I expect Hillary Clinton is going to win big this election because people will come to their senses, some of them grudgingly, and realize that Trump is not a way forward to a better America. After the election people will settle down and once Hillary is in office they'll enjoy having a woman presiding over the country and wonder why it hasn't happened sooner. So many Democrats got elected that the Senate and even the house has changed hands.
Since I have a choice, this is the scenario I am going to put forth.
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Coming from a historical point of view, I'd have to say that our country has been in worse situations than this, like 1859-61, right before the Civil War, 1895 or so, the depression years leading to WWII, 1968, possibly others...
I don't know. ...
I hope this isn't offensive, Jeff, but why would you EXPECT something you don't want to happen? Isn't that kind of acquiescing or accepting an outcome that hasn't happened? I have two ways to think about it. I choose to think it will not happen, and, saying that, I then have to act accordingly. If I have a friend, like you do, who is a Trump supporter, I feel a sort of duty to point out what I can to dissuade them of that idea. I mean, this time it's more important than ever to do that, I'd say. With some people that's easier said than done, obviously, but something the experts say parents can do about raising children the way they'd like them to turn out is that the one thing that influences their children's behavior the most about things like smoking, drugs, sexual activity or the like is the simple fact of "knowing" where their parents stand on these issues. That's why if someone asks me about this election I have no hesitation in saying, I am happily supporting Hillary Clinton. I wear a campaign button, too, so everyone knows. I am not ashamed at all of voting for Hillary Clinton.
No, that isn't offensive, but I don't really understand your question. I'm afraid the question makes no sense to me. I'm afraid wanting, or not wanting, a particular outcome, and believing or expecting you're going to get it, or not get it, seem two different things to me. Just because I expect a Trump win in November doesn't mean I'm going to stay away from the polls and not vote for Hillary. Of course I will vote for her. I don't feel that expecting she will lose is at all acquiescing to something that has not yet happened.
As for convincing my drinking acquaintance, that's a lost cause. You should have been there this past Saturday night when I sat between him and another friend--one who was proudly wearing his Hillary button--while he argued himself red in the face--and not for the first time--trying to convince the Trump supporter of the error of his ways. He might as well have saved his breath; it was like he was talking to the proverbial brick wall.
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It is very much a religious form of zeal.
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Not exactly news, but interesting. And in Murdoch's newspaper!
http://nypost.com/2016/07/21/male-escorts-are-making-crazy-money-at-the-rnc/
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You mean from Trump supporters Fritz?
______
Jeff, I mean that when I hear someone say "I expect a Trump victory in November"
I feel the person saying it has given in to that possibility and by also saying that
it also gives, in a way, permission for others to accept it, too. That can either
result in someone liking the idea themselves and acting on it, or being depressed
about it and not voting. It's unlikely to make someone feel like doing something
against it, because it's a defeating idea. In other words, I personally wouldn't say
that. I might say I fear a Trump victory or see the possibility it could happen, but
to say in an emphatic sort of way that I expect one seems like a foregone conclusion
that isn't born out by any polls or statistics so far. ...for what it's worth.
-
Well, Republicans! Whether they get it up for Trump is an entirely different question! ;)
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Jeff, I mean that when I hear someone say "I expect a Trump victory in November"
I feel the person saying it has given in to that possibility and by also saying that
it also gives, in a way, permission for others to accept it, too. That can either
result in someone liking the idea themselves and acting on it, or being depressed
about it and not voting. It's unlikely to make someone feel like doing something
against it, because it's a defeating idea. In other words, I personally wouldn't say
that. I might say I fear a Trump victory or see the possibility it could happen, but
to say in an emphatic sort of way that I expect one seems like a foregone conclusion
that isn't born out by any polls or statistics so far. ...for what it's worth.
Thanks for explaining, Lyle. I simply don't see it that way. Nor am I acquainted with anyone who will be encouraged to go over to the Trump camp or be discouraged from voting for Hillary--or from voting at all--simply because I say that I think Trump is going to win in November. I hope I'm wrong, I'd love to be proven wrong, but my sense of the temper of the times is that Trump is going to win in November. When someone like my drinking acquaintance is supporting Trump--well, I expect a Trump victory in November.
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It's official! Hillary Clinton is running against Vladimir Putin!
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/07/clinton-trump-putin-nato/492332/
Who would have ever thought that the Russian dictator would run as a Republican? And find a congenial home in that party? Party leaders were quite prescient to adopt the color red after all.
-
As for convincing my drinking acquaintance, that's a lost cause. You should have been there this past Saturday night when I sat between him and another friend--one who was proudly wearing his Hillary button--while he argued himself red in the face--and not for the first time--trying to convince the Trump supporter of the error of his ways. He might as well have saved his breath; it was like he was talking to the proverbial brick wall.
Well, how about a different approach if your friend allows it. Ask him to explain why he's for Trump.
Ask him to read this article, the concerns the author and many others, like myself, have about
Trump, and ask him why these things do not bother him. I sure would be interested.
And what state are you IN???
Donald Trump’s Nomination is the First Time American Politics Has Left Me Truly Afraid
Vox / Policy & Politics - July 21, 2016
by Ezra Klein
-
Before I read any other opinions online, I just watched the acceptance speech.
It was a Festival of Narcissism. Trump comes out and first brags about the record numbers of
votes he received and how many the Democrats didn't. Then he went through a checklist
of every one liner he could think of as to what he's gonna do. You name it. Everything in the
world is bad, caused by Hillary Clinton (he threw President Obama in, too) and I'm gonna take
care of it. (Talk about big Government, if the Republicans think he can do all he says AND cut
taxes then they're as delusional as he is.) The he went through just about every ethnic group or
other group, including Bernie Sanders supporters, and pandered to them, including mentioning the
Orlando attack, which made me cringe, and how he's going to keep LGBTQ people safe. And he had
trouble saying LGBTQ -- twice.
Not to mention the speech was very dark and right from the beginning delivered at the decibel
pitch of a home fire alarm going off. For s e v e n t y - f i v e minutes. I heard afterward it was
the longest speech delivered by a any nominee since 1972. And all the way through he had the
demeanor of someone who was sucking on lemons.
It ended with a fanfare of more narcissism. I'm not surprised, that's what he's about. He was asked
in a New York Times interview the other day: "What do you think people will take away from this
convention? What are you hoping?"
Trump: "From the convention? The fact that I'm very well liked."
And either there's other more appropriate lyrics to this song or it was another case of cognitive
dissonance at the RNC or Trump was subtly lowering expectations, but as the balloons fell the song
you heard was the Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
-
I want to support the cops as much as the next guy, but shit like this makes it very difficult. I do not understand.
North Miami police shoot black man, his hands were raised while he tried to help autistic group-home resident
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/21/fla-police-shoot-black-man-with-his-hands-up-as-he-tries-to-help-autistic-patient/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/21/fla-police-shoot-black-man-with-his-hands-up-as-he-tries-to-help-autistic-patient/)
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Thanks for peaking out Janie, Sara and Sue! I agree that overwhelming circumstances
can make one numb and want to hide, but then those concerned with our mental health
say that is really the time we should reach out to others and share!
As you may have noticed, I've been babbling a lot on the news thread! Whether
it's benefiting anyone else or not, it is helping me cope with things more! Also,
even in disagreement, people are way more friendly on this forum than most
other places you'll find on the internet!
Nice post, Lyle! (Though I'm afraid I'm a little past my peak LOL)
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I want to support the cops as much as the next guy, but shit like this makes it very difficult. I do not understand.
North Miami police shoot black man, his hands were raised while he tried to help autistic group-home resident
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/21/fla-police-shoot-black-man-with-his-hands-up-as-he-tries-to-help-autistic-patient/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/21/fla-police-shoot-black-man-with-his-hands-up-as-he-tries-to-help-autistic-patient/)
I saw a clip of the shooting victim on TV news. He said that he said to the cop, "Why did you shoot me?" And the cop answered, "I don't know."
Just beyond belief. ... :(
-
Before I read any other opinions online, I just watched the acceptance speech.
It was a Festival of Narcissism. Trump comes out and first brags about the record numbers of
votes he received and how many the Democrats didn't. Then he went through a checklist
of every one liner he could think of as to what he's gonna do. You name it. Everything in the
world is bad, caused by Hillary Clinton (he threw President Obama in, too) and I'm gonna take
care of it. (Talk about big Government, if the Republicans think he can do all he says AND cut
taxes then they're as delusional as he is.) The he went through just about every ethnic group or
other group, including Bernie Sanders supporters, and pandered to them, including mentioning the
Orlando attack, which made me cringe, and how he's going to keep LGBTQ people safe. And he had
trouble saying LGBTQ -- twice.
Not to mention the speech was very dark and right from the beginning delivered at the decibel
pitch of a home fire alarm going off. For s e v e n t y - f i v e minutes. I heard afterward it was
the longest speech delivered by a any nominee since 1972. And all the way through he had the
demeanor of someone who was sucking on lemons.
It ended with a fanfare of more narcissism. I'm not surprised, that's what he's about. He was asked
in a New York Times interview the other day: "What do you think people will take away from this
convention? What are you hoping?"
Trump: "From the convention? The fact that I'm very well liked."
And either there's other more appropriate lyrics to this song or it was another case of cognitive
dissonance at the RNC or Trump was subtly lowering expectations, but as the balloons fell the song
you heard was the Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
I thought they'd already told him not to use any of their music in his campaign...along with lots of other bands?
-
Well, how about a different approach if your friend allows it. Ask him to explain why he's for Trump.
Ask him to read this article, the concerns the author and many others, like myself, have about
Trump, and ask him why these things do not bother him. I sure would be interested.
And what state are you IN???
Donald Trump’s Nomination is the First Time American Politics Has Left Me Truly Afraid
Vox / Policy & Politics - July 21, 2016
by Ezra Klein
Well, the two of them have been going at it for months. I'm sick and tired of listening to them. He's heard all the reasons not to support Trump, and he's made up his mind.
Me, what state am I in? I'm in the state of Despair. :D
No, actually, Pennsylvania. You know, that place of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between? The acquaintance in question, however, is the Philadelphia equivalent of a bridge-and-tunnel person; he lives in Jersey and comes to Philadelphia to socialize, so he's not a Pennsylvania voter.
-
^^^^^^
Oh, good, at least New Jersey should be reliably in the blue this year, so I won't
worry much about your friend's vote then, lol! :laugh:
So will you guys be in Philadelphio next week to enjoy some convention activities?
http://nypost.com/2016/07/21/male-escorts-are-making-crazy-money-at-the-rnc/
8) :P 8)
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So will you guys be in Philadelphio next week to enjoy some convention activities?
I'm stickin' around. Don't know I'll really be doing anything convention-related. I just hope the protesters don't make it difficult for me to get to and from work. But I survived Pope-a-palooza (or Pope-ageddon), so I'll get through this.
Sure would be nice to actually see Hillary in person. I might think she's going to lose in November, but I've still liked her since that other Clinton got elected POTUS.
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Stop saying that! :-*
-
Shopping mall shooting in Munich. :(
-
By the way, I don't know why they bother traveling to different cities for conventions anymore.
It doesn't really do the host city any good. There's so much security now that unless you're
right around the site there's no payoff for many restaurants or shops in the area. The general
public isn't invited to participate in anything. When the Democratic convention was in Los Angeles
in 2000, it could have been anywhere else in the country as far as it affected us. They should just
have them all in their tv bunkers and be done with it, I guess. Unlike the Olympics where you get
a genuine sense, and often appreciation, of the city they're held in, when you think of a convention
past you really have no idea where it was.
-
I saw a clip of the shooting victim on TV news. He said that he said to the cop, "Why did you shoot me?" And the cop answered, "I don't know."
Just beyond belief. ... :(
Yes, cops are on edge a n y w a y in their jobs and now that edginess is making things worse on both sides.
There was no reason for this.
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Yes, cops are on edge a n y w a y in their jobs and now that edginess is making things worse on both sides.
There was no reason for this.
I hope the guy sues and gets $20m...if the cops' own sense of decency doesn't stop them from these horrible, senseless, I can't think of a word bad enough, shootings, maybe spending taxpayer money to victims will...hasn't yet, though >:(
-
Has anybody seen anything addressing the misogyny vote--people who won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman, and they think a woman shouldn't be POTUS? Wouldn't matter whether it's Hillary or the Virgin Mary, they still wouldn't vote for a woman? These people must be out there. I know there are people (not just Roman Catholic bishops) who think women shouldn't be clergy, and I remember there were people who wouldn't give Barack Obama a thought because they thought no one should be POTUS who hadn't served in the military, so there must be people who simply won't vote for a woman, no matter who she is.
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Stop saying that! :-*
I hope you prepare yourself. Trump is tapping into a lot of white male anger.
And there are a lot of voters who are just plain stupid. They give no thought to the implications of things he says, or how he's actually going to do the things he says.
He's going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it? What's he going to do, send them a bill?
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And he is going to bring law and order by allowing everyone to keep their guns ????
We are all gobsmacked by the TV images of that carer guy with his hands up being shot and the policeman saying he does not know why.
As I often say, our police do not normally carry guns. They are locked in their vehicle and they are suppose to get permission before unlocking.
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I hope you prepare yourself. Trump is tapping into a lot of white male anger.
Fortunately there's a lot more Latinos, Asians, Blacks, females, Democrats...
As for preparing myself...I do not have to...my choice. I refuse to put out any thoughts into the ether that this is even a remote possibility.
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So, it's Clinton / Kaine.
Thoughts from Virginian's?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fc8.alamy.com%2Fcomp%2FFJJJF0%2Fepa00999402-queen-elizabeth-ii-r-is-escorted-by-virginias-governor-FJJJF0.jpg&hash=54e1da4b4678da7e1ebc96d22e27855225e5dd36)
What is the Queen thinking?
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I don't know about you, but which couple would you rather hang around with?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.wennermedia.com%2F620-width%2Fdonald-trump-mike-pence-7ce7232f-7e85-469c-8603-4495782251ca.jpg&hash=03766b50486e6998e6f3cc8d3c40f7ce1efcdbbc) (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent-img.newsinc.com%2Fjpg%2F52%2F31141633%2F40701760.jpg&hash=431f547054e0d3a92c85a9c714b24b8fab10e3f8)
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I hope the guy sues and gets $20m...if the cops' own sense of decency doesn't stop them from these horrible, senseless, I can't think of a word bad enough, shootings, maybe spending taxpayer money to victims will...hasn't yet, though >:(
Nancy, in the last 5 years Albuquerque has had 28 fatal incidents by the police. Per capita, that’s eight times the rate in New York City. The Albuquerque Journal estimated the tab at $23 million for past settlements, plus another $5 million for the reforms mandated by the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2012 it launched a massive civil rights investigation of police tactics here. Its findings, a 46-page report released last year, blasted the department, saying it engages in a pattern of excessive force, including deadly force, often against those with mental illness and in crisis.
There are more cases pending, so the $23 million figure will go higher. So taxpayer money, and an investigation by the Dept. of Justice has not stopped it here.
-
By the way, I don't know why they bother traveling to different cities for conventions anymore.
It doesn't really do the host city any good. There's so much security now that unless you're
right around the site there's no payoff for many restaurants or shops in the area. The general
public isn't invited to participate in anything. When the Democratic convention was in Los Angeles
in 2000, it could have been anywhere else in the country as far as it affected us. They should just
have them all in their tv bunkers and be done with it, I guess. Unlike the Olympics where you get
a genuine sense, and often appreciation, of the city they're held in, when you think of a convention
past you really have no idea where it was.
Apparently, male escorts couldn't keep up with the demand during the Republican convention so that's one segment that benefitted. Interestingly, for female escorts it was business as usual.
-
Fortunately there's a lot more Latinos, Asians, Blacks, females, Democrats...
As for preparing myself...I do not have to...my choice. I refuse to put out any thoughts into the ether that this is even a remote possibility.
Well, that's a good point, but if you're not preparing yourself mentally in case the worst happens, then let us not hear any weeping and wailing the morning after election day if the worst happens.
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So, it's Clinton / Kaine.
Thoughts from Virginian's?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fc8.alamy.com%2Fcomp%2FFJJJF0%2Fepa00999402-queen-elizabeth-ii-r-is-escorted-by-virginias-governor-FJJJF0.jpg&hash=54e1da4b4678da7e1ebc96d22e27855225e5dd36)
What is the Queen thinking?
I liked him as governor and senator, and going to miss him in the Senate. A good man, not sure if he'll be able to do the attack dog role that previous VP candidates have performed, but I hope he'll do well.
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Although there's always exceptions to the rule, they say that more optimistic and hopeful
campaigns win. Trump and Pence are anything but optimistic, they see every silver lining
has a dark cloud. Tim Kaine has a great demeanor and upbeat personality. That alone has
to rub off on someone I would hope.
-
Yep, I certainly hope so! Trumpence has a corner on darkness.
-
I remember the Congressional campaign of 1970 (I think), when Nixon was trying to scare people into voting for his party, but Edmund Muskie would have none of it, stressing calm. It is usual for the opposition to win in off-year elections, but the Democrats did especially well that year.
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Well, that's a good point, but if you're not preparing yourself mentally in case the worst happens, then let us not hear any weeping and wailing the morning after election day if the worst happens.
Wouldn't that be the most logical time to weep and wail and not before?
Although I cannot say I am always successful, I don't see the point in preparing for an outcome I don't want to happen.
To me that's like going to a baseball game and preparing myself mentally in case my team loses. Why would I do that?
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Lyle, I know you say the "lesser of 2 evils" is bullshit, but that's how I feel right now. I despise Clinton and I cannot vote for her (and her handmaiden Tim "TPP" Kaine) and I hate Trump for not giving me a tolerable alternative...and who is the Independent candidate? He's auditioning for SNL.........
I kind of agree w/ Jeff..........no good outcome...
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I loved the line in Hillary's speech yesterday when she said,
“Something has gone terribly wrong when someone says 'vote your conscience' and gets booed.”
_______________
In my mind, I cannot take any Republican seriously from this year forward that can support Trump.
I'm not saying that I support or agree with anyone's views in particular, I'm just saying that any
trust I'd have at all in a Republican leader would be severely nullified if they support Trump. That
means I respect all of those who have denounced him and say they won't vote for him. That means
I have respect, dare I say it, for Ted Cruz not endorsing him, as the Bush's, Romney, Sen. Kirk,
Kasich and others have stood up to say also. It means that Jeff Sessions, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie,
Bob Dole, John McCain have sunk to depths lower than low.
And then there's a term for those like McConnell and Ryan:
“Vichy Republicans” is a useful shorthand for the likes of Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Reince Priebus, John McCain, Bob Dole, etc. who are accommodating themselves to the power of the moment rather than siding with the Resistance — but who will race one another to say, “Oh, we were against him all along” if and when he goes down.
The individuals in question are making an historic mistake by supporting an historically unqualified man, and whatever the outcome is, history will judge them.
Looking at historic precedents, folks have used comparisons to Hitler. I think there is some truth to this, given his Nazi-esque predilection for scapegoating minorities, his love for white essentialism and his capability to use fear and not vision and the painting of a country in ruins as the basis of a campaign. 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.
http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/487973/ (http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/06/what-if-he-wins-what-if-he-loses/487973/)
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Please please tell me that you don't believe what a candidate running for president says/tells "you"...please tell me that you can read beyond the empty promises of "i'll do whatever it takes to get you to vote for me, i believe in you, i believe in everything YOU believe in......"
Please tell me you know their weaknesses, that they are lying to win your vote, that they just want to WIN because they are politicians who only care about themselves.......
please tell me you know that
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Wouldn't that be the most logical time to weep and wail and not before?
Although I cannot say I am always successful, I don't see the point in preparing for an outcome I don't want to happen.
To me that's like going to a baseball game and preparing myself mentally in case my team loses. Why would I do that?
And why would you not, when it's certainly a possible outcome? If your team is currently the top ranked in the league, and the opposing team has the current worst record in the league, the outcome may be unlikely, but it's never impossible.
It's foolish not to prepare for the worst. And as far as I'm concerned no one who refuses to prepare for it has any right to wring his hands and cry, "Oh, woe is me!" if the worst happens.
And I'm certainly not weeping and wailing. Pennsylvania Germans don't weep and wail. We prepare ourselves to face unfavorable outcomes, so we're ready if they happen. We just make sure we have on our big-boy pants and are ready to face whatever comes. ;D
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Lyle, I know you say the "lesser of 2 evils" is bullshit, but that's how I feel right now. I despise Clinton and I cannot vote for her (and her handmaiden Tim "TPP" Kaine) and I hate Trump for not giving me a tolerable alternative...and who is the Independent candidate? He's auditioning for SNL.........
I kind of agree w/ Jeff..........no good outcome...
Well, OK, but do let me be clear. I don't think a Hillary win would be a bad outcome. I've respected her since "the other Clinton" became POTUS. I would view it as a positively good outcome, not as the lesser of two evils. The trouble is, with another Democrat in the White House and the Republicans in control of Congress, it will be business as usual. But I find even that preferable to Trump in the White House and the Republicans in control of Congress.
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Well, it appears the DNC delegates have begun to arrive in town. For two days already, in the parking lot next to my building, there has been a van with the logo "Feel the Bern" on it.
On my way to farmers' market today, I overheard two guys talking and sounding very much like delegates to something. They didn't have any kind of identifying badges--I looked--but they were talking about representing people.
I also saw someone wearing a t-shirt with the logo "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Republican."
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Just been having a conversation at supper with 8 and 9 year old grandchildren about the European Union and Brexit, about our new prime minister, and about the US elections and Donald Trump. They say that at their school in the rural south-west of England they think Trump is hilarious, and draw cartoons and make up jokes about him.
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And why would you not, when it's certainly a possible outcome?
It's a waste of time and energy. One cannot possibly prepare for ALL outcomes of things.
So, prepare for the outcome you want to happen. And preparing should also mean action;
doing something to help with the outcome you desire if you can.
I would hate for our military to be run by preparing for the possibility of losing.
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Please please tell me that you don't believe what a candidate running for president says/tells "you"...please tell me that you can read beyond the empty promises of "i'll do whatever it takes to get you to vote for me, i believe in you, i believe in everything YOU believe in......"
Please tell me you know their weaknesses, that they are lying to win your vote, that they just want to WIN because they are politicians who only care about themselves.......
please tell me you know that
This is my answer:
As I wrote in a previous post about Hillary Clinton being a liar, and linked to an article about it, there's a big difference between lying and pandering. I have always stated that when it comes to Presidential candidates, you have two choices (if you want to vote for one with a chance of winning) and the best you can hope for in voting for a President is to get someone in office that will move the country in the direction you'd like to see it move. These people you see at the conventions who talk about their candidate bringing high paying jobs to them or lowering taxes or other specific things that they think will happen if they only vote for that person is really delusional if they think those things will definitely happen or at all. You can be surprised sometimes, but not many. So don't count on it.
This year--it's a simple as this for me: I can vote for Hillary Clinton, or I can vote for Trump. One reason only that I need, though I have some more: Hillary will appoint a Supreme Court Justice immediately, or because she won, the Congress will approve Merrick Garland in the lame duck session, fearing whom Hillary might nominate. I'm inclined to vote against the Republicans anyway simply because they will not do their job and have the hearings and vote already. It's been over 125 days we've been waiting, the longest EVER for a person put forth as a Supreme Court nominee not to have this finished already. Talk about the right track wrong track for the country. How is this the right track? And it's due to the Republicans and Mitch McConnell.
So I need nothing else for my vote this year. I also hope I am not as cynical as you when it comes to candidates and what they espouse. Of course they want to win and pander to their constituencies, and hopefully the pandering is on the realistic side. In my years of Presidential voting I've often been unhappy with the choices, my personal choices having dropped out along the Primary route. I did vote third party one time and have voted both Democratic and Republican, back when Republicans were moderate and not unhinged. I think I've only been truly excited about my Presidential vote once, maybe twice. This will be my 12th election! I'm happily choosing to vote for Hillary Clinton.
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Well, it appears the DNC delegates have begun to arrive in town. For two days already, in the parking lot next to my building, there has been a van with the logo "Feel the Bern" on it.
On my way to farmers' market today, I overheard two guys talking and sounding very much like delegates to something. They didn't have any kind of identifying badges--I looked--but they were talking about representing people.
I also saw someone wearing a t-shirt with the logo "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Republican."
I've got a pin with that on it at my computer at work. It baffles the Germans.
-
Nancy, I know you despise Hillary and think she's evil--that's such a strong word.
To those who have come to think of her as evil, it rolls off my shoulders because of all the things
I read when Obama was running for office and how he wasn't just equated with the devil, as Carson
tried to paint Hillary, he was the devil himself. I don't know how you've evolved this opinion of
her over the years, but you're certainly not alone. There's a lot of vitriol against her out there.
I, myself, haven't always been a huge fan of Hillary, but I've never come close to hating her.
To me, to hate someone is to put a lot of time and energy into the activity and there's few
people to me that would inspire and be worth that much time and energy.
When people bandy about words against someone I often look up the word's definition to see if that
provides any further clues to answering the "whys."
So I looked up hate.
hate
verb
feel intense or passionate dislike for (someone)
noun
intense or passionate dislike
I might even understand it if that was as far as it went with Hillary. The motivations behind the Hillary Hate
seem more profound and actual than just dislike, passionate or intense, they border on violence and possession.
Here's a Merriam-Webster definition of hate that seems more appropriate:
intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury b : extreme dislike or antipathy
I readily do think that the conservatives have, over the last twenty-five years, inspired in their assemblage a fear and anger
against Hillary Clinton that's been unwarranted. If you see scenes from that new documentary about Hillary you'll wonder
when the scene comes where she sprouts horns and flies over your head on a broom in 3-D.
The opposition hate to Hillary is so over-produced that it seems like the Salem Witch Trials.
Which is why I can't take it seriously--not that it doesn't exist, but that I feel many have come
to it through disingenuous sources.
The past year, I've been so astounded about this phenomenon that I've tried to understand it. I doubt that people who
do say they "hate" Hillary and the definition (above) of hate being intense aversion - antipathy, are wont to take a
look inside themselves to find out why they actually hate her and where that's come from, but if anyone does, I recommend
these two things to start with:
One is a piece by David Brooks, a conservative columnist (on the moderate side), in the New York Times, who wrote this
in a May column:
Why Is Clinton Disliked?
by David Brooks
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/brooks-opinion/.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/opinion/why-is-clinton-disliked.html?ref=opinion&_r=0)
Then there's this piece by Jay Bookman who starts by mentioning Brooks' column and expounds on the theme.
Why Do People Hate Hillary? Let Me Count the Ways …
by Jay Bookman
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution
[Brooks] answer is less than satisfying, at least to me. It doesn’t begin to account for the fact that at the mere mention of her name, grown men and women recoil in horror. It doesn’t explain why in so many minds, she is the embodiment of political evil, and why many Republicans who know full well how disastrous Donald Trump would be as president nonetheless embrace him over a woman who throughout her career has been painfully mainstream.
http://myajc.jaybookman.com/why-do-people-hate-hillary-let-me-count-the-ways/ (http://jaybookman.blog.myajc.com/2016/05/24/why-do-people-hate-hillary-let-me-count-the-ways/)
If people are sorely torn between the two candidates we have to vote for, I'd think they might be interested in seeing if their
hates and/or dislikes are truly warranted or if they're on soft ground at all.
Regardless, I have never taken Trump as qualified to be President from the day he announced and I've said before I start with this one thing: "Trump is a birther. Immediate disqualification for any office."
What does concern me is what I quoted below again from my previous post. If someone doesn't want to vote for Trump, or at all, that doesn't concern me. What concerns me most is that people that have such a (blind?) hate for Hillary, that the scenario will find people willing to vote for Trump.
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.
http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/487973/
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Just been having a conversation at supper with 8 and 9 year old grandchildren about the European Union and Brexit, about our new prime minister, and about the US elections and Donald Trump. They say that at their school in the rural south-west of England they think Trump is hilarious, and draw cartoons and make up jokes about him.
Photos please! :)
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I also saw someone wearing a t-shirt with the logo "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Republican."
You need to wear that next time you have drinks with your "trumpvoter" friend. :-X
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Photos please! :)
I only heard the description!
-
PESSIMISM
NOUN: a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.
SYNONYMS: defeatism, negativity, doom and gloom, gloominess, miserablism, cynicism, fatalism; More
PHILOSOPHY: a belief that this world is as bad as it could be or that evil will ultimately prevail over good.
-
OPTIMISM
NOUN: hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.
SYNONYMS: hopefulness, hope, confidence, buoyancy, cheer, cheerfulness, good cheer, sanguineness, positiveness, positive attitude
PHILOSOPHY: the doctrine, especially as set forth by Leibniz, that this world is the best of all possible worlds
-
Neither one is good or bad, or better or worse.
I tend to be more of a pessimist, although I work really hard to be optimistic about things. But it is something I really have to work hard to be.
-
It may well be pretty close to the best of all possible worlds, AT THE PRESENT TIME. The latter is important, because of changes that happen over the course of time.
It may be nice to say that the world would be better, say, if it had no hurricanes or earthquakes, as an example. Yet would we really want to live in such a world? Remember, the bad things can't just suddenly stop immediately, it will have to always have been that way, and over the whole world. Hurricanes are a major way of transferring heat from the tropics to the northern and southern hemispheres, without them a large part of the world would be uninhabitable. And with no earthquakes, the world would have to have been static without continental drift from the beginning. Again, with all of the landmasses agglomerated together, the parts away from the coasts would have extremes of temperature unimaginable today, and also uninhabitable. So we have to put up with these and other things as part of life.
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http://56.media.tumblr.com/4c38291fba1f9a83e6312ed2e1374d74/tumblr_inline_nyx9loc9gw1rd0qsd_500.jpg
Could it be ?? :o >:D
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A Mussolini wannabe striving to become a Hitler wannabe.
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It's a waste of time and energy. One cannot possibly prepare for ALL outcomes of things.
So, prepare for the outcome you want to happen. And preparing should also mean action;
doing something to help with the outcome you desire if you can.
I would hate for our military to be run by preparing for the possibility of losing.
And when you don't you get mired in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(Sorry, Lyle, I hate to be offensive, but IMO that last sentence of yours is just silly--not worthy of you.)
-
PESSIMISM
NOUN: a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.
SYNONYMS: defeatism, negativity, doom and gloom, gloominess, miserablism, cynicism, fatalism; More
PHILOSOPHY: a belief that this world is as bad as it could be or that evil will ultimately prevail over good.
"Miserablism"? Is that even a word? :laugh:
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"Miserablism"? Is that even a word? :laugh:
I didn't think it was either, so I looked it up. ;D
MISERABLISM:
Noun: the quality of seeming to enjoy being depressed, or the type of gloomy music, art, etc, that evokes this
Philosophy: the philosophy of pessimism.
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And when you don't you get mired in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(Sorry, Lyle, I hate to be offensive, but IMO that last sentence of yours is just silly--not worthy of you.)[/quote]
You didn't hate it that much. :) Anyway, I disagree with your opinion. I didn't think it was silly or I wouldn't have written it.
When you have a battle plan you don't plan on losing. You plan on what it would take to win,
even if that means adjusting the plan along the way. I don't think that military strategies
are focused on the possibility of losing. Even if they fail they have strategies to move forward
to change that. Not accept it or prepare for it.
I watched a Dr. Wayne Dyer TV program on PBS once that was about moving forward to where one wants
to be and the choices one makes in that regard. The thought was that if you have two possibilities that you
should choose the possibility that would get you to where you want to be. Could one possibility happen? Yes.
Or no. You don't know, so why would you choose to think about the one that would not get you to a place
you'd want to be. I guess I'm using that idea in our back and forth about preparing oneself for outcomes
in the election. I'm of the mind that why would I think about a possibility I don't want to happen. That
doesn't inspire me, for one. And there's two quotes I wrote down from that program that make sense,
to me anyway, about this idea.
One is: “If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t you will see obstacles.”
And the other is: "When you abandon making choices, you enter the vast world of excuses."
...for what it's worth.
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I think I wouldn't want to be a Philadelphia police officer right now. Twelve hour shifts in weather with temperatures that feel well over 100 F. ...
Or else I'd be counting all that overtime. ...
At farmers' market yesterday at one point I found myself standing right behind an officer from Homeland Security. Don't know if she was on the job or off, but she was in uniform.
When I went out last evening, I passed a police officer who was standing right next to the Bernie Sanders van in the parking lot next to my building. I also spoke with a local who was really excited that he met an actual Bernie Sanders supporter. :D
At least the city isn't on lockdown like it was for Pope-ageddon.
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Keep it up, Jeff, I'm enjoying your man on the street look at things there.
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Keep it up, Jeff, I'm enjoying your man on the street look at things there.
Thanks. I don't know that I'll really have much to report.
It was interesting to see the activity on South Broad Street when I left for work this morning. There was a whole fleet of buses in front of the Doubletree Hotel, so I assume many delegates are staying there, and there was also quite a police presence in front of the hotel (my bad--I neglected to count just how many officers). I counted four Escalades parked in front of the Park Hyatt when I passed there; I assume they were for some dignitaries, not just ordinary delegates.
I really, really wish that I could stay out late some night this week to see who from out of town might show up at the bar where I ordinarily do my drinking, but, hey, I gotta earn a living. ...
Fun fact: The Park Hyatt used to be the Bellevue-Stratford, original home of Legionnaires' Disease. :D
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Oh, no, I remember when that happened! The media got everyone in the country worked up over that
scare and there wasn't even any internet to help push it around back then! I still never fully
understood what that was all about.
________
I see wikileaks is creating havoc again with DNC emails that were hacked by Russia somehow being
released at just the exact moment the convention's starting.
So, yesterday, I watched some of the morning political shows and Clinton's Campaign manager, with
the unfortunate name of Robby Mook, but with this not unfortunate countenance:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiNstZtVEAAqP63.jpg)
...he puts forth the notion that the Russians hacked the DNC, and then gave that information to
Wikileaks, who released it at the perfect moment in order to help elect Donald Trump.
Whether true or not, I applaud it. Why not? How many times has Trump spouted "there must be
something there" about Obama and Clinton, things to get his supporters all riled up but without any
substance to it. So here's one for them. Why not get people thinking Russia's in cahoots with
Trump. He's said he loves Putin and Putin made statements about Trump that many have said
was a Presidential endorsement. And why not? Trump has made threats about the NATO alliance
and Putin's been trying to dismantle NATO in any way he can.
From this article:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video.html (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/07/24/clinton_campaign_manager_russians_gave_hacked_dnc_emails_to_wikileaks_in_attempt_to_elect_trump.html)
The statement: The Russians hacked the DNC, and then gave that information to Wikileaks, who released it at the perfect moment in order to help elect Donald Trump.
"Sources are saying the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually Helping Donald Trump," he said. "I don't think it is coincidental that these emails are released on the eve of the [Democratic National] Convention."
"And that is dis tubring, I think we need to be concerned about that. We also saw last week at the Republican convention that Trump and his allies made changes to the Republican platform to make it more pro-Russian."
"He said NATO shouldn't necessarily intervene to defend our Eastern European allies... When you put all of this together it is a disturbing picture."
"What evidence is there that the Russians were behind this?" follows up CNN's Jake Tapper.
"The hackers that got into the DNC are very likely to be working in coordination with Russia... They are being released at this time to create maximum damage to Hillary Clinton. And to help Donald Trump," Mook added.
"It is a very, very strong charge," Tapper said. "You're basically suggesting that the Russians hacked into the DNC, and now are releasing these files through Wikileaks to help elect Donald Trump."
"This isn't my assertion," replied Mook. "There are a number of experts asserting this."
-
While I was at lunch today, Bernie Sanders was making a speech about something, but I don't know what. TV was on in the lunch room, but I couldn't hear him.
-
Oh, no, I remember when that happened! The media got everyone in the country worked up over that
scare and there wasn't even any internet to help push it around back then! I still never fully
understood what that was all about.
________
I see wikileaks is creating havoc again with DNC emails that were hacked by Russia somehow being
released at just the exact moment the convention's starting.
So, yesterday, I watched some of the morning political shows and Clinton's Campaign manager, with
the unfortunate name of Robby Mook, but with this not unfortunate countenance:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiNstZtVEAAqP63.jpg)
...he puts forth the notion that the Russians hacked the DNC, and then gave that information to
Wikileaks, who released it at the perfect moment in order to help elect Donald Trump.
Whether true or not, I applaud it. Why not? How many times has Trump spouted "there must be
something there" about Obama and Clinton, things to get his supporters all riled up but without any
substance to it. So here's one for them. Why not get people thinking Russia's in cahoots with
Trump. He's said he loves Putin and Putin made statements about Trump that many have said
was a Presidential endorsement. And why not? Trump has made threats about the NATO alliance
and Putin's been trying to dismantle NATO in any way he can.
From this article:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video.html (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/07/24/clinton_campaign_manager_russians_gave_hacked_dnc_emails_to_wikileaks_in_attempt_to_elect_trump.html)
The whole thing is fascinating, I can't wait to see the movie! At least it got Wasserman-Schultz to resign.
-
So, yesterday, I watched some of the morning political shows and Clinton's Campaign manager, with
the unfortunate name of Robby Mook, but with this not unfortunate countenance:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiNstZtVEAAqP63.jpg)
I don't know if I'd trust a campaign manager who was so blandly nice looking. Campaign managers should look like James Carville.
:D ;)
-
^^^^^^
Hmm.
Maybe in the smoke filled room days.
Now a lot of it is online and filled with Sheldon Cooper types.
He interned with George Stephanopolous.
-
OPTIMISM
NOUN: hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.
SYNONYMS: hopefulness, hope, confidence, buoyancy, cheer, cheerfulness, good cheer, sanguineness, positiveness, positive attitude
PHILOSOPHY: the doctrine, especially as set forth by Leibniz, that this world is the best of all possible worlds
Yes.
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"Miserablism"? Is that even a word? :laugh:
Sounds very French to me.
-
This morning pretty much the same complement of buses and fancy vehicles (e.g., Escalades) in front of the hotels on South Broad Street as yesterday morning, with the addition of TV News vehicles from various networks, ABC, CBS, and Telemundo.
-
Marni Nixon, Voice of My Fair Lady on Screen, Dead at 86
Often heard but rarely seen, she made a late-life return to Broadway in 1999.
Marni Nixon, a singer and actress who gained a special kind of fame by dubbing the singing voices of other actresses in famous movie musicals, died in New York on July 24. She was 86.
From the 1940s through the 1960s, it was common practice in Hollywood, when adapting a hit stage musical for the screen, to cast, not the actors who originated the leading roles, but established film stars.
There was a flaw in this approach, however. More often than not, the actors who won the movie parts could not sing. For this essential task, movie producers and directors frequently turned to Marni Nixon and her wonderful soprano. The sweet notes coming out of Deborah Kerr’s mouth in The King and I (1956) were Nixon’s. When Natalie Wood warbled “I Feel Pretty” in West Side Story (1961), Nixon sang the words. When Audrey Hepburn spoke, as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964), she was pure Hepburn; when she sang, she was pure Nixon.
The public knew not of her contributions; they were not hinted at anywhere in the film’s credits.
http://www.playbill.com/article/marni-nixon-voice-of-my-fair-lady-on-screen-dead-at-86
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This morning pretty much the same complement of buses and fancy vehicles (e.g., Escalades) in front of the hotels on South Broad Street as yesterday morning, with the addition of TV News vehicles from various networks, ABC, CBS, and Telemundo.
Oddly, this morning there was not the line-up of buses in front of the Doubletree as on Monday and Tuesday. ...
When I came out of the subway at City Hall yesterday afternoon, on my way home from work, some group was having a demonstration about something on the south apron of the building. I could see they had signs, but I admit I didn't go close enough to read the signs or hear what was being said. In the hot weather we've been having, I didn't want to get caught in a crowd.
I've been suspecting that our governor has been staying at the Ritz-Carlton, just across the street from City Hall, because when I pass there on my way to the subway, there are state police troopers on duty at the doors, and the state police would be the governor's security detail, but maybe I'm wrong about the governor.
It appears delegates from Maryland are staying at the Inn at Penn, on the University of Pennsylvania campus. When I passed that hotel this morning, the usual complement of fancy SUVs was parked by the drive-up entrance. One had a Maryland House of Delegates (the Maryland legislature) license plate on it.
Kind of by accident I got to hear President Clinton's speech last night. I wish I had heard Michelle Obama's speech. I adore her, and I'm going to miss her when the Obamas leave the White House.
-
Kind of by accident I got to hear President Clinton's speech last night. I wish I had heard Michelle Obama's speech. I adore her, and I'm going to miss her when the Obamas leave the White House.
I'm going to miss them both.
-
Kind of by accident I got to hear President Clinton's speech last night. I wish I had heard Michelle Obama's speech. I adore her, and I'm going to miss her when the Obamas leave the White House.
It was nice to hear a speech without constant Hillary bashing a part of it for a change.
You can see Michelle Obama's speech here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZNWYqDU948
Or here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tdl5NCJvuY
-
When I came out of the subway at City Hall yesterday afternoon, on my way home from work, some group was having a demonstration about something on the south apron of the building. I could see they had signs, but I admit I didn't go close enough to read the signs or hear what was being said. In the hot weather we've been having, I didn't want to get caught in a crowd.
This was probably BS protesters, a group of which left the convention yesterday to march around Philly and display their emotions.
I don't know how large it is, but there's a group of Sanders supporters that have been caught up in some possession of this "revolution" Sanders promised that it appears to have left them in a state of addiction to which they cannot free themselves. I agree with Sarah Silverman, a fervent Sanders supporter who now understands that for this "movement" to go anywhere they have to support the Democratic side in hopes of pushing that forward...she turned to them at the convention when a group was "acting up" and told them, "You're just being ridiculous." They weren't being mature, at the very least.
You could see some Sanders supporters at various times on Monday and Tuesday with tears in their eyes or outright crying. It reminded me of the way girls were acting when you'd see the footage from Beatles concerts. Protesters outside during the first day or two weren't just protesting, they were angry and petulant. It was very strange, almost like how children react in a store when they're told they can't get any candy.
They showed some of them in a park yesterday, sitting around like it was 1968, I swear I thought it was footage of hippies from the Chicago convention, and they were holding hands and chanting "ommmmm."
You cannot help but see the similarities between these people and Trump supporters, except his supporters have gotten him nominated.
We're told that most Bernie supporters are pleased enough with the influence they had on the party platform and will eventually come on board with the party, and Bernie himself did all that he could possibly do to ease the pain for them in that regard...his speech led into support for electing Democrats and the DNC and Hillary camp let his name be put into nomination and get all of his votes on record and then he himself and the Vermont delegation put Hillary over the top and asked for the nomination to be unanimous.
I wonder what Sanders thinks of these people who can't let it all go. I mean, it must be flattering, but I'd think it was also a little disturbing. I suppose when your campaign spouts a "political revolution" for so many months that some followers take it literally.
Apparently, many of the Sanders voters who won't let go are in the California delegation. Our local news has covered them in more detail, obviously. Last night a local newsman was interviewing a CA Clinton delegate, about the CA Sanders delegates walking out of the convention hall yesterday to protest (some of them were climbing police barricades and getting themselves into trouble) and when asked what he thought about it all his only response was, "Good riddance."
Maybe tonight the convention will adopt the theme song from Frozen, "Let It Go."
-
This was probably BS protesters, a group of which left the convention yesterday to march around Philly and display their emotions.
I don't know how large it is, but there's a group of Sanders supporters that have been caught up in some possession of this "revolution" Sanders promised that it appears to have left them in a state of addiction to which they cannot free themselves. I agree with Sarah Silverman, a fervent Sanders supporter who now understands that for this "movement" to go anywhere they have to support the Democratic side in hopes of pushing that forward...she turned to them at the convention when a group was "acting up" and told them, "You're just being ridiculous." They weren't being mature, at the very least.
You could see some Sanders supporters at various times on Monday and Tuesday with tears in their eyes or outright crying. It reminded me of the way girls were acting when you'd see the footage from Beatles concerts. Protesters outside during the first day or two weren't just protesting, they were angry and petulant. It was very strange, almost like how children react in a store when they're told they can't get any candy.
Yes, what is with these people? Even when their idol tells them it's time to let go, they still can't?
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Movie producers and directors frequently turned to Marni Nixon and her wonderful soprano. The sweet notes coming out of Deborah Kerr’s mouth in The King and I (1956) were Nixon’s. When Natalie Wood warbled “I Feel Pretty” in West Side Story (1961), Nixon sang the words.
I saw West Side Story at an Academy screening a week ago Monday!
The public knew not of her contributions; they were not hinted at anywhere in the film’s credits.
I went to this in 2004--when I looked it up just now I couldn't believe it was that long ago:
AMPAS and 20th Century Fox will be screening a new restoration of The King and I at the Samuel Goldwin Theatre in Beverly Hills, Friday, August 20, 2004 at 8:00pm. They claim this screening will be the first public showing of the film in its original aspect ratio, the print having been struck from the 55mm 0-neg. A new 4-track Dolby Digital soundtrack has also been created from the original 4-track masters.
Marni Nixon attended this screening and there was a Q&A with her afterwards. I wish I could remember exactly what she said, because someone did ask her what she thought about her not being credited for these things. I tried to find it on the ampas website, but they don't have a satisfactory search for things on there to find anything easily.
I did find this treat: A clip of her at the Academy Awards in 1969, the first time they were held at the new Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, singing the nominations for Score Adaptation, with Henry Mancini playing the accompaniment on a harpsichord!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1kJ17KK-G0
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So, in 2007 the powers that be decided Donald Trump should have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Lately, people have been taking out there feelings of him on the star itself. Here's some examples.
People throw stuff on it:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbeverlypress.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2FWalkOfFame.jpg&hash=189a250cfce9714dfc71dba7243a204e01feabde)
Some write things on it (left) and someone had their dog poop on it (right):
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.stern.de%2F6777794%2F16x9-940-529%2F383c679f8c46830330bbc1528cda735e%2FCF%2Fbild.jpg&hash=49a77a1485f537a1c6c46f68f8085f7e1f8ee8d6)
A mute icon was spray painted on it (left) and a swastika (right):
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huhmagazine.co.uk%2Fimages%2Fuploaded%2Findex%2Ftrump_star_index.jpg&hash=9bfbbbf315a7899f9606176d8b055e03a58bfea4)(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.uinterview.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F02%2Fnews-donald-trump-walk-of-fame-swastika.jpg&hash=a9e43b0346a7b1343075dd6ef280b0a0eb99b2d2)
This has started to cost a lot of money to keep the star clean, The chamber of commerce has to clean it
when these things are reported. Some are trying to get it removed (Bill Cosby's, too) but the Chamber of
Commerce says they won't remove them.
Recently, a creative performance artist comes by often and does this:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fnews%2F2016%2F07%2F21%2Ftrump_wall_1-large_trans%2B%2BcDOQspFveLUhhcSTNPXE73D7wG75KlBomFNrj9xMzMA.jpg&hash=05af1d677dc400dfc15f879255b6f370eabdf68a)
They built a wall around it!
-
LOL!
-
Granddaughter's drama group had to make up a new folk tale to add to the traditional ones they're performing, and apparently the arch-comic villain is Donald Trump. (Bad things happen to his hair.)
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I watched a couple hours a day of both the RNC and DNC conventions.
It's no secret which one I preferred and felt the best about.
As of today: 100 DAYS TO ELECTION DAY.
...sigh...
100 days for voters to come to their senses, hopefully.
I really feel that the overblown reactions to Hillary Clinton, the Hillary hate,
has evolved from the longevity in public life that she's accrued and also the
cartoon caricature that conservatives have purposely made her into over the
years. As opposed to the real cartoon that they've nominated as her opposition.
It's going to be hard to overcome that when it's taken so long to get to this point.
Last night's DNC convention had Republicans making speeches saying that they're
voting for Hillary Clinton, and a Democrat, for the first time. They had military
leaders forcefully making a case for the stakes of voting for the opposition.
I got into it online with someone yesterday supporting, what has become my favorite
name for Trump that someone has given him, "The Raging Mad Cheeto."
I tried to point out that whatever change his supporters think he can deliver, whatever the motivation
is to want to support him, to just take a minute and reflect the fact that there are people, people you
might want to dismiss because they've "been around too long" or are "establishment figures" or "people
unlike you" or whatever it is--that there are all kinds of people out there, Republicans as well as Democrats,
people that, despite what you think of them, have some experience because of it, that know "something"
that you might consider, at the very least, about this guy you're supporting that you just might want to
listen to. They are sounding alarms and putting up red flags. Do they want to realize one day that they saw
all these red flags, but just thought it was a parade? They dismiss them at their peril. I mean, comparing
Hitler to anyone gets a dismissive reaction, because who could be that evil? Well, as pointed out by others,
the more dire truth to a 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.
I so try not to look at the comment sections, but I like to read an article here and there online
and then you happen to see a comment and it sets you off. I get sucked into arguing with some
faceless person online. Yesterday I got into it. It's not the place for it, we don't know who we're
talking to or if they're not just playing around for their own amusement. I'm trying to ween myself
from it. I fail occasionally. I could always go up to Hollywood Blvd. and stomp on The Raging Mad
Cheato's star on the Walk of Fame.
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Because of my love of Rail travel, I follow the blog of a guy who lives in Hawaii and has written books on Amtrak travel. He is currently in Paris and wrote today after referring to brasseries.
"I had dinner at one such place last night and was seated next to a couple speaking English: he, a Kiwi; she originally from Malaysia, and both now living in Australia. Not more than five minutes into our polite, get-to-know-you conversation, the man said, “Well, these are interesting times for you Americans, aren’t they!” (Guess where that conversation was headed!) The next thing I knew, these two articulate, informed, intelligent people expressed the view that roughly half of the American voters must have somehow lost their minds. Donald Trump scares the crap out of them."
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Not only them!
What is strangest of all is that you'll hear all in a row that he is
behind/losing in nearly every demographic imaginable, etc., but
that the election is tied. If he's so far behind in these demographics
and high percentages of Republicans even can't stand him, HOW is
this possible?
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The best part of the DNC was Clinton's nephew Tyler:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Ftyler%2520clinton-01_zpstxdmj6o5.jpg&hash=52e29d07a6b2ce8dcb4c56d9b4f0d5c730ed493b)
Now that's a Clinton I can get behind. ;D
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^^^^^^
Well, he does run the Let's Grow Foundation! :laugh:
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I could stand to watch him grow.
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Just like Trump and the RNC, Clinton got a bump after the DNC.
The difference, hers was bigger, and more people watched the DNC.
Pennsylvania Poll Shows Hillary Clinton Keeping Sizable Lead
By MICHELLE HACKMAN
Hours before Hillary Clinton was set to accept the Democratic nomination in a primetime speech Thursday evening in Philadelphia, a new poll of Pennsylvania voters shows her holding a comfortable nine-point lead over Republican rival Donald Trump.
The Suffolk University poll shows Mrs. Clinton polling ahead of Mr. Trump 50% to 41% in a two-way matchup, with eight percent still undecided. The finding echoes a Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll taken earlier in July, when Mrs. Clinton was also shown leading Mr. Trump by nine points. In the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls, Mrs. Clinton was ahead by 4.4 points.
Pennsylvania has voted for the Democratic nominee in the past six presidential contests, beginning with Mrs. Clinton’s husband Bill in 1992. But this year, Mr. Trump has suggested the state might fall into his column due to its large white, working-class population. Mr. Trump would likely need to win Pennsylvania, along with several other rust-belt states with similar demographic profiles, to capture the presidency. In some national polls, Mr. Trump has edged ahead of Mrs. Clinton, enjoying a bump from his own convention last week.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/07/28/pennsylvania-poll-shows-hillary-clinton-keeping-sizable-lead/
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Trump will be really mad that Hillary's is bigger.
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So proud that our Prime Minister with his wife and kids marched in the gay pride parade in Vancouver!!!!!!
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I was confused reading that more people watched the DNC because there's an
ABC video of George Stephanoupoulus interviewing the Angry Mad Cheeto yesterday
and he starts off saying, "Let's talk about the DNC, you won the ratings war..." and
I took it to mean more people watched the DNC than RNC, but I checked and I was
wrong, George said, "You won the ratings the last night," meaning more people had
watched Trump's speech than Hillary's.
Of course, that's what Trump is only worried about, his own self-aggrandizement. The
attention he gets. I've never seen a politician brag more about his votes and ratings and
appeal to anyone like he does. It's really off-putting. It's only what's important to him.
It's so important that instead of leaving what Stephanoupoulus said alone, Trump had
to keep at it.
George: So you won the ratings war [Thursday] night, so let's talk about the...
Trump: (interrupting) By millions, George, by millions. Right?
George: By a couple million, that's true...
Trump: Three.
This display of narcissism has always been repugnant and now it's just unbearable.
But in looking up to see why I had thought something differently, I found even more to it.
First, the ratings were higher for the DNC the first three nights and on Thursday people were
writing lines like this in the news: "The Democratic ratings advantage has come as something
of a surprise, given Donald Trump's reputation as a ratings magnet."
Well, Donald's ego could not stand this so on Thursday morning he had his campaign send an
email to all his followers urging supporters not to tune into Clinton's acceptance speech on Thursday
night. Headline: "Trump urges viewers to skip Clinton speech as Democrats rack up ratings wins."
Not only that, here are the ratings for Thursday night:
34.9 million viewers Thursday RNC
33.3 million viewers Thursday DNC
If my basic math is correct that means a 1.6 million difference.
George was being generous saying nearly 2 million more. Trump
then had to augment his ego. "Three."
Not only that, the ratings take into account the major cable news networks and broadcast channels,
but do NOT include some sources that Democrats usually watch more: "The Nielsen estimates do not
account for live streaming, on demand video viewing, PBS, or C-SPAN."
So, Trump's bragging is even more insidious taking into account these other things. More people watched
Sarah Palin's speech 8 years ago than Trump's.
Even more insidious is that nobody cares about Trump's lying, least of all his supporters. In this same interview
you may have heard Trump dissing the Muslim parents of a fallen soldier who spoke at the DNC in one of the
most affecting displays of American patriotism I have ever witnessed. The Muslim's of course, not Trump. Then
Trump surrogates, Alex Castellanos and Paul Manifort, say the media isn't talking about the real issue, they're
just focusing on what Trump says. Doesn't matter he says it, though, I guess. It's really more than disgusting
and disqualifying to anyone, but not him for some reason. Then Trump goes on to trash the Presidential Debate
Commission who set up three dates for the Pres. debates last September, but Trump tells George that the NFL
sent him a letter saying the debates are up against two NFL football games and would detract from his audience.
The NFL says no letter was ever sent to him or his campaign. The he tries to blame all this on Hillary Clinton for
wanting less people to view the debates because that would help her.
IF ALL THIS ABOVE SEEMS REALLY SILLY AND STUPID -- IT IS! It's all stupid and Trump is the master of this stupidity
that no one cares about. If this is all he's interested in, what about actual problems in the world that would need a
President's attention? He shows no willingness, knowledge or aptitude to handle any of it. Witness this conversation
with George S. in the interview:
Donald says:
Putin's not going into Ukraine, OK? Just so you understand.
He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down
and you can put it down, you can take it anywhere you want.
George follows up:
Well, he's already there, isn't he?
Trump follows up:
OK, well, he's there in a certain way, but I'm not there yet. You have Obama there.
Trump supporters revel in the fact that Trump isn't a politician.
Next time they need their appendix out or some other operation,
I hope they come to me and I'll recommend an auto mechanic for
them to go to.
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And he's not exactly making friends among gold star families and veterans.
You really wonder about his competency.
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The best part of the DNC was Clinton's nephew Tyler:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2Ftyler%2520clinton-01_zpstxdmj6o5.jpg&hash=52e29d07a6b2ce8dcb4c56d9b4f0d5c730ed493b)
My goodness!!
And did he really show up half nekkid at the convention...?
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Now that's a Clinton I can get behind. ;D
LOL
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I could stand to watch him grow.
You bet.
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Trump will be really mad that Hillary's is bigger.
:D :D :D
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I've always been interested in our elections and how the process works, but I can't believe how this one has
played out in so many ways, especially the fact that a candidate can have one disqualifying moment after the
next for months on end and then that comes to somehow be accepted as just being because "he's a different kind
of candidate" and the supporters of said candidate seem intent on overlooking all of it.
So I have to come here often and post as a form of therapy to try and understand it in SOME kind of a fashion.
Just in the last few days we've seen this candidate, Trump, keep poking the parents of a fallen soldier instead of
letting it go, because they, as Trump says, "Viciously attacked him." We've seen him order a baby to be taken out
of a rally because it was, well, being a baby. (I don't know if anyone's asked the mother what she thought about this,
but it wouldn't surprise me if she defends Trump, because it seems to be what his supporters do about anything.)
Witness, yesterday, when the mother of an Air Force pilot in the service attended a Pence rally and asked him how
he could support or stand by the rhetoric Trump has been showing against the Kahn family and she was booed by the
audience for asking this question. (It just reminded me of the time a gay serviceman was booed for asking a question
at the Republican debates in 2011-12.)
We've seen a veteran come up to Trump and give him his Purple Heart Medal. The man was asked if he'd like to say something
and the veteran replied, "No sir. I'd like you to just keep saying what you're saying. Amazing. it's amazing. what an honor." How
to understand this veteran who feels compelled to do this I'd like to know, but how does Trump react? This man who got deferments
from serving (being drafted) during the Vietnam war FIVE separate times. He asks the man, first, if it's a replica or the real thing.
(Doesn't he know that it is absolutely ILLEGAL to create fake military honors?) No, it's the man's real medal. Trump seems very
touched by this, but then we find out it's because it somehow just means it feeds his ego because he then says, "I always wanted
to have one of these. (He looks at it.) This is much easier."
...sigh...
Have you ever heard a sitting President of the United States come out and emphatically say that someone running for the office is
not qualified for it. Unfit. I can't ever recall anything like that. Have you ever seen a party's candidate not support the current
Speaker of the House in his primary bid as Trump has done, using the same language Paul Ryan has used about Trump ("I'm not
there yet") showing it's the "you're either with us or against us" mentality) and not supporting two members of your own party
who are running for Senate reelection, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte.
The Republican party seems to have blown apart. The moderates have long been on the wane. Now any establishment candidate has
been targeted. Paul Ryan actually has a challenger to his seat in Wisconsin that Trump has signaled he'd endorse over Ryan and that
people like Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter have rushed to endorse. If Paul Ryan loses his Primary nomination (which is on next Tuesday,
Aug. 9th) it'll send another shockwave into the fall election and it'll be even more unsettled and unpredictable than it already is.) It's
not in the realm of impossibility, either, just awhile ago the top three Republicans in the house were Paul Ryan, John Boehner and the
almost forgotten Eric Cantor, who did lose his Primary battle in a shocking upset. Two of those three are gone.)
I really do feel and would like to understand those people who are so angry, disappointed and feel they have no voice in how things are going,
who have somehow glommed onto Trump as the one who could help them. I've read several articles from people who have tried to gather
these people's voices and assemble it into some kind of narrative, but it's not been easy for these article writers to understand, either. It
just seems there's a sizable percent of the population that doesn't really care, or sanely care, right now and they just want to "blow things
up" without understanding the consequences. It's like rioters who suddenly explode and start burning down their own neighborhoods. I really
have to think that this anger is also occurring because the people who need a voice have found the completely wrong one and now just don't
care. When people have pent up emotions, they will explode regardless, in good or bad ways.
Of course, it's evident on both sides, too. There's a lot of Democrats who feel these same things from a different perspective. It doesn't seem to
have gotten as bad on that end, but it's there. I really don't know how I'd feel if I really wanted a change in Government and was stuck with a
leader who wasn't going to provide it, regardless if they won or not.
It's got to be bigly depressing for them.
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This election just gets weirder every day. A Congresswoman, Rep. Karen Bass, who was a physician assistant
and a clinical instructor prior to her political career, said the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump,
may have narcissistic personality disorder, which could severely influence his actions as commander in chief.
"Donald Trump is dangerous for our country. His impulsiveness and lack of control over his own emotions are
of concern. It is our patriotic duty to raise the question of his mental stability to be the commander in chief and
leader of the free world." She has launched a change.org petition calling for Donald Trump to a undergo mental
health evaluation.
Not that I don't agree with her.
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Yeah, it just gets stranger every day.
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Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a long term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others' feelings.
Description fits Trumpf to a T!!
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It really does, doesn't it?
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For sure!
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Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a long term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others' feelings.
Description fits Trumpf to a T!!
Absolutely!
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Positively!
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a long term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others' feelings.
I was just looking up the symptoms of that. These include those three in your sentence:
--An excessive sense of self importance, with an expectation of being seen as superior for no reason
--Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or love
--Excessive belief that he or she is special or unique
--A need for excessive admiration
--A sense of entitlement to special treatment or compliance with their wishes
--A tendency to take advantage of others to achieve their own goals
--Lacking empathy for the needs and feelings of others
--Frequently envious of others or thinking others are envious of him or her
--Exhibits arrogant thoughts or behaviors
What I was reading says: "People with narcissistic personality disorder tend to alternate between feeling omnipotent and devalued."
That would explain Trump's penchant for one day saying things like "I could go out in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and no one would care," to saying things like "I’m telling you we’d better be careful, because the election is going to be rigged.” He said that about the Primaries, too.
"People with narcissistic personality disorder demonstrate a pervasive pattern of significantly inflated self-esteem, a need to be admired, and lack of empathy for others that begins by early adulthood and manifests in a number of different aspects of their life. While the primary treatment for narcissistic personality disorder is talk therapy rather than medication, medication may be appropriate to address some co-occurring symptoms. One of the major obstacles to a good prognosis for narcissistic individuals is their perception that their problems are caused by others rather than by their own self-centered tendencies."
We've got a mental case on our hands!
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Here's the petition: https://www.change.org/p/diagnosetrump
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Last night I happened to tune in CNN when Anderson Cooper was moderating the Libertarian Party Town Hall. The candidates for President (Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico) and Vice-President (Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts) were taking questions from the audience.
I don't plan to vote for the Libertarian Party, but it was a breath of fresh air to see these two thoughtful candidates who did not seem to have a screw loose, in either case. Both are former Republican office-holders, and reminded me of the "moderate Republicans" of old.
So different from what we've been hearing lately from Trump.
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Here's the petition: https://www.change.org/p/diagnosetrump
Done!
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Only three more months of this.
This election would be fantastically entertaining if I knew the outcome and it's the outcome I prefer. In fact,
it will be when books are written about it or HBO makes a movie about it. But, as Rose (Gloria Stuart) said
in Titanic, "Of course the experience of it was...somewhat different."
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I was so very sorry to hear that President Obama is the founder of ISIS.
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkingnewmedia.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F08%2FTimeMag-8-11-16-750.jpg&hash=1d7427db2d3e78515a605cc03ce3e74c80c8c7c6)
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Andy Borowitz is a satirist and comedian, but reading his latest (today's!) little article
just shows how much an actual news report from Trump's campaign lately is no different.
I mean, you could actually hear something like this on the nightly news broadcasts tonight.
Trump Blames Bad Poll Numbers on Existence of Numerical System
by Andy Borowitz / The New Yorker
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO—Donald J. Trump lashed out at a new target on Monday, blaming his bad poll numbers on the existence of the numerical system.
In sometimes rambling remarks at an outdoor rally in Ohio, the Republican Presidential nominee called the numerical system “rigged” and unleashed a torrent of abuse on numbers themselves, calling them “disgusting” and “the lowest form of life.”
“It’s why I won’t release my taxes,” he said. “They’re full of goddam numbers.”
While Republican candidates in the past have attempted to exploit their supporters’ distrust of math, Trump is believed to be the first nominee to call into question the numerical system itself.
Behind the scenes, G.O.P. insiders fretted that, in attacking the very existence of numbers, Trump was veering wildly off message.
“He should be talking about Hillary Clinton, and instead he’s going off on integers,” one insider said.
Officially, aides remained upbeat about the campaign and denied reports that Trump was spending an increasingly large portion of each day angrily muttering to himself and chewing on paper.
Also by Andy Borowitz:
Trump Blasts Media for Reporting Things He Says
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It was just on our news (I do not know why our news has to be full of US Elections, we have our own local elections next month and National next year) Trump blaming Obama and Clinton for invading Iraq which, of course, led to the rise of ISIS. I may be getting old but I remember joining 200,000 marching against the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by George W. Bush (Republican), Tony Blair of the UK and our own fool, John Howard of Australia.
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T has seldom limited himself to reality.
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T has seldom limited himself to reality.
A truer statement I have never heard!
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So. Did Ryan Lochte and the other Team USA swimmers lie about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio, or did they not? And if they did, was it, as Matt Lauer asked him, to cover up some other behavior that they would prefer not become known publicly?
-
I don't plan to vote for the Libertarian Party, but it was a breath of fresh air to see these two thoughtful candidates who did not seem to have a screw loose, in either case. Both are former Republican office-holders, and reminded me of the "moderate Republicans" of old.
If the Libertarians get any traction, better grab those breaths of fresh air while you can.
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So. Did Ryan Lochte and the other Team USA swimmers lie about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio, or did they not? And if they did, was it, as Matt Lauer asked him, to cover up some other behavior that they would prefer not become known publicly?
Well, now there's talk they were involved in an incident of some sort of incident. Police made them miss their flight, and won't let them leave until they discuss it with them.
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Well, now there's talk they were involved in an incident of some sort of incident. Police made them miss their flight, and won't let them leave until they discuss it with them.
Lochte got out of the country before the authorities tried to stop him. On TV this morning they showed a picture some attendant got with him on his flight back to the states. You should see the smile on the flight attendants face! :D (Guy's probably gay. ... ::) The flight attendant, I mean. If I had my picture taken with my arm around Ryan Lochte, I'd have a big smile on my face, too! :D)
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^^^
I do hope they aren't lying about this. Exaggeration is possible when things happen, but I hope
they were not lying. I can't see nay reason why they would do that. Ryan Lochte isn't the brightest
bulb in the bunch, but he's a nice guy from all appearances.
-
So Donald Trump had his first national security briefing as a presidential candidate.
Anyone want to place a bet as to when he'll disclose something during the campaign from
this meeting that he's not supposed to? I was going to say "if", but it just seems likely that
he will. Especially because right before he had the meeting a reporter asked him if he trusted
"intelligence." (A joke in itself.)
Trump replied, if you can make out his ramblings, "Not so much from the people that have been doing
it for our country. I mean, look what's happened over the last 10 years. Look what's happened over
the years. It's been catastrophic. And, in fact, I won't use some of the people that are sort of your
standards, you know, just use them, use them, use them, very easy to use them, but I won't use
them because they've made such bad decisions," said Trump.
So, if Trump devalues those whose job is to give him information, why wouldn't he just blurt out
something he doesn't think is worthwhile or useful?
Now you know Trump will just really want to reveal "something." He's done it before. He reveals things
he doesn't even know about, because "I heard it somewhere," he often says. I'm actually hoping he does.
It will show another instance of his recklessness and untrustworthiness.
I guess you're allowed to have your thugs alongside you, too, as he brought his Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn
with him as well as Guiliani and Chris Christie. Of course, Flynn came out and wasn't shy about the usual
Republican strategy at hinting there's "something wrong out there" on the opposition side that you "just know"
is bad, but "I can't be specific because it's secret." He said, "The briefers, they don't talk about policy, they just laid
out the facts as they could see them around the world. We only got to a little part of the world because of the threats
that we're facing — the sheer number of threats that we're facing," and then he went on to say that it's in "stark contrast
to the policy decisions made by the Obama administration."
Something that cannot be debated. Just trust them. Right.
So, when will Trump slip up? Again, that is.
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I came across this article today, we might've guessed it, but read this--it's sad and infuriating, too,
but also illuminating in some areas:
How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet
Why we're losing the internet to the culture of hate.
by Joel Stein / TIME Magazine
It's the cover story it looks like.
http://time.com/4457110/internet-trolls/
At the bottom of the article it says this story will appear in the August 29th edition of Time Magazine.
The print issues come out a week or two before the issue date I believe.
A related issue to this topic:
‘Ghostbusters’ Is A Perfect Example Of How Internet Movie Ratings Are Broken
by Walt Hickey
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/internet-ratings-broken/ (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ghostbusters-is-a-perfect-example-of-how-internet-ratings-are-broken/)
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Lochte, Bentz, Conger and Feigen
So, this was posted on the Los Angeles TImes website 10 minutes ago:
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-88136327/
(I linked it, but you have to subscribe to get onto the site.)
From the article:
The dramatic account by Ryan Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers of a being robbed at gunpoint during an taxi ride earlier this week appeared to unravel Thursday as police said the story was fabricated and that the group was instead involved in an altercation at a gas station.
Fernando Veloso, head of Rio de Janeiro's civil police, said during a news conference that the swimmers damaged a bathroom at the gas station early Sunday morning, were detained by security to await police and settled the matter by paying 100 reals, about $30, and $20.
Two of the swimmers confirmed the account Thursday, Veloso said.
The Rede Globo television network said in a story on its website that gas station employees summoned police because of the damaged bathroom and security personnel presented a badge and gun when two swimmers attempted to leave, but the matter was resolved by the time police arrived.
Police confirmed that one of the security guards pointed a gun at the swimmers.
Security footage from the gas station obtained by the network in Brazil shows the four swimmers arriving after 6 a.m. and rushing into the building. After they exited, three red-shirted staffers peered into the hallway where the swimmers had just been. Lochte and the others then attempted to get into the wrong taxi before finding the correct one nearby. At that point, an apparent employee of the station approaches them, they exit the car and follow him off camera. One of the swimmers briefly raises his hands. Footage from another camera shows them in another area of the station. One has fallen onto his back and is helped up by a teammate. The four then sit on a curb and could be seen in animated conversation with a person out of view of the camera. One of the swimmers appears to retrieve something from his pocket and hold it out. The video shows passers-by on the street and another employee walk casually into the area without showing much reaction to the situation.
The swimmers eventually stand up and walk out of the camera’s view. In a separate story in the O Globo Rio newspaper, the gas station owner said that the swimmers vandalized his facility and urinated on it. Thursday’s developments are the latest twist in the fast-moving story.
Lochte, the 12-time Olympic medalist, tempered his initial statements to NBC about the incident in a follow-up discussion with the network Wednesday. He said a gun was aimed in the direction of the swimmers, not pressed against his head. The swimmers said in a statement issued by the U.S. Olympic Committee earlier in the week that they were robbed of wallets and personal items by armed individuals posing as police officers during a taxi ride from France’s hospitality venue back to the Olympic Village.
[...]
The ongoing incident has presented an unwelcome distraction for organizers of the troubled Summer Olympics, already beset by issues with logistics, venues and security. The closing ceremony for the Games is Sunday.
Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada, who earlier apologized to to the swimmers, wanted to move forward Thursday. "Let's give these kids a break," he said. "Sometimes you take actions you later regret. They are magnificent athletes. Lochte is of one of the best swimmers of all time. They had fun. They made a mistake. It’s part of life. Life goes on.”
______
Something tells me this isn't going to be let go.
Especially when headlines start appearing like this one from the NY Post just now:
Ryan Lochte is Everything the World Hates about Americans
Ryan Lochte loving life as teammates grilled by Rio police
New York Post
However, one of the other swimmers says:
Ryan Lochte's Teammate Jimmy Feigen Says They Didn't Lie About Rio Robbery
Thursday, August 18
by Stephanie Webber
Standing by his word. U.S. Olympic athlete Jimmy Feigen still maintains that he and his teammates, including Ryan Lochte, were robbed by gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday, August 14. "We were robbed at gunpoint. It sounds like people assume we’re guilty," Feigen, 26, told the San Antonio Express News on Thursday, noting that he would release a statement later in the day about the situation.
*************
Stay tuned--starting to turn into a very unfortunate story.
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Lochte, Bentz, Conger and Feigen
Stay tuned--starting to turn into a very unfortunate story.
Sigh. So. They were drunk--or worse--and did something they'd rather the world not find out about, and lied to cover it up. :(
That's very nice of Mario Andrada; however. ...
I don't know the ages of Bentz, Conger, and Feigen, but Lochte at least is old enough to know enough to man up when he's done something wrong, or at least stupid, and admit it, and take his lumps, instead of lying about it like an entitled frat-boy.
"Everything the World Hates about Americans," indeed! >:(
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Ryan Lochte (32)
Jimmy Feigen (26)
Jack Conger (21)
Gunnar Bentz (20)
-
So, the Republicans, in their zeal to find something they can bring down Hillary Clinton with
demanded the FBI send them their investigative probe summary, reports known as “302's”, that
contain interviews with Clinton and others; and classified emails found on her private server, so that
they can compare that testimony with their hearing testimony to see if they can call her a liar yet
again and use it to criticize Clinton in the months before the election. The FBI did not have to give
them this material, but they did.
Already (are you surprised?) there are reports that House Republicans are leaking classified information
from Hillary Clinton's FBI interview in violation of federal law. Ironically, the party that is claiming that
Hillary Clinton broke the law by transmitting classified information over private email is breaking the law
by knowingly leaking classified information to friendly media sources.
The whole point behind the Republican desire to get the material was to try to drum up a new scandal that will take
the focus off Donald Trump and his imploding presidential campaign. They are on an endless quest to manufacture
scandals.
Everyone knew that House Republicans were going to leak the classified information. The FBI was so sure that House
Republicans were going to leak the information that they sent a warning along with the notes from Clinton’s interview
that the information was classified. And they did it anyway.
So much for the moral high ground.
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Why am I not surprised.
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How are you feeling about Virginia this election Fritz?
What state offices are up in VA this year?
I have a friend from Saltville, VA, do you know where that is?
In CA, we have, one Senator. I can 100% guarantee the Democrat will win.
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Saltville is in the Southwest, a highly Republican area. The type of people who think that underground coal mining will come back.
The Commonwealth overall is looking quite good, most of the polls lean toward the Democrats. We have no Senator up for election, and our Congressional district is solidly Democratic.
The other offices are county level, and a couple of Constitutional amendments to vote on, but I haven't been following those ballot measures too closely yet.
State offices are up in years immediately following Presidential and Congressional elections. The governorship is up next year, and a governor can't succeed himself unless an election intervenes, which used to be true for many states, but I think VA is the last. The House of Delegates and half the State Senate as well as other statewide offices will occur in November 2017.
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Thanks for the info Fritz!
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Based on the reaction to Pres. Obama (Tea Party anyone?) I'm afraid this will be true:
The Era of 'The Bitch' Is Coming
A Hillary Clinton presidential victory promises
to usher in a new age of public misogyny.
by Michelle Cottle / The Atlantic
Get ready for the era of the bitch. If Hillary Clinton wins the White House in November, it will be a historic moment, the smashing of the preeminent glass ceiling in American public life. A mere 240 years after this nation’s founding, a woman will occupy its top office. America’s daughters will at last have living, breathing, pantsuit-wearing proof that they too can grow up to be president.
You know it’s coming. As hyperpartisanship, grievance politics, and garden-variety rage shift from America’s first black commander-in-chief onto its first female one, so too will the focus of political bigotry.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/the-era-of-the-bitch-is-coming/496154/
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AN OPEN LETTER TO STEVEN ROTH
ONE OF TRUMP’S BILLIONAIRE BRAIN TRUST
From Larry Kramer
https://www.facebook.com/larry.kramer.169/posts/1173399816044082
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"We made our mistakes back in the 20th century, Lord knows, but we never nominated a man
for president who bragged about not reading. Calvin Coolidge had his limits. Warren G. Harding spent
more time on his hair than strictly necessary. Lyndon Baines Johnson was a piece of work. But all
of them read books. When I envision a Trump Presidential Library, I see enormous chandeliers and
gold carpet and a thousand slot machines. God help us. I mean it. We’re in trouble down here."
-- Garrison Keillor
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Donald Trump Unraveled
by Matthew Continetti
August 19, 2016
[This article has a CNN clip of a Donald Trump advisor named Michael Cohen
with CNN anchor Brianna Keilar. Describing his encounter afterward, Cohen
said “I think I unraveled her.”]
This is what an unraveling looks like to Trump world?
Here's part of the exchange:
When Keilar pointed out that Donald Trump is losing to Hillary Clinton, Cohen responded, “Says who?”
“Polls, most of them, all of them,” Keilar said.
Silence.
And Cohen asked again: “Says who?”
“Polls, I just told you. I answered your question.”
“Ok,” Cohen said. “Which polls?”
“All of them.”
She’s not kidding. As I write, Hillary Clinton enjoys a 5.8 percent lead over Trump in the Real Clear Politics average of polls. She has led in all 23 polls released since late July. Her head-to-head advantage this month ranges from one point to 10 points. Political scientists observe that since 1952 the “candidate in the lead two weeks after the conventions ended went on to win the popular vote every single time.”
[...]
“It’s preseason, for heaven’s sake,” a frustrated and hapless Mike Pence told the Republican Governors Association earlier this week. “The gun starts on Labor Day.” So it does. But here’s the thing about the preseason: Most of the time it shows just how crappy a team you have.
http://freebeacon.com/columns/donald-trump-unraveled/
______________________________________________________________
This interview was a couple days ago. Mr. Cohen, in this exchange, trying to say the media is exaggerating this weeks
new hirings weren't a shakeup of any sort, said "Paul Manafort isn't going anywhere." Well, a day or two later. He went.
The CNN clip in the article is worth watching.
-
Naked Donald Trump Statue
An anatomically correct life-sized naked statue of Donald Trump caused quite a stir in San Francisco's Castro District last week. It was titled, "The Emperor has no clothes" and its "junk" was tiny (I'm sure Marco Rubio would be pleased!).
Similar statues were raised in New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.
San Francisco's was removed in the middle of the night by police since it had no permit and was illegally glued to the sidewalk. It stopped traffic in all directions the 24 or so hours it was there and people were taking selfies with it all day. Lefty O'Doul's famous bar and hof brau off of Union Square offered to give it a permanent home. Negotiations are pending...
I'd post the image but they are all copyrighted by news organizations.
http://abc7news.com/politics/nude-donald-trump-statue-raises-eyebrows-in-sf/1475743/
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Similar statues were raised in New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.
My friend Rich showed me a photo of this statue as he and a friend stumbled across it in Silverlake
last Thursday! Then later that evening I saw it on the news.
Still--I wouldn't want to have a photo of it!
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I find it interesting that anti immigration Trump has only one wife who was "made in America". What's with that?
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Because a foreign wife is the only one who would have him.
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^^^
Despite the policies the Republican party has been putting forward or promoting so often in the
past couple decades, what bothers me the most about them is their hypocrisy. What you wrote
above is one such example. Remember when it was unthinkable to Republicans that you could
vote for John Kerry, because his wife was not born in the United States? How horrible! Or, really,
that religious oriented people, extreme at that, find Donald Trump sufficiently moral?
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Handled badly by everyone?
USA TODAY Sports InvestiGation Raises Questions About Rio Cops, Lochte Incident
Ryan Lochte has been pilloried for his exaggerated tale of robbery in Rio, but did the Rio
police also tell a tall tale of the swimmers' behavior?
posted about an hour ago:
RIO DE JANEIRO – Seven days after an incident that will in part define the Rio Olympics, details are
becoming clearer about what happened during a gas station encounter between four U.S. swimmers and
security guards, and not everyone has concluded Ryan Lochte and his teammates are entirely in the wrong
or that the account offered by Rio authorities is entirely accurate.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/21/investigation-ryan-lochte-rio-olympics-authorities/89082232/
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A horrible earthquake in central Italy.
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Yes, I heard about it on the way to work.....I think almost 100 people are dead.
Jules was posting on Facebook, so she is ok.
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Strange...
According to the Minnesota Secretary of State's website, these are the candidates who have filed
under Minnesota election rules, to be on the ballot as Presidential Candidates this fall:
Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Darrell Castle and Scott Bradley, Constitution Party
Dan R. Vacek and Mark Elworth, Jr., Legal Marijuana Now Party
Alyson Kennedy and Osborne Hart, Socialist Workers Party
Jill Stein and Howie Hawkins, Green Party
"Rocky" Roque De La Fuente and Michael Steinberg, American Delta Party
Evan McMullin and Nathan Johnson, Independence
Gary Johnson and William Weld, Libertarian Party
Notice anyone missing?
As of today, it appears the Minnesota Republican Party has not yet filed the paperwork to put
Donald Trump and Mike Pence on the Minnesota ballot. They have until Aug. 29 to do so. I'm
sure it will be, if only because if I am aware of this today, so are those in MN. If only no one
had brought it to anyone's attention.
-
In Minnesota the party was called the Independent Republicans from 1975 to 1995, because of Watergate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_of_Minnesota
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.democrats.org%2Fdigital%2Femail%2F20160813_SCOTUS150_v3_01.png&hash=497c76c24eb9edd56f00ea598ddb589fbadce6d0)
Thirty years in the Senate and not doing his job is his proudest moment.
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Yes, I heard about it on the way to work.....I think almost 100 people are dead.
Jules was posting on Facebook, so she is ok.
I believe the death toll is now 250.
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Holy Cow!
Couldn't decide if this should be a "humorous" post or news...
"This week’s “Slap in the Face” Award is all about a unique solution to a big problem faced by the gas and energy industry – especially in the Golden State. Essentially, it’s a way to produce free gas… and until recently, it was available only in South America.
The slap goes out to the California natural gas industry and the California Air Resources Board.
If you have any money in the farming business in California, you might want to pay attention to this.
Everyone knows how tough California is about regulating pollution and the industries that produce it, especially the energy industry.
Well, the Air Resources Board is now worried that its goal of reducing greenhouse gases is being threatened by a gas source we haven’t talked about in a while: cow flatulence.
The cows produce half of the state’s methane, a dangerous gas 105 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
So their toxic emissions interfere with the board’s goal of producing milk (by the gallon) with the lowest greenhouse gas effect in the world. Oh, and it’ll also be the most expensive gallon of milk in the world!"
He discusses several potential solutions all of which have politically-incorrect drawbacks. Argentina, however, has already found a solution:
Strap-On backpacks to capture cow's flatulence!
An image is provided and it's a fun read, too:
http://wealthyretirement.com/slap-in-the-face-award-video/progressives-consider-gas-backpacks-for-windy-cows/
What's this world coming to?!
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Holy Cow!
[...]
An image is provided
That article is quite fascinating...and that image is really amusing at first glance,
like the cow is wearing a jet pack and about to soar...but then it seems so highly
impractical!
It did remind me of that old song, too: Cow Cow Boogie!
Out on the plains down near Santa Fe
I met a cowboy ridin' the range one day
And as he jogged along I heard him singin'
The most peculiar cowboy song
It was a ditty, he learned in the city
Comma ti yi yi yeah
Comma ti yippity yi yeah
Now get along, get hip little doggies
Get along, better be on your way
Get along, get hip little doggies
He trucked 'em on down that old fairway
Singin' his Cow Cow Boogie in the strangest way
Comma ti yi yi yeah
Comma ti yippity yi yeah
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Nothing new in this for New Zealand. We have a very good record with our hydroelectricity, geothermal and wind power. Usual problems of a 1st world country with transport despite a small population (just over 4 million) but a big problem as Dairy then Sheep are our big export earners and let the side down on Greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have been working on the problem.
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Did anyone catch Nigel Farage campaigning with Donald Trump in Mississippi?
Sounds like the premise of some bad episode of the Dukes of Hazzard. Plus,
I thought Trump supporters don't like foreigners!
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I found out when the debates are going to be.
Monday, September 26, 2016
First presidential debate
Location: Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY*
The first debate will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on major topics to be selected by the moderator and announced at least one week before the debate. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. Candidates will then have an opportunity to respond to each other. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.
*Wright State University in Ohio has withdrawn from holding the First Presidential debate due to budget issues.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Vice presidential debate
Location: Longwood University, Farmville, VA
The Vice Presidential debate will be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Second presidential debate
Location: Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which half of the questions will be posed directly by citizen participants and the other half will be posed by the moderator based on topics of broad public interest as reflected in social media and other sources. The candidates will have two minutes to respond and there will be an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate further discussion. The town meeting participants will be uncommitted voters selected by the Gallup Organization.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Third presidential debate
Location: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
The format for the third debate will be identical to the first presidential debate.
All debates are broadcast live and start at:
9:00 p.m. Eastern
8:00 p.m. Central
7:00 p.m. Mountain
6:00 p.m. Pacific
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I really don't think these debates are as worthy as they're purported to be.
Most of the time it's a silly or unusual thing that gets all the attention.
Examples:
--When Ford misspoke about Eastern Europe not being under communist influence.
Oops! Can't make a mistake or you're outta there.
--When George H.W. Bush looked at his watch during the debate and it was perceived
that he wasn't interested in being there and out of touch.
--When Reagan made an age quip back toward Walter Mondale.
--When Nixon refused to wear makeup, so he looked like someone on the FBI's most
wanted list.
--When Al Gore sighed a couple times.
--When Kerry said he "was for it before he was against it."
--And, of course, everyone loves to repeat a "zinger" over and over.
You just never know. And I cannot imagine three debates with Trump and Clinton.
One will be interesting, but three sounds like torture and with him, anything can happen.
-
Trudeau's Take on the Debates from Doonesbury
Today's Doonesbury is a timely comment on this topic!
http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip
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Remember D.T. has had concerns about the Presidential debates...he said he'd have to see who the
moderators were first and that he was concerned about his ratings because two of them are on when
NFL football games are being aired.
Well, the Washington Post had an article about past debates, their ratings and some that were on opposite
NFL football games. Their conclusion is that it doesn't make any difference in terms of ratings overall.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/nfl-debates/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/01/do-nfl-games-really-take-eyeballs-off-presidential-debates/?tid=a_inl)
Also, the moderators have now been selected.
--NBC's Lester Holt will moderate the first debate Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
--ABC's Martha Raddatz and CNN's Anderson Cooper will lead a town-hall-style forum at Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 9.
--Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace will handle the questioning at the final debate Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
These moderators include some firsts:
--The first African American moderator (Holt) since Carole Simpson in 1992.
(Gwen Ifill moderated vice-presidential debates in 2004 and 2008, and Bernard Shaw moderated the VP debate in 2000.)
--The first openly gay moderator (Cooper).
--The first moderator from Fox News (Wallace).
The Oct. 4 Vice-presidential debate moderator Elaine Quijano also represents a couple of milestones.
She is the first Asian American moderator of a general-election debate and the first to work primarily for a digital network (CBSN).
_________________________
This Wednesday, you may or may not have heard, NBC's Matt Lauer will moderate the first-ever Commander-in-Chief Forum
on Wednesday, September 7, presented by NBC News and MSNBC with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
During this one-hour forum live from the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be on stage back-to-back taking questions on national security, military affairs and veterans issues from NBC News and an audience comprised mainly of military veterans and active service members.
The event will air live on MSNBC at 8 p.m. ET and will be simulcast live on NBC in most markets. Check listings if you live in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. The event will also air on NBC in its entirety at 8 p.m. PT and 9 p.m. MT.
_________________________
The wording of the above and on the commercials for this is a bit weird, leading people to think they will be there side by side
answering questions like a debate. However, the wording is back to back. I believe it will be one of them first followed by the
other one. I don't know if there are commercials, but it is only scheduled for one hour.
Has anyone ever visited the Intrepid while in New York. It's a floating museum and quite interesting, I thought. When I was in NY
there were posters for a gay dance party being held on the Intrepid! After I left, though.
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Wasn't Chris Wallace on mainstream network news at some point?
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The Moron’s Case For Hillary Clinton…because some of you really are that stupid.
An old colleague and I were having breakfast this morning when he looked up at the news (I can’t remember which network …MSNBC, I think) and noticed a split screen of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. He lamented long about how terrible both candidates are in this election and I guess we just have to choose the lesser of the two evils or, as he put it, “…put on a blindfold and just pick. It doesn’t really make any difference.”
And that’s when I went off.
I am really sick and tired of people saying both candidates are equally horrible choices, how much America thoroughly hates both of them to the core, that there’s not a single positive trait in either one of them and wow, if only we had voted for that guy behind the deli counter or the neighbor’s cat, America would be WAY better off.
Fuck you. Fuck the deli guy and fuck your neighbor’s cat.
There are only 2 candidates who stand any mathematical chance of prevailing in this year’s election and one of them is, in fact, eminently qualified to become the 45th President of the United States, perhaps more so than any of the other 44 previous office holders. She (that’s right…SHE) has been dedicated to public service in one capacity or another since 1971. Her accomplishments are tremendous. To name a few (edited from the list once provided by Daily Kos for space):
https://thecontrarianblogger.com/2016/08/24/the-morons-case-for-hillary-clinton-because-some-of-you-really-are-that-stupid/ (https://thecontrarianblogger.com/2016/08/24/the-morons-case-for-hillary-clinton-because-some-of-you-really-are-that-stupid/)
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Wasn't Chris Wallace on mainstream network news at some point?
Yes. NBC and ABC. He even moderated Meet the Press for a short time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Wallace (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Wallace)
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Thanks, Jeff. I thought I remembered him on other networks. How in the hell did he end up on Fox??
-
He must have done something bad in a previous life.
-
I guess.
-
I did like, during one of the Republican Primary Debates, when Wallace used
full-screen graphics to fact-check Trump on the spot. That was amazing, because
D.T. doesn't know facts, so his response was only, "Okay."
-
Thanks, Jeff. I thought I remembered him on other networks. How in the hell did he end up on Fox??
He must have done something bad in a previous life.
He went over to the Dark Side.
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I was reading an article on a conservative news site, The Spectator, and I looked at the
comments section. A load of posters were talking, seriously, about women should never
have been allowed to vote and, well, that wasn't the worst of it. The language in the posts
was so demeaning--not to any one or group in particular, although there was that, but just
on human decency standards it was appalling. Everyone seems to be an enemy to these
people: Women, blacks, Latinos, Muslims (minorities in general), progressives, socialists,
Democrats, Republicans who disagree with them, media, feminism, young people, and
millennials in particular, feminism, intellectuals, humanists, and I could go on...
It was really discouraging. Remind me not to do that again.
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He went over to the Dark Side.
Did he ever!!!
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It was really discouraging. Remind me not to do that again.
These sites are such hateful places, and I will definitely remind you, Lyle.
-
These sites are such hateful places, and I will definitely remind you, Lyle.
The very fact that these sites--and these people--exist saddens and frightens me.
-
They're a reminder that one should always be aware of your surroundings, and watch your back.
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Have you all seen Sia's new video, "The Greatest"? The young dancer that's in all her videos (Maddie Ziegler) is leading a troupe of young dancers, they are all dancing and having fun, and at the end, they all drop to the floor, revealing bullet holes in the wall behind them. It's a tribute to the Orlando Pulse victims.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSRyLdjsPA
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Let's hope so...
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That's 4 million students!
80 percent
Of the nearly five million students in U.S. public schools that show signs of a mental health
disorder, 80 percent will not receive counseling, medication or any kind of treatment for it. [NPR]
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For those that think Government should stay out of your business, well, what if you're ______?
SB 277
A California law, SB 277 — which forbids parents from sending unimmunized children to school — went into effect in July. And with kids now going back to school, the first wave of parents affected by the law will have to decide whether to tutor kids at home, leave California or vaccinate their dang kids. [The New York Times]
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Something that happened to catch my ear and I just went -- huh?
I mean, how does this work?
I heard people talking about "3-D food printing."
-
^^^^^^
Wow, want to blow your mind? Go to Google Images, type in "3d food"
and look what comes up. Coming soon to restaurants near you or...?
-
For those that think Government should stay out of your business, well, what if you're ______?
SB 277
A California law, SB 277 — which forbids parents from sending unimmunized children to school — went into effect in July. And with kids now going back to school, the first wave of parents affected by the law will have to decide whether to tutor kids at home, leave California or vaccinate their dang kids. [The New York Times]
OK, I believe in vaccination--and I have no problem with a law requiring kids to be vaccinated in order for them to attend public schools--and I believe that refusal to have one's kids vaccinated amounts to neglect and endangerment--I also have no kids--but I confess I do not understand how a handful of kids who are not vaccinated pose a danger in a school full of kids who are vaccinated.
-
In Australia, family benefits are not paid to those who are not vaccinated. The argument is that there are some children who are too young (but then not yet at school but may be in childcare) or for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated and these are put at risk. I know in my age group, some grandparents have gone for vaccinations because they did not have them as children and do not want to endanger their grandchildren
-
NBC's Matt Lauer will moderate the first-ever Commander-in-Chief Forum on Wednesday, September 7, presented by NBC News and MSNBC with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
During this one-hour forum live from the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be on stage back-to-back taking questions on national security, military affairs and veterans issues from NBC News and an audience comprised mainly of military veterans and active service members.
Did anyone watch this? Matt Lauer is getting a lot of criticism for spending ten minutes of
Hillary's half-hour grilling her about e-mails again (the forum was about military issues) and
keeping her on point with the questions he was asking and then letting Trump slide without
follow-ups to questions he gave false answers to or ignored completely and babbled about
something else.
-
God, I love this!
Mexico threatens to cancel treaty that ceded Texas and California to US if Trump gets elected
(...)
The bill Piter is proposing would specifically cancel the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War and ceded Texas and California as well as parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming to the U.S. if Trump cancels NAFTA.
(...)
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/mexico-threatens-to-cancel-treaty-that-ceded-texas-and-california-to-us-if-trump-gets-elected/
-
God, I love this!
Mexico threatens to cancel treaty that ceded Texas and California to US if Trump gets elected
(...)
The bill Piter is proposing would specifically cancel the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War and ceded Texas and California as well as parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming to the U.S. if Trump cancels NAFTA.
(...)
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/mexico-threatens-to-cancel-treaty-that-ceded-texas-and-california-to-us-if-trump-gets-elected/
They better remember to include the Gadsden Purchase. ...
-
OK, I believe in vaccination--and I have no problem with a law requiring kids to be vaccinated in order for them to attend public schools--and I believe that refusal to have one's kids vaccinated amounts to neglect and endangerment--I also have no kids--but I confess I do not understand how a handful of kids who are not vaccinated pose a danger in a school full of kids who are vaccinated.
This is what happens when just one child is not vaccinated:
On January 5, 2015, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) was notified about a suspected measles case. The patient was a hospitalized, unvaccinated child, aged 11 years with rash onset on December 28. The only notable travel history during the exposure period was a visit to one of two adjacent Disney theme parks located in Orange County, California. On the same day, CDPH received reports of four additional suspected measles cases in California residents and two in Utah residents, all of whom reported visiting one or both Disney theme parks during December 17–20. By January 7, seven California measles cases had been confirmed, and CDPH issued a press release and an Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X) notification to other states regarding this outbreak. Measles transmission is ongoing (Figure).
As of February 11, a total of 125 measles cases with rash occurring during December 28, 2014–February 8, 2015, had been confirmed in U.S. residents connected with this outbreak. Of these, 110 patients were California residents. Thirty-nine (35%) of the California patients visited one or both of the two Disney theme parks during December 17–20, where they are thought to have been exposed to measles, 37 have an unknown exposure source (34%), and 34 (31%) are secondary cases. Among the 34 secondary cases, 26 were household or close contacts, and eight were exposed in a community setting. Five (5%) of the California patients reported being in one or both of the two Disney theme parks during their exposure period outside of December 17–20, but their source of infection is unknown. In addition, 15 cases linked to the two Disney theme parks have been reported in seven other states: Arizona (seven), Colorado (one), Nebraska (one), Oregon (one), Utah (three), and Washington (two), as well as linked cases reported in two neighboring countries, Mexico (one) and Canada (10).
Among the 110 California patients, 49 (45%) were unvaccinated; five (5%) had 1 dose of measles-containing vaccine, seven (6%) had 2 doses, one (1%) had 3 doses, 47 (43%) had unknown or undocumented vaccination status, and one (1%) had immunoglobulin G seropositivity documented, which indicates prior vaccination or measles infection at an undetermined time. Twelve of the unvaccinated patients were infants too young to be vaccinated. Among the 37 remaining vaccine-eligible patients, 28 (67%) were intentionally unvaccinated because of personal beliefs, and one was on an alternative plan for vaccination. Among the 28 intentionally unvaccinated patients, 18 were children (aged <18 years), and 10 were adults. Patients range in age from 6 weeks to 70 years; the median age is 22 years. Among the 84 patients with known hospitalization status, 17 (20%) were hospitalized.
The source of the initial Disney theme park exposure has not been identified. Specimens from 30 California patients were genotyped; all were measles genotype B3, which has caused a large outbreak recently in the Philippines, but has also been detected in at least 14 countries and at least six U.S. states in the last 6 months (1).
Annual attendance at Disney theme parks in California is estimated at 24 million (2), including many international visitors from countries where measles is endemic. The December holiday season coincides with the exposure period of interest. Since 2011, six confirmed measles cases have been reported to CDPH in persons whose notable exposure was to large theme parks that attract international tourists. International travel to countries where measles is endemic is a well-known risk factor for measles, and measles importations continue to occur in the United States; the number of measles cases reported to CDC is updated weekly at http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html. However, U.S. residents also can be exposed to measles in the United States at venues with large numbers of international visitors, such as other tourist attractions and airports. This outbreak illustrates the continued importance of ensuring high measles vaccination coverage in the United States.
This is not school, but just one 11 yo unvaccinated child caused all this. It is a wide range of ages, which is why the CDC recommends a booster vaccination for high school/college age kids/
-
Good article, Linda. We've had several major outbreaks in recent years, including a couple of deaths, since the vaccination scare - the disproved "measles vaccination can cause autism".
-
Apparently some vaccines should have booster shots. A friend of mine (early sixties) got whopping cough because he lives in a small town where a lot of parents don't understand why children should be vaccinated. My friend had his shots when he was a child but I guess they do wear out. Us old folks are in danger.
-
I was thinking that a lot of Americans bring crime and guns across the border, perhaps we should start a wall on our border and charge it to the US government. LOL!!!!!
-
Didn't I hear yesterday that Britain is building a wall in France?
If someone could explain that to me, I didn't hear the whole story.
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http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/mexico-threatens-to-cancel-treaty-that-ceded-texas-and-california-to-us-if-trump-gets-elected/
Good for them!
Among the other things they want to do, I like this one from Piter: "We want to shut Trump’s mouth."
Of all the problems needing to be solved, Trump is engaged in bashing our neighbor to the south?
If he treats neighbors that way...
I wish they could have built that wall while Trump was down there.
-
I was reading a lot of discouraging articles about this election yesterday. In case anyone remembers, elections could often be a source of fun.
Getting out and supporting a candidate among like minded people is actually energizing. Passing out literature, sharing your views, trying to
get skeptics to see your point of view, manning a phone bank or registering people to vote.
Now, everyone just seems geared to attack each other. It's like kids in school trying to fight back with insults or name calling or the like.
Just trying to put down your opponent as much and often as possible. Especially online. It's like each side has let pit bulls run through the
electorate decimating anything in their way.
Are there so many pissed off people in the U.S. that they are willing to ignore any sense of reason and vote for a historically unqualified
megalomaniacal mess as Donald Trump, just to tell everyone how angry they are?
Repeatedly, I have said that one need go no further to disqualify this P.T. Barnum than his stated belief that our current President wasn't
born a U.S. citizen. There isn't any room for benefit of the doubt after that.
How does someone like Trump get to be in a position close to the Presidency, someone who is a blatant liar (his supporters dismiss the
Pulitizer Prize winning Politifact site that shows he's the "lyingest" candidate ever, while Hillary is one of the least), a racist, misogynist,
a failed businessman who stiffs his workers and suppliers...the ignored list of offenses goes on and on. Is there such a large mass of people
that just want to shout a collective f. you to the world, like rioters burning down their own neighborhoods?
Did you hear him the other day in a rally saying, "Hillary is a disaster. She just doesn't look Presidential, does she fellas?" How much more
misogynistic can you get as that? How about the orange buffoon with the electro-shock hair--how Presidential does that guy look?
I read an article about this subject yesterday: Fear of a Female President by Peter Beinart, The Atlantic
I urge people to read the article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/10/fear-of-a-female-president/497564/
From the article:
Standard negative commentary about Clinton’s candidacy—which focuses on her email server, the Benghazi attack, her oratorical deficiencies, her struggles with “authenticity”—doesn’t explain the intensity of this opposition. But the academic literature about how men respond to women who assume traditionally male roles does. And it is highly disturbing.
A reporter wrote down (documented) the most popular items sold at Donald Trump rallies and events:
There's ten of them; I was going to list them, but they're just so ugly.
Maybe it's something as a gay person I don't get, but why do so many straight men feel this misogynistic
attitude toward women?
I had an encounter yesterday with this very topic--two or so hours after I read this article:
Even though there's only 8 units, all facing the outdoors, in my apt. building, several of the tenants, and one in
particular, get a lot of deliveries from UPS. Almost daily UPS comes to our gate. My apt. is near the gate and since
the UPS driver usually comes at a time I am here, but the others are not, I go down and open the gate for him to
come in. So, I have talked to him many times in a friendly manner and so I know a few things about him. He's been
working for UPS over 15 years and has a wife and two small children and little things like that.
Yesterday he happened to say "What're you up to today?" and, as I was, I said, "Oh, I was just reading a lot of articles about
the election coming up." He said, "Oh, are you supporting anyone?" I said, "I am happily supporting Hillary Clinton for President."
(I say it that way because there's so much reluctance in the media to say you actually LIKE the person you're supporting, that I
purposely do so.) The UPS driver said, "I haven't been paying attention to all of it yet, but I don't know about her. Maybe I'm kind
of prejudiced or something, but I just don't know if a woman can handle that job or not."
First, I don't know now if he used the word prejudiced, but it was one word and meant something like that if it wasn't. I was kind of
shocked someone would admit that, to be honest. I wasn't going to get in a long argument or conversation about it right then, but I
said, "You know, I have no problem with that. I have had mostly female bosses in my life and they've all been fine. And a lot of the
things in Government that have been accomplished that I like have been due to the women who were in office helping to get those
things done." He said, "Like I said, I haven't been paying attention to all of this yet, so I'll be sitting down and looking at the candidates
and their policies and stuff." I then had to say that in all of my years I've never felt there was someone so unqualified to be President
as Donald Trump and that possibility is just downright scary to me.
I wondered what this man's wife would think about what he said to me. If I were in a state that was not so blue, I would probably keep
talking to him about this off and on. It also surprises me that there's so many people who just don't pay any attention to politics and have
not even pondered the election much, even though it's been going on for over a year!
Two months from today I hope I am in a good mood.
-
Just wanted you all to know that I've reopened the September 11th thread for the 15th anniversary.
if anyone wants to read/post to it, you can find it here.
http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=26368.0
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I'm sure some of you have heard of Gary Johnson's Aleppo gaffe.
The coverage has been immediately damning and saying he's disqualified to be President for this.
My question is: Has anyone else noticed that Donald Trump has done the equivalent of this about:
A MILLION TIMES!
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net%2Fjohnsonweld2016%2Fpages%2F62%2Fmeta_images%2Foriginal%2FJohnson-OG.jpg&hash=af7c36ee084ae025e4cce845ee591f80aa555adc)
For some reason, everytime I see this sign I think it says
JOHNSON
WEED 2016
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So, people looking into voting for a third party candidate now have
Gary Johnson's deer in the headlights gaffe about Aleppo and
Jill Stein has a warrant out for her arrest in North Dakota.
_____
First it was FEEL THE BERN.
Now...:
(https://i.imgur.com/dxo3Dya.jpg)
-
Sigh. Has Hillary had her Mitt Romney moment?
I think if I were an undecided voter, I would be very offended by her characterization of Trump supporters.
She's a smart woman, but in my opinion that was a very stupid thing to say.
-
^^^
Jeff, just curious why would an undecided voter be offended?
Part of the reason a lot of Republican voters are undecided is because of exactly what Clinton
was talking about. The biggest mistake Clinton made was assigning a number (percentage) to it,
because you know how people like to argue about numbers. It's best to just have that imaginary,
can't put my finger on it idea out in the ether so that one can feel about it the way they want to.
Sort of like when the musical Sunset Blvd. first appeared onstage and every time the Joe Gillis character
would sing this line about Norma Desmond it would get a really huge laugh:
"There's nothing wrong with being fifty, unless you're acting twenty."
Never mind that in the original story Norma Desmond IS fifty, but, for whatever reason, people
nowadays either have or have grown to have an idea that Norma Desmond is the oldest woman in Hollywood
and also that fifty doesn't have that connotation of old age as it once did. So, the producers and writer decided
to let people think Norma Desmond is however old they wanted to by changing the lyric to:
"There's nothing wrong with being 'your age', unless you're acting twenty."
A similar thing happened when I saw the film MARTY at a screening around a decade ago. Two seemingly
elderly women, one of them Marty's mother, are chatting about all their trials of getting through daily life
and especially about how hard it is to do things at their age and all of their aches and pains and such as
they rock back and forth in their chairs doing their knitting, and then one of them says, "Well, that's what
happens when you turn fifty." Gales of laughter from the audience!
When I first heard about this I was like, oh no, this is going to cause Hillary a lot of trouble, but now, after reading
several articles (from both ends of the spectrum) and thinking about it, I'm not so sure. It's going to depend on how
the media covers it, for one, because, as I pointed out with the Gary Johnson gaffe about Aleppo, Trump has done things
like that (gaffes) and said racist things (he's a birther!) HOW MANY TIMES? and Hillary or Johnson do one similar thing and
they get hammered?
Plus, I don't think this was all a mistake by Hillary Clinton. She had, in effect, tried this out in at least one other interview with
an Israeli journalist previous to the Friday event. What she did not say in that interview was the "half" remark. And that's what
she walked back on afterwards. (Some call it an apology for their reasons as though the rest of the statement was wrong.)
Also, look at how Trump supporters are reacting. Their instinct is to revel in the notion or to be entirely offended. In some artcile
comment sections I was reading this weekend (which I said I was trying to stop doing) I riled a whole bunch of people up by just
replying to their posts with: "Don't take it personally. Unless it is."
-
It reminds me when during the marriage equality debate when people were offended by being called homophobic when their words
and actions were clearly that. "How dare you call me homophobic when I just have these religious beliefs that are homophobic and act
on them."
Of course, it's a political campaign, so the other side is going to trot out every single upstanding person who is not in Hillary's basket #1
and say that they are not deplorable. Of course they will.
But is it so bad to have the ideas that Hillary was talking about brought up as an issue? Because from what I've seen, many of Trump's
supporters are reacting to this in ways that are truly showing what she says is true. They're attacking in deplorable (which is now the
umbrella term for all the racist, misogynistic, anti-immigrant, what have you ideas) ways and publicly aligning themselves to this alt right
position.
For example: Trump advisor Roger Stone and Trump's own son DOnald Trump, Jr. have been tweeting around all weekend a
variation on the poster for the film The Expendables, of course titled The Deplorables. The original line-up of people in the
Expendables film were the actors in it, of course, and in the Deplorables version they are replaced with: Trump advisor Roger
Stone, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Jr., Mike Pence, Donald Trump, Pepe the frog, Rudy Giuliani, Eric Trump,
Alex jones (alt-right radio host) and Milo Yiannopoulos (Breitbart writer).
THis is what Donald Jr. tweeted out about this: A friend sent me this. Apparently I made the cut as one of the Deplorables! All
kidding aside I am honored to be grouped with the hard working men and women of this great nation that have supported
@realdonaldtrump and know that he can fix the mess created by politicians in Washington.
As one of the articles I am linking says:
Well, what’s wrong with the picture. Go ahead and tell me. You’ve got 15 seconds . . .
Times up.
What’s wrong is the little green cartoon character peering over Donald Trump’s shoulder. His name is Pepe the frog,
and he isn’t just a dominant alt-right meme. He’s come to represent the Nazi wing of the alt-right.
And, not to be left out, David Duke himself was tweeting a similar Deplorables poster meme based on that film with
his support for the Trump campaign.
So, I wonder if this is a bad thing for Hillary's campaign. Why not bring up this dangerous association the Trump campaign is
allying itself to and have it out there as a discussion? Also, from the Clinton POV, wouldn't you rather be discussing something
a lot of Americans are uncomfortable with, rather than the non-stop emails discussion?
I saw this Politico article in that light:
Why Clinton isn’t Sweating ‘deplorables’
A public debate about the true size of Donald Trump’s ‘alt-right’ base doesn’t bother Team Hillary one bit.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/hillary-clinton-deplorables-debate-227996#ixzz4K9pX5S82
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Other random thoughts or whatever about this:
--Anything that gives your opponents ammunition to fire back at you is, granted, not a good thing.
--Romney's remark was a bit different in that it was so rigid there wasn't any room to maneuver around it.
Hillary has some wiggle room in making the point she was after.
--I read an interesting article about how this idea she talked about was a tactic to fire up her own supporters
and appeal to one of those demographics that usually vote Republican, but is very uncomfortable with the
Reps. Breitbart-Alt Right-Racist etc. bent in this campaign.
--I guess if anyone's not familiar with this situation, this would be the place to start, IMO.
In Context: Hillary Clinton and the 'basket of deplorables'
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/sep/11/context-hillary-clinton-basket-deplorables/
--There are articles (linked below) writing about why Hillary was right about these remarks:
Clinton Was Right: Trump HAS Lifted Up the Deplorable
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/10/opinions/how-trump-has-normalized-the-deplorable-bailey/
Data Reveals Hillary Clinton Was Right About Donald Trump’s ‘Deplorable’ Supporters
If anything, she was perhaps too kind in her assessment of the ugly side of Trump’s base.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/data-reveals-hillary-was-right (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/data-reveals-hillary-clinton-was-right-about-donald_us_57d3b2b1e4b0273330ac3fcb)
Do Half of Trump’s Supporters Really Belong in a “Basket of Deplorables”?
Yes.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/09.html (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/09/trump_s_basket_of_deplorables_hillary_clinton_was_right.html)
How Many of Donald Trump's Supporters Belong in a Basket of Deplorables? Almost All of Them
http://www.nydailynews.com/james-kirchick-deplorables.html (http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/james-kirchick-hillary-basket-deplorables-article-1.2788830)
Donald Trump is Wrong About Hillary Clinton's 'deplorable' Remarks
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-91119497/
Hillary Clinton Proven Right as Deplorable Trump Supporter Hits and Slaps Protesters
Hillary Clinton was too kind. Deplorable is too nice of a word for these folks.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/09/12/deplorables-strike-trump-supporter-hits-slaps-protesters.html
The Alt-Right in pictures — was Hillary's “basket of deplorables” right or wrong? Vote!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/9/13/1569201/-The-Alt-Right-in-pictures-was-Hillary-s-basket-of-deplorables-right-or-wrong-Vote]http://www.dailykos.com/story/1569201/right-or-wrong-Vote[/url]
Hillary Clinton's 'deplorables' Comment is Not Entirely Wrong
http://LosAngelesTimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-91138637/ (http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-91138637/)
You usually have to sign in to read the L.A. Times article, so consider this little snippet from it:
At some point in every election cycle, a TV news anchor — and more likely several of them — will speak in reverential tones about “the wisdom of the American people.” This expression of clichéd, lazy patriotism implies that the collective choice made by voters when they go to the polls is magically infallible. Unfortunately, that is simply not true.
Consider the man many Americans think of as the country’s greatest president, Abraham Lincoln. We got him by chance, not because the people were so smart. Lincoln was elected in 1860 with less than 40% of the vote, the lowest percentage of any winning presidential candidate in U.S. history.
Deplorable Christian Right Leader Slams Hillary Clinton for Calling People Like Him “Deplorable”
Who could have guessed that Donald Trump‘s supporters would have such thin skin?
They’re practically tripping over each other to see who can act most offended.
http://www.patheos.com/christian-right-leader-Tony Perkins/ (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/09/11/deplorable-christian-right-leader-slams-hillary-clinton-for-calling-people-like-him-deplorable/)
This article is about Tony Perkins, whose name alone makes me cringe when I hear it.
Hillary is Right About the Deplorables: 52% of Trump Supporters Think Obama Isn’t an American
http://www.dailynewsbin.com/26018/ (http://www.dailynewsbin.com/opinion/hillary-is-right-about-the-deplorables-59-of-trump-supporters-think-obama-isnt-an-american/26018/)
--There's a lot of articles from the Trump side, too, but most of them are not dealing with the issue, of course, that Hillary was talking about.
They are offensive articles, as in they take offense at Hillary calling them out, or Hillary is attacking hard working people, or How Dare You or
embracing her statements in some back-handed way.
I guess we'll see how this plays out.
-
Jeff, just curious why would an undecided voter be offended?
I'm not having a good day (never mind). I probably should not have said undecided. But I don't think she's going to win herself any support with that statement. However true it may be, I don't think you win over people by insulting them. Hell, I'm not undecided, and I still think it was an insulting and unwise--not to say stupid--thing to say.
-
It reminds me when during the marriage equality debate when people were offended by being called homophobic when their words
and actions were clearly that. "How dare you call me homophobic when I just have these religious beliefs that are homophobic and act
on them."
Well, yes, and you win people over by offending them how?
Never mind. ...
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi176.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw197%2Foilgun%2FDeplorableTshirt-01_zps0old7o1w.jpg&hash=465d8c02920b0dbb45b3e8032f17a602869da97c)
Some people just can't be won over.
We're gonna need a bigger basket, lol!
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^^^^^^
There's also a shirt that some Democrats have started wearing:
"Trump Supporters are Basket Cases."
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My question is: How can you be offended at something if you don't think it applies to you?
-
Also, if the press now brings this up to Hillary Clinton all the time, she can keep showing examples of this
to everyone and explain the problem she's alluding to. Isn't that better than another email question that
the public rolls their eyes at?
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Also, if the press now brings this up to Hillary Clinton all the time, she can keep showing examples of this
to everyone and explain the problem she's alluding to. Isn't that better than another email question that
the public rolls their eyes at?
I think it's just as bad. Better not to keep reminding everyone that she insulted Trump's supporters; even if her description is apt, I still think it was unwise and insulting of her to say it publicly--or anywhere near a "hot" mic.
-
By saying it's just as bad, it is closing off a potent topic relating to Trump's campaign and one that reporters
are loathe to talk about, but Clinton bringing it up has allowed them to report about it more and they have been.
I don't see how pointing all this out is a dangerous thing.
You might think it's as bad as talking about her emails, but she did it deliberately. It wasn't off the cuff.
They were pretty well scripted remarks and like I mentioned in a previous post, she'd already said it in an
interview before this event, though she didn't use the "half" term that seems to have gotten people all
worked up more than the substance of what she was talking about.
You can disagree with the campaign tactic, but it was deliberate.
The people you are afraid she is insulting have no intention of voting for her and the group she's trying to reach
are uncomfortable with the exact topic she's bringing up. As well as the fact Hillary supporters are not going to
vote for Trump.
If you want to talk about OFFENDING people, you should see what Trump supporters say about Hillary Clinton
herself and people who are supporting her. Especially online. It's pretty disgusting. And deserving of strong
condemnation...which just happens to be the definition of deplorable.
Trump gathering yesterday in Asheville N.C.:
69 Year-old Woman Punched at Trump Rally
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/09/13/69-year-old-woman-punched-asheville-trump-rally/90301468/
Trump: "Is there anywhere in America more fun to be than a Trump rally?"
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By saying it's just as bad, it is closing off a potent topic relating to Trump's campaign and one that reporters
are loathe to talk about, but Clinton bringing it up has allowed them to report about it more and they have been.
I don't see how pointing all this out is a dangerous thing.
You might think it's as bad as talking about her emails, but she did it deliberately. It wasn't off the cuff.
They were pretty well scripted remarks and like I mentioned in a previous post, she'd already said it in an
interview before this event, though she didn't use the "half" term that seems to have gotten people all
worked up more than the substance of what she was talking about.
You can disagree with the campaign tactic, but it was deliberate.
I never said it wasn't deliberate. Just because it was deliberate doesn't make it not unwise or not stupid.
I'm sorry, Lyle. You're never going to convince me that it's ever wise or OK for anyone who's a candidate for anything from dogcatcher on up to insult any voters.
I also think remarks like that lower her to the very level of the people she's talking about. I'm very disappointed in her right now. Remarks like that make her sound like the Trumpence himself.
The people you are afraid she is insulting have no intention of voting for her and the group she's trying to reach
are uncomfortable with the exact topic she's bringing up. As well as the fact Hillary supporters are not going to
vote for Trump.
I"m waiting for you to explain why that still makes it OK for her to insult them.
If you want to talk about OFFENDING people, you should see what Trump supporters say about Hillary Clinton
herself and people who are supporting her. Especially online. It's pretty disgusting. And deserving of strong
condemnation...which just happens to be the definition of deplorable.
I know all about that merde, thank you.
I also think there are people out there who may actually agree with Trumpence on some things, but they're not going to be convinced to vote for Hillary instead by a tactic like that. They won't vote for her because they don't want to be identified with the people she disparaged. They will vote for him because it will further convince them that she's the wrong person for the office. You give me the impression that you think this whole election campaign is a matter of black and white for everybody. I don't think that's what I've been hearing lately. I could, of course, be very wrong, but I seem to be hearing some reasonable-sounding people who sound like they're still in a gray area, and they're not going to be convinced to vote for Hillary because she characterizes Trumpence's supporters as "deplorable." Some of them might even vote for him out of spite.
-
I was in the middle of a really long reply and not nearly finished so I decided
to just stop and say that I have read too many articles about this the last
five days and to answer you about why this issue and what she said is way
more complicated than just labeling it an insult, would be a really long task
that probably isn't worth it. Also, if one is really interested in the subtleties
of the whole thing there's dozens of articles about it online, some of which
were linked above.
__________________________________
"Give 'em hell, Harry!"
--"I just tell 'em the truth and they think it's hell."
___
"Do you deny it?"
--"No, but I resent it."
-
I was in the middle of a really long reply and not nearly finished so I decided
to just stop and say that I have read too many articles about this the last
five days and to answer you about why this issue and what she said is way
more complicated than just labeling it an insult, would be a really long task
that probably isn't worth it. Also, if one is really interested in the subtleties
of the whole thing there's dozens of articles about it online, some of which
were linked above.
You go right ahead and keep on thinking it's more subtle and complicated Lyle. I've already said you're not going to change my opinion, and I know I'm not going to change yours.
-
I offered a lot of articles about it with varying points of view, but I can't make you look into it beyond the soundbites. I get it.
-
I offered a lot of articles about it with varying points of view, but I can't make you look into it beyond the soundbites. I get it.
And I can't get you to see that it's the soundbites that matter. The subtleties are irrelevant. Very, very few people who will vote in this election have the time, or the inclination, or--dare I say it?--the wit to delve any deeper than the soundbites.
Nor are people going to respond to the soundbite by saying, in effect, "Well, I'm not that sort of person," or, "I don't want to be identified with that sort of person, so I'll vote for Hillary."
Nor do you seem to get that I'm not disagreeing with you over her characterization of--at least--a lot of Trumpence supporters. Just that it's stupid to say something like that out loud.
-
Like I said, I get it.
-
New York explosion leaves dozens injured
By Steven Visser and Mallory Simon, CNN
At least 24 of those injured in the explosion have been hospitalized, the fire department says. The investigation into what caused the explosion, who is behind it and what damage it has caused is ongoing, New York officials say.
NYPD Commisioner James O'Neill says they believe the explosion took place on the street. Officials say they believe the explosion was intentional and urged anyone with information on what they saw, or anyone with pertinent photos from the scene, to come forward.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released a following statement on the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. "State officials are coordinating our response with federal and New York City authorities, and full state resources have been made available for this investigation," Cuomo said. "We are closely monitoring the situation and urge New Yorkers to, as always, remain calm and vigilant."
He said the PATH station at 23rd Street is closed for previously-announced weekend closures. "We are in close contact with health providers to monitor the extent of the injuries and will provide information as it becomes available."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/us/new-york-explosion/
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Bomb explodes near Marine Corps race in New Jersey
By Shimon Prokupecz, Keith Allen and Chandrika Narayan, CNN
An explosion that went off in a garbage can Saturday morning in a New Jersey beach town likely was timed to disrupt a Marine Corps charity run, authorities said.
Three pipe-bomb-type devices wired together were found near the boardwalk in Seaside Park. No injuries were reported and a four-block area was evacuated for most of the day, authorities said.
An initial examination showed the devices were rudimentary, with some type of timer, and only one of them detonated, two federal law enforcement officials told CNN.
Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor's office, said he believes the blast was meant to affect the Seaside Semper Five race. "If it was just a matter of minutes, in terms of difference, there would have been a good number of people running past that explosive device" because of its location along the race route, Della Fave said. Registration problems at the starting line delayed the start of the race, which meant no one was near the garbage can when the explosion happened, a law enforcement official said.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/us/nj-explosive-trash-can/
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Charmian Carr, Liesl from 'The Sound of Music,' Dies at 73
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2FCsqB_hvVUAAXwyT.jpg&hash=98f132dc6878679ceda8cf0519a2cc9864621433)
Charmian Carr, known for her role as Liesl Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, died Saturday. She was 73.
Carr’s family announced she died in Woodland Hills, Calif., of complications from a rare form of dementia.
https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/charmian-carr-liesl-sound-music-dies-73-200405614.html
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Stop the presses, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are getting divorced!
http://www.tmz.com/2016/09/20/angelina-joile-files-for-divorce-brad-pitt/
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So, here's an odd thing I was pondering.
The latest new Quinnipiac University poll out shows the answers to these two questions posed to the electorate:
Is Hillary Clinton qualified to be President?
ANSWER: 62% of respondents say Hillary Clinton is qualified to be President.
Is Donald Trump qualified to be President?
ANSWER: 61% of respondents say Donald Trump is NOT qualified to be President.
With all of the polls having the race in the low to mid 40's for either candidate, what does this mean?
Does it mean 20% of the respondents don't care about a candidate being qualified to vote for someone?
-
Presumably those who think he's unqualified but will still vote for him think that he can be controlled by the party apparatus.
Such people thought the same thing back in 1933 in Europe.
-
And what's the word on the street in Virginia, Fritz?
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Hi, Oilgun:
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked Americans whether they had a favorable opinion of a variety of people, organizations and entities including Barack Obama, both major political parties and the media. The highest favorable rating went to none other than Canada, which drew a positive reaction from 75 percent of respondents and a negative reaction from only 3 percent. Canada for President.
-
Perhaps the Canadians should build a wall along their southern border ;D
-
Perhaps the Canadians should build a wall along their southern border ;D
And send the bill to the U.S. ;D
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Hi, Oilgun:
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked Americans whether they had a favorable opinion of a variety of people, organizations and entities including Barack Obama, both major political parties and the media. The highest favorable rating went to none other than Canada, which drew a positive reaction from 75 percent of respondents and a negative reaction from only 3 percent. Canada for President.
Well, that must be the Trump effect: the more Americans are subjected to Trump's insanity, the more Canada looks good.
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And what's the word on the street in Virginia, Fritz?
I ran into some T supporters at our German Beer Night/Oktoberfest last night, but didn't engage with them. It would be like administering medicine to the dead.
In our area here in the People's Republic of Arlington, I haven't seen any signs of support for T, and just a relatively few for H. But I expect she'll carry NoVa, and hope for the best for the Commonwealth overall.
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^^^
The V.P. debate will be in VA.
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TONIGHT:
Monday, September 26, 2016
First presidential debate
Location: Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY*
The first debate will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on major topics to be selected by the moderator and announced at least one week before the debate. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. Candidates will then have an opportunity to respond to each other. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.
*Wright State University in Ohio has withdrawn from holding the First Presidential debate due to budget issues.
The debate commission announced last week that no third party candidates would be eligible to participate according to their debate rules
and moderator Lester Holt's announced the topics that will serve as a jumping off point for his questions. The (rather broad) topics include
"America's Direction," "Achieving Prosperity" and "Securing America." The announcement came with a caveat that the topics could change
due to news developments.
I'm nervous about this debate because it seems Trump never gets into any serious hot water with anything he does or says
and Hillary might say one wrong or annoying thing and be lambasted for it. We shall see. I'm hoping for the best (for HIllary).
I'm hoping for the worst (for Trump).
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^^^
The V.P. debate will be in VA.
Yes!
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Same here, Lyle. And it really does seem to me that T gets a free pass no matter what he does, since showing up exceeds his already low expectations.
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In the debate last night with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump showed the viewers, and
exaggerated every single thing to maximum effect, why he should never be voted for
in any political office, much less the President of the United States.
I find it gratifying that the very reason I've said right from the beginning when he threw
himself into the ring that immediately disqualified him for that office was his stance and
actions and insistence that President Obama was not born in the United States. I need go
no further than that. The fact it's become a major issue again in the last weeks of this
campaign is no surprise.
The election has been getting closer and closer. I think a good part of the electorate has
made themselves feel better about voting for Trump by making the false equivalency that
Hillary is just as bad.
In Ohio, on the news yesterday here's a lovely thought from a woman: "I'm voting for
the conservative party. That it happens to be led by an idiot this year, so be it."
Well, if that's your highest aspiration, to be led by an idiot, so be it.
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In the debate last night with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump showed the viewers, and
exaggerated every single thing to maximum effect, why he should never be voted for
in any political office, much less the President of the United States.
I agree with you, Lyle, 'hunnerd percent. As I watched last night, I had the sad feeling that Trump's performance was probably just what his supporters wanted from him. They're probably tickled to death today, and no wise impressed that Hillary appeared so much more presidential. To me he sounded downright hysterical at times--and yet he is the Washington outsider, and so many people are fed up with insiders. :(
The election has been getting closer and closer. I think a good part of the electorate has
made themselves feel better about voting for Trump by making the false equivalency that
Hillary is just as bad.
I'm not so sure. I think he's the demagogue from the outside, like Andrew Jackson or Huey Long, who appeals to all the other outsiders in this nation. I just wonder how many people watch him and laugh and slap their thighs because he's so much more fun to watch than Hillary. ::) After all, she's a grown-up, and grown-ups are boring. ::)
In Ohio, on the news yesterday here's a lovely thought from a woman: "I'm voting for
the conservative party. That it happens to be led by an idiot this year, so be it."
Well, if that's your highest aspiration, to be led by an idiot, so be it.
At least she knows he's an idiot. But how does that line go about a people getting the government they deserve? :(
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Even though T's a Hitler wannabe, I'm still trying to decide whether at present he's more a Mussolini or Peron.
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In the debate last night with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump showed the viewers, and
exaggerated every single thing to maximum effect, why he should never be voted for
in any political office, much less the President of the United States.
I find it gratifying that the very reason I've said right from the beginning when he threw
himself into the ring that immediately disqualified him for that office was his stance and
actions and insistence that President Obama was not born in the United States. I need go
no further than that. The fact it's become a major issue again in the last weeks of this
campaign is no surprise.
The election has been getting closer and closer. I think a good part of the electorate has
made themselves feel better about voting for Trump by making the false equivalency that
Hillary is just as bad.
In Ohio, on the news yesterday here's a lovely thought from a woman: "I'm voting for
the conservative party. That it happens to be led by an idiot this year, so be it."
Well, if that's your highest aspiration, to be led by an idiot, so be it.
All of this is so true, Lyle, but there is no convincing this lack of logic, "I'm voting for the conservative party. That it happens to be led by an idiot this year, so be it."
This type of logic from Trump supporters is what scares the bejeezus out of me that Trump will get elected.
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Scares the whole world too!
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I think he's the demagogue from the outside, like Andrew Jackson or Huey Long, who appeals to all the other outsiders in this nation. I just wonder how many people watch him and laugh and slap their thighs because he's so much more fun to watch than Hillary. ::) After all, she's a grown-up, and grown-ups are boring. ::)
Jeff, this reminded me of a post I made last May.
A Sanders supporter, Victor Vizcarra, 48, of Los Angeles, 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 happens 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 want to just see everybody be happy with each other. You want
to see someone fighting somebody.”
...from a N.Y. Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/opinion/trumps-delusions-of-competence.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=Trending&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article)
I still have no words...
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This comes from a letter to the editor in the Sept. 19 New Yorker:
"Maybe [Trump's] appeal comes from the very fact that he doesn't behave and he isn't patient and nice. He may be a bull in a china shop, but a lot of people think the federal government is a china shop that could use having a crazed bull in it."
With all he's said in this campaign, you'd think I wouldn't be astonished that he actually said in a presidential debate before an unbelievably large audience that not paying taxes made him smart, but it did astonish me. Clearly he just opened his mouth and let it out without giving any thought to the ramifications of what he was saying.
And of course it reminds one of Leona Helmsley. ...
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Scares the whole world too!
Yes, I know, Sara! It is so terribly frightening.
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This comes from a letter to the editor in the Sept. 19 New Yorker:
"Maybe [Trump's] appeal comes from the very fact that he doesn't behave and he isn't patient and nice. He may be a bull in a china shop, but a lot of people think the federal government is a china shop that could use having a crazed bull in it."
With all he's said in this campaign, you'd think I wouldn't be astonished that he actually said in a presidential debate before an unbelievably large audience that not paying taxes made him smart, but it did astonish me. Clearly he just opened his mouth and let it out without giving any thought to the ramifications of what he was saying.
And of course it reminds one of Leona Helmsley. ...
So if he doesn't pay taxes, and self admitedly doesn't pay taxes, why isn't he in prison like other tax evaders?
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New revelations this week have Trump illegally dealing with Cuba and illegally using his charity for
submissions because the paperwork was never filed in New York State and an L.A. Times investigation
of Trump wanting waitresses fired from his golf course in SoCal because they weren't pretty enough.
(The manager knew that whenever he visited -- 4 or 5 times a year -- Trump would start this thing
about wanting to fire the less attractive waitresses and hiring prettier ones, so when the manager
knew he was visiting he would just schedule the prettiest waitresses to work those shifts when he
was there.)
Are we really talking about this stuff in a Presidential election this far in?
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Has anyone watched PBS's Frontline program: THE CHOICE.
They've done it for many election cycles where they profile each major candidate who's running for the office.
The one reason to watch it at all is they try to present a fair look at both people and how they got to where they are.
It also is nice to watch something where partisans aren't trying to spin everything to their advantage and for two hours
no one is yelling back and forth.
A couple takeaways:
For me, all you need to know about Trump is that Roy Cohn is one of the biggest influences in his life.
It seems that Trump's entire reason for wanting to be President is he wants revenge against Obama.
Hillary's secretive nature is brought up several times, the reasons behind it examined. And it hits me,
as in "duh," that being secretive doesn't always equate to lying. How many gay men over the years
had to be secretive in order to live their lives.
In any case, even if one knows who they're supporting, it's a breath of fresh air in a nasty campaign season
to watch something like this. I watched it on youtube. It's also available at PBS station sites and it will be
aired again several times on PBS stations before the election.
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Way too true.
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What did President Obama do to Trump that he wants revenge for?
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Probably existing.
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It's going to sound petty, and it is, but look at how Trump acts toward people. Ten years ago
Rosie O'Donnell went off on Trump on The View and he's attacked her ever since at most
every opportunity. Including at the first Republican primary debate and even in the first
Presidential debate last Monday, in which, afterwards, Rosie tweeted, "It was 5 minutes
10 years ago, Donald. Get over it!"
THE CHOICE documentary opens with two prologues, one for Trump and one for Clinton. The
first shows the National Press Correspondents dinner which took place after President Obama
had released his long form birth certificate (I can't believe I'm writing that) and President Obama
laid into him with a series of jokes at Trump's expense. Trump did not take it well. He was sitting
there seething. The program has witnesses from that night talking about Trump's reactions.
At another point later on, Trump was running for the Presidency the first time to get on the Reform
Party ballot and he planned a big speech announcing his candidacy. The cable news channels were
all covering it live. Not a minute into this speech President Obama came out to give a speech at the
White House about something (it was never indicated on the program whether this was deliberate timing
or not) and all of the channels cut to the President to hear what he had to say in the press briefing room.
They showed one of the channels doing that, Trump is speaking a few words and then you hear the reporter
say, "we're cutting away from this to go to President Obama in the White House"...and Trump's face disappears
from the screen...
From our experiences observing Trump all year, these are the kind of things that are important to him. It's all
about him. He is vindictive as hell. He is petty and juvenile in his dealings with people and cannot let anything go.
Can you believe someone like this is even in the position of running for President of the United States and people
are even taking him seriously? He sees the Presidency as the ultimate vindication of "him." Him as the best, the
biggest, the most, the bees knees...
That people are buying it at all is really disgusting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0_1HKO3w7M
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For those that know Maureen Dowd, you'll love her latest
New York Times op-ed:
Girl Talk at Trump Tower
by Maureen Dowd
Trump is surrounded by a bitchy sewing circle of overweight men
who are overwrought at the prospect of a distaff Clinton presidency.
New York Times / OCT. 1, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/opinion/sunday/girl-talk-at-trump-tower.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
I'd love to copy the whole article here, because the New York Times often only has the article for a day or two
and/or you have to sign or register or have an account to read things, but we're not supposed to do that.
If, though, anyone can't read it through the above link, PM me and I can send it to you.
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^^^Very good! Since it's early in the month, I can read a few of the articles in the NYT.
We subscribe to the WaPo, so have unlimited access there, but other papers would be too expensive, since there's no central source.
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Word tonight that Julian Assange is having a press conference at 4am EST.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMcUDtXFxbU
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^^^
Assange Promises More to Come
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/04/wikileaks.html (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/04/wikileaks-to-publish-presidential-election-docs-every-week-for-next-10-weeks.html)
Anyone who stayed up late or got up early anticipating an "October Surprise" from WikiLeaks heard no bombshells from the organization's founder in an overnight appearance via video. Despite widespread speculation he would reveal game-changing information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Assange's 3 a.m. ET appearance featured no new revelations, although he did promise to publish information regarding the presidential election “every week for the next 10 weeks.” Assange said he will publish documents regarding at least three governments before the end of the year. “The documents themselves are revealing, but also the government/state reactions to the releases are revealing also,” he said. Assange denied that he was specifically targeting Clinton with his document dumps, insisting that some of his statements have been misconstrued. He added that WikiLeaks will publish leaked documents on war, oil, Google and mass surveillance in addition to the U.S. election.
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Donald Trump: Military suicides happen to service members who 'can't handle it'
By Tom LoBianco, CNN Updated 12:53 PM ET, Tue October 4, 2016
Donald Trump suggested Monday that American soldiers and veterans who commit suicide do so because they can't handle the post-traumatic stress of war.
"When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat and they see things that maybe a lot of folks in this room have seen many times over and you're strong and you can handle it but a lot of people can't handle it. They see horror stories, they see events you couldn't see in a movie, nobody would believe it," Trump said Monday, during a panel interview at the Retired American Warriors PAC, in Herndon, Virginia.
Trump's surrogates said the Republican nominee's comments were taken out of context, and blamed the media for construing his words.
Trump adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn accused the media reporting on Trump's comments of, acting as " the propaganda arm of Hillary Clinton."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/03/politics/donald-trump-ptsd-suicide/index.html
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Donald Trump: Military suicides happen to service members who 'can't handle it'
This from a man who, as Seth Myers said, "got five deferments from serving in Vietnam because
he had a foot condition that could have been cured by Dr. Scholl."
I'm surprised he didn't call them losers.
Trump's surrogates said the Republican nominee's comments were taken out of context, and blamed the media for construing his words.
Speaking of "never Trump" what about the other meaning of "never Trump?" It's "never Trump", is it, when he speaks from uninformed
positions? When he lashes out in childish ways. When he lies to promote himself. It's "Never Trump" and his own words, it's only people
who are construing what he says. Give me a break.
Also, I believe his surrogates meant to say misconstruing, because when anyone speaks that's what others do, they construe their words,
meaning "to deduce by inference or interpretation."
So I have news for all of his surrogates: That it isn't clear what Trump says whenever he talks about anything is D. J. Trump's fault.
Not mine or anyone elses.
Trump adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn accused the media reporting on Trump's comments of, acting as " the propaganda arm of Hillary Clinton."
Genny Flynn is just mad he hitched his wagon to Miss Construe.
I've been wondering about this guy when he pops up defending Trump. A little wiki information says that Flynn, on April 30, 2014,
announced his retirement after less than two years, effective later in 2014, about a year earlier than he had been scheduled to leave his
position at Defense Intelligence Agency. He was reportedly effectively forced out of the DIA after clashing with superiors over his "management
style" and vision for the agency. (Everyone in Trump's campaign circle clashes with people. They're like an island of misfits.) A columnist also
wrote about Flynn as having "an odd affection for Russia and its authoritarian government." Well, that certainly fits in with the Trump/Russia
meme this year, doesn't it?
"After retiring from service with the U.S. government, Flynn began appearing semi-regularly as an analyst on RT, a Kremlin-aligned English-language news outlet. In 2015, Flynn attended a gala dinner in Moscow in honor of RT, where he was seated two seats away from Russian president Vladimir Putin. Before attending the event, Flynn gave a paid talk on world affairs to a group; Flynn defended the Russian payment in an interview with Michael Isikoff. Journalist Michael Crowley of Politico reported that "At a moment of semi-hostility between the U.S. and Russia, the presence of such an important figure at Putin's table startled U.S. officials."
Hmmm...
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What'a up with V.P. Libertarian candidate William Weld? I heard in a couple places he
was quitting. Tnen I hear he's not. But then there's news reports saying "William Weld
gives up, just wants to stop Trump" or "Bill Weld says he will use the Libertarian vice
presidential platform to focus fire on Donald Trump."
More to come, I guess.
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Curiouser and curiouser.
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Hurricane Matthew --
I got an email from Mark (EnnisDelMark) late last night. He's in Lake City, Florida, which is in the
Northeastern part of Florida near Jacksonville.
He wrote:
"It's supposed to be right off the coast by Jacksonville at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, which would put it the closest
to me (80 miles). Huge winds now; scary. I'll let you know something. I'm praying I don't lose power."
The "Lake City Reporter" is announcing several more emergency shelters opening.
It's almost 2 p.m. there now; hoping for the best for Florida!
Thinking of you Mark!
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Just another thought: What if a hurricane was bashing some state on election day?
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Thanks for the update, Lyle.
Mark has been putting occasional posts in The Diner, but please continue to update us, especially if Mark can't.
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Mike Pence on Trump's tape: I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.
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I find it amazing that all the GOP bigwigs who are calling for Trump to step down have taken so long to do so.
What? they thought things were going to improve? He was a horrible nominee to begin with and it just keeps getting more horrible. I find it extremely laughable.
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I don't think there's anything they can do about it at this point.
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I just heard from Gattaca/Vincent via his cell phone on email. He lives right outside Raleigh. His electricity went out 2 hours ago. His backup basement sumps are losing the battle, so his basement is flooding. His son who is going to school in Savannah, made it to Atlanta on Tuesday. They are OK for now, although there is major, major flooding.
Keep him and his family in your thoughts.
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Will do, Linda.
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Sorry but this isn't a serious subject like the ones above.....but it kinda ticked me off when I read it. A light interlude amongst all the misery going on today.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3828037/Lock-grannies-Extraordinary-concert-unites-Stones-Bob-Dylan-Paul-McCartney-Neil-Young-total-age-651-s-deaf-s-arthritic-wears-wig.html
What they failed to say was....they still do what they do better than the kids of today.
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I just heard from Gattaca/Vincent via his cell phone on email. He lives right outside Raleigh. His electricity went out 2 hours ago. His backup basement sumps are losing the battle, so his basement is flooding. His son who is going to school in Savannah, made it to Atlanta on Tuesday. They are OK for now, although there is major, major flooding.
Keep him and his family in your thoughts.
Fingers crossed for all our Forum Members who are living or are close to the hurricane danger zones and of course all other folks that they are safe too.
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Republicans Call For Donald Trump To Drop Out; Trump Says He Won't Quit
TAMARA KEITH, MEG ANDERSON
Reaction to the video of Donald Trump using explicit language and apparently describing himself forcing himself on women continues to roll in. And it is not good for the GOP nominee. Prominent Republicans are calling on him to drop out and elected officials are running from him and fast. See the full list of Republicans calling on Trump to step down at the bottom on this post.
The candidate isn't backing down, telling the Washington Post's Robert Costa in an interview today, "I'd never withdraw. I've never withdrawn in my life."
The Post reports, Trump called from his home in Trump Tower and said, "No, I'm not quitting this race. I have tremendous support."
Trump also tweeted, seemingly downplaying the firestorm that has consumed his campaign.
http://www.npr.org/2016/10/08/497181974/republicans-call-for-donald-trump-to-drop-out-trump-says-he-wont-quit
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By now, I kinda hope he does hang on, and drags the party down with him. Couldn't happen to a more deserving group.
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Hi all. Just heard from Vincent. A tree from his yard has taken out half of his house. He said major damage over half the house. Everyone is OK, but they have had to go stay with his in-laws. He asked that everyone keep him in their thoughts.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2FIMG_1659.jpg&hash=3f838832d44092ae97cc0f24ff73a0396402c672) (https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi998.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faf110%2Ftootsiemom%2FIMG_1658.jpg&hash=08a4052ff0e424fbfd4b3f6597df41c796a244c1)
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Bad news. Our choir will remember him in our prayers.
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Mike Pence on Trump's tape: I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.
Don't all guys talk like that?
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Don't all guys talk like that?
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Actually, I shouldn't laugh. I went to a friend's FB page last night, and she was defending what Trump had said because "all guys talk like that" and "boys will be boys". I wanted to post that just because a behavior was tolerated in the past, doesn't mean that it has to continue to be tolerated, but I would've been the lone voice in the crowd. She had both men and women saying that what Trump had said and done was 'nothing' and that "all men take part of locker room banter".
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I'm not defending him because in this case I don't think there's anything that needs defending...all guys talk like this. What did Bill say to Monica when he was fucking her with a cigar in the oval office? Maybe he couldn't talk at the moment....
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Except that he wasn't in a locker room.
The supporters of the guy have contorted anything and everything this guy has done in
bizarre brain gymnastics of mind boggling proportions and they seem to be willing to inch
ever further out on that limb. The kind of talk of which Trump was speaking I have heard
mostly when I was off to college, but, guess what? You grow up. You become an adult.
He was 59-60 when this audio was recorded. He's 70 now and proclaims his language is
for entertainment purposes? The talk, though, if one listens to it, isn't really locker room
banter or boys will be boys babbling. It's Trump telling a group what he does and how he
feels. He even demonstrates a couple aspects of that talk in actual actions when he decamps
from the bus. The feud he begins with Rosie O'Donnell starts a year later when he begins
calling her a fat pig and such. In public. Not any locker room. I think you should write something
on her Facebook page, Chuck, even if you are the only one that does so. This man is a disgrace
and always has been. That so many are willing to excuse or contort or even support his actions
STILL shows what a lost cause this has become. When I first heard the story the saddest thing to
me was that it did not surprise me in the least.
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Except that he wasn't in a locker room.
Right, he was in the oval office
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I'm not defending him because in this case I don't think there's anything that needs defending...all guys talk like this.
If you really think that then I feel sorry for the males you’ve known and/or surround yourself with.
And, really, isn't "boys will be boys" and "all men talk like this" just an excuse from those that do so as not
to be thought wrong about their behavior? Males in trouble probably originated the saying. Those two phrases
are permission to keep doing unacceptable things. The old everybody else is doing it trick. Is this how aspirational
we've become as a country?
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Right, he was in the oval office.
I wasn't responding to your post which sneaked in ahead of mine. But,
I thought you said Trump's words and actions don't need defending?
Does that not apply to Bill Clinton, too? After all, boys will be boys.
Besides, Trump's words were about sexual assault. I think Monica
Lewinsky was a very willing participant. She even took souvenirs.
I have no blinders on about Bill Clinton.
So, I'm a bit confused by your references since you say all men act like Trump,
which you say you aren't defending because it doesn't need defending, all men act
like that, but then you bring up Bill Clinton, which doesn't sound like you are according
him the same defense. Why not the same "Boys will be boys" philosophy for both then?
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Gotcha on the "oval office" post :D
I'll give you a pass because of Corey Seager...but there's enough to bury Trump for his other imbecilic notions that only other imbeciles believe...
but surely we can agree that most men talk among (among or amongst?) themselves about women in...hmmmm....less than flattering terms...or maybe it's only the Hell's Angels I hang out with...
eta: ok, I looked up Corey Seager.........he's 12, right? Next!
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Yes, I'll agree that men can talk about women (and Corey Seager) in ways that are
coarse, but it's usually in sexual terms, not sexual assault, like Trump was doing.
Some may not find the nuance in that statement, but there's a huuge difference.
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Yes, I'll agree that men can talk about women (and Corey Seager) in ways that are
coarse, but it's usually in sexual terms, not sexual assault, like Trump was doing.
Some may not find the nuance in that statement, but there's a huuge difference.
it's usually in sexual terms, not sexual assault,
what does that mean? I bet he's got a big cock vs I want to suck his big cock?
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No.
But you didn't answer my question I first posed, so I won't answer yours,
because, among other things, I'm not going to be goaded into being one of
those "all men talk like that" persons. But, you can google any number of
articles that might satisfy your curiosity.
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...or maybe it's only the Hell's Angels I hang out with...
I learn something new about you every day! ;)
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To lighten the Trump / Clinton mood ;) - from a Dutch TV show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBm3ioC6Uqk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBm3ioC6Uqk)
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Great!
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Last night, Trump tells his supporters in Florida to go vote for him on November 28th,
which I think is an excellent idea!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_-ZOnRlims
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I don't know how Hillary Clinton is going to lead if the polls accurately predict she's
probably going to win next month. The alt-right news and the Republican candidate,
not to mention the Republican party itself had a role in this; they've all demonized
Hillary Clinton to the point where a sizable group of people on the right actually think
she's a demon. (I am not kidding.) What's worse is that this sizable group of people
actually think Donald Trump is their savior and he's saying unthinkable things for a
Presidential candidate to ever say. Things that undermine the fabric of civility and of
the institutions we need in order to have any civility.
Some are asking, after the audio released last week from the Rep. candidate made the rounds,
how anyone could still be supporting Trump. It's really clear why. Have you seen what his supporters
write online? Have you heard what they say in rallies for him around the country? It makes what Trump
said on that bus like dialogue from Mary Poppins.
It is really hard for those of us who see Donald Trump for what he is and all that he is to grasp that
there's 30-40 million people in the U.S. who think the exact same way about Hillary Clinton. Really.
Well, not in the exact same way. I (we?) think Donald Trump is a joke. Cannot take him seriously.
Hillary, on the other hand, seems to be invoking some primal fear in those who are against her. And
Trump is egging it on, more and more, and now he seems to be melting down and spreading his vile
nature throughout the land. How does America recover on Nov. 9th from any of this?
Let me use this post to again re-iterate what I mention every once in awhile. That our election process is
way too long. Two years? And more! Can any sensible person involved in our two political parties tell me
why we need two years of demonizing each other until no one seems fit to serve and then try to get the
opposition to support the elected ones afterwards? Does this election not tell anyone that the system needs
some attention?
How do we have a constructive national dialogue about these things?
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Hi Lyle. I am not easily insulted or swayed, and I very seldom engage people in political discussions, even my sons. I know I am not going to be able to convince them, or change their minds, be it to not support Trump, or support Hilary, or to not vote for Donald Duck (as one son is tempted to do). I just fail to see what supposedly functional people see in Trump, and how they think this psychologically twisted egomaniac is going to make America great again. On Facebook, I ended up blocking a woman friend who posted an ad for Trump, asking if women were still going to vote for Trump after the tapes came out. 40 women out of 43 said they were. Now of course this is in Texas, but I still am just flabbergasted!! >:(
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When it comes to women, Donald Trump is starting to sound like the Bill Cosby of politics.
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On Facebook, I ended up blocking a woman friend who posted an ad for Trump, asking if women were still going to vote for Trump after the tapes came out. 40 women out of 43 said they were. Now of course this is in Texas, but I still am just flabbergasted!! >:(
Linda, yesterday the news programs were showing something that came from the FiveThirtyEight blog. Nate Silver
showed these results from statistical information he ran through the computer.
If Men were only voting this year:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fespnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com%2F2016%2F10%2Fsilver-electionupdate-menvoted.png%3Fquality%3D90%26amp%3Bstrip%3Dall%26amp%3Bw%3D575%26amp%3Bssl%3D1&hash=d0ee9a5a6b6dea025792b0f024453ebabb5a5b05)
If Women were only voting:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fespnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com%2F2016%2F10%2Fsilver-electionupdate-womenvoted.png%3Fquality%3D90%26amp%3Bstrip%3Dall%26amp%3Bw%3D575%26amp%3Bssl%3D1&hash=222afaacd2d10e78f430d5b1dc3873e7b24c5525)
The thing that is astonishing about the above is what occurred next. Yesterday there were enough Donald Trump supporters to make the hashtag #repealthe19th a trending topic on twitter. With ignoramuses writing things like these examples: (And these people were serious!)
“Sham[e] to see that one little exception could keep @realDonaldTrump out of the White House #repalthe19th,” wrote Twitter user @toddsdad2016.
“This is why we need to repeal and not replace the 19th amendment,” tweeted David McCall.
________________________
Can you believe a sentiment like this (and many others obviously) is what the Trump campaign has been unleashing?
Of course there were many who were outraged. Examples:
“Why is #RepealThe19th a thing? Apparently weak men can’t handle empowered women,” tweeted Arisha Ali.
In response to McCall’s tweet, former Marine Jay Corn said: “Your ignorance illustrates the worst of a nation I was proud to serve & honored to defend.”
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When it comes to women, Donald Trump is starting to sound like the Bill Cosby of politics.
The "Making AMerica Great Again campaign" of Trump and his advisors:
'We're Going to Turn Bill Clinton Into Bill Cosby' Says Trump Campaign CEO Stephen Bannon
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-10-12/trump-takes-a-back-to-the-future-focus (http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-10-12/trump-takes-a-back-to-the-future-focus-on-bill-clinton-s-women)
The plan to intensify the focus on the Clintons and sexual violence is being spearheaded by campaign CEO Stephen Bannon, Bossie, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, multiple campaign officials confirm. The purpose of Trump’s sudden, intense focus on sexual abuse is twofold: First, to distract attention away from the 2005 Access Hollywood tape recently obtained by the Washington Post that shows Trump making appallingly lewd remarks about women. Second is to depress enthusiasm for Clinton among a key voter bloc in her quest for the White House: millennial women. Bannon has long believed that young, socially liberal voters unfamiliar with the Clinton scandals of the ’90s will become disillusioned if they learn more about them. ”There’s a whole generation of people who love the news but were 7 or 8 years old when this happened and have no earthly idea about the Clinton sex stuff,” Bannon told Bloomberg Businessweek last year.
That view has now become the targeted strategy and guiding principle of Trump’s presidential campaign and explains why Trump is going to such lengths to portray Hillary Clinton as an enabler of sexual violence. On Tuesday, Bannon laid out the campaign’s argument. "She’s led a program of victim intimidation,” Bannon told Trump staffers, according to two advisers who were present. “This has nothing to do with consensual sexual affairs and infidelities. This is Bill. We’re going to turn him into Bill Cosby. He’s a violent sexual predator who physically abuses women who he assaults. And she takes the lead on the intimidation of the victims.”
-
Bannon has long believed that young, socially liberal voters unfamiliar with the Clinton scandals of the ’90s will become disillusioned if they learn more about them. ”There’s a whole generation of people who love the news but were 7 or 8 years old when this happened and have no earthly idea about the Clinton sex stuff,” Bannon told Bloomberg Businessweek last year.
Stephen Bannon is using Trump like a host. Even Breitbart, founder of Breitbart news that Bannon now heads, said of this guy: "Bannon is the Leni Riefenstahl of the Tea Party movement."
The article referenced above is linked below if you want to see what's happening out there in Trumpland and the alt right world. It's not pretty unless you like these kind of blowhards with little moral sense or sensibility. The article was written last October. It could have been written today.
This Man Is the Most Dangerous Political Operative in America
Steve Bannon runs the new vast right-wing conspiracy—and
he wants to take down both Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush.
by Joshua Green | October 8, 2015
From Bloomberg Businessweek
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2015/ (https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2015-steve-bannon/)
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Faz616578.vo.msecnd.net%2Ffiles%2F2016%2F04%2F22%2F635969543472432555974590792_Donny%2520Trump.png&hash=b1d767920b6d67d2e5f6a48a18fd45ee7c6556da)(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.nydailynews.com%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.2770655.1472517569%21%2Fimg%2FhttpImage%2Fimage.jpg_gen%2Fderivatives%2Farticle_750%2Fusa-election-trump.jpg&hash=351d056cb2133c711f6dda045647564695555a45)
NOTE: Do not trust men with countenances like this.
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Hmm...seems Bannon knows what he's talking about, he's just like Donald:
Trump Campaign CEO Steve Bannon was Accused of Sexual Harassment Toward Biosphere Coworker in 1990's
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/campaign-ceo]http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-campaign-ceo-steve-bannon-accused-sexual-harrassment-article-1.2770657]http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/campaign-ceo (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-campaign-ceo-steve-bannon-accused-sexual-harrassment-article-1.2770657)
Some items from the article:
--Donald Trump’s campaign CEO was accused of sexual harassment towards a coworker at an Arizona research company.
Margret Augustine alleged that the future Trump-ite and his coworker Martin Bowen repeatedly made lewd remarks, according to court papers recently reported by Buzzfeed. Augustine, a former boss at the company, said that Bannon would talk about the size of women’s breasts and once grabbed her wrist while dancing and told her “that once I’d done it with him I’d never want to do it with anyone else.”
--Bannon has left a long trail of legal documents through the years. A federal lawsuit in 2005 also alleged that the future Breitbart leader fired an employee suffering from Multiple Sclerosis who had just given birth because she became a mother.
--Soon after he was named as Trump’s campaign chief it was revealed that he faced domestic violence charges for allegedly attacking his wife.
--Bannon's wife, Mary Louise Piccard, divorced him and said in court papers that her husband did not want their daughters to go to an elite Los Angeles school because it had many Jewish students.
This article isn't new. It's from LAST AUGUST!
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At least the current talk about the sex scandals keeps the push for releasing the tax returns away. I'm sure the latter is much worse.
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It's getting to the point that each morning I watch the news to see the latest Trump shit-storm to hit the fan.
-
LET’S CELEBRATE THE BOB DYLAN NOBEL WIN
God is a colossal joker, isn’t She?
We went to bed last night having learned that the Man Who Will Not Go Away was, according to the Times, no mere purveyor of “locker-room talk”; no, he has been, in fact, true to his own boasts, a man of vile action. The Times report was the latest detail, the latest brushstroke, in the ever-darkening portrait of an American grotesque.
Then came the news, early this morning, that Bob Dylan, one of the best among us, a glory of the country and of the language, had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ring them bells! What an astonishing and unambiguously wonderful thing! There are novelists who still should win (yes, Mr. Roth, that list begins with you), and there are many others who should have won (Tolstoy, Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Nabokov, Auden, Levi, Achebe, Borges, Baldwin . . . where to stop?), but, for all the foibles of the prize and its selection committee, can we just bask for a little while in this one? The wheel turns and sometimes it stops right on the nose.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/lets-celebrate-the-bob-dylan-nobel-win
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Yeah!
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Except I just can't forgive his awful Christmas album.
-
It's getting to the point that each morning I watch the news to see the latest Trump shit-storm to hit the fan.
I'm currently reading a New Yorker article about why one particular county in West Virginia is supporting Trump. The people interviewed are not stereotypical, bad-joke West Virginians. They seem to be supporting him because of things he says about the economy, immigration, and putting America first. They don't seem to be apt to be scared away by the sex scandals. I still have a sneaking and frightening suspicion that there are enough people like that out there to give him the election.
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I am having this same worry, Jeff!! :-\
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I'm currently reading a New Yorker article about why one particular county in West Virginia is supporting Trump. The people interviewed are not stereotypical, bad-joke West Virginians. They seem to be supporting him because of things he says about the economy, immigration, and putting America first. They don't seem to be apt to be scared away by the sex scandals. I still have a sneaking and frightening suspicion that there are enough people like that out there to give him the election.
I am having this same worry, Jeff!! :-\
I think about this too, and I hope it doesn't happen. I keep hearing about how far down in the polls he is, I hope that they are right. Apparently, Nate Silver is pretty accurate with the predictions, and they have Clinton having an 85% chance of winning.
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I sure hope Nate is correct in this instance.
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I am having this same worry, Jeff!! :-\
Same here.
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I'm currently reading a New Yorker article about why one particular county in West Virginia is supporting Trump. The people interviewed are not stereotypical, bad-joke West Virginians. They seem to be supporting him because of things he says about the economy, immigration, and putting America first. They don't seem to be apt to be scared away by the sex scandals.
The thing about this is that they also don't seem to be scared away by what Trump "says" about the economy and immigration, either,
because what he says is quite often wrong and contradictory. It's the old "people hear what they want to hear" story.
As for the economy? Did they hear the good news that the last economic report was very positive for the middle class? Unemployment
submissions were the fewest ever recorded in one quarter since that statistic has been kept. Stuff like that.
It seems people want to find something to be angry about and they found it with the Republican candidate.
Time for an Abraham Lincoln quote: “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
Another quote, attributed in one form or another to many people: “You become what you think about most of the time.”
-
Speaking of thinking things up, have you heard the latest from the Republican campaign supporters?
They've got another reason that you should not vote for Hillary Clinton. She wants to make Washington,
D.C., a state so that there can be two more Democrats in the Senate.
-
As for the economy? Did they hear the good news that the last economic report was very positive for the middle class? Unemployment
submissions were the fewest ever recorded in one quarter since that statistic has been kept. Stuff like that.
All that may be, but it might not necessarily be the case in West Virginia, where Coal is still King. Or where people are frightened about the future of the coal industry because there isn't much of anything else.
None of that business about unemployment submissions means much to a coal miner in West Virginia who is unemployed.
Reminds me of the old joke: A recession is when your neighbor is out of work. A depression is when you are out of work.
-
True about WV. Yet no matter how much people may want the coal industry to return, it's not going to, especially in places like WV and southern OH. Coal is so much cheaper to mine in places like WY, and even there the cheapness of natural gas and the increasing cheapness of renewables have doomed the industry. After several election cycles, once the mining families finally give up on their dream of a return to the way things used to be, they might seek out a way of life more in keeping with a future prosperity. It has been done before, take cotton in the Deep South. Even the farmers do not expect things to return to the days before the boll weevil.
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True about WV. Yet no matter how much people may want the coal industry to return, it's not going to, especially in places like WV and southern OH. Coal is so much cheaper to mine in places like WY, and even there the cheapness of natural gas and the increasing cheapness of renewables have doomed the industry. After several election cycles, once the mining families finally give up on their dream of a return to the way things used to be, they might seek out a way of life more in keeping with a future prosperity. It has been done before, take cotton in the Deep South. Even the farmers do not expect things to return to the days before the boll weevil.
Well and good to say, but they do not seem to have reached that time yet in West Virginia. Why don't you go and try to convince these folks before election day? ;)
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It will take several election cycles. Politicians are quite willing to convince them otherwise for the sake of their votes, and reality has little impact.
If enough voters believe that prosperity will return when the sky turns green, they will continue to do so until enough of that generation of voters no longer pull the lever.
It would be like administering medicine to the dead.
Their children or grandchildren might not appreciate how they were deceived, but the legislators and executives will have long been out of office by then.
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Meanwhile, we've got this election to deal with.
And what is this sh-t I'm hearing about calls for revolution if Hillary is elected?
I don't recall that kind of talk from Obama's election!
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Meanwhile, we've got this election to deal with.
It's interesting the economy in West Virginia is what was being talked about, and no, it's not great
for West Virginians, but the other thing that was quoted is that the West Virginians liked what the
Republican candidate said about immigration. Now I could be quite wrong, but is immigration a
huge problem in West Virginia?
Well, here's an article about it.
http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/illegal-immigration-West-Virginia/2015/09/16/id/691941/
And what is this sh-t I'm hearing about calls for revolution if Hillary is elected?
I don't recall that kind of talk from Obama's election!
There was, but it wasn't as pronounced as this election.
A couple examples:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gop-newsletter-calls-for-armed-revolution-if-obama-re-elected/
http://www.nationalmemo.com/virginia-republicans-plan-for-armed-revolution-if-obama-wins-re-election/
Guess who himself called for one on election day last year?
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/07/trump-calls-for-revolution-after-obama-elected/191191 (http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/07/trump-tweets-a-call-for-revolution-after-obama/191191)
"Shortly after TV networks called the election for Obama, Trump tweeted, "He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!"
Eleven minutes later, Trump tweeted, "More votes equals a loss...revolution!"
I wonder if he tweeted out the same thing about Gore/Bush? It shows you his reckless
and meandering mind. (In case I have to actually mention it, Obama won 5 million more
votes that Romney did. But when does a little fact matter?)
It was quite revealing to read the comments from that post from 4 years ago.
A sampling:
--Good grief Trumpy just STFU you flaming idiot. And the madness starts.
Little did we know.
--It's not just him it's the entire Trump clan even Ivanka Trump (the nice one of the bunch) went on Fox News and other programs just bashing Obama for no reason on every issue. The fact is this entire family of 1%ers /socialites needs to get slammed with huge taxes. They have spewed ignorant rhetoric for years and lived an life of entitlement all their lives while bashing the average american for many years while not being called out on it. This is same gentleman who has married numerous times to folks like Ivanna Trump, Marla Maples and have sued them and dragged them through misery and grief ruining those folks reputations. Also doing the same to the President and the First Lady. It's time Obama hammer these folks because they deserve everything they get.
--Trump is a stupid psychopath. He has no clue the bloodshed and violence his tweet will release from the nutjobs who follow him and his every stupid syllable.
--Millioinaires don't start revolutions, hundredaires do.
--Looks like it's time for a "The views expressed by this hairpiece do not necessarily reflect the view and opinions of the sane people at NBC" disclaimer.
And the reply to the above comment was very prescient:
--Tomorrow morning the hairpiece may be the new head of the Republican Party.
It's all been there for years.
But now, in deference to J.K. Rowling, "He Who Must Not Be Named" is stoking it all because
everything is all about him. If he is not thought of as the golden child it must be someone's fault.
He's attacking the press/media, putting out unsubstantiated voter fraud sentiments, and innumerable
inanities like calling for Hillary to have a drug test before the next debate. Not only him, but so was each
and every one of his henchmen on the Sunday Morning political shows--Giuliani, Pence, Gingrich et al.
Bill Maher's hashtag for Trump applies to everyone working for the orange menace: #WhinyLittleBitch
-
LET’S CELEBRATE THE BOB DYLAN NOBEL WIN
God is a colossal joker, isn’t She?
We went to bed last night having learned that the Man Who Will Not Go Away was, according to the Times, no mere purveyor of “locker-room talk”; no, he has been, in fact, true to his own boasts, a man of vile action. The Times report was the latest detail, the latest brushstroke, in the ever-darkening portrait of an American grotesque.
Then came the news, early this morning, that Bob Dylan, one of the best among us, a glory of the country and of the language, had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ring them bells! What an astonishing and unambiguously wonderful thing! There are novelists who still should win (yes, Mr. Roth, that list begins with you), and there are many others who should have won (Tolstoy, Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Nabokov, Auden, Levi, Achebe, Borges, Baldwin . . . where to stop?), but, for all the foibles of the prize and its selection committee, can we just bask for a little while in this one? The wheel turns and sometimes it stops right on the nose.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/lets-celebrate-the-bob-dylan-nobel-win
Heard today...that Bob Dylan can't be traced for him to be informed formally that he has won the "Nobel Prize for Literature". They have been searching for "several days"!!
Don't you just love it when people stay true to form ? !!! :D
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I wonder if he tweeted out the same thing about Gore/Bush? It shows you his reckless
and meandering mind. (In case I have to actually mention it, Obama won 5 million more
votes that Romney did. But when does a little fact matter?)
Facts haven't mattered to many Republicans for years.
Sorry, just sayin'. ...
-
Today's tin foil hat narrative by Trump supporters:
The Clinton's hired Pamela Anderson to poison Julian Assange with a vegan sandwich.
Look it up.
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I wonder if the T red baseball caps come prelined with foil.
-
The thing is, if you want people to support your candidate you have to deal in
reality if not truth, however stretched it might be. But how can you believe people
who aren't consistent from one statement to the next, who are hypocrites when
they say one thing and do another (family values), when they ignore things just
to get their way and fabricate the bizarrest of things and actually believe them.
And they wonder why?
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Orwell understood the source of his support very well.
-
I wonder if the T red baseball caps come prelined with foil.
Good question!! ::) :D
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Canadians are soooo damn nice, it's nauseating.
"Seems America could use some cheering up right now. Check out what some Canadians are saying about what's happening down south. #tellamericaitsgreat "
https://www.tellamericaitsgreat.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stGhjokq57U
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^^^
People talking nice feels good! Thank you!
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^^^
Speaking of your "sig line" above, oilgun, Stephen Colbert unveiled the Republican
candidate's new product to help retrieve stray cats.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcrooksandliars.com%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Fpost_large%2Fimages%2F16%2F10%2Fpussy_grabber.png&hash=e8b74520d83a782823f054fd9a3d89beeabb8269)
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Las Vegas seems a fitting place to hold the last debate tonight.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/17/from-the-calais-jungle-to-croydon-migrant-children-arrive-in-bri/
We have been watching this story unfold yesterday and today. I think most of us here in the UK were expecting younger....7..8...9 year olds and younger who have been orphaned by the terrible things going on in their own countries. But what are we getting ?.... strapping young men ...who look like they have been shaving for at least 3-4 years and we are expected to take them in as "Foster children".
Are we being taken for idiots and fools again ?? You bettcha. >:(
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You've undoubtedly heard all election season long from Bernie Sanders to all Republicans saying
there is no enthusiasm to vote for Hillary Clinton or talking about the "enthusiasm gap." Here's
a very good article someone's written about this.
There's a New “Silent Majority,” and It's Voting for Hillary Clinton
Trump voters and Bernie Bros get all the press, but it’s Hillary voters who are going to win.
by Matthew Yglesias / Oct 19, 2016
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/19/13288594/new-silent-majority
***
A related article:
You Probably Don't Know Who Your Wife is Voting For
http://theweek.com/speedreads/654283/probably-dont-know-who-wife-voting
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Hope. Especially the lattermost.
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Hands-on Italian prime minister puts on VERY tactile display with Michelle in her custom-made Versace gown at Barack's last state dinner
President Obama and first lady Michelle welcomed the Italian PM Matteo Renzi and his wife to White House
The Renzis were the guests of honor at last night's state dinner - the final one of the Obama administration
The glitzy state dinner was catered by celebrity chef Mario Batali and came at the end of a day-long visit
Michelle Obama sported a stunning floor-length rose gold chainmail gown made by Atelier Versace
The state dinner was a celebrity filled affair with performances from the likes of singer Gwen Stefani
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3849838/Michelle-saves-best-Lady-pulls-stops-final-state-dinner-Obama-s-presidency-stunning-custom-Versace-chainmail-gown.html#ixzz4NZ0FLwLF
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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^^^
People talking nice feels good! Thank you!
I'm glad you appreciated it. This election cycle is stressing US out so I can only imagine how you guys feel.
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And over here in Europe!
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And down here. We have our own national elections next year but until the last 4 to 6 weeks there will only be sporadic coverage in the news. Advertising is only allowed for 2 months prior.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3853816/Verdict-face-recognition-software-child-migrants.html
Follow up from yesterdays story about "child migrants being allowed into UK" !
I think I can tell a man from a child.
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“This is why we need to repeal and not replace the 19th amendment,” tweeted David McCall.
________________________
Can you believe a sentiment like this (and many others obviously) is what the Trump campaign has been unleashing?
Remembering the 2008 primary season, I'd have to make a major effort to even be skeptical. Really, people.
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Except I just can't forgive his awful Christmas album.
I can forgive most bad Christmas music, although Christina Aguilera's rendition (in the CIA sense) of "Silent Night" takes a major effort. Dylan had a highly-publicized "born again" conversion that lasted as long as the sales of the related LPs did but that was more eyebrow-raising comedy than awfulness.
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Christina Aguilera's rendition (in the CIA sense) of "Silent Night"
LOL!
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Did anyone see the candidates speak at the Al Smith dinner?
-
Tuned in too late to see T's, did hear H's. She did a good job!
I did hear about the round of boos that T got.
-
Yeah, there is a lot of negative press about Trump's speech there.
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I happened to watch their speeches. I've only seen clips in other years, so I wasn't sure
how they were really supposed to go, but I knew people weren't supposed to get booed,
like Trump did. Hillary had one slightly amusing part referencing on how long the campaign
is and people liking to see it over. Then she said what I thought was the best line of the night
simply because no one ever addresses it: "We've got to work on shortening our campaign season."
Or something to that effect. I sure wish the politicians would, but who wants to dwell on a subject
like this after a campaign. At least someone said it.
Get-TV has old variety/talk series on Monday nights. This month they are showing Merv Griffin
shows, for one, where he interviewed Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. The one last Monday was
with Richard Nixon from 1967, which was the period between when he was Vice-President and
then ran for President and Governor and lost and the year before he ran for President again, so
it was quite interesting to see him in that context, but the one thing that made me wistful, was
when Merv Griffin asked him if he was definitely going to run for President and Nixon said that he
would make that decision by the end of January (1968). Nowadays candidates have been running
for months by January of an election year.
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I was just wondering if any of you have been seeing campaign ads on your tv's? In California,
you might not even know we're electing anyone. I've seen a few Hillary ads on some national
programs, like the Sunday morning news shows and I saw one Trump ad, that's it. We're even
having an election for Senator and no ads? Not that I want to see any, the news covers the
national election quite enough. We have 17 state ballot measures to vote on and 3 local ones.
TWENTY! Even those have sparked relatively few ads and a ballot measure or two usually gets
a lot of attention. (Remember Prop 8?)
Although most of them aren't that interesting, but some of the things on the ballot are:
--Another cigarette tax measure. (I can't believe people still smoke!)
--Students continue to be required to have English proficiency. (I know a few adults who could use that, too.)
The initiative says "continue to" so I wonder if something was expiring that would have stopped the requirement
or something.
--An initiative to get our elected officials to help amend the Citizen's United decision.
--Require adult film actors (x-rated films) to wear condoms.
--Repeal capital punishment.
--Restrictions on ammunition sales and firearm possession.
--Legalize marijuana.
--Require the showing once a year in schools of Brokeback Mountain.
--Eliminate stores ability to provide plastic carryout bags.
--Charging for carryout grocery bags (if you don't bring your own) and the funds go to
environmental projects.
That's not even HALF of them!
Someone did a study where the results say the the more initiatives there are on a ballot, the more likely
people are to vote NO on them. (I guess they get overwhelmed trying to figure them all out.)
Anyone else have any interesting initiatives to vote on?
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Pete and I were talking yesterday about how long the ballots in CA are, and how they're turning people off.
We don't watch much TV, I haven't seen any national ads, just a couple of local ones. I get most of my info from public radio and the Internet, so am mercifully unexposed to most ads!
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--Require the showing once a year in schools of Brokeback Mountain.
Really??!! I doubt that forcing kids to watch something like that will please either the kids or their parents, and it would just be more ammo in the hands of the Religious Right.
-
^^^
Heh!
I just wanted to see if anyone was paying attention! :laugh:
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:D :D :D
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I was just wondering if any of you have been seeing campaign ads on your tv's?
OMG yes! Pennsylvania is electing a U.S. Senator, incumbent Pat Toomey (R) vs. challenger Katie McGinty (D). It's impossible to avoid them. I want to see Toomey go because, apparently, if he had his way, he would privatize Social Security. But I'm not particularly fond of McGinty; I didn't vote for her in the primary. I will vote for her next month as a way of voting against Toomey.
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Mostly I am seeing ads for local races. Unfortunately I have seen more Trump ads than Hillary ads. The one that pisses me off most is a woman in bed, wakes up when she hears someone break into her home. She runs over to a small gun safe to take out her gun. It disappears, and an ominous voice comes on and says if Hillary gets elected this woman will no longer be able to protect herself, so vote for Trump.
UUUGGGHHHHHH! >:(
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Mostly I am seeing ads for local races. Unfortunately I have seen more Trump ads than Hillary ads. The one that pisses me off most is a woman in bed, wakes up when she hears someone break into her home. She runs over to a small gun safe to take out her gun. It disappears, and an ominous voice comes on and says if Hillary gets elected this woman will no longer be able to protect herself, so vote for Trump.
UUUGGGHHHHHH! >:(
Oh, good grief! I haven't seen that one, and I hope I don't!
On the Hillary side, I'm seeing a lot of the one of the Republican woman with the autistic son, who is so turned off by Trump's making fun of the disabled reporter that she's voting for Hillary. I guess this one is aimed at convincing women voters in the (Republican) Philadelphia suburbs. I believe Trump is said to need the Philadelphia suburbs.
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Linda, anyone who actually believes that ad should not be allowed to have a gun.
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Oh, good grief! I haven't seen that one, and I hope I don't!
On the Hillary side, I'm seeing a lot of the one of the Republican woman with the autistic son, who is so turned off by Trump's making fun of the disabled reporter that she's voting for Hillary. I guess this one is aimed at convincing women voters in the (Republican) Philadelphia suburbs. I believe Trump is said to need the Philadelphia suburbs.
My son was saying that the reason there are less Hillary ads is because she already has the State and so is not spending much money here. This makes sense, I guess.
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Linda, anyone who actually believes that ad should not be allowed to have a gun.
I TOTALLY agree, Lyle. My son suggested there are those extreme Republicans who wholeheartedly believe their guns will be taken away if Hillary is elected, and conversely the extreme Democrats who believe no one should have a gun at all except for law inforcement and soldiers, but in reality the more rational majority are somewhere in the middle.
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I think I did see the gun ad, during a football game a couple of weeks ago, a local rather than national spot.
I had forgotten about it until you reminded me.
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How would you guys vote on this proposition if it were on your ballot?
This is exactly how it's worded on our ballot.
Proposition 63
FIREARMS. AMMUNITION SALES. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Requires background check and Department of Justice Authorization to purchase ammunition.
Prohibits possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines. Establishes procedures for enforcing
laws prohibiting firearm possession by specified persons. Requires Department of Justice's participation
in federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Fiscal Impact: Increased state and local
court and law enforcement costs, potentially in the tens of millions of dollars annually, related to a new
court process for removing firearms from prohibited persons after they are convicted.
________________________________________________________________
I'm not sure why it would cost tens of millions of dollars to do the last part, unless they
think all those people with guns are going to legally challenge the rulings, which would
require the courts. (And Hillary has nothing to do with taking the guns away, in this case!)
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^^^^^^
No opinions? I guess I'll have to figure it out myself!
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Back in July I did a post about Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
and that people were expressing their opinions about him by doing all sorts of things to it.
Lots of various kinds of graffiti. A lot of dropping all sorts of food on it, etc.
Click HERE (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2631499#msg2631499) to see that post.
Well, I guess the inevitable happened. About 5:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, a man came
by and vandalized it with a pick axe.
(https://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/trump_hollywood_star_vandal_102616.jpg)
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Back in July I did a post about Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
and that people were expressing their opinions about him by doing all sorts of things to it.
Lots of various kinds of graffiti. A lot of dropping all sorts of food on it, etc.
Click HERE (http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=47165.msg2631499#msg2631499) to see that post.
Well, I guess the inevitable happened. About 5:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, a man came
by and vandalized it with a pick axe.
(https://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/trump_hollywood_star_vandal_102616.jpg)
I understand from this morning's newspaper that someone has been arrested for this act of patriotism act of vandalism.
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Yeah, it was a guy who said that he had female family members who were abused the way Trump abused those women coming forward, so he took a pickaxe to Trump's star, for all women who are abused.
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^^^^^^
I saw this guy on the news, a CBS reporter happened to find him before the police did and
he seemed kind of mentally not all there. He's been in prison before, if that means anything.
He had some idea about auctioning off the letters to raise money for the women who had been
abused and came forward. (You can't sell stolen property, though.) Today I found this out. The
man's name is James Otis and claims to be heir to the Otis Elevator fortune. (?)
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce reported that this is the first time in the history of the
walk of fame (57 years / 2,589 stars) that someone has vandalized a star like this so that it
had to be replaced. Which, by the way, because of the cost of the stars and the labor involved,
costs near $10,000. There's a process involved that takes about a week to put one of these
into place. They've already begun replacing it.
I understand from this morning's newspaper that someone has been arrested for this act of patriotism act of vandalism.
LOL!
When the original U.S. version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was broadcast over 15 years ago,
one of the "Million Dollar Questions" was: "Who was the very first person to have a star placed on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame." I could've had a million dollars as I knew the answer! Do you?
-
When the original U.S. version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was broadcast over 15 years ago,
one of the "Million Dollar Questions" was: "Who was the very first person to have a star placed on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame." I could've had a million dollars as I knew the answer! Do you?
No. Probably could find it on the Internet, but I don't know.
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Me either.
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"Who was the very first person to have a star placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?"
To find out the answer click HERE (http://assets.site-static.com/userFiles/316/image/WF-171-1.jpg)!
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To find out the answer click HERE (http://assets.site-static.com/userFiles/316/image/WF-171-1.jpg)!
I would never have guessed that.
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To find out the answer click HERE (http://assets.site-static.com/userFiles/316/image/WF-171-1.jpg)!
You"re kidding! Really?
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When one thinks about it, the task of converting a dozen blocks of city streets into the Walk of Fame
must've been pretty daunting, considering it takes a week to fully implement a star into the terrazzo!
Initially they had to put the 1,000 plus actual names they initially came up with put into it plus all the
other fake ones that get replaced later on. Must've been a horrendous environment as they worked on it.
It's taken for granted around here, but it's really something that now keeps the past of Hollywood alive as
people stroll around the Boulevard. Some people have starts who you think should not, like the one recently
jackhammered and there's omissions that would really surprise you. One reason for omissions is that the person
who's being awarded one has to agree to appear at the ceremony. (This happened after the initial project was
finished.) I read that 40 people have declined to participate over the years. When you walk around the streets
you'll come across a name tha you go "How the heck do they have a star?" LOL! Often you'll see a name
that you have no idea who they are. (Producers, writers and a lot of radio personalities, when radio was popular,
have stars.)
The last time or two that I was up there I was walking near La Brea and a group of Japanese tourists were gathered
around one of the stars having their picture taken and so when I went by I had to see what star they were so interested
in. I glanced down and read the name: Charles Champlin.
I laughed to myself and wondered what they were all thinking...like if they were taking the photos because they thought
his name was spelled wrong and they found it amusing or if they actually thought it was for Charlie Chaplin. As a resident,
I knew that Charles Champlin was along time arts editor and film critic for the Los Angeles Times.
The only cast member of Brokeback Mountain that has a star is: Randy Quaid. (His brother Dennis Quaid received one
two weeks before Brokeback Mountain opened in theaters.)
Heath Ledger doesn't have one, but Orlando Bloom does! Some others I happen to know, for one reason or another, that
do not have one are Paul Lynde, Kyle Chandler, Ang Lee, Sal Mineo and Lily Tomlin.
A friend and I went to a film at the Chinese Theatre in December of 1986, I believe, and had time to spare so we walked
around and noticed a lot of people in the distance and so we went down to discover a "Star Ceremony" was about to be
held. We thought, "What celebrity are we going to get to see?" Turns out it was one of the biggest celebrities of all time:
Bugs Bunny!
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Nice try with a diversion w/Bugs Bunny...
FBI Found "Tens Of Thousands Of Emails" Belonging To Huma Abedin On Weiner's Laptop
Guilty? Not guilty? Something's going on....and i'm being kind........
If Weiner ends up dead...............well, her prints are on file, right?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, it won't be HER, it will be the same prints that were on Foster's gun.... 8)
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Tyra Banks flies to Atlanta to campaign for Hillary Clinton
not sure Tyra can spell Hillary..............but she'll bring millions of others that can't spell Hillary either......
yay?
Hey, as long as "celebs" back a candidate, must be good..........
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Who are you voting for?
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Besides all the news sources that are disciples of Fox News, Fox News is the only place that is
reporting this "10,000 emails" business, from an unnamed law enforcement officer.
A sensible article about this story:
http://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-comey-donald-trump-anthony-weiner-huma-abedin-514918
The last two paragraphs:
“There is a significant risk of being misunderstood,” Comey told the bureau employees in the communication, explaining why he was so vague in his letter to Congress. “It would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression.”
Unfortunately, by trying to have things both ways – revealing the change in circumstances while remaining vague about what the agents know – Comey has created that misleading impression that could change the outcome of a presidential election, an act that, if uncorrected, will undoubtedly go down as one of the darkest moments in the bureau’s history.
“There is a significant risk of being misunderstood,” Comey told the bureau employees.
He's wrong here. The Republicans are not misunderstanding anything. They are willfully distorting it.
And after two months of calling Comey and the FBI corrupt and in the camp of rigging the election for Hillary,
all of a sudden, like the hypocrites they are, the FBI is golden.
And I was worried about wikileaks. Should've been worried about the FBI.
With still ten days to go in this election I pray Hillary can hang on.
"We shall over-Comey."
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A friend and I went to a film at the Chinese Theatre in December of 1986, I believe, and had time to spare so we walked
around and noticed a lot of people in the distance and so we went down to discover a "Star Ceremony" was about to be
held. We thought, "What celebrity are we going to get to see?" Turns out it was one of the biggest celebrities of all time:
Bugs Bunny!
Got that right, Friend! :D
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Hey, as long as "celebs" back a candidate, must be good..........
What are your feelings about the nation's newspaper endorsements?
Endorsements for Hillary Clinton
New York Daily News
Houston Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
The Press Democrat
The Berkshire Eagle
The Dallas Morning News
Daily Camera
Los Angeles Times
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Akron Beacon Journal
The New York Times
Portland Press Herald
Kennebec Journal
The Arizona Republic
The Baltimore Sun
Sun-Sentinel
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times
El Paso Times
Asheville Citizen-Times
The Desert Sun
The Sacramento Bee
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
The Charlotte Observer
San Antonio Express News
The Spokesman-Review
Tampa Bay Times
Effingham Daily News
Bangor Daily News
Hartford Courant
The Denver Post
The Seattle Times
Ventura County Star
The Cullman Times
The Daily Star
The Post-Standard
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
Pharos-Tribune
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
New Castle News
The Meadville Tribune
Herald-Banner
The Boston Globe
The Daily Citizen
The Commercial Appeal
The Daily Independent
Clinton Herald
The Fresno Bee
Enid News & Eagle
The Olympian
The News Virginian
The News & Observer
Muskogee Phoenix
Times-Standard
Niagara Gazette
Kokomo Tribune
The Free Press
The Tribune-Democrat
The Plain Dealer
Las Vegas Sun
The Columbus Dispatch
The Day
The Hawk Eye
McAlester News-Capital
Commercial-News
The Sun News
The Daily News of Newburyport
The Birmingham News
Press-Register
The Huntsville Times
The Eagle-Tribune
The Record
The Valdosta Daily Times
Press-Republican
Cumberland Times-News
Courier News
Marin Independent Journal
Gloucester Daily Times
The Salem News
Asbury Park Press
Daily Record
The Woodward News
The Register-Herald
The Huntsville Item
News and Tribune
Greensburg Daily News
The Daily Item
The Norman Transcript
Times West Virginian
Tribune-Star
The Joplin Globe
The Record
The Times Record
Santa Cruz Sentinel
The Goshen News
The Bernardsville News
Mineral Wells Index
Ada Evening News
The Salt Lake Tribune
The Burlington Free Press
Traverse City Record-Eagle
Courier-Post
The Daily Journal
Tahlequah Daily Press
Glasgow Daily Times
The San Francisco Examiner
The Washington Post
Idaho Statesman
The Meridian Star
Charleston Gazette-Mail
The Jersey Journal
News-Press
Miami Herald
Democrat and Chronicle
The Daily Astorian
The Kansas City Star
Orlando Sentinel
The Oregonian
Duncan Banner
Lexington Herald-Leader
The Express-Star
The York Dispatch
El Nuevo Herald
The Times-Picayune
Mt. Vernon Register-News
The Providence Journal
The Des Moines Register
Reporter-Herald
Peoria Journal Star
Omaha World-Herald
The Santa Fe New Mexican
The Herald Bulletin
Midland Daily News
Longmont Times-Call
The Modesto Bee
Concord Monitor
The Bulletin
Foster's Daily Democrat
The Courier-Journal
Wisconsin State Journal
The News Leader
The Columbian
The Pantagraph
Herald & Review
The Keene Sentinel
Staten Island Advance
The Post-Star
The Register-Guard
Kenosha News
Billings Gazette
Star Beacon
Merced Sun-Star
LNP
La Opinión
El Diario La Prensa
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Newsday
Poughkeepsie Journal
San Jose Mercury News
East Oregonian
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Daily Herald
The News Tribune
Star Tribune
Rockford Register Star
The State Journal-Register
The Bulletin
Lincoln Journal Star
News & Record
Quad-City Times
The Decatur Daily
Cape Cod Times
The Southern Illinoisan
The Daily News
The Scranton Times-Tribune
The Citizens' Voice
The Star-Ledger
Globe Gazette
The Beaumont Enterprise
The Gazette
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
The Bryan-College Station Eagle
The Daily Press
AM New York
The Standard-Speaker
San Luis Obispo Tribune
Reno Gazette-Journal
The Buffalo News
The Flint Journal
Kalamazoo Gazette
Muskegon Chronicle
The Grand Rapids Press
Jackson Citizen Patriot
New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung
Philadelphia Daily News
The Recorder
Daily Hampshire Gazette
The Patriot Ledger
Endorsements for "Not" Donald Trump
Deseret News
USA Today
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
York Daily Record
Telegraph Herald
Daily Herald
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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Endorsements for Donald Trump
Santa Barbara News-Press
St. Joseph Missouri News-Press
Waxahachie Daily Light
The Times-Gazette
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Antelope Valley Press
The News-Sentinel
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Endorsements for Donald Trump
St. Joseph Missouri News-Press
HFS, how embarrassing.
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Tyra Banks flies to Atlanta to campaign for Hillary Clinton
not sure Tyra can spell Hillary..............but she'll bring millions of others that can't spell Hillary either......
Not to worry; I hope I'm safe in assuming that she'll be called "President Clinton" not "President Hillary."
And no, people won't get confused. Otherwise, from 2001 to 2009 we would have been calling our head of state "President George."
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LOL!
Uses that "drag every note up and down the scale by the neck until you've beat it to death" style.
And just when you think the long nightmare is over, she starts all over again in Spanish.
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What are your feelings about the nation's newspaper endorsements?
Newspapers don't cast ballots. :(
(Some those papers have neat old names, though. :) )
-
^^^
The idea of endorsements are to get one to support candidate being endorsed,
regardless of whether or not endorser can vote. In that case, campaign ads
can't vote either.
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^^^
The idea of endorsements are to get one to support candidate being endorsed,
regardless of whether or not endorser can vote. In that case, campaign ads
can't vote either.
Yes, I know. My point really was, do newspaper endorsements or any such thing like that actually matter any more? :(
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What are your feelings about the nation's newspaper endorsements?
I thought we had already done this back and forth "she's good, she's awful". We can go post for post with good and bad columns written about her...
is Julian Assange responsible for the new leaks of more emails? Oh, maybe not, he's had his internet taken away...well, he has minions...
I think the papers, like most voters, are choosing between the lesser of 2 evil evils.
if you look just at registered voters, the new poll actually shows Clinton's image is about as bad as Trump's, with 38 percent having a favorable impression and 59 percent unfavorable, compared to a 37/60 split for Trump.Aug 31, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/31/a-record-number-of-americans-now-dislike-hillary-clinton/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/31/a-record-number-of-americans-now-dislike-hillary-clinton/)
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^^^^^^
Your dismissive reference to the "back & forth" really means: "I am unwilling to consider anything else on this subject."
The way I see it, if it was a lesser of two evils you might once in awhile talk about both of them.
Instead of just "she's good/she's awful." And, based on your posts only, you don't have any specific
reason you feel Hillary is evil, you have only stated that "there just has to be something" with all
the clouds of suspicions generated by the Republican party about her for the past thirty years. So
much so that they've got at least 40 million people convinced that a crude and boorish narcissistic bile
filled misogynist and birther is an equal choice and a number who want to "take matters into their own
hands" if she's even elected.
There's no doubt that a thirty year campaign of "bringing gown the Clinton's" is having an effect on
how voters see Hillary Clinton, as your August article shows, but that's been the Republican philosophy
of governing for many years now. Say things whether true or not until people start to believe them,
or at least "question" that there "must be something" to it.
I mean, they've even got people questioning science and mathematics. They've got religious people
with "their firmly held religious beliefs" supporting a candidate they never would have considered
ever before by the twisted logic of "sometimes God chooses flawed people to deliver his message".
(Although I doubt they'd ever consider the same about Hillary Clinton.) They've got you suspicious
of the newspaper endorsements...I mean, how could anyone actually support Hillary Clinton otherwise,
right? What about the Republicans who are supporting her? Unless you can show me otherwise, I think
you're a victim of that conservative and now alt-right campaign through the years.
As for Hillary Clinton, I am a person who has gotten more and more esteem for her over the years
the more she's been falsely accused of things. I have had female bosses over my working years and
have witnessed how men in the business world treated one on occasion for no other reason than she
was a woman. I can recall several instances where my mouth just hung open. When I traveled some
times with her for some business reasons, the people she was to meet automatically assumed I was
the one they were meeting with and would change their demeanor when finding out the opposite.
I cannot imagine the things that Hillary Clinton has had to endure over the years and still want to
be in public life. I was not a supporter in 2008, I was over both Clintons and Bushes alternating the
Presidency back then. Clinton stayed in public life as a Senator and then Secretary of State (and,
if you recall, her positive poll numbers were high when she left that post) and she's still in politics
and without apology and despite her flaws. That she can withstand all the made-up vitriol and drum
beat of Republican excessiveness--I give her all the credit she deserves and it's changed my opinion
of her from a casual supporter to an admirer of this woman so, without any apologies, I'm happily
supporting and voting for Hillary Clinton.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frlv.zcache.com%2Fyou_go_girl_classic_round_sticker-rd95741236a1d48bb8d56f82325911ac4_v9wth_8byvr_324.jpg&hash=9684b8b6e3001a578f450e4ead4b68936c9d502f)
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^^^^^^
Your dismissive reference to the "back & forth" really means: "I am unwilling to consider anything else on this subject."
The way I see it, if it was a lesser of two evils you might once in awhile talk about both of them.
Instead of just "she's good/she's awful." And, based on your posts only, you don't have any specific
reason you feel Hillary is evil, you have only stated that "there just has to be something"
I think it's fine (if naive) that you see only the good in her. We did go through this once a while back, and I did list the reasons I didn't like her. That's why I didn't think we needed to go through it again. I NEVER said "there just has to be something"....
Whether you believe the wrongs I think she's done doesn't matter...my motto, I'm not saying I'm right, I'm saying it's what I believe.
CNN did a flattering bio of her last night and I do agree early in her political life she had good intentions and good instincts for change. But (see above motto) I don't think one can be in politics at her level and not be ground up by the machine. I believe she'll be elected and now she's running the machine. Mutual back-scratching between parties and countries, (some we refer to as "allies"), what must be sacrificed to get anything done, i.e. deals w/devils...and there are so many devils.
So that's why I didn't want to make another list of things that we disagree she's done...
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I think it's fine (if naive) that you see only the good in her.
I never said she did not have any flaws. I just don't talk about them during an election
and especially one where her flaws have been distorted beyond all recognition.
I NEVER said "there just has to be something"....
This is basically why I said that:
What I dislike about HRC is [...] her involvement is more scandals than I can count and accusations of wrong-doing,
most of which were unprovable but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen
But also this today:
Something's going on....
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the "something's going on" comment was directly related to what I was posting about: the Weiner email thing and Huma...
Emails discovered in an investigation into Anthony Weiner’s sexting had revived the F.B.I.’s interest in the case of Hillary Clinton’s private server.
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I keep finding it troubling that in survey polls, the most recent I could find, concerning this question:
Is (Trump / Clinton) qualified to be President?
Clinton: Sixty-two percent of likely voters say Clinton is qualified for the Presidency.
Trump: Sixty-one percent of likely voters say Trump is not qualified for the Presidency.
Since Trump seems to always poll about 42%, this has to mean several million people are planning to vote
for someone they think is unqualified and they don't care. And that's not even mentioning the fact that 39%
of voters think that he IS qualified. Who are these people!
-
WTF?
With one week until election day, the 2016 campaigns are still getting stranger.
by George Friedman
This opinion piece from George Friedman who is an expert on all matters geopolitical gives a fairly dispassionate analysis of the situation in my opinion:
http://us11.campaign-archive1.com/?u=781d962e0d3dfabcf455f7eff&id=cd78053970&e=de5926997f
"There are two major candidates running for president. One has been accused of collaborating with the Russian president and his intelligence service. He is on tape claiming that he can have sex with anyone he wants. Donald Trump lost almost a billion dollars one year, and has indicated that he paid no taxes since that loss. That’s not illegal, but certainly indicates he didn’t make as much money as he clams, since a billion-dollar loss knocking out 15 years of taxes doesn’t get you to $10 billion. And I leave out the various other things he said and meant.
On the other side, we have a candidate who, for reasons never explained, used a private server for classified messages. She and her husband also ran a foundation, while she was secretary of state, where it appears that charitable fundraising, meetings at the State Department and making substantial amounts of money for themselves intermingled. And finally, the FBI has found thousands of emails concerning her on the computer of a man who sends pictures of his private parts to women and whose wife is Hillary Clinton’s top aid. And I leave out the things she has sent and has not meant..."
FWIW
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I read the whole article.
Rich, do you have as much of a nihilistic view (the author's word) as he does?
It's pretty dispiriting to read.
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I read the whole article.
Rich, do you have as much of a nihilistic view (the author's word) as he does?
It's pretty dispiriting to read.
Lyle
I agree with Friedman that this is an accurate reflection of both candidates. This is the way the game is played in Washington and globally and Bill and Hil are experts at it. Donald plays the same game in his real estate ventures, make no mistake about it. Will ANYONE be able to change this state of affairs? I would like to say, "Yes," but I don't think this will ever happen. To that extent I guess I am a nihilist.
However, I will vote for Hillary since I think she at least has the smarts and self-control to make reasoned decisions which will have worldwide impact.
This isn't the only time situations like this have happened in this country. In another of his updates Friedman reviews various books he is reading and one particularly caught my eye:
1877: America's Year of Living Violently
By Michael A. Bellesiles
"...George Friedman: A point I have been making lately is that 2016 isn’t particularly odd. 1968, 1952 and 1860 were also wild election years. So I went looking for other years, and the election of 1876 is up there. There were two candidates, Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes. There is no question that Tilden won the election, but Hayes was sworn in and the country exploded into violence. Part of it had to do with the status of African Americans after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Part of it had to do with surging inequality due to the Industrial Revolution. Part of it had to do with the national debt left by the Civil War – who would pay it and how? Race, inequality and the national debt, plus what really was a rigged election, created one of the most violent years in American history.
Interestingly, Hayes was both a good and terrible president. He moved to pay off the national debt and linked the dollar back to gold to stabilize the currency. That was important, but to his great discredit, he accepted that African Americans would return to being trapped in a system of segregation and hate by allowing the confederate states to reverse some of the key reforms of Reconstruction. White inequality and black inequality were linked in a zero-sum game. If one lost the other gained, and poor whites and blacks were played against each other. Hayes’ goal was to hold the country together and he did that, but the price he had to pay was high. It is not clear that Tilden, who won the election, would have done any better.
What the book is driving home to me is that the United States has had a whole range of wild elections. The craziness was usually linked to deep underlying social issues, poorly addressed by the candidates during the election. It’s not clear that the best candidate won, but it is clear that the Republic survived. It is interesting to me how the sense of doom we feel during presidential elections is focused on the candidate rather than the issues, and how the problems are solved in spite of public passions. So far at least..."
https://www.amazon.com/dp/159558708X/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
I bought the Kindle Edition and it's really an eye-opener (all of $9.95)! Very pertinent to this year's news and election cycle. I highly recommend it.
Nihilist or not, I think our Republic will survive...
Rick
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Thanks for the reply. It was fiction, but I've read Gore Vidal's novel about that election, titled "1876."
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In the interest of fairness, Donald Trump has picked up another newspaper endorsement:
The Crusader.
P.S.: That's the official newspaper of the KKK.
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I just want the election season to be over.
I took next week as a vacation......I will vote on Tuesday, and then wait.
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Which day will the results be known?
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I just want the election season to be over.
I took next week as a vacation......I will vote on Tuesday, and then wait.
That sounds so ominous.
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Which day will the results be known?
In Britain you could know by 4 a.m. Wednesday morning Nov. 9th, if state results are clear and not really close.
Election night (Tuesday, Nov. 8th) the networks gather all their minions around and they wait for the returns
to come in state by state. Each state has varied closing times. Usually Indiana and Kentucky are the first
states to get called as they close around 6pm. (They'll go for Trump.) On the east coast, New York, for example,
closes at 9 p.m. I believe.
When they feel they have enough determination to call the state for one candidate or another they do and put the
electoral vote number into the column for that candidate. When one candidate receives 270 electoral votes, they
are declared the next President.
So the final results depend. When it's a blowout (Nixon '72 or Reagan) we can know by 9 p.m. EST. 2 a.m. in Britain.
Because some candidates have conceded really early, Carter in particular, they got criticized for discouraging people in
the Western time zones from voting as the polls were still open. So, even if they're sure someone might win, they
usually try to wait now until at least California's polls close which is at 8 p.m., 11 p.m. EST, 4 a.m. in Britain. If it's
a close election it can take a lot longer. In 1976 it was called after 3 a.m. EST, midnight on the West Coast. Of course,
the 2000 election was, for all intents and purposes, tied, and took a lot longer.
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Any possible modicum of integrity that I thought Paul Ryan might have, as John Kasich
and Jeff Flake do, for example, has gone out the window:
Paul Ryan Votes For Trump After Months Of Rejecting Everything About Him.
Remember that if he seeks high office again.
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Despite all of the jaw-dropping moments in the seemingly interminable election campaign this year,
if you look back at the race in terms of polling, it has been remarkably stable. Is this (http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/will-comey-bombshell-really-shake-2016-race-n675606) all we really need
to know for election day next Tuesday?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fprojects.fivethirtyeight.com%2F2016-election-forecast%2Fimages%2Fclinton-alligator.png&hash=85238ccc23f2bbe2fee443e0cfe5bccad3160bb5)
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia4.s-nbcnews.com%2Fj%2Fnewscms%2F2016_44%2F1775066%2Fstablerace_32ca10e80d56158617e44d7d58115a52.nbcnews-ux-600-480.png&hash=50d9eb2776159e830d91505b6e2a88bd9f668b3b)(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fprojects.fivethirtyeight.com%2F2016-election-forecast%2Fimages%2Ftrump-alligator.png&hash=f06c307f687bc23e4ddfbf81fcadac612048b68d)
Clinton (http://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2016_44/1775066/stablerace_32ca10e80d56158617e44d7d58115a52.nbcnews-ux-600-480.png) has always been in the lead no matter how close. Even President Obama was behind Romney for two weeks in October in 2012.
Will the latest wikileaks FBIleaks really change all that? It seems plausible to think not. But what else is in store for us the next 7 days...
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Thanks for the info, Lyle.
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Mon plaisir!
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Any possible modicum of integrity that I thought Paul Ryan might have, as John Kasich
and Jeff Flake do, for example, has gone out the window:
Paul Ryan Votes For Trump After Months Of Rejecting Everything About Him.
Remember that if he seeks high office again.
It must be terrible to vote for someone whose name you are unable to utter.
I guess scruples leave a bitter taste in his mouth.
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Yesterday's Polls:
(https://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/screen-shot-2016-10-27-at-8-20-52-am.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.nydailynews.com%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.2856186.1478149983%21%2Fimg%2FhttpImage%2Fimage.jpg_gen%2Fderivatives%2Farticle_750%2Fcampaign-2016-clinton-world-series.jpg&hash=9e077ff41fe3a8a8e36502e59bc1178ea10f90a9)
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A world away from the looming US election, New Zealand MPs are watching with a mix of awe and fear.
"I'm like a lot of people - I'm a bit scared about it," National MP Chester Borrows told the New Zealand Herald.
"I'm worried about Trump being elected as a president."
Borrows recently visited the USA, where he attended a law and religion conference in the conservative state of Utah. Traditional republican voters he spoke to "were scared stiff too".
"It's a bit like a horror movie," Green Party co-leader James Shaw said.
"I'm sort of glued to it but I can't keep watching."
Several MPs have witnessed part of the election campaign firsthand.
National MP for Bay of Plenty Todd Muller attended the Republican and Democrat conventions in July.
"I was absolutely struck at the Republican convention at how visceral their dislike of Hillary Clinton was.
"It was at a level that I'd never experienced in the New Zealand context.
"And then to see that replicated to a similar extent at the Democratic convention - not only their dislike of Trump but some Democrat supporters' dislike of Clinton - it was palpable."
Given the opportunity, Muller would not say who he would vote for. But he said the range of political views within the parties was "extraordinary".
He considers himself to the right of the National Party. But in the US, "I'd probably be a moderate democrat", he said.
National's junior whip, Jami-Less Ross, also attended the conventions.
"We're so lucky in New Zealand that we actually get on well as politicians most of the time," he said.
"In the US, they just seem to hate each other and there's huge divisions between the parties.
"I hope that whatever happens they can actually function as a government and function as a congress and president working together.
If he could vote, Ross would choose Clinton.
"Certainly for New Zealand, getting an outcome which sees a president which would be open to free trade, open to working with us as a country is what I think most politicians would be interested in."
Labour foreign affairs spokesman David Shearer said he "had his fingers crossed" for a Clinton victory.
A Trump victory would make the world "an uncertain place for a very long time", he said.
"I would hope that he would surround himself with some very solid advisers and he'd listen to them."
None of the MPs the Herald spoke to said they would vote for Trump.
But some said Clinton was not a great alternative.
"Trump is just ridiculous," Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said. "But Hillary has a history that isn't so fantastic either."
National list MP Jono Naylor said he was "glad he was not an American".
"I think you just have to figure out what's the lesser of the two evils and I guess at the moment when you hear some of the things Mr Trump's said, Mrs Clinton might be the better option."
Asked for two words to describe the candidates, he said: "Please, no."
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An article with lots to comment on!
"I'm worried about Trump being elected as a president."
All sane people are!
"It's a bit like a horror movie," Green Party co-leader James Shaw said.
Yes! The horror film title LET THE RIGHT ONE IN comes to mind!
Or maybe SCREAM.
National MP for Bay of Plenty Todd Muller attended the Republican and Democrat conventions in July.
"I was absolutely struck at the Republican convention at how visceral their dislike of Hillary Clinton was.
"It was at a level that I'd never experienced in the New Zealand context.
This has been fostered by the right for decades and Trump has picked up the ball and carried
it on. The right's biggest triumph this election has been making Trump and Clinton near equal
in suitability to the electorate when that's a very false equivalency. There is no worse candidate
ever than "he who shall not be named." Right from the get go. He's a birther for God's sake.
"We're so lucky in New Zealand that we actually get on well as politicians most of the time," he said.
"In the US, they just seem to hate each other and there's huge divisions between the parties.
Disagreeing with another party is one thing, but how can you not hate a party that only wants to
have their way--win at all costs--and feels "government IS the problem." They won't try to make
laws that passed work (ACA). They won't hold hearings for another Supreme Court Justice. (Their
mantra was that it should be left to the "voters" to decide who the next President will be and then
deal with it. But now they're saying if Clinton wins they have no problem not filling the vacant seat
on the Court. "Nothing wrong with 7 justices, they say." (F.U. R'S.) They try to thwart voters in
Republican held states with all sorts of restrictive laws. They lie with impunity about their opponents.
I could go on, but it's so blatant now that anyone can see it, it's all out in the open. They don't care.
"I hope that whatever happens they can actually function as a government and function as a congress and president working together.
Seems reasonable doesn't it? Gee, ya'd think? It takes two to tango. I'm not at all optimistic.
A Trump victory would make the world "an uncertain place for a very long time", he said.
Unimaginable.
"I would hope that he would surround himself with some very solid advisers and he'd listen to them."
Based on everything we know he only listens to himself. He's an egomaniac to the core.
None of the MPs the Herald spoke to said they would vote for Trump.
Please become voting U.S. citizens immediately.
"Trump is just ridiculous," Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said. "But Hillary has a history that isn't so fantastic either."
She's never lost an election. Had high approval ratings as First Lady,
as a Senator from New York and when she left as Secretary of State.
Her history has been largely written by those who hate the Clinton's.
"I think you just have to figure out what's the lesser of the two evils and I guess at the moment when you hear some of the things Mr. Trump's said, Mrs. Clinton might be the better option."
"Lesser of two evils." That false equivalency again.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CM8GQThUAAQWvit.jpg)
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I am quite opposed to our Prime Minister, John Key. He was a Merchant banker before entering politics and I was a unionist teacher although I must admit in retirement my lifestyle, especially travel, depends on investments, the government pension only pays for basic living expenses.
However I do not hate him, he has some good qualities, allowed a free vote and voted himself for gay marriage. He is a good manager and comes across well so unfortunately from my point of view is popular. Sadly the Labour Party and the Greens do not seem to be able to come up with a charismatic leader.
Here many bills go to committee and all the parties have a say and there are often, but not always, compromises before the bill goes to parliament. Under our electoral system it is almost impossible for one party to govern alone. The National party receives support from the Maori Party and a few one member parties. They support supply (money bills) but sometimes vote otherwise on other matters. Labour will only ever be in government with the support of the Greens. There is another party, New Zealand First, which tends to go different ways, has supported both sides in the past but voted in a block against gay marriage so will never get my vote even though they were instrumental in providing free public transport for seniors which makes them popular amongst my age group.
I am often amused that the members of parliament can tear strips of each other in parliament yet are then seen sitting side by side at a social event or a funeral chatting amiably.
I think it is the apparent hatred in the US debate that worries us plus the power that one person seems to have as President. Although sadly Obama was unable to get his way so often.
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Off the above topic.......but did Donald Trump ever do National Service ?
If not....why not ?
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His feet hurt. ;)
He is said to have had bone spurs in his feet, a condition which didn't cause him to limit all his other physical activity.
http://www.snopes.com/2016/08/02/donald-trumps-draft-deferments/
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I love the way Obama handled this crowd. I heard audio on the radio on the way home from work and i thought he was at a Trump rally!
I don't think much of the Hillary supporters there...don't tell me they're falling to Trump rally low levels...
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – President Barack Obama got visibly frustrated with several thousand supporters at a rally Friday for Democrat Hillary Clinton when they shouted at an elderly man who held up a Trump campaign sign.
As Mr. Obama was saying Republican Donald Trump is “uniquely unqualified” to succeed him, the man stood in the aisle of bleachers to the president’s left holding up the sigh. The people arena booed him. Mr. Obama tried to get them to stop, but they continued and then began repeatedly shouting “Hillary!”
Mr. Obama tried to gain control of the moment, but couldn’t. So he yelled: “Hold up. Hold up. Hold up.”
“I told you to be focused and you’re not focused right now,” he said. “Everybody sit down and be quiet. You’ve got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate. He’s not doing nothing.”
He said the man, who was escorted out by security, wore what appeared to military dress attire. He reminded the audience that in the U.S. there is free speech.
And he pivoted back to his stump speech, delivering one of his go-to lines: “Don’t boo. Vote.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/11/04/obama-scolds-crowd-after-older-gentleman-trump-supporter-heckled/ (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/11/04/obama-scolds-crowd-after-older-gentleman-trump-supporter-heckled/)
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His feet hurt. ;)
He is said to have had bone spurs in his feet, a condition which didn't cause him to limit all his other physical activity.
http://www.snopes.com/2016/08/02/donald-trumps-draft-deferments/
Well....this kinda says it all. Everything becomes so much clearer now !! :laugh:
Thanks Fritz.
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Rich people can usually buy a doctor who will ascribe just about anything a patient wants.
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Hardly a recent occurrence...
In 1863, when President Lincoln called for 300,000 troops, every congressional district in the North had to meet their quota. If you were healthy and were among those called, you had several options provided by federal law: pay a substitute to take your place; pay a commutation fee of $300, enabling you to avoid service; or join the fight.
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I believe you'll find a dubious moral false equivalency with those requirements and Trump's.
But both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were considered draft Dodgers in one way or another.
And, John Kerry and Al Gore who both volunteered and served admirably were discredited by
their opponents.
And, of course, Trump thinks he's made sacrifices for the country and thinks John McCain is a loser.
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Hello DCF News posters.
Please follow the link below for news regarding DCF member Tony_.
http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=8581.msg2642723#msg2642723
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Trump Rushed Off Reno Stage
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-rushed-n678531 (http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-rushed-reno-stage-after-someone-yells-gun-no-weapon-n678531)
Donald Trump was rushed off stage by the Secret Service while delivering a speech in Reno, Nevada, Saturday night after someone in the crowd yelled "gun," the federal agency said. No weapon was found.
It's unclear who shouted "gun," but the man who was detained and later released told reporters that he is a lifelong Republican and only tried to hold up a sign that said "Republicans Against Trump."
[...or RAT, in other words, lol! In the video included in the article the man explains why he doesn't support Trump for President:
"He's dangerous for our country."]
That man, who identified himself as Austyn Crites, told NBC affiliate KRNV in Reno that when he pulled out the sign people began booing and trying to grab it.
"All of a sudden, because they couldn't grab the sign, or whatever happened, bam, I get tackled by all these people," Crites said.
"And somebody yells something about a gun, and so that's when things really got out of hand," he told the station. Crites added he was glad that law enforcement arrived swiftly because he was being beaten up.
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^^^^^^
I love the way Obama handled this crowd. I heard audio on the radio on the way home from work and i thought he was at a Trump rally!
I don't think much of the Hillary supporters there...don't tell me they're falling to Trump rally low levels...
I must point out that the crowd at the HRC rally was booing and heckling the man with a Trump sign, but that's
all they were doing. The crowd at the Trump rally, well, as the man with the sign in question said: "he was glad
that law enforcement arrived swiftly because he was being beaten up."
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Trump Rushed Off Reno Stage
Sounds like a scene from a western movie.
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Sounds like a scene from a western movie.
Using his spurs no doubt !!!! :laugh:
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Jeff W., what can you tell us about the Philadelphia Transit Strike
that some are worried about for getting people out to vote on Tuesday?
I only heard about this story yesterday and was wondering about it.
Is this a hot topic on your local news?
How long has the strike been going on?
Was there any talk of foregoing the strike one day for the election?
Are there other groups or organizations trying to help with voter turnout?
Does it affect you at all?
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Jeff W., what can you tell us about the Philadelphia Transit Strike
that some are worried about for getting people out to vote on Tuesday?
I only heard about this story yesterday and was wondering about it.
Is this a hot topic on your local news?
How long has the strike been going on?
Was there any talk of foregoing the strike one day for the election?
Are there other groups or organizations trying to help with voter turnout?
Does it affect you at all?
The strike began Nov. 1. As of right now, the strike is still on. I've been out of town for the weekend and haven't heard anything about anybody coming up with alternative ways for people to get to the polls. (My own polling place is, literally, just around the corner in the social hall of my church.) It was just reported on a local evening news broadcast that the city is going to seek an injunction to force the transit workers back on the job, at least for election day, but that's all I know.
Boy, does it affect me. I've got a 24-block walk to get to work and a 24-block walk to get back home again.
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OK, just reported on a local evening news broadcast that, once again, the director of the FBI has reported that there in nothing in Hillary's e-mails that warrants prosecution.
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Hardly a recent occurrence...
In 1863, when President Lincoln called for 300,000 troops, every congressional district in the North had to meet their quota. If you were healthy and were among those called, you had several options provided by federal law: pay a substitute to take your place; pay a commutation fee of $300, enabling you to avoid service; or join the fight.
It's said that one of my ancestors hired a substitute. That was probably cheaper than hiring someone to work the farm. ;D
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OK, just reported on a local evening news broadcast that, once again, the director of the FBI has reported that there in nothing in Hillary's e-mails that warrants prosecution.
Why am I not surprised?
FBI clears Clinton -- again
By Eric Bradner, Pamela Brown and Evan Perez, CNN
FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers Sunday the agency hasn't changed its opinion that Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges after a review of new emails.
"Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July," Comey wrote in the new letter to congressional committee chairmen.
Comey dropped a bombshell on the presidential race last month when he sent a letter to Congress saying the FBI had discovered emails in a separate investigation that could be connected to the now-closed probe of whether Clinton mishandled classified information. The move infuriated Democrats and emboldened Republican nominee Donald Trump.
It's impossible to know before results are tallied what impact Comey's actions -- first raising a vaguely worded red flag 11 days out, and then lowering it two days from the election -- will have on the contest. But the news could help Clinton put to rest a controversy that has dogged her in the 2016 race's closing days, helping Trump narrow a polling gap nationally and in key battleground states.
Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, blasted Comey's handling of the review.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/06/politics/comey-tells-congress-fbi-has-not-changed-conclusions/
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Fox News apologizes for falsely reporting that Clinton faces indictment
By Paul Farhi
Fox News anchor Bret Baier apologized Friday for reporting that federal investigators had determined that Hillary Clinton’s private email server had been hacked and that an investigation would lead to an indictment of Clinton after the election.
In fact, Baier said, after checking with his sources, there is no evidence at this time for either statement.
Baier, the anchor of Fox’s evening newscast “Special Report,” went on the air Wednesday to report that the FBI had determined that Clinton’s private server, which she used while serving as secretary of state, had been hacked by “five foreign intelligence agencies.”
He further said on Thursday, during an interview with Fox’s Brit Hume, that a separate FBI investigation — of the charitable Clinton Foundation — was “likely” to lead to an indictment of Clinton after Tuesday’s election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/fox-news-apologizes-for-falsely-reporting-that-clinton-faces-indictment/2016/11/04/8fd56f20-a2b7-11e6-8d63-3e0a660f1f04_story.html
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For the 1st time I'm seeing a bit of happiness coming from some of the news stations that don't support Trump. Maybe all the negative things said by Trump about Mexicans and African-Americans has come to bite him on his white ass. I (a Canadian) would be happy if someone like Trump doesn't get to represent the fine USA on the world stage.
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There are a lot of us that don't want him to represent us. However, there are a lot who don't want Clinton to represent them either.
This is the first election I remember where both candidates seem to be disliked to such a degree.
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It has all been so hateful, for such a very long time. If I am so very tired of it, aren't a lot of other people as well?
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It has all been so hateful, for such a very long time. If I am so very tired of it, aren't a lot of other people as well?
Oh, God, yes!
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Jeff W., what can you tell us about the Philadelphia Transit Strike
that some are worried about for getting people out to vote on Tuesday?
I only heard about this story yesterday and was wondering about it.
Is this a hot topic on your local news?
How long has the strike been going on?
Was there any talk of foregoing the strike one day for the election?
Are there other groups or organizations trying to help with voter turnout?
Does it affect you at all?
The strike began Nov. 1. As of right now, the strike is still on. I've been out of town for the weekend and haven't heard anything about anybody coming up with alternative ways for people to get to the polls. (My own polling place is, literally, just around the corner in the social hall of my church.) It was just reported on a local evening news broadcast that the city is going to seek an injunction to force the transit workers back on the job, at least for election day, but that's all I know.
Boy, does it affect me. I've got a 24-block walk to get to work and a 24-block walk to get back home again.
The strike is over. It was the first thing I heard when I got up this morning and turned on local TV news--and much to my surprise. (Maybe the union got nervous about its own people being able to get to the polls to vote for Hillary!?!) It is said it will take about 24 hours for everything to get back to functioning normally, and I still had to walk to work this morning. I'm hopeful I'll be able to take the subway home this afternoon.
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If I am so very tired of it, aren't a lot of other people as well?
The nation is, as TIME MAGAZINE's cover attests, but it can also be read two ways:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tribune.gr%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2F111.png&hash=31e5fed1a25234f21fb37749944fbf7bbb48affe)
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I'm glad the strike is over, Jeff!
Transit strikes are not pleasant. There was a period of time that it seemed we
had one every couple years. If you depended on it, it was a big pain.
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I'm glad the strike is over, Jeff!
Transit strikes are not pleasant. There was a period of time that it seemed we
had one every couple years. If you depended on it, it was a big pain.
In a city the size of Philadelphia, I'm afraid my attitude toward transit strikes is rather like Calvin Coolidge's attitude toward the Boston Police Strike. ...
I admit I don't understand why, but my understanding is that the commuter rail personnel are forbidden by law to strike, and my opinion is that what we call "the city division," that is to say, buses, subways, and trolleys, shouldn't be allowed to strike either. It's not like it was in the olden days, when the streetcars were a private industry owned by one individual, Peter A. B. Widener. I'm afraid "the city division" workers lost my sympathy one or two strikes ago, when one of the issues in dispute was that the union members didn't want to pay anything toward their health insurance. Well, t_ _ _ _ s _ _ _. I have to pay toward mine; why shouldn't they?
This is not to say that I'm completely anti-union. I saw the need for unions when Ronald Reagan destroyed the air traffic controllers' union. I just feel that workers in fields that affect the public welfare should not be allowed to strike.
OK, off my soapbox. ...
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I'd like to be optimistic about the election, but Trump is trouble, he's stirred up
a lot of crap and it won't go away immediately. All the political pundits seem to
think Hillary's poised to win, but it's served with a side of caution for "he who shall
not be named." (I take my cue from Ken Burn's who doesn't even say his name.
There's a group called "Historians Against Trump" who've been making their case
all summer and fall.)
For those that remember, the 1968 election was poised as divisive and bitter, what
with racial and ethnic violence, riots, assassinations (twice), economic worries, cities
in despair and the Vietnam mess, complete with war protests. We had two candidates
people were not fond of; Humphrey, who many thought underhandedly wrested the
nomination away from McCarthy, the way people have said it was rigged for Hillary
against Sanders. We had trust issues with Tricky Dick, known as such way before
Watergate. Many despised him. We had the same talk from the third party candidate,
George Wallace, that "he who shall not be named" emulates. It's the last time a third
party candidate won any states and their electoral votes. The election wasn't close in
the electoral college, but Nixon won by only 510,645 in the popular vote total, out of
73,203,370 votes cast. In 2012, there were approximately 130,000,000 votes cast.
By the way, in 1968, the election hadn't been going on a whole year (1967) before 1968.
And each and every state didn't have a Democrat and Republican primary or caucus like
they feel compelled to now. There were only 13 state primaries total. Not only that, they
didn't start until February and the incumbent President didn't even announce he wasn't
running until the end of March. Which means Humphrey didn't even know he would be a
candidate until April. Plus, we know their was not remotely the amount of instant and
pervasive media at that time.
Somehow, after that close vote and troubled year, Nixon managed to turn things around
enough that the country almost entirely voted for him in 1972. I'd like to optimistically
think Hillary could somehow do the same, without the same kind of problems Nixon caused
for himself in his second term ending in his resignation.
But he had a Democrat controlled Congress that did the work to pass some major legislation
along the way. We seem to have one know that wants nothing to do with any kind of agenda
unless it's obstruction.
Just a few thoughts the day before the 2016 election.
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No one has said, but has anyone actually voted already?
I like to go on election day--make an event out of it. I never have to wait in
long lines, so I don't mind.
Then you come home and watch all the election returns and see what you've done!
Unless it's really close, in the West we know who won by 9 p.m. (In 2012 the election
was called about 11:30 p.m. EST and 8:30 p.m. PST.)
In 1980, Jimmy Carter conceded to Ronald Reagan at 5 p.m. Pacific Time and outraged
many because a lot of people found out and didn't bother to vote at all, even though many
other elected offices are on the ballot. After that, networks and officials have an unofficial
rule they should not call states until the polls have closed in those states. But they do often
call the election before some states have finished polling, notably Alaska and Hawaii.
If anyone's interested, here's a map of the poll closing times for each state this year.
Note that some states have two different closing times in the same state. (Dumb?)
EASTERN
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.dailykos.com%2Fimages%2F320799%2Foriginal%2F1_ClosingEastern.png&hash=d45ef6c8364140f5a02086680bc3401e95b3edfa)
PACIFIC
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.dailykos.com%2Fimages%2F320804%2Foriginal%2F4_ClosingPacific.png&hash=6cdcb24057b64fc1b788b90e3908cacd5814790c)
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No one has said, but has anyone actually voted already?
I never feel so grown up as when I vote. :D
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How does one get to attend that big rally in your city tonight?
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Someone did a series of ISSUE paintings for this election. I found them interesting because the
shadow that's cast over the populace might either make you feel safe or foreboding, depending on
how you feel about the issue. I guess I should post them:
IMMIGRATION
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SECOND AMENDMENT / GUN CONTROL
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HEALTH CARE / ACA
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LGBTQ / RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
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How does one get to attend that big rally in your city tonight?
I don't know. I heard this morning that streets will be closed down around Independence Hall (like when the Pope spoke there :D ), but that's all I heard.
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I have already voted, Lyle. I decided to early vote since I have Lilia tomorrow and did not want to risk having to stand in line.
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We can only vote absentee here in Virginia, so one needs to have an excuse like not being in town on election day.
So I'll be heading to the polls after work tomorrow (Too early at work, 6 am, to vote beforehand). Heading first to get some tacos to eat right after voting. Can't depend on there being a taco truck at the polling station (maybe in 2020), so I guess I'll have to make do with Taco Bell.
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I'm off tomorrow so I can go any time to vote.
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Yeah, Earl will go at a time when there should be no lines. I expect there will be one when I get there. Last time it was about a half-hour.
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We have news reports about how different and difficult voting is in the US. Both NZ and Australia are always on Saturday from 8am to 6pm everywhere. There are BBQs and parties or wakes after. In Australia there are 5 time zones in summer as Western Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory do not have daylight saving. There have been complaints in the past that if the election is a landslide then the result could be pretty clear from the Eastern States before the polls close in Perth (3 hours behind in summer). NZ only has one time zone (except Chatham Islands where 600 people live).
Australia of course has compulsory voting so no need for parties to get out the vote - usually well over 90% vote. They have 3 lots of elections, Commonwealth every 3 years, State every 4 years and Local Council every 4 years.
NZ only has local (every 3 years) and that is by post as are referendums. The National election every 3 years is very simple. I walk across the road and up the hill to the school, walk straight in, have never had to wait, get a voting paper which requires 2 ticks one for electorate and one for party, put in box and walk home. Australia is more complicated, needing to number every square with both an upper and lower house vote and the Senate can have over 100 although you do not have to number all squares there but I always have. I have known 15 minute or more waits there at busy times usually late morning and just before the doors close at 6pm.
In Australia you also run the gauntlet of people handing out how to vote cards as you walk to the door but this is illegal in NZ. There can be no campaigning after midnight the night before and all placards must be removed from the streets which I think is wonderful as they hang around for months in Australia.
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SF Zoo to make Election Day more tolerable by live streaming red pandas Tuesday
By Alyssa Pereira Updated 10:02 pm, Monday, November 7, 2016
Not sure how you're going to cope with the stress-inducing onslaught of election results?
Here's some good news: per the San Francisco Zoo, its three red pandas will serve as your much needed distraction on Tuesday before the 2016 election results begin rolling in.
Starting at 10:00 a.m. PST and running for an hour, the zoo, in collaboration with Firefox, will live stream the activities of Tenzing, Hillary, and Hunter as they eat, play, and do other red panda things on the web browser company's official Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Firefox/ (https://www.facebook.com/Firefox/)
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I am off to vote now! History is in the air!
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^^^^^^
That was exciting, lots of people out at the polls this morning, two in front of me
were getting provisional ballots.
We may know the results in around ten hours!
In the meantime:
You Will Not Believe Who Endorsed Hillary
The election is almost over and if the polls are to be believed, Mrs. Clinton has a
solid lead going into the contest. The FBI email thing hurt her a bit, but that was
more than offset by a major last minute endorsement that she got from the most
unlikely of supporters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6JaeNduyFY
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^^^^^^
That was exciting, lots of people out at the polls this morning, two in front of me
were getting provisional ballots.
What is a provisional ballot? I don't believe we have them in Pennsylvania.
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Downunder, provisional ballots are either you are out of your electorate or your name does not appear on the electoral roll. They are provisional in that they will be sent to your home electorate for checking off or they will need to be checked to see if you are actually enrolled to vote before the vote is counted. They delay final results being announced in many electorates here as often a week is given for them to be posted across country (or even overseas). It meant the last Australian election could not be called for a week as there were a number of electorates too close to call until all provisionals were received and checked. The government only one by one seat in the end.
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Just got home, went to the polling station via Taco Bell so that I could get a pic of me eating a taco after voting.
No line at all, earlier today Earl had about 20 people ahead of him, but they were very efficient and it only took him about 5 minutes.
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Jeff, Brian answered the question above!
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Pedigree's A Vote For Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1uxEVZROg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1uxEVZROg)
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Pedigree's A Vote For Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1uxEVZROg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1uxEVZROg)
LOVE it Nancy!!!
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Beautiful!
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Jeff, Brian answered the question above!
I think we only have absentee ballots here, but I could be wrong.
Funny thing about this whole campaign season. I have received almost no political robo calls, and the two that I did receive were for candidates for state office from a district in which I do not live!
I think that may be because I voted for Adm. Joe Sestak for the Senate in the Democratic primary, not for Katie McGinty. Adm. Sestak is from the Philadelphia suburbs.
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How is this happening with Trump. Lyle, it is up to the West Coast to save you guys!!!!!
With the huge voter turn out, everyone at CNN was smiling and skipping around this morning....the joy is gone.
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I had a feeling this election was going to be closer than everyone thought it would be.
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Can anyone explain why New Hampshire is alone being red in New England. I have always had a soft spot for New Hampshire as they elected the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican communion. I have met Gene Robinson twice and he is a hero of mine. However I guess Episcopalians are not a majority in the state.
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The Canadian immigration website has crashed and "move to New Zealand" has gone way up in Google ratings. All I am worrying about is deposit on a cruise in Alaska. Unfortunately it was 10% cheaper before October 31 or I would have held off. I am happy to keep my booked flights to Vancouver and Toronto and my train tickets from Toronto to Jasper and Prince Rupert.
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I can't believe she lost.....
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U.S. to Hillary: You're fired!
I hate to say "I told you so," but. ...
Lyle, how long ago did I say I saw this coming?
Believe me, I have never been sorrier in my life to be correct about something. :(
Adding insult to injury, Hillary didn't even take Pennsylvania. :(
Actually, I figured it was over when Trump took Ohio and Florida.
My 86-year-old father is life-long Republican, and even said Trump scared him. :(
This morning I am thinking of two platitudes. "A people gets the government they deserve," and "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
There goes the Supreme Court. Watch out gay rights and women's rights. :(
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3918946/Trump-clan-supports-Donald-Trump-waiting-election-results.html
Victory speech and pics of the fam.... God Bless America!
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The Election in a Nutshell
"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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Did anyone notice that Melania Trump didn't look right when she went to vote with her family yesterday? She had sunglasses on, looked confused, her coat was draped over her shoulders and her hair was mussed. She looked like someone had dressed her. Just my impression. Trump said that people would have to work together to put America together. Who made it so devisive?????
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Just listened to a political analyist who said this has been building for 20 - 30 years, the country is divided. And that we had two flawed candidates and voters went with the flawed outsider as appose to the flawed insider.
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Can anyone explain why New Hampshire is alone being red in New England. I have always had a soft spot for New Hampshire
as they elected the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican communion. I have met Gene Robinson twice and he is a hero of mine.
However I guess Episcopalians are not a majority in the state.
New Hampshire has often gone their own way. In 2000, they were the only New England state to go for G.W. Bush
and that alone lost the election for Gore.
However, two minutes ago the AP updated their map and New Hampshire is listed as "blue" now with 100% of precincts reported.
Although it hasn't been "called" officially, yet, Clinton is ahead there by 1,437.
Also, the Senate Race in New Hampshire has not been called.
The Democrat, Maggie Hassan, leads incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte by 716 votes or 0.1%.
Maggie Hassan 47.98% 353,978
Kelly Ayotte 47.88% 353,262
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Glad to see you here, Lyle. I know you're three hours earlier where you are than where I am, but I was getting worried.
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National Popular Vote as Updated Two Minutes Ago:
Hillary Clinton
59,623,049 votes
Donald Trump
59,418,100 votes
Clinton has 204,949 more votes than her opponent.
It doesn't say how much more vote is to come in or what states it's coming from,
but could this be the second election in 16 years where the Democrat gets more
votes, but does not win the election?
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But could this be the second election in 16 years where the Democrat gets more
votes, but does not win the election?
I guess that seems likely, doesn't it?
That should be a salutary notice to Trump and his people, but I doubt they'll pay any mind to it.
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Glad to see you here, Lyle. I know you're three hours earlier where you are than where I am, but I was getting worried.
I'm glad I live in California:
Hillary Clinton (D)
5,481,885 (61.5%)
Donald J. Trump (R)
2,965,704 (33.2%)
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I'm glad that Virginia went blue.
And that Arpaio was defeated. And (it seems) McCrory. Pity Issa didn't follow them.
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https://www.good.is/articles/moore-five-point-plan
Looks like Michael Moore has the answers!
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^^^
Thanks for posting Canadians, a lot of us are still too numb.
Oilgun, of course there's a lot of sentiment like you posted about Bernie, but
I feel there is no way that he would've stood a chance against Trump who
would've made him seem like a doddering old fool. He was in California
promoting Prop. 61 for weeks in ads and in person and it lost, too.
Bubba, I agree with Michael Moore's plans in that article. He is one of the
few people who kept going around various media the last two-three weeks
and saying he felt the result that happened would happen and his reasons
turned out to be correct.
So, I agree, especially with these points:
--Any Democratic member of Congress who didn’t wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that's about to begin.
--Everyone must stop saying they are “stunned” and “shocked.” What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren’t paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all “You're fired!” Trump’s victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.
--You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: “HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!” The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don’t. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he’s president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we’ll continue to have presidents we didn’t elect and didn’t want. You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there’s climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don’t want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the “liberal” position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen.
Let's try to get this all done by noon today. -- Michael Moore
Heh!
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Trump’s victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.
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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So, I agree, especially with these points:
--Any Democratic member of Congress who didn’t wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that's about to begin.
--Everyone must stop saying they are “stunned” and “shocked.” What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren’t paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all “You're fired!” Trump’s victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.
--You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: “HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!” The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don’t. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he’s president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we’ll continue to have presidents we didn’t elect and didn’t want. You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there’s climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don’t want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the “liberal” position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen.
Let's try to get this all done by noon today. -- Michael Moore
Heh!
Thanks, Lyle. I agree with you, and with Michael Moore.
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Hmmm...this was on the ballot for residents of Washington, D.C.:
D.C. Votes Overwhelmingly To Become 51st State
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501412360/ (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/09/501412360/d-c-votes-overwhelmingly-to-become-51st-state?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews)
The newly approved measure had four parts:
1.) Agree that the District should be admitted to the Union as the State of New Columbia
2.) Approve of a Constitution of the State of New Columbia to be adopted by the Council
3.) Approve the State of New Columbia's boundaries
4.) Agree that the State of New Columbia shall guarantee an elected representative form of government.
Now that it has passed, the petition will go to Congress, which has the power to permit or deny it. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told the Washington Post she would move quickly and deliver a petition for D.C. statehood to the Executive branch and congressional leaders by Inauguration Day.
______
Why won't this happen?
The article explains how D.C. residents are not represented in Congress. They only got voting rights and a voice in the Presidency in 1960. But this measure won't happen because the District has always voted Democrat in every Presidential election. Making them a state would mean the Senate would have two more Democrat Senators and at least one House member. Since all three branches will soon all be Republican led, there is NO WAY this is happening now.
I don't know if D.C. is smaller in area than Rhode Island, but in the election last Tuesday they had more voters than at least one other state: Alaska. And none of those D.C. voters has a representative in Congress.
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Thanks, Lyle. I agree with you, and with Michael Moore.
Hi, Jeff! I don't agree with Moore saying, "...fighting every day for the next 8 years."
I've always thought that whoever won this election is going to be a one term President.
(You heard it here first?)
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According to the California Secretary of State's website, only 49% of registered voters
in my county (Los Angeles County) voted this past week. (Unless the absentee ballot
vote isn't registered in that total yet.) Can't even get half of the people here to vote.
Hillary would've had thousands more votes that wouldn't have mattered.
(And one wonders why people don't vote. You hear pundits say every vote
matters and yet 100% of registered voters in California could have voted,
Hillary's vote lead would increase substantially and--it doesn't matter.)
Currently: (Updated ten minutes ago.)
Hillary Clinton
59,938,280
Trumpy McTrumpface
59,704,886
That's a 233,394 popular vote lead: up 30,000 from yesterday at this time.
(With all the absentee and mail-in voting in the western states that went
heavily for HRC, there's little chance of this slowly tabulated vote to get
any smaller for HRC.)
...sigh...
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Hey Lyle, Hey Jeff! 8)
Trump calls Obama 'a very good man' after historic White House meeting
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/donald-trump-obama-paul-ryan-washington/index.html
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Hi, Jeff! I don't agree with Moore saying, "...fighting every day for the next 8 years."
I've always thought that whoever won this election is going to be a one term President.
(You heard it here first?)
Hi, Lyle. I sure hope you're right about a one-term presidency. (While I was having a few drinks last evening, somebody else at the table wondered aloud what would happen if Trump died before Inauguration Day. ::) )
I read Moore as meaning the Republicans fought against Obama every day for the past eight years, not as the Democrats needing to be ready to fight against Trump for the next eight years, but it also looks to me that Moore's wording is a little ambiguous, and your understanding may be correct. (If I were Moore's editor, I would send it back to him with a query to clarify his point. :D )
Anyway, if Trump actually came up with something that was an improvement over the Affordable Care Act--as unlikely as that may be--I'd prefer the Democrats to work with him to pass it!
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Hey Lyle, Hey Jeff! 8)
Trump calls Obama 'a very good man' after historic White House meeting
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/donald-trump-obama-paul-ryan-washington/index.html
Have you heard what these two have said about each other in the past? Does that all go away?
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Hey Lyle, Hey Jeff! 8)
Trump calls Obama 'a very good man' after historic White House meeting
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/donald-trump-obama-paul-ryan-washington/index.html
Did Trump mean for someone not actually born in the U.S. and therefore not legally President? ;D
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Meanwhile: I certainly feel all this pain:
Trump Win Leads to Street Protests Across U.S.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-win-leads-street-protests-across-u-s-n681906
For many Americans across the country, Donald Trump's victory is an outcome they simply refuse to accept.
"Not my president," protesters chanted in rallies coast to coast.
Tens of thousands filled the streets in at least 25 US cities overnight -- with demonstrations outside Trump's properties across the country.
Nearly 2,000 protesters gathered in downtown Chicago chanting "Not my president" and "F*** Trump" outside Trump International Hotel & Tower. Police said they arrested five people mostly for obstructing traffic and criminal trespass.
In New York, thousands of protesters could be heard chanting and banging drums as they marched past Rockefeller Center up Sixth Avenue, barely even acknowledging the rain.
Several thousand people marched from City Hall through the streets of Downtown Los Angeles. More than 100 people shut down a major highway through downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night NBC Los Angeles reported. As of midnight local time (3 a.m. ET Thursday), 13 people were arrested. [I can tell you there were way more than 100 people on the Freeway. Our NBC4 reporter said there were at least 1,000.]
Police said more than 7,000 people mobilized in Oakland, California, where tear gas and flash-bang grenades were deployed. Bottles, rocks and firecrackers were thrown at officers, reported NBC Bay Area. Thirty people were arrested on charges including vandalism and unlawful assembly, and three officers were hurt.
Dozens of young people chanting "Hey hey! Ho ho! White supremacy's got to go!" burned a U.S. flag on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C., NBC Washington reported.
At Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California, which has significant populations of Hispanics and African-Americans, students staged a walkout while chanting "Love trumps hate" and "Not our president."
In the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, hundreds of protesters chanting "No Trump" and "Not My President" marched down Bond Boulevard on Wednesday night bearing a banner reading, "We must stand together against fascism," NBC station WPXI reported.
Protesters shut down Interstate 5 in both directions in Portland, Ore., the Oregon Transportation Department said. One protester spray-painted "Impeach" on the side of Moda Center, home of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, NBC station KGW reported.
More than 400 people chanting anti-Trump slogans clogged the streets of downtown Austin, Texas, and marched to the state Capitol, NBC station KXAN reported.
Scores of students walked out of classes at historically black Fisk University to march through the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, NBC station WSMV reported. The group sat down at the intersection of Charlotte Pike and 6th Avenue and shouted, "This is what community looks like."
Protesters displayed a lighted "Better Than Bigotry" sign outside the White House.
Protests were underway in Philadelphia expressing their unhappiness with the election results.
Protesters shouted angrily in downtown Seattle, expressing their frustration at the Trump victory over Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. A crowd that police estimated at several thousand marched Wednesday night through downtown Seattle chanting "not my president" and carrying signs reading "Fight Racism" and "Impeach Drumpy," NBC station KING reported.
Reports also surfaced from protests in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In Boston, thousands of anti-Donald Trump protesters streamed through downtown, chanting "Trump's a racist" and carrying signs that said "Impeach Trump" and "Abolish Electoral College."
Protest and marches were also recorded in Atlanta at Piedmont Park, at Trump Tower in Las Vegas, Monroe Park in Richmond, VA, at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, in Detroit at Campus Martius Park on Woodward Ave., Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota, in Houston at the University of Houston, at AT&T Plaza in Dallas, Lee Circle area in New Orleans, in Eugene, OR, starting at Kesey Square, at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee, WI, in San Francisco at Powell and Market Street as well as Castro and Market Streets, San Diego on the Front Street area and in Providence at the Rhode Island State House. Among others.
Hundreds of sticky notes plastered the walls of New York subway stations Wednesday with messages of support and dissent from people all
over America and foreign visitors.
And from Time Magazine: Donald Trump’s Election Victory Sparks Protests Across the World
http://time.com/4565023/donald-trump-election-victory-protests-world/
And that was just the day after the election.
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Wow. Will Trump pay any attention to any of this? Or to the fact that he did not have the majority of the popular vote?
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A letter in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning reflects my experiences visiting the USA. It obviously does not apply to all (as far as I can read) contributors on this site.
Australians are struggling to understand how the American people voted this election. We have a theory based on our recent experience travelling in the US. We stayed with distant relatives in California and Florida and took a nine-day tour of the fall foliage in the company of 42 Americans. Without exception, the Americans we met were polite, considerate, kind and generous. We did not see a gun. But we left with a very strong impression. In general, Americans seemed to know very little of anything outside America. Some examples: Comments of surprise that we, as Australians, knew the words of Beach Boys songs – Questions of whether New Zealanders spoke English (I was tempted to make a joke here) – Confusion of Australia with Austria (?) – Ignorance of China’s invasion of Tibet – Not knowing what ‘‘Brexit’’ was. In the four weeks we were there, we did not see the television and other mass media (other than The New York Times) mention anything outside the US. We also did not see a program educating on health issues but saw many advertisements for prescription drugs. We saw a lot of American flag waving, even underwater in a mermaid show in Florida. Most did not want to talk about politics or even watch the debates. Universally, when they did talk, left or right wing, they disliked Hillary Clinton. I have spoken to a Harvard academic since returning to Australia, and he said that Fox television had been criticising and undermining her for many years.
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^^^^^^
The last line above--try 25-30 years, not only Fox, but all right wing radio programs
and alt-right news sources.
<<< Americans seemed to know very little of anything outside America. >>>
Hence Trump's emphasis on "the other" coming here... Immigrants...the Muslim ban...etc.
I don't know about generalizing people, places or things, but the above letter is accurate about
at least a portion of the U.S.
Also:
<<< Australians are struggling to understand how the American people voted this election. >>>
Hillary Clinton received (heading toward) a quarter million votes (and rising) than Donald Trump.
In the end, I always knew the American pubnlic would vote for her over Donald Trump.
What I didn't envision was that the electoral votes wouldn't have come along with that.
I just had a wild, though unrealistic, thought: The electors for most states do not have
to vote for the candidate their state went for. They can vote for anyone. Think we can
rig the system?
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From what I've read and heard of Internet searches in Britain the day after the Brexit vote, it seems that a great many Englishman didn't know what it was, either, and they're much more directly involved in it than Americans.
Just sayin' ... :D
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I just had a wild, though unrealistic, thought: The electors for most states do not have
to vote for the candidate their state went for. They can vote for anyone. Think we can
rig the system?
The Donald has been saying all along that the system is rigged. ;)
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3925108/First-day-Lady-Melania-Trump-dresses-demurely-black-outfit-travels-Washington-D-C-meet-President-Obama-Michelle-newly-elected-husband-Donald.html
On a superficial note, what Melania wore! ;D And a nice pic of Michelle and Melania together. Just one big love fest now.
Apparently even Justin Trudeau (our PM) has invited Trump to Canada and Trump invited him to Washington.
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Have you heard what these two have said about each other in the past? Does that all go away?
Apparently so, did you ever see the pics of Trumps wedding, him and his wife laughing and joking with their guests (and friends) Hillary and Bill..
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Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen has died aged 82
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Yeah, just heard that on the way home from choir practice. Unexpected, at least to the general public.
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From what I've read and heard of Internet searches in Britain the day after the Brexit vote, it seems that a great many Englishman didn't know what it was, either, and they're much more directly involved in it than Americans.
Just sayin' ... :D
True, Jeff. I read that people wanted Somewhere Over the Rainbow - make Britain Great again. Sickeningly familiar.
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True, Jeff. I read that people wanted Somewhere Over the Rainbow - make Britain Great again. Sickeningly familiar.
I was very, very surprised when I learned that--I mean, not knowing what "Brexit" was. I would have expected something like that from my fellow Americans. I had thought better of the British people. :(
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^^^^^^
I don't know, Jeff, the highest grossing film ever in Britain is MAMMA MIA. :o
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Bubba, something tells me if you were a U.S. voter you'd have voted for Trump.
Have you noticed the protests all over the country? The majority of Americans who
voted for HRC are not interested right now, and may never be, in anything about
Melanoma or her husband.
I'm more interested facts like these:
Russian Diplomat Says It Was in Touch with Donald Trump's Entourage During the Campaign
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/world/europe/trump-campaign-russia.html
Remember during the debate when Trump said he did not believe U.S. Intelligence he was given that Russia
was responsible for the DNC hacking and influencing the election?
I don't think Trump believes any intelligence myself.
So, I'll just speak for myself here, but when you post trifles about Melanoma's outfits, it's really just rubbing
salt in the election wounds and trivializing (normalizing) this whole thing, like that article I posted a day ago
and like Trump and his entourage accusing all these protesters of being professional and incited, done to dismiss
all of them like he did during his campaign.
"Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!"
What's unfair is our electoral college system that let's a bozo like take our country under siege.
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^^^^^^
I don't know, Jeff, the highest grossing film ever in Britain is MAMMA MIA. :o
;D
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Bubba, something tells me if you were a U.S. voter you'd have voted for Trump.
Have you noticed the protests all over the country? The majority of Americans who
voted for HRC are not interested right now, and may never be, in anything about
Melanoma or her husband.
Was it Seth Myers who said he now has job security for the next four years?
I don't watch the late-night guys myself. I have to get up early for work.
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Bubba, something tells me if you were a U.S. voter you'd have voted for Trump.
Have you noticed the protests all over the country? The majority of Americans who
voted for HRC are not interested right now, and may never be, in anything about
Melanoma or her husband.
Police are calling them "riots" and they do look more like riots than protests. As for me voting for Trump, WOW I thought you knew me! :o
I am taking what your current President has to say to heart, "time to come together, work together"
Hillary says, come together. But whatever, throwing beer bottles at police is another way to go I guess, won't change anything that's for sure.
I think the voice of reason in all this was Ellen, her monologue after his win:
She said she is moving forward in hope!
She also said "At times like this, it’s important to remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said: 'It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.'"
I know there are people on here who are still pissed that Brokeback lost best picture, so I am sure they are going to be angry about this for a long long time.
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All the platitudes in the world are not going to help the unrepresented people like myself get through the next four years. With a blowhard misogynistic bigoted person in office and a Republican majority House and Senate unrepresented citizens like myself are not going to have easy for the next 4 years.
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I read in one of our papers that the last time the Republicans had a majority in Senate and House as well as the president was 1928. And look what happened then
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All the platitudes in the world are not going to help the unrepresented people like myself get through the next four years. With a blowhard misogynistic bigoted person in office and a Republican majority House and Senate unrepresented citizens like myself are not going to have easy for the next 4 years.
I oughta make a list of all the ridiculous things he said he would do, in order to fool people into voting for him, to see how many he's actually able to do.
Who can possibly believe somebody who said so many horrible things about President Obama, and now all of the sudden the President has been transformed into--what was the term used?-a good man?
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I read in one of our papers that the last time the Republicans had a majority in Senate and House as well as the president was 1928. And look what happened then
One of the really big problems as you have already pointed out, Brian. The dollar value on the world market. Also the cancellation of vacations by foreign citizens, because they will not feel safe. This will be especially felt by the border states to Mexico (Texas, New Mexico, Aeizona, California) who always have a huge influx of wealthy Mexican citizens for Christmas and Easter buying.
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My super funds lost 1% between November 1 and 10. I usually only check on the first of the month. They have been almost stationary since Brexit.
They are what I use for travel but I have already put a $1900 deposit on my Alaska cruise next June.
Within just a 24-hour period, the Immigration New Zealand website received 56,300 visit from the US - up 2500% from its daily average of 2300 visits.
I believe the Canada website crashed.
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Dow rips to all time high as investors embrace Trump presidency
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/10/us-markets.html
Was surprised to hear that this morning! Apparently the Canadian Immigration site did crash, several times.
I laugh though at all these people (and celebs) saying they are going to move to Canada, believe it or not we do have immigration policies and procedures to go through.
Although Cher said she is moving off the planet, so not sure how that is going to work.
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When you listen to what the protesters say, the most common word is FEAR. Trump has brought that to the voters. I know that our prime minster has invited Trump to visit but that is what a polite leader does.
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When you listen to what the protesters say, the most common word is FEAR. Trump has brought that to the voters. I know that our prime minster has invited Trump to visit but that is what a polite leader does.
The language Trump used in his campaign has given the xenophobes, homophobes, Islamophobes, misogynists, and all-sorts-of-other-phobes permission to unleash their fear and hatred toward foreigners/immigrants, gays, Muslims, women, and anyone else. As far as I known, so far here in Philadelphia we have seen nothing worse than a little ambiguous graffiti, but right now I think people have cause to be afraid.
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Trust Air New Zealand to take every advantage of a situation. ;D
https://youtu.be/UptNM3msdRg
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Police are calling them "riots" and they do look more like riots than protests.
The only police who have called the street protests riots are in Portland.
(Google it.)
Like most Trump supporters you are low information.
As for me voting for Trump, WOW I thought you knew me! :o
You've been certainly quick to normalize him.
I am taking what your current President has to say to heart, "time to come together, work together"
As briefly as possible, because I could write an encyclopedia:
So we have Republicans who, right from the start, said their agenda was to make President Obama a
one term President by obstructing anything the Democrats wanted to put forth. Which they did for eight years.
They held hostage the President's Supreme Court appointment which will now be appointed by Trump and, to my
mind, is an act of criminality and non-patriotism and the worst thing they did during his Presidency.
Now the Democrats should just play nice and acquiesce to whatever they want? They nominated someone the Republicans
couldn't even stomach until they smelled the aphrodisiac of "power."
The Democrat candidate for President won all three debates, was endorsed by nearly every newspaper in the country except
six, one of which was the KKK's official newspaper. Said candidate received more votes than "he who shall not be named."
You know what they call the person who receives the popular vote in all other democratically elected offices in the world?
THE WINNER.
And now a racist, misogynist, crass, moronic, reality tv buffoon who, according to surveys, even people that voted for him
do not think he is qualified to be President, should be immediately accepted when he's insulted and demonized half of the electorate?
Have you seen the videos teachers have put online of their students afraid their parents are going to be deported or rounded
up and are crying in class? Have you seen the Latino teacher who was told by one of her white male students: "I don't have to
listen to you anymore. You're going back."
You wonder why people want to express themselves in protest?
Hillary says, come together. But whatever, throwing beer bottles at police is another way to go I guess, won't change anything that's for sure.
It serves notice that people aren't going to stand for it if the rhetoric he's spouted during the campaign
is tried to be put into practice. It serves as an outlet for people to express their feelings over this tragedy
that's come to our nation.
I know there are people on here who are still pissed that Brokeback lost best picture, so I am
sure they are going to be angry about this for a long long time.
We were pissed that you kept dismissing and would never understand the reasons behind that, instead
you kept repeating your mantra that the ampas voters just preferred one good film over another.
As for me:
At Least 10,000 Expected in Largest Downtown Los Angeles Anti-Trump Protest
http://abc7.com/news/11000-expected-in-largest-dtla-anti-trump-protest/1603923/
LOS ANGELES (KABC) --At least 10,000 demonstrators are expected to attend the largest anti-Donald Trump rally in Los Angeles to date on Saturday. The march is set to begin at 11 a.m. at MacArther Park and end at the U.S. Federal Building in downtown L.A.. Past protests have then splintered and headed in different directions.
Maybe you'll see me on the news.
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^^^^^^^^
What Lyle says......and sooooo much more.
This is coming from an outsider.....looking in.
Sometimes outsiders can see better with what is going on.
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At Least 10,000 Expected in Largest Downtown Los Angeles Anti-Trump Protest
http://abc7.com/news/11000-expected-in-largest-dtla-anti-trump-protest/1603923/
LOS ANGELES (KABC) --At least 10,000 demonstrators are expected to attend the largest anti-Donald Trump rally in Los Angeles to date on Saturday. The march is set to begin at 11 a.m. at MacArther Park and end at the U.S. Federal Building in downtown L.A.. Past protests have then splintered and headed in different directions.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fww2.hdnux.com%2Fphotos%2F12%2F13%2F75%2F2670429%2F10%2F920x920.jpg&hash=74b0da851a9a0f3197f6d5e3d05b9e45ecc7caa6)
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This photo is from last night. I like it because of the sign a protestor is carrying.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fracurs.ua%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2FPublication%2FNews%2F78%2F94%2F4%2Fcontent%2F5.jpg&hash=deb2e6837cac80b607d994198a84ff41f5b1d058)
And some wonder why the electorate is frustrated.
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Looks like the LGBTQ communities are the first targets of Trump's Christo-Fascist government.
The Mike Pence (Donald Trump) Assault On LGBTQ Equality Is Already Underway
It’s only a matter of time before we know the full magnitude.
(...)
Mike Pence is perhaps one of the most anti-LGBT political crusaders to serve in Congress and as governor of a state. Long before he signed the draconian anti-LGBT “religious liberty” law in Indiana last year, he supported “conversion therapy” as a member of Congress, and later, as a columnist and radio host, he gave a speech in which he said that marriage equality would lead to “societal collapse,” and called homosexuality “a choice.” Stopping gays from marrying wasn’t biased, he said, but was rather about compelling “God’s idea.”
Ben Carson, who compared homosexuality to pedophilia and incest, is a vice chairman of the transition team and so is Newt Gingrich, who has attacked what he called “gay fascism” and, in 2014, “the new fascism” around LGBTQ rights.
And right on cue, already appointed to lead domestic policy on the transition team is Ken Blackwell, formerly the Ohio secretary of state. Blackwell compared homosexuality to arson and kleptomania, which he called “compulsions.”
(...)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mike-pence-assault-lgbtq-equality_us_58275a17e4b02d21bbc8ff9b
All this talk of "coming together" is complete bullshit, they are declaring war of progressives. Pence is the real President elect, Trump is just the "Chairman of the Board " out playing golf. The orange P.O.S. is not even moving into the White House.
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Musician Leon Russell has died at 74
Nov 13 (Reuters) - Leon Russell, who played anonymously on dozens of pop hits as a much-in-demand studio pianist in the 1960s before emerging in the '70s as one of rock 'n' roll's most dynamic performers, died on Sunday at the age of 74, according to his website.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/11/13/leon-russell-has-died-74-obituary/93763740/
ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS OF HIS
A Song For You
https://youtu.be/37dw2r45Xzg
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Is Brian there or traveling?
Quake Strikes New Zealand, Thousands Flee Homes as Tsunami Hits
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake and a series of aftershocks shook New Zealand in the early hours of Monday, generating a tsunami and sending thousands of people fleeing for higher ground. here was initial confusion when emergency services first said there was no tsunami threat. Christchurch Civil Defence Controller John Mackie said that while the earthquake was centered inland, the fault line extended offshore for a considerable distance. That meant that seismic activity could cause movement out at sea, leading to a tsunami.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-quake-newzealand-idUSKBN1380CI
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I am home but, while they said it was felt all over the country, I felt nothing at midnight, did not even wake as usual about 3am. First I knew was when my radio came on as usual at 6am and instead of nice classical music, there was a tsunami warning blaring in my ear and there is continuous news instead of music. The PM is speaking at the moment. There was a tsunami warning for the whole of the east coast and they say thousands evacuated here in Dunedin but I live 300 metres a.s.l. Now reduced to just stay off the beaches. Wellington is the city most affected, all trains stopped, schools closed and people told to stay home. However reporter says just glass on roads from windows but buildings have to be assessed.
They say 2 dead near the epicentre at Kaikoura, a major tourist centre, whale watching, and also damage at Picton which is where the inter island ferries leave for the north island so ferries not running and main highway closed.
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A few years ago I had to evacuate twice in one year because of tsunami warnings. No tsunami came so it was alright. Glad you are OK.
Be happy you slept though it, I hate the sensation of shaking all over the bed!
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Thanks, Brian, our man on the scene!
It's nice to know you are safe and sound! Keep us abreast of
things if you want to, I always find information from non-media
sources quite insightful.
Sheesh. To quote Roseanne Roseannadanna, "There's always something."
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Is anyone surprised that Trump, whose whole campaign was to bask in the adulation of his
audiences, would do this?
In a Reuters news article today:
Kellyanne Conway, who served as Trump's campaign manager, said on Saturday that Trump will deliver
a speech about his plans moving forward in the coming days and may undertake a national victory tour.
A national victory tour? Gee, with all the protests going on for five days since
the travesty happened, what could go wrong with a Trump National Victory Tour?
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For those interested in statistics, the AP popular vote total for the election was
updated three hours ago. The last time I reported it Hillary Clinton was up nearly
a quarter million votes. Now it's substantially over 1/2 million.
Hillary Clinton
60,981,118
Other:
60,350,241
That's a lead of 630,977 so far as the ever slow count of absentee ballots continues.
(That's more votes than Gore was ahead by in the popular vote count in 2000.)
On a panel show this morning, David Remnick, editor of The Yorker, says that it could
go as high as 1 - 1.5 million when the counting is finally official, according to an AP source.
Read David's article in the New Yorker:
An American Tragedy
It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-american-tragedy-2
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Also, according to the AP vote counts, one state still has not been called for either candidate: Michigan.
There's enough vote still to be counted that could alter the current outcome of the state winner, but not
the electoral college result. Current:
Other:
2,279,210
Hillary Clinton
2,267,373
Clinton would need to overcome the 11,837 vote lead at the moment.
States thought to be in Hillary's column that did not happen: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan.
With about 2 1/2 million voters in Wisconsin, Hillary needed about 28,000 more votes to win.
With near 6 million votes in PA, she needed about 68,000 to win.
She needed about 100,000 more votes out of 8.5 million cast to win those states. If WI and PA had gone for her,
today the electoral vote total would be DEM: 258 and REP: 260 with everyone waiting on Michigan, where she's
behind by 11,837 and the state's not called yet. That's how close the election was in these states.
Maddening!
I don't believe there's massive voter fraud going on in the country, but this item raised my eyebrows:
Election officials can derive lots of data from the returns, like how many in a county voted for one
candidate/party last time and switched this time, stuff like that. Normally, more people come out to vote
in Presidential election years than non-Presidential election years to vote for President. The further down
the ballot you go the less they may vote on any of those things.
So consider this: Michigan Sec. of State has said that on 83,000 ballots in Michigan the voters voted
Democrat on EVERY race on the ballot and left the Presidential slot blank. No vote for President. Statistically
unusual. Ya think?
Hillary is currently behind there by 11, 837 votes.
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Anti-Trump ‘OITNB’ Star Lea DeLaria Deletes Controversial Instagram Post Theatening To ‘Pick Up A Baseball Bat And Take Out Every F***ing Republican’
http://etcanada.com/news/180804/anti-trump-oitnb-star-lea-delaria-deletes-controversial-instagram-post-theatening-to-pick-up-a-baseball-bat-and-take-out-every-fing-republican/
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^^^^^^
I'm just curious...what is your intent in posting things like that? The five days of protests against the election outcome have been
amazingly peaceful and violence free. But you have now posted two outlier happenings, this and the Portland protests police referred to as "a riot." I have to ask WHY?
In any case, Lea would be jailed.
But, gee! I wonder where people might get ideas like this?
Donald Trump: "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."
See him say it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTACH1eVIaA
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcrooksandliars.com%2Ffiles%2Fmediaposters%2F2016%2F10%2F34821.jpg&hash=c28e2e9a81a2fa7368aa0d3a2a85fa5c04653a19)
Donald Trump encourages gun rights advocates to shoot Hillary Clinton:
See him say it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf2STe6Cb-g
Shall I go on?
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I wouldn't go on no, but for a member of the LGBT to say such things, it looks bad. You would hope to be better than that.
As I said before, I fear this is all bringing out the worst in people.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson @jessetyler Nov 9
No sense in the media rehashing all the terrible things trump has said, done & tweeted. America heard it and still elected him. 😐
Jesse Tyler Ferguson @jessetyler Nov 9
I've dealt with bullies my whole life. I've been called terrible things. I've only come out stronger. I got this. We've got this.
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^^^^^^^ Yet you are posting links that are rehashing all of it??
How come?
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My question was:
^^^^^^
...what is your intent in posting things like that?
And if you believe this:
...but for a member of the LGBT to say such things, it looks bad. You would hope to be better than that.
You do realize you're helping to spread that sentiment around, but also failing to understand the
real fear of people in what this newly elected team will do to us.
For effen sakes, Pence thinks all gay people should have conversion therapy, he is so opposed to marriage equality
that on the state marriage licenses it still says for couples who are getting married:
Name of male partner: ____________________
Name of female partner:___________________
And Pence had a law passed in Indiana that you cannot lie on marriage license applications. You can be jailed
for 18 months if you do. How are same sex couples to fill out that above section without lying. The R's criminally
held up a legitimate Supreme Court nomination so they could appoint it if they won and Trump has said he'd go along
with all this including repealing DADT.
And, like I said, I could go on.
So WHO IS MAKING WHO LOOK BAD. I wouldn't voice my thoughts the way Lea D. did, but I can
certainly understand why someone might.
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I wouldn't voice my thoughts the way Lea D. did, but I can
certainly understand why someone might.
I can't, not for a minute! But then I am not sure why "nasty" people surprise me, we are surrounded by them..
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This has to be a first:
Los Angeles Schools Offering Counseling, Support in Wake of Donald Trump's Election Win
"We know there may be feelings of fear and anxiety, especially within our most vulnerable communities," LAUSD board president Steve Zimmer said in a statement. "The District is providing additional supports to those who need it."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/los-angeles-schools-offering-counseling-support-wake-donald-trumps-election-win-946161?facebook_20161113
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Is anyone watching the Trump interview on 60 Minutes? Let's just say that I have several barf bags at the ready.
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^^^^^^
I'm sure Bubba will be and fawning over every word.
I've seen clips of it, so I have chosen not to.
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Not often right, but wrong again.... didn't even know it was on... 8)
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I can't, not for a minute! But then I am not sure why "nasty" people surprise me, we are surrounded by them..
Let's just say that after a 16 month campaign here, LGBT people (among dozens of other individuals and groups) were demonized
and the hope that this team would not be elected, people are venting their frustrations and anger wondering if all the progress
made in the past years will be curtailed or destroyed in a slow and steady or immediate process. People are afraid and anxious
and numb over this buffoon and his running mate, one of the most homophobic and anti-LGBT politicians in the country being elected.
By the way, I Googled this story and on the first page the only sites who are dwelling on this particular story are ETCANADA and IMDB,
two entertainment sites that might be because she is on OITNB. The others are the right wing Fox News, the alt-right Breitbart news site,
whose CEO is on the Trump campaign staff, and the Inquistr, a decidedly biased aggregated news site.
So it's you who are actually helping to spread this stuff around along with those right wing news sites mentioned above.
If you can't read something, evaluate it for what it is, as most are--people are venting--instead of making it out to be some
actual threats (like Trump and his campaign do to suppress those who vent) then you are either clueless or Mother Teresa.
By the way. The Trump campaign threatened to suppress Harry Reid today with a lawsuit for speaking his mind,
which, unless the new regime is trying to amend the constitution, is still a right in this country:
Trump Campaign Manager Issues Ominous Warning to Harry Reid:
Be Careful in a ‘Legal Sense’ When Criticizing Trump
http://www.businessinsider.com/kellyanne-conway-harry-reid-donald-trump-2016-11
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The worst hit spot from today's earthquake is the town of Kaikoura on the main highway from Christchurch to the top of the south island and the ferry to Wellington. I have stayed there several single nights on my journeys. It is a major tourist destination especially for whale watching. The highway and railway are on a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea which makes it very scenic. The population is about 2000 but the news says there are 1000 tourists trapped in the town with no water or sewage. The Navy is sending one of its ships and they may send some small airforce planes (there is only a small airport, no regular commercial flights) with supplies and to evacuate. From the TV footage and comments I would say it will be weeks if not months before the highway is reopened.
The other main road is longer and is also closed today but will probably be reopened tomorrow or the next day. The only rail line north is on the same narrow strip of land as the highway. The ferry terminals at both ends have been damaged but will probably be repaired in a day or so. There are strong winds and heavy rain (also heavy rain here) tonight making things worse. I do feel for those whose homes have been destroyed.
Wellington, the capital city will probably be back to almost normal tomorrow. Some buildings and streets are blocked off due to falling glass and masonry made worse by 100kmh winds.
Christchurch was shaken but no damage except to people's nerves. There have been aftershocks all day, several hundred over 4 and some bigger than the one that killed so many in Christchurch. Today's quake is the 3rd biggest in 100 years. The biggest was in 2009 but in a very remote area and the 2nd was in the city of Napier in 1931. It was the most serious in our history. While not so large the Christchurch one was worse than today due to its nature, apparently more shaking, and location under a big city.
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Isn't there enough to worry about without making personal insults?
You would think... ;)
As I have said a bit of wait and see..
President-elect Donald Trump is breaking from his #2 on gay marriage and also moderating his views on immigration deportation and Obamacare.
Trump had a chitchat with Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" Sunday and not only vowed not to mount a challenge to the SCOTUS decision validating gay marriage, he said he's fine with it.
He also pulled back from mass deportation, saying he'd get the criminals out and then reevaluate.
Ditto on Obamacare ... he'll save some of it.
8)
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Illegal alien criminals have to live somewhere...
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and then there's Milo Yiannopoulos...daddy won!
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Bubba, I realize that you are a Canadian and maybe you haven't followed the past two years
of this man who you are now quoting from his 60 Minutes interview. Go online and look up
Keith Olbermann's video of a few dozen things Trump has said and then the few dozen times
he's said the exact opposite. This man has demonstrated that you cannot trust what he says.
I have asked you why you are posting "normalizing" reports about Trump and his election.
You have not answered that. WHY are you? None of what is happening is normal. That you
are seemingly trying to get people to view it that way shows you haven't been paying attention.
So, the things you've just posted about his policies--are you going to post every time he contradicts those
things in the future? Because if you are NOT then stop posting these things in the first place. His biographer
says that he usually spouts what the last person he talks to believes. That's the kind of person he is. He says
one thing and in the same sentence might contradict it. You cannot trust what this man says is what he believes
or what he may do. He can be manipulated by the opinions of those who surround him. He often says things he
contradicts when a reporter asks him. You don't have to believe "me", there's tons of sources showing what he
himself has said.
So why do you believe what he says on 60 Minutes when he has shown he cannot be trusted?
He just hired Steve Bannon as a White House Consultant. Steve Bannon ran/runs Breitbart news.
Breitbart is an alt-right news source that runs stories like this:
Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy
Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer
Hoist It High and Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims a Glorious Heritage
Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement's Human Shield
Kids Raised By Same-Sex Couples Twice As Likely To Be Depressed, Fat Adults
Gay Rights Have Made Us Dumber, It’s Time To Get Back In The Closet
Dear Straight People: I’m Officially Giving You Permission To Say Gay, Faggot And Queer
George Takei posted today:
Take a look at Breitbart headlines. Their white nationalist CEO (Steve Bannon)
is now Trump's top White House strategist. Pay attention.
6:24 AM - 14 Nov 2016
Bannon is an anti-Semite that runs an alt-right website which deals in hate and crazy conspiracy theories.
CNN Host Chris Cuomo warned today, "A Message To The Media: Stop 'Normalizing' Breitbart And Steve Bannon"
Wait and see indeed. From an article last June:
"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."
Yeah, now the fear is even more real and, dear readers, what's insulting is someone trying to normalize something which
requires a great deal of scrutiny.
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earthquake
Thank you for the update Brian!
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I have a question why is this thread called "News and Current Events - 2013 to 2014" ??
Bernie Sanders on The View today, was very informative.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/bernie-sanders-tells-the-view-little-girls-are-scared-to-death-in-trumps-america/
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Illegal alien criminals have to live somewhere...
Australia has been doing this in the last year or so, especially New Zealanders who have automatic right of entry into Australia as long as they do not have a criminal record requiring 1 or more years imprisonment. May be ok for someone who has been there a year or so and commits a crime. But some have been sent back to NZ even though they went to Australia as children. They arrive back in a land they barely know, without any family support. At first they were not given any parole conditions or checks but the law here has now been changed.
Although smaller in number there have been some sent back to their European country of birth where they do not even speak the language. Although I do not plan to commit any crime it was one of many reasons I took out NZ citizenship this year, you never know what stupid laws might be passed in the future.
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Call me stupid ...but.....out of all the interviews Trump has given over the past few days....has any of the interviewers ever asked why he said all the vile things that he did ?
"Did you just do it for effect Mr Trump?"
Come on.....surely some one has the guts to as THE question ?
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President Obama just did some hip-hop level trash-talking, and Hillary Clinton was his target.
The Prez took the shot during a news conference from the White House ... when he was asked what the Dems can learn from Donald Trump's huge victory in the Electoral College.
He didn't parse words in explaining why he won certain battleground states that Hillary lost. In a nutshell ... her math sucked in states like Iowa -- where she only visited 3 times after the Caucus.
This won't be well-received in the Clinton's living room. Truth hurts?
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I love John Oliver. His talk on not normalising Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rSDUsMwakI
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Prime Minister John Key says the United States has offered two helicopters to the New Zealand Defence Force to help evacuate people from quake-hit Kaikoura, a day after a powerful earthquake hit the region, killing two people.
The choppers are from the destroyer USS Sampson, which is in New Zealand for the Royal New Zealand Navy's 75th anniversary.
(you may not be aware that this is the first US warship to visit NZ since the standoff in , I think, the 1980's when NZ went nuclear free and the USA would not say if a ship was nuclear armed or powered - - it was the ended of the ANZUS treaty.)
The Navy's multi-role vessel HMNZS Canterbury was also heading to the area, Air Commander Darryn Webb, the acting commander of New Zealand joint forces, told TVNZ.
"The priority today is the airlift operation," he said. "We're looking to do as many flights as we can out of Kaikoura today ... around about four flights, to move approximately 200 of those tourists and residents south."
Meanwhile, the Chinese Government chartered a helicopter to get Chinese nationals out of Kaikoura.
There had been more than 860 aftershocks, GeoNet said.
About 1200 people were trapped there and 600 of them had been sheltering at a Civil Defence centre.
Four New Zealand Defence Force NH90 helicopters have been carrying them out, 12 at a time.
The Malaysia Air Force had also offered a helicopter to assist with evacuations, Mr Key said.
"So in terms of aerial support to get people out and to make sure that we get the provisions that are required in, we've got plenty of capacity now.''
Finance Minister Bill English reiterated Mr Key's estimate that the cost of quake repairs would be in the "billions''. He said the Earthquake Commission disaster fund was depleted, but a Government guarantee would mean all insurance claims were met.
Mr English said not only were South Island roads badly damaged, but also the ports at Picton and Wellington.
Mr Key said the wild weather in Wellington was causing "yet another complicating factor to the aftermath of the earthquakes''.
It was making travel difficult in Wellington and hampering efforts to airlift people out of Kaikoura, he said.
Work was also under way to consider the quake's impact on other North Canterbury towns, and on Wellington.
Gale-force winds and rain were hampering recovery efforts, and hundreds of aftershocks continued to rock the region.
Hundreds of homes remain without power and telecommunications, with huge cracks in roads, land slips and other damage to infrastructure making it hard to reach the worst-affected areas.
The quake, which has been named the "Kaikoura Earthquake'', also caused an estimated 100,000 landslips, blocking access to the district by road and rail.
-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/11/14/ape-in-heels-w-va-officials-under-fire-after-comments-about-michelle-obama/
Speaking of petitions, I "wish" I could sign this one. I read it twice because I actually could not believe what I was reading. When is all the hate going to end?
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It was recently approved and elected.
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The first (closet?) Klan supporter in the White House since Woodrow Wilson.
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“Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form,” the Trump campaign told CNN in a statement. “This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign.”
Anyway I can see there is no outrage here on Michelle Obama being referred to as an ape! :">
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They certainly believe that they've been given license.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/2016/11/15/north-carolina-kkk-group-announces-celebratory-march
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“Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form,” the Trump campaign told CNN in a statement. “This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign.”
You are really the naivest person on the face of the earth.
Anyway I can see there is no outrage here on Michelle Obama being referred to as an ape! :">
These things have been going on with the President and his family since 2008 and
with black people in general.
Now you notice?
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No sorry I am not the naivest person on earth Lyle - quit with the insults - I think it is crazy to suggest that he is a supporter of the KKK (sorry Fritz). He can't possibly control who pledges allegiance to him...
And yes I remember well all the racist things that were said (by American people) about President Obama when he ran for President and when he became president.
But shocking that almost 10 years later, this is what someone (women) have to say about Michelle..
Anyway it was shocking enough to get this woman fired and maybe they can ask the Major to step down while they are at it.
All the campaign rhetoric that Trump spewed during the election, I am sure it will all be toned down now that he is the President elect and probably more so once he becomes President.
You may not respect the man, but you have to at least respect the office of the President......or not.
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Naïve probably isn’t the right word, Lyle was being kind. Maybe ill-informed. Uninformed. Alt-right?
No sorry I am not the naivest person on earth Lyle - quit with the insults - I think it is crazy to suggest that he is a supporter of the KKK (sorry Fritz). He can't possibly control who pledges allegiance to him...
Well, no...except he courted those votes at every rally, so really, yes he did/does control who pledges allegiance to him...
All the campaign rhetoric that Trump spewed during the election, I am sure it will all be toned down now that he is the President elect and probably more so once he becomes President.
Now, you seem to be serious, but I know you must be joking. That is the call of all those who are legitimizing his rhetoric of the campaign. He'll only get worse. Delete your Breitbart shortcut.
You may not respect the man, but you have to at least respect the office of the President......or not.
Trump is the one who doesn't respect the office. Now he wants code word, top secret clearance for all the kids (including the 10 year old?). Personally, I'd rather not have Ivanka sitting in the situation room filing her nails when they're deciding who to blow off the face of the earth, when she should really be on the phone with china as they churn out her "fashion". I'd rather not have Trump there, but too late.....
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If it's true that a people get the government they deserve, then I guess a nation of idiots gets a buffoon for President.
Oh, wait. He didn't get the majority popular vote. ...
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How did Ivanka get into this, or is he going to fill the White House with his x's! :o As for nuclear codes, we all know about chain of command etc. etc. But here is an article that explains it:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardminiter/2016/11/07/dont-worry-about-trump-and-nuclear-codes/#6aae485321b9
Anyway Trump won by the same process that every single President has won.
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How did Ivanka get into this, or is he going to fill the White House with his x's! :o
Ivanka is the daughter--I think--and Ivana is the ex-wife. (These names do get confusing.) But I think I saw something yesterday about Ivana being interested in some role or other in the new administration.
I wonder how long it will take for Marla Maples to pop up again? (She's the one who got dumped for Melania.)
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;) Thanks Jeff, I got confused Ivana, Ivanka... Actually there is a pic out there of Marla coming out Trump towers the other day. Her and Trump have a daughter together and you see her with Trump a lot.
I was reading the other day Baron will be the first boy in the White House in 50 years. I guess the last one was John Kennedy Jr.
President-elect Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill, including some of the most important posts in the US government. His team has been at work coming up with possible candidates for the top jobs, but there is a smaller universe of Republicans who were close to his campaign. Much of the Washington establishment kept him at arms length. Others, including some former GOP cabinet secretaries, rejected him entirely. The names below pull from his circle of supporters. Here's a look at who might be included in a Trump Cabinet and inner White House circle.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/
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;) Thanks Jeff, I got confused Ivana, Ivanka... Actually there is a pic out there of Marla coming out Trump towers the other day. Her and Trump have a daughter together and you see her with Trump a lot.
You're welcome!
I didn't know this, but a friend told me that Ivana once had some kind of reality show called Ivana Young Man. :laugh: Sounds like a drag name to me: Ivana Youngman. ... :laugh:
I was reading the other day Baron will be the first boy in the White House in 50 years. I guess the last one was John Kennedy Jr.
I heard that, too.
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No sorry I am not the naivest person on earth Lyle - quit with the insults -
If you think I am insulting you, maybe I am just following the lead of the president Elect:
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhinterlandgazette.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F10%2Fny-times-people-donald-trump-insulted.png&hash=85c07b35c6b94756fc6d05738526b5a62eabae57)
You may not respect the man, but you have to at least respect the office of the President......or not.
I absolutely respect the office of the Presidency, that's why I am rejecting the idea of
Trump inhabiting it:
Trump is the one who doesn't respect the office.
By all accounts, the President-elect is already using the taxpayer funded Government website to
promote his businesses:
Donald Trump's New .gov Website is Now Promoting His Businesses
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-transition-website-promotes-business-brand-231173
His daughter Ivanka strategically posed her jewelry in the 60 Minutes interview and is
now promoting her jewelry line on the taxpayer funded government website: "As seen on 60 Minutes!"
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insideedition.com%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1611%2F19902.jpg&hash=5cc42b06fe76c68d7401cff3d207b0e1d94d30b0)
The President-elect doesn't want to live in the White House, he wants to commute
from Trump Tower in New York to Washington.
He ignored press protocol by "going dark" last night because he wanted to go
have a steak at the 21 Club in NYC. His spokeswoman lied about it.
When they had the transition meeting in the White House, a Trump staffer asked those
working in the White House offices "How many of the people there would be staying on?"
YIKES! No one stays on when there's a new President! They don't even know this. Unbelievable.
One could know this by watching The West Wing.
The transition team that was in place headed by Chris Christie (which means vetted and papers
signed with the Obama administration etc.) was all fired yesterday because Trump's son in law
(Ivanka's husband) was administering revenge because he's the son of a man that Christie humiliated
in a previous New Jersey political scandal. All of this being more important than transitioning a new
Government. The Trump people have not even set up liaisons with departments they will be taking
over (like homeland security for one!) and by all accounts the whole thing is a mess, despite what Trump
tweets out about how well everything is going.
That's not even mentioning the conflict of interest with his children running his business and him wanting
them all to have security clearances, which he can automatically do when President Obama leaves office.
But, by all means, keep talking about his ex's and his son and all the other Dynasty reality show nonsense.
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I know the Trumps are stinking rich, and all that (or, at least, they're supposed to be), so how come the thought of that family moving into the White House keeps making me think of the Clampetts moving to Beverly Hills?
Maybe the common bond is "nouveau riche"?
The Clampetts probably had better taste.
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I can't see that Lyle, just a bunch of fuzz, maybe I need my eyes checked, but as I said...
All the campaign rhetoric that Trump spewed during the election, I am sure it will all be toned down now that he is the President elect and probably more so once he becomes President.
Not sure what Dynasty related issues you are talking about... I put up a link there for all the positions to be filled by him, some 4,000 of them. You are the one posting pics of jewelry.
As for knowing protocol in the White House, why would he? Maybe he never watched West Wing, I haven't.
He is not a politician, never has been, but yet he was elected. I hear The ROCK is going to run in the next election.
Yes Jeff, they are rich, I heard he is waving the 400,000 dollar a year pay cheque. They seem more like the Green Acres couple (Oliver and Lisa) than the Beverly Hillbillies.
;)
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How did Ivanka get into this, or is he going to fill the White House with his x's! :o As for nuclear codes, we all know about chain of command etc. etc. But here is an article that explains it:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardminiter/2016/11/07/dont-worry-about-trump-and-nuclear-codes/#6aae485321b9
I didn't say anything about the nuclear codes, where did you see that? Top secret clearance would give the kids access to president's daily brief from, among others, the CIA and NSA about domestic and world issues.
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All the campaign rhetoric that Trump spewed during the election, I am sure it will all be toned down now that he is the President elect and probably more so once he becomes President.
That's really a quote of yours not worth repeating...I guess ignorance is total bliss for you...and did you delete Breitbart from your favorites yet? Try just a regular right wing site like Fox...
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Yes Jeff, they are rich, I heard he is waving the 400,000 dollar a year pay cheque. They seem more like the Green Acres couple (Oliver and Lisa) than the Beverly Hillbillies.
;)
Yes, yes, you're right! :laugh:
I'll vote for the Rock if he runs next time. ::) :D
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I didn't say anything about the nuclear codes, where did you see that? Top secret clearance would give the kids access to president's daily brief from, among others, the CIA and NSA about domestic and world issues.
Yes I am sure that is being given to Baron! 8)
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That's really a quote of yours not worth repeating...I guess ignorance is total bliss for you...and did you delete Breitbart from your favorites yet? Try just a regular right wing site like Fox...
It is actually worth repeating, here I will do it a third time, actually Dr. Phil said the "exact" same thing the other day! ;)
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Yes, yes, you're right! :laugh:
I'll vote for the Rock if he runs next time. ::) :D
The Rock does seem like a nice guy and IS apparently The Sexiest Man Alive! :D
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I can't see that Lyle, just a bunch of fuzz, maybe I need my eyes checked, but as I said..
All the campaign rhetoric that Trump spewed during the election, I am sure it will all be toned down now that he is the President elect and probably more so once he becomes President. Not sure what Dynasty related issues you are talking about... I put up a link there for all the positions to be filled by him, some 4,000 of them. You are the one posting pics of jewelry. As for knowing protocol in the White House, why would he? Maybe he never watched West Wing, I haven't. He is not a politician, never has been, but yet he was elected.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartkid.com%2Fimages%2F245%2Fscreaming-illustrations-and-clipart-x5B2AX-clipart.jpg&hash=958a8e9c89d5e64717e146a2f338cdf966ceac32)
Bubba, it's clear that you are either ignoring, being willfully ignorant or just plain ignorant of what I and Nancy have
been trying to get you to contemplate, much less understand. Otherwise, I cannot believe you are being that stupid.
Perhaps you can look in the Plum Book and get one of those jobs in the White House, it seems like you'll fit right in.
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The Rock does seem like a nice guy and IS apparently The Sexiest Man Alive! :D
:D
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It is actually worth repeating, here I will do it a third time, actually Dr. Phil said the "exact" same thing the other day! ;)
Ah yes, Dr. Phil and his fortune cookie wisdom...I knew you weren't getting your ideas from NPR...
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:D I threw that in there just to see if anyone was paying attention. I am actually not a big fan of Dr. Phil (haven't watched him since he was on Oprah). I was just flicking through channels, and saw he had Megyn Kelly on and he actually did say that. It was a good interview by the way..
Lyle is that you in that picture, that is not at all how I pictured you.
Jeff maybe we need some ROCK pics in the Fan Fair thread/section.
Hillary Clinton finally speaks out:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/16/politics/hillary-clinton-childrens-defense-fund-speech-post-election/index.html
Hillary Clinton, in her first public speech since last week's crushing presidential loss, admitted making the appearance "wasn't the easiest."
She looks tired, I will say one thing she is a trooper.
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Jeff maybe we need some ROCK pics in the Fan Fair thread/section.
:D
Actually, I'm not really a fan--never seen any of his movies--but somehow I have got the impression that he's not too full of himself--unlike a certain President-elect. But I could be wrong. Maybe he's just a better actor than I imagine. :D
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:D I threw that in there just to see if anyone was paying attention. I am actually not a big fan of Dr. Phil (haven't watched him since he was on Oprah). I was just flicking through channels, and saw he had Megyn Kelly on and he actually did say that. It was a good interview by the way.
Dr. Phil is a fucking slimeball. Tomorrow's guest is an unrecognizable Shelley Duvall, who is obviously mentally ill. I can't believe he would exploit her for ratings. Even Stanley Kubrick's daughter is calling for a boycott of the show. I've always loved Shelley and it's heart-breaking to see her in that condition. I hope she gets the help she needs and not on national television.
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/dr-phils-shelley-duvall-interview-slammed-by-stanley-kubricks-daughter-w450973
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I saw the preview for that, can't say as I see the point of interviewing a mentally ill person. It would also be disturbing to Robin Williams family I would imagine.
I won't be tuning in, that I can guarantee. Maybe it won't air.. I pray she gets some help, but it sounds like she has been like this for quite some time.
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I met Shelley Duvall once at a VSDA convention. She dropped something she had
in her hand, a pen I think, and we both bent over to pick it up at the same time and
whacked our heads together. I hope her current condition wasn't my fault! As for Dr.
Phil, sometimes when a celebrity goes on a show like that it encourages others to seek
help for themselves or someone they know, so there's that if you want to look at a
positive angle.
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I saw a news article on line last night about Shelley Duvall and Stanley Kubrick's daughter's reaction to Dr. Phil interviewing her. There was a picture of Shelley. I felt so sad for her. She looked terrible. :(
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"There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
http://www.joemygod.com/2016/11/18/trumps-chief-strategist-steve-bannon-praises-darkness-dick-cheney-darth-vader-satan-thats-power/
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"The phrase 'our new, happy life' recurred several times. It had been a favourite of late with the Ministry of Plenty. Parsons, his attention caught by the trumpet call, sat listening with a sort of gaping solemnity, a sort of edified boredom. He could not follow the figures, but he was aware that they were in some way a cause for satisfaction. He had lugged out a huge and filthy pipe which was already half full of charred tobacco. With the tobacco ration at 100 grammes a week it was seldom possible to fill a pipe to the top. Winston was smoking a Victory Cigarette which he held carefully horizontal. The new ration did not start till tomorrow and he had only four cigarettes left. For the moment he had shut his ears to the remoter noises and was listening to the stuff that streamed out of the telescreen. It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it. Parsons swallowed it easily, with the stupidity of an animal. The eyeless creature at the other table swallowed it fanatically, passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce, and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grammes. Syme, too-in some more complex way, involving doublethink, Syme swallowed it. Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?"
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, Chapter 5
http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/trump_lies_about_convincing_ford_to_keep_the_lincoln_plant_in_kentucky_refuses_to_delete_tweet_apologize_correct_record
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I always remember with amusement that 1984 was in my school library but restricted to being borrowed by students in our final year (age 16 to 17). The love scene was quite mild compared to some of the books I much, much later allowed 13 to 14 year olds to borrow when I became a school librarian.
1984 seemed to pass well enough. Long time since I last read it.
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To change the subject back to what is filling our news
This article and video shows for those overseas the beautiful road to Kaikoura which I do hope can be fully restored as well as the great stories that have come out of the earthquake and why I love my adopted country.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/insight/bringing-out-best
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Hamilton Star Brandon Victor Dixon Responds to Donald Trump's Claim That Mike Pence Was 'Harassed'
“Conversation is not harassment, sir.”
That’s what Hamilton star Brandon Victor Dixon had to say Saturday, after President-elect Donald Trump claimed Vice President-elect Mike Pence was “harassed” while attending the Friday evening showing of the Tony-winning musical...
http://people.com/theater/hamilton-brandon-victor-dixon-mike-pence-donald-trump-harassed/
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Trump bait and switch. Divert attention.
If I'd just settled a $25 million fraud suit, I'd probably be pretty happy if the news the next morning focused on my associate being booed.
Sending Pence to Hamilton to take the focus away from Ivanka and the Japan PM is Trump's entire campaign in a nutshell.
Trump is amping up the Republican "victim" mentality.
If you don't let us do what we want you're attacking us.
It's never us...it's the media, the Liberals, the immigrants,
the Muslims, the LGBT community, feminists, the cast of
Hamilton, the other. All we want is our liberty and freedom...blah blah blah.
Meanwhile his closest advisor praises Satan.
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It set of a twitter storm anyway, I kind of like this one:
Chicago Med star and Broadway vet Colin Donnell alluded to Trump’s previous bad behavior.
It's ok Donald it's just "Theatre Talk". Sorta like "locker room talk" except in that it was completely thought out & respectful. https://t.co/aGtEbgc1vo
— Colin Donnell (@colindonnell) November 19, 2016
Celebrities and Politicians React to Trump's Claim that Pence Was 'Harassed' at Hamilton Performance
http://people.com/politics/celebrities-politicians-trump-hamilton-harass-reaction/
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Meanwhile his closest advisor praises Satan.
Oh Lyle, what's wrong with satan? He's got family...celebrates Christmas...what would you get satan for Christmas? Oh wait! He already got his wish - PE Trump...
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I met Shelley Duvall once at a VSDA convention. She dropped something she had
in her hand, a pen I think, and we both bent over to pick it up at the same time and
whacked our heads together. I hope her current condition wasn't my fault! As for Dr.
Phil, sometimes when a celebrity goes on a show like that it encourages others to seek
help for themselves or someone they know, so there's that if you want to look at a
positive angle.
Actually, I'm shocked that you are defending, however weakly, the exploitation of a mentally ill person, famous or not.
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Is that what I was doing? I suppose you could say that anyone appearing on one of these
shows, or a talk show for that matter, is being exploited in some way. The difference with a
mentally ill person is that one can speculate if they actually agreed to the appearance or not.
Which brings up the question, how does someone like Duvall get help if they don't know they
might need it?
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A Tennessee school bus driver is facing vehicular homicide charges after the bus he was driving crashed, killing five elementary school students and injuring at least two dozen more on Monday, police say.
Johnthony Walker, 24, was arrested and charged with five counts of vehicular homicide as a result of the crash on Talley Road in Chattanooga. Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher said in a press conference late Monday night that Walker was also charged with reckless endangerment and reckless driving, “to begin with.”
The school bus crashed, turned on its side and wrapped around a tree, according to the Associated Press. The bus had 35 children on board. And the vehicle was so mangled after the crash that it took rescue crews more than two hours to get the children to safety, according to Good Morning America. Officials have called it an “absolute nightmare.”..
http://people.com/crime/multiple-fatalities-in-tennessee-school-bus-crash/
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That's just terrible. Gotta be every parent's worst nightmare. I can't even begin to imagine. :(
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Thanks for commenting Jeff, I too thought it was just terrible!
Comedian Ellen DeGeneres was praised by the US president for her influence on the gay rights movement as she received the country's highest civilian honour.
Celebrities including Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Michael Jordan were also among the 21 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Barack Obama said it was easy to forget the risk Ellen De Generes took to come out as gay in 1997.
He said her bravery helped "push our country in the direction of justice".
"It's easy to forget now, when we've come so far... just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago," he said during the award ceremony at the White House.
"What an incredible burden that was to bear - to risk your career like that - people don't do that very often. And then, to have the hopes of millions on your shoulders."...
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38073567
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Thanks for this news. It is wonderful. I do not usually watch chat shows but Ellen was on just before our news for a few years so I often saw 15 or so minutes of it. I think she is wonderful for all the obvious reasons and she is married to an Australian. :-) And it also raises Obama in my eyes although he can hardly get much higher in my lexicon of heroes.
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Thanks for this news. It is wonderful. I do not usually watch chat shows but Ellen was on just before our news for a few years so I often saw 15 or so minutes of it. I think she is wonderful for all the obvious reasons and she is married to an Australian. :-) And it also raises Obama in my eyes although he can hardly get much higher in my lexicon of heroes.
Agree on both counts, and this is proud news for the LGBT community! I am a huge fan of Ellen and tape her every day, try to watch all that I can. She is always a ray of sunshine and so kind, such a happy person. And I think the little Australian has a lot to do with that. :D
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she wasn't even sick....
'The Brady Bunch' Mom Florence Henderson Dies at 82
Actress Florence Henderson -- the iconic matriarch of the TV series "The Brady Bunch" -- has died, her manager Kayla Pressman has confirmed. She was 82.
"We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our dear mother Florence Henderson from Heart Failure," the Henderson family said in a statement. "On this day of thanks, our beloved mother was surrounded by her devoted children and dearest friends. We thank all of her fans for their many years of love and ask that we be allowed to grieve in private.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.wennermedia.com%2F620-width%2F1368120844_florence-henderson-640.jpg&hash=22749ef18cccd196f6b0e8f613bac43acfdf6feb)
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Oh wow. She was someone you thought she'd be around forever.....as impossible as that sounds.
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Florence Henderson, thanks for your light and love. You were America's mom, and we shall miss you dearly.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 25, 2016
Apparently she was at a DWTS taping on Monday, shocking. I will need to get up to the Classic TV thread, talk about some Brady Bunch memories. :'(
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Fidel Castro, 90, has died. R.I.P.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/cuba-s-fidel-castro-who-defied-u-s-for-50-years-dies-at-90-1.3177928
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It's fascinating to realize that, if it weren't for the Cuban Americans inadvertently keeping him in power, he would have been dead a long time ago, or at least forgotten. So that group was his enabler, and if he had been religious, he would have prayed nightly in thanksgiving for the embargo keeping him in power.
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Fidel Castro, 90, has died. R.I.P.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/cuba-s-fidel-castro-who-defied-u-s-for-50-years-dies-at-90-1.3177928
who cares
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Fidel Castro, Cuban Revolutionary Who Defied U.S., Dies at 90
Mr. Castro brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere, bedeviled 11 American presidents and briefly pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Lots of people care, they are celebrating in the streets in Miami in Little Havana...
Here is what Gloria Estefan had to say:
for Cuban exiles like herself.
"Although the death of a human being is rarely a cause for celebration, it is the symbolic death of the destructive ideologies that he espoused that, I believe, is filling the Cuban exile community with renewed hope and a relief that has been long in coming," Estefan wrote. "And although the grip of Castro's regime will not loosen overnight, the demise of a leader that oversaw the annihilation of those with an opposing view, the indiscriminate jailing of innocents, the separation of families, the censure of his people's freedom to speak, state-sanctioned terrorism and the economic destruction of a once thriving & successful country, can only lead to positive change for the Cuban people and our world. May freedom continue to ring in the United States, my beautiful adopted country, and may the hope for freedom be inspired and renewed in the heart of every Cuban in my homeland and throughout the world."
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Fidel Castro, Cuban Revolutionary Who Defied U.S., Dies at 90
Mr. Castro brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere, bedeviled 11 American presidents and briefly pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Lots of people care, they are celebrating in the streets in Miami in Little Havana...
Here is what Gloria Estefan had to say:
for Cuban exiles like herself.
"Although the death of a human being is rarely a cause for celebration, it is the symbolic death of the destructive ideologies that he espoused that, I believe, is filling the Cuban exile community with renewed hope and a relief that has been long in coming," Estefan wrote. "And although the grip of Castro's regime will not loosen overnight, the demise of a leader that oversaw the annihilation of those with an opposing view, the indiscriminate jailing of innocents, the separation of families, the censure of his people's freedom to speak, state-sanctioned terrorism and the economic destruction of a once thriving & successful country, can only lead to positive change for the Cuban people and our world. May freedom continue to ring in the United States, my beautiful adopted country, and may the hope for freedom be inspired and renewed in the heart of every Cuban in my homeland and throughout the world."
"a once thriving & successful country" ?!! Is she fucking serious? Cubans were better off under the puppet dictator Batista's regime?! We truly are in a post truth America.
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ok, Gloria Estafan is a singer, why are we quoting her and why do we care what she thinks? she's a s.i.n.g.e.r. She gets paid to talk to music...
p.s. I DON'T care what she says, thinks or sings.........
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Lots of people care, they are celebrating in the streets in Miami in Little Havana...
good for them...do they want to go home to Havana?
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ok, Gloria Estafan is a singer, why are we quoting her and why do we care what she thinks? she's a s.i.n.g.e.r. She gets paid to talk to music...
p.s. I DON'T care what she says, thinks or sings.........
Gees, you're in quite the mood tonight, lol!
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Gees, you're in quite the mood tonight, lol!
wish you'd said it first, eh?
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Sorry Castro dying is a big deal. And not in the mood for nastiness today (too much of it in the world already) could I suggest a nice two week holiday in Cuba, I have been, it's lovely.
Here I will quote President Obama, he is not a s.i.n.g.e.r.
Statement by the President on the Passing of Fidel Castro
At this time of Fidel Castro’s passing, we extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people. We know that this moment fills Cubans - in Cuba and in the United States - with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation. History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him.
For nearly six decades, the relationship between the United States and Cuba was marked by discord and profound political disagreements. During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends - bonds of family, culture, commerce, and common humanity. This engagement includes the contributions of Cuban Americans, who have done so much for our country and who care deeply about their loved ones in Cuba.
Today, we offer condolences to Fidel Castro's family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people. In the days ahead, they will recall the past and also look to the future. As they do, the Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America.
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Sorry Castro dying is a big deal.
I agree.
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I agree.
Wanna get a drink sometime Jeff! :D
Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump alleged Sunday, without evidence, that "millions of people" voted illegally for Hillary Clinton and otherwise he would have won the popular vote. It's an unprecedented allegation by a president-elect.
Trump won the Electoral College and thus the White House, but the Democratic nominee leads him in the popular vote by about two million ballots.
"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," Trump tweeted...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/27/politics/donald-trump-voter-fraud-popular-vote/index.html
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Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump alleged Sunday, without evidence, that "millions of people" voted illegally for Hillary Clinton and otherwise he would have won the popular vote. It's an unprecedented allegation by a president-elect.
Trump won the Electoral College and thus the White House, but the Democratic nominee leads him in the popular vote by about two million ballots.
"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," Trump tweeted...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/27/politics/donald-trump-voter-fraud-popular-vote/index.html
This is a nightmare from which it's impossible to wake up. This assclown is actually going to become President of the United States in January.
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This is a nightmare from which it's impossible to wake up. This assclown is actually going to become President of the United States in January.
I guess I shouldn't have called the President-elect an assclown. If I disappear from the board permanently, you'll know Trump's Gestapo came and got me. ...
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Assclown, I have never heard that one before! :laugh:
Something is going down at Ohio State today..
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/us/ohio-state-university-active-shooter/index.html
Active shooter reported at Ohio State University; 8 hospitalized, 1 critical
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I guess I shouldn't have called the President-elect an assclown. If I disappear from the board permanently, you'll know Trump's Gestapo came and got me. ...
Well, you certainly won't disappear because of the forum, Jeff. ;) ;D
My version is 'asshat', and I won't take it back!! :laugh:
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My version is 'asshat', and I won't take it back!! :laugh:
I like that one, too! ;D
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So, animal lovers....what say you?
Japanese Skating Rink in Hot Water for Freezing 5,000 Fish Under Ice
By Eric Chaney
Who knew that frozen fish could generate so much heat? A theme park in Japan has temporarily closed its skating rink after a public outcry over the fact that frozen marine life was used a part of the attraction.
About 5,000 dead fish were frozen inside the 820-foot-long ice circuit at Space World in Kitakyushu, the Associated Press reports. Photos and video show the fish, which range over about 25 different species frozen in ice on a blue floor, so it looked like they were swimming below the ice. Some formed a school to spell out "HELLO" or make an arrow-shaped sign in the ice.
(https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/japan3_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0)
https://weather.com/news/news/japanese-skating-rink-catches-heat-for-frozen-fish
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A theme park in Japan has temporarily closed its skating rink after a public outcry over the fact that frozen marine life was used a part of the attraction.
Eeew.
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I say "who actually thought that would be a good idea and then I'm assuming it made the rounds where it got approved?"
Things like this always remind me of Lily Tomlin's line, "I worry that the person who thought up Muzak might be thinking
up something else."
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Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump alleged Sunday, without evidence, that "millions of people" voted illegally for Hillary Clinton and otherwise he would have won the popular vote. It's an unprecedented allegation by a president-elect.
Trump won the Electoral College and thus the White House, but the Democratic nominee leads him in the popular vote by about two million ballots.
"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," Trump tweeted...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/27/politics/donald-trump-voter-fraud-popular-vote/index.html
This is a nightmare from which it's impossible to wake up. This assclown is actually going to become President of the United States in January.
This is no surprise. He's still p.o.'d that The Amazing Race kept winning the Emmys and he and his show did not. He
even took that bait when Hillary Clinton mentioned it in a debate. He has to find a way to believe that he actually won
the popular vote because he can't take it otherwise. So he'll say it was massive voter fraud and believe any lie written
on the internet, such as those reflexive reader polls where you can auto-vote hundreds of times that said he won the
debates. So don't think he'll ever let this go. He says he would've won handily if he'd campaigned in California for more
votes if that counted more than the Electoral College. I daresay if he had been here, a lot more than 49% of registered
Los Angeles county voters would have showed up to vote. He is a virus that's infected a susceptible population. like this
idiot who wrote an opinion piece for CNN:
Dear Journalists: Stop Taking Trump Literally
By Brad Todd
November 28, 2016 / CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/opinions/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist (http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/opinions/journalists-stop-taking-trump-seriously-todd/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist)
People communicate by using words--language--so Trump should not be taken at his word? Really?
Did this journalist (?) just write an op-ed telling journalists to forget the meaning of words because
Trump does? So all the World Leaders who interact with him shouldn't believe a word he says?
I'm sorry, I will never stoop to Trump's level or the level of those who ever thought he isn't anything
more than the joke he is.
Like this article I've referenced before:
A Joke That's Now No Laughing Matter
Thomas Pace, Patrick T. Reardon / Chicago Tribune
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He has to find a way to believe that he actually won the popular vote because he can't take it otherwise.
Good point, Lyle.
So, let me revise my statement to say, "This childish assclown is actually going to become President of the United States in January."
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So, animal lovers....what say you?
Japanese Skating Rink in Hot Water for Freezing 5,000 Fish Under Ice
By Eric Chaney
Who knew that frozen fish could generate so much heat? A theme park in Japan has temporarily closed its skating rink after a public outcry over the fact that frozen marine life was used a part of the attraction.
About 5,000 dead fish were frozen inside the 820-foot-long ice circuit at Space World in Kitakyushu, the Associated Press reports. Photos and video show the fish, which range over about 25 different species frozen in ice on a blue floor, so it looked like they were swimming below the ice. Some formed a school to spell out "HELLO" or make an arrow-shaped sign in the ice.
(https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/japan3_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0)
https://weather.com/news/news/japanese-skating-rink-catches-heat-for-frozen-fish
They could have achieved a similar, but less gruesome, effect with plastic fish. Like, duh!
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This assclown is actually going to become President of the United States in January.
Right. And I helped.
https://youtu.be/aJrOBayADqE
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Right. And I helped.
https://youtu.be/aJrOBayADqE
Well, bless your heart.
:D
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Right. And I helped.
https://youtu.be/aJrOBayADqE
Hey is that you singing!! :D
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This is a nightmare from which it's impossible to wake up. This assclown is actually going to become President of the United States in January.
Right. And I helped.
https://youtu.be/aJrOBayADqE
Your sig line:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sorry you failed to measure up.
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Right. And I helped.
https://youtu.be/aJrOBayADqE
Oh. Why?
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Hey is that you singing!! :D
Yep.
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Oh. Why?
Don't feed the troll
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Oh. Why?
I think you're asking why I supported Trump. Right??
I have personal reasons for backing Trump and voting against Hillary. In 1988 I worked as a dancer on the chorus line in a show called City Lights at the Trump Castle in Atlantic City. Trump kept the entertainment unions out of the establishment, and paid us better than union scale. As a matter of fact, we were the highest paid cast in AC for the 3.5 years City Lights ran. It was the second time in my performing career that I had a job onstage that paid well enough to cover all my living expenses. Even though we were subcontracted performers through the company that created the show, Trump extended full health benefits (among other things) to the cast members after working 6 months--as if we were employees of the hotel/casino. We were also invited to his birthday party that year. In 1992, my partner and I were working for an advertising agency that specialized in pharmaceuticals. Due to Hillary’s meddling with “Universal Healthcare,” all of our customers saw the value of their stocks plummet. The effect this had on the ad agency was devastating, and both my partner and I were laid off. Trump put money in my pocket. Hillary took money out of my pocket, and proved to be a poor policy-maker.
On a more general front, I saw this election as a matter of voting for one of two very different ways of leading the country and solving its problems. I spent quite a bit of time both during the primary season and during the run-up to the general election studying the websites of the candidates. I found some things to like on both Bernie’s and Hillary’s platforms. But overall, both of them had over-bloated platforms that were full of big-government solutions. I found some things on the platforms of Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and Carson to dislike. But overall, these guys were offering solutions that were free-market oriented. Rubio’s platform resonated most strongly with me, but Trump’s platform was a close second. In general, I will almost always vote for free-market solutions over big-government solutions.
The whole temperament issue that Hillary tried to run on is of less importance to me than a candidate’s actual plans. But as far as temperament goes, I think that Bernie and Trump were sincere in what they had to say on the campaign trail. Regardless of whether I liked what they had to say or not, I got the impression that they both honestly believed in what they were saying. Hillary OTOH was completely insincere. She always came off as if she was reading bullet point off a Powerpoint presentation in a board room. It never felt like she was speaking from the heart.
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Yep.
Well thank you for sharing, you have a lovely voice. And thank you for sharing your opinions with us. Nice to hear a different perspective and a respectful one. Dr. King would be proud of you!
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Well thank you for sharing, you have a lovely voice. And thank you for sharing your opinions with us. Nice to hear a different perspective and a respectful one. Dr. King would be proud of you!
Thank you for your kind words, bubba.
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Thank you for your kind words, bubba.
You are most welcome and I want to hear more about that dancing career - song and dance - a double threat! :D
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I think you're asking why I supported Trump. Right??
I don't know if she was asking, so much as lamenting.
On the day he announced we knew he was a known birther. He started his campaign demeaning minorities. Not to mention the previous twenty plus years of his bombastic, classless and bullying history. Not to mention the person he most admired and looked up to was -- Roy Cohn?
And that wasn't enough to start with? We had to go through a year and a half and up to today to see what kind of person this is and you're telling me he was more acceptable as a representative of the United States? SOmeone who demeans people, is petty and vindictive, a birther I repeat, has no firm positions on anything except you should admire him, doesn't believe in climate change and is willing to put people in place who would codify DADT, among a zillion other things?
Oh, I forgot...you have reasons...
I have personal reasons for backing Trump and voting against Hillary. [...] kept unions out [...] paid us better [...] highest paid cast [...] I had a job onstage that paid well enough to cover all my living expenses. [...] full health benefits [...] invited to his birthday party [...] (among other things) [...]
[Hillary's fault] our customers saw the value of their stocks plummet [...] both my partner and I were laid off [...] Trump put money in my pocket [...] Hillary took money out of my pocket [...]
So, if you were one of the suppliers that Trump did not pay, one of the employees who were stiffed out of their pay because of his continual bankruptcy filings or got bamboozled in his Trump University scam, [...] (among other things) [...]
you would not have voted for him?
Excuse me, but I had a boss who treated me very well and was very generous to me, but there is no way I would've voted
for her as president of the United States. (She even invited me to some of her birthday parties.)
On a more general front, I saw this election as a matter of voting for one of two very different ways of leading the country and solving its problems.
And you STILL voted for him?
But as far as temperament goes, I think that Bernie and Trump were sincere in what they had to say on the campaign trail.
Since Trump had opposite positions on everything he said in the campaign (all on youtube) how sincere could he be? But I am sure that Saddam Hussein, Mussolini, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Bin Laden, and let's not forget Hitler, were all quite sincere in what they had to say as well. So that counts for something.
Your post sounds like you spent a lot of time over the last year and a half deciding what you wanted to do and made a decision based on things you'd like us to believe you really feel, but in the end, and reading your post again, I think you knew you were going to vote for this embarrassment all along. That's the way it comes across to me, as feeble excuses. In a normal election those positions might be worth examining, but Trump is no normal human being. In fact, his words and actions only show him to have some real mental disorders and human inadequacies.
If this is true I would never hire you for a human resources position:
The whole temperament issue that Hillary tried to run on is of less importance to me than a candidate’s actual plans.
If you and his other supporters could overlook the most base and unappealing qualities of human nature and the lack of qualifications to be in Government, not only Government but the HEAD guy, then you fall into this camp:
"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
You did help. At the very least you have changed the capital "P" President, to a lower case, and lower class, president.
Congratulations.
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Dr. King would be proud of you!
I feel more than extremely confident that there is no way on earth that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have voted for Donald J. Trump, so I can think of other words than "proud" that he might have felt toward MM.
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Since Trump had opposite positions on everything he said in the campaign (all on youtube) how sincere could he be? But I am sure that Saddam Hussein, Mussolini, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Bin Laden, and let's not forget Hitler, were all quite sincere in what they had to say as well. So that counts for something.
Bubba, should I add your name to that list?
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I feel more than extremely confident that there is no way on earth that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have voted for Donald J. Trump, so I can think of other words than "proud" that he might have felt toward MM.
No I think proud is the word!
“You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid…. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer…. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand. Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Milo came on here and spoke about his truth, in the face of most certain criticism. And got out there and spoke and proudly sang the national anthem. I say good for him.
We are all entitled to our opinions right Lyle??
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Obviously, we're not going to agree with each other on what Trump is or is not. Clearly my priorities are not aligned with yours. I think another issue is that many of us were voting more for the movement than for the man. Anyway, I didn't respond to Sara's post because I expected anyone to agree with me, I just wanted to clarify my position on Trump.
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Join The Resistance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlCRCfXDHPE
_____________
Massive Protests planned for Inauguration Day (Friday, January 20th) - Check online for one near you.
Million Woman March for Washington, D.C. (women to bring their plus ones)
--Here's info for Los Angeles: https://www.facebook.com/events/321835051542779/
See ya there.
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No I think proud is the word!
“You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid…. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer…. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand. Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Milo came on here and spoke about his truth, in the face of most certain criticism. And got out there and spoke and proudly sang the national anthem. I say good for him.
We are all entitled to our opinions right Lyle??
Yes, bubba. That's pretty much how I see it. I took an unpopular position and ran with it rather than cowering. That is what MLK is talking about.
It should also be noted that Trump won 8% of the black vote. That is HUGE because GOP candidates have not gotten more than 2-3% of the black vote in recent history.
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We are all entitled to our opinions right Lyle??
As we know, not ALL opinions are equal.
It's Trump's opinion that three million or more illegal votes were cast against him.
(He got this information from a sixteen year old twitter user.)
So, yeah, have your opinions.
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No I think proud is the word!
Is it getting to be in Trumpland that words have no meaning any more?
MLK would be proud that people are out in the streets protesting this travesty
and hate enabled rhetoric now pouring upon people all over the place, inspired
and encouraged by Trump's campaign. He would not be "proud" of anyone for
VOTING FOR HIM.
Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxHL7mYmgk8
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Again, I will repeat, MLK would have been proud of Milo for speaking his truth, here and in his community. That is what I was talking about, proud of Milo. Never said MLK would be proud of Trump..
Of course wait and see what Trump does for the country when he gets in office, maybe MLK would be proud of what he does as a President, who knows, only time will tell.
And in other news, plane crash with all those poor Brazilian soccer players on board. Looks like 71 people dead now.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/americas/colombia-plane-crash-investigation/index.html
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Yes, bubba. That's pretty much how I see it. I took an unpopular position and ran with it rather than cowering. That is what MLK is talking about.
Bubba and MiloMorris lovefest. That says alot.
I'm sure MLK would be proud of David Duke for his unpopular positions and running with them, too. Or Trump, too, for that matter.
Doesn't it matter WHAT that unpopular position is? A Muslim registration? Climate change denial? Racist comments? Jailing your opponent? Grabbing someones pussy? What exactly is "some great principle, some great issue, some great cause" that you were standing up for that Donald Trump embodies?
For specificity regarding my next two lines: temperament definition
The manner of thinking, behaving, or reacting characteristic of a specific person; a person's character;
Martin Luther King: "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
MiloMorris: "The whole temperament issue that Hillary tried to run on is of less importance to me."
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Again, I will repeat, MLK would have been proud of Milo for speaking his truth, here and in his community. That is what I was talking about, proud of Milo. Never said MLK would be proud of Trump..
You are really hopeless. Really. I mean: really. R e a l l y .
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Bubba and MiloMorris lovefest. That says alot.
I'm sure MLK would be proud of David Duke for his unpopular positions and running with them, too. Or Trump, too, for that matter.
Doesn't it matter WHAT that unpopular position is? A Muslim registration? Climate change denial? Racist comments? Jailing your opponent? Grabbing someones pussy? What exactly is "some great principle, some great issue, some great cause" that you were standing up for that Donald Trump embodies?
For specificity regarding my next two lines: temperament definition
The manner of thinking, behaving, or reacting characteristic of a specific person; a person's character;
Martin Luther King: "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
MiloMorris: "The whole temperament issue that Hillary tried to run on is of less importance to me."
Again, Lyle, I've stated my position already, which is what I popped in to do. I'm not sure what else to tell you. We just see the world differently than Hillary's people. Why don't we just leave it there.
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Right. And I helped.
https://youtu.be/aJrOBayADqE
Of course you did.
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And in other news, plane crash with all those poor Brazilian soccer players on board. Looks like 71 people dead now.
Nice to see that even as you’re trying to defend a jerk like trump, you can still manage to share a horrific story of the violent deaths of so many young people.
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Again, Lyle, I've stated my position already, which is what I popped in to do. I'm not sure what else to tell you.
We just see the world differently than Hillary's people. Why don't we just leave it there.
Hillary's people?
The fact that you didn't even answer any of the things I posed to you tell me that your "position" is as self-centered as Trump's is. "It's all about me."
Your position is that as a gay black man you are content to support someone who openly discriminated against, let's say: "you," by not allowing you to rent at his properties, who is on record as saying he didn't want people like you counting his money, who is okay with appointing Supreme court judges who would turn back marriage equality to a state issue, dissolve the government hiring rules that President Obama put in place that prevent LGBT folks from workplace discrimination in the Federal government, has a V.P. who thinks you should undergo conversion therapy...and that's just for starters.
That you could get past the birther, stereotyping, insulting and racist comments from him on the day he announced right from the start is the starting point and ending point for people who really see the world as it is. See the world differently? I don't think you are seeing what's right in front of your face at all, just on a human decency level. That it doesn't bother you and never even gave you pause, that's even harder to fathom, but not improbable given that you wrote this, although you left out Breitbart:
People want to be free to say what is on their minds without being labelled with an "-ism" or "phobia." And increasingly, they are doing just that. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, 4chan, 8chan, and thousands of blogs and websites are now full of people just saying whatever is on their minds with no regard for who might be "offended." I say good for them.
The fact you helped elect him and are proud of that and we are where we are, well, I wouldn't let you off the hook that easily, and I'd be letting MLK down if I "just leave it there."
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Nooooo!
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Obviously, we're not going to agree with each other on what Trump is or is not. Clearly my priorities are not aligned with yours. I think another issue is that many of us were voting more for the movement than for the man. Anyway, I didn't respond to Sara's post because I expected anyone to agree with me, I just wanted to clarify my position on Trump.
You mean the white supremacist so-called "alt-right" movement? BTW, it's a lovely coincidence that you and Mr. Yiannopoulos have the same first name. Okay, now, bye.
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The fact you helped elect him and are proud of that and we are where we are, well, I wouldn't let you off the hook that easily, and I'd be letting MLK down if I "just leave it there."
I didn't come here to debate with anyone, and 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. So there is no point in digging into this line by line. The only thing that I would add to what I have already stated is that part of my reasoning for voting for Trump is that I think globalism needs to be reigned in, and Hillary is a globalist.
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You mean the white supremacist so-called "alt-right" movement?
Clearly your understanding of the Alt-Right is the distorted version served up by the media.
The Alt-Right has no formal ideology, and absolutely no hierarchy. There was no founder and there is no leader. It is a grass-roots movement that gained momentum from regular every-day folks who were fed up with both the Democrat and Republican establishment. Various intellectuals began to accumulate followers on their blogs. Followers started to congregate online. More and more intellectuals began examining what was wrong with the establishment in their writings, and more and more followers came onboard. Different people are attracted to different writers in the Alt-Right cloud. While several have emerged with large followings, none of them can be said to be “leaders.”
In spite of the fact that Richard Spencer is one of those intellectuals who emerged early on, White Nationalism is not even close to being the entirety of the Alt-Right, and it is certainly not at the center of it. They are hardly representative of the entire movement. Among some other groups and ideologies that are part of the Alt-Right, there are paleoconservatives (me), nativists, tribalists, masculinists (also me), anarchists, populists (kinda me), and neoreactionaries. Some of the ideologies that seem to tie all of these groups together include the need to control globalism, a disdain for political correctness, and a distrust of both big government and corporate America which many see as one in the same.
See http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-guide-to-the-alt-right/ for a more comprehensive description of the Alt-Right.
The media has distorted the public perception of the Alt-Right since they discovered it about 10 minutes ago. From the very beginning, the MSM has done nothing but cast the Alt-Right as the “new racists.” Part of this has to do with the fact that the media got its new toy during the election. Journalists felt compelled to constantly look for evidence of racism in the Trump campaign, and so that became the focus of the reporting on the Alt-Right as soon at it was revealed that we were Trump supporters.
So if we are not White Nationalists, neo-Nazis, or racists, why don’t we decry Spencer and the racists among his followers? Because we practice cultural libertarianism. In other words everybody gets to say whatever they want to say regardless of who gets offended. We might think they are totally wrong, but they have a basic right to express themselves. On a personal level, I WANT it to be OK for racists to tell us how they really feel. That way I know who is who. As I said in response to a poster in another one of your threads, I'm a "keep your enemies closer" kind of guy. I think the best strategy is to not only acknowledge White Nationalists, but also to engage them in debate. And I'm talking about engagement on the nuts & bolts level, not the emotional and moral ground that too many people usually choose for debates with groups like these. They don't care if we think they're evil because that's just our opinion. The best weapon we have against groups like this is their own fractured thinking. When the light of sensibility is shone on the flaws in their agenda, the agenda loses credibility. When the agenda loses credibility, there is no incentive for others to join them. If nobody joins them, they cannot reach critical mass. If they cannot reach critical mass, they are rendered powerless.
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You sure are long winded when defending a racist movement and yet, you never addressed any of Lyle's points. Anyway, you are proud to vote with the KKK and the neo-nazis so have fun at that birthday party at Trump Tower. You can wow the crowd (and give them all erections) by singing Tomorrow Belongs to Me.
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Anyway, you are proud to vote with the KKK and the neo-nazis so have fun at that birthday party at Trump Tower.
The obsession with racists and racism continues. This is why you people lost this election. Next time try to listen to some real Americans and you might learn what is important to them.
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I didn't come here to debate with anyone,
Then why did you come in here? If not to glorify yourself and your 1:55 at the podium, then what was the purpose, other than to stir the pot?
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I didn't come here to debate with anyone,
This is the biggest joke of 2016. Just like all the lies of your hero. Trump. The only reason you come on these forums is to cause debate (and that is a polite term). I repeat "Do not feed the troll."
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The obsession with racists and racism continues. This is why you people lost this election. Next time try to listen to some real Americans and you might learn what is important to them.
Real Americans indeed. I'll have you know I am a real American, we all are, and I don't need a vainglorious Trump apologist lecturing me; and saying "you people lost the election" as though you're the Church Lady doing your superior dance shows exactly what kind of person you are, just like your mentally disturbed new leader, separating people into us and them and singling out groups for ridicule and derision and name calling and then accusing others of obsession with racists or racism. You're a masculinist because you're afraid of women, which explains your Hillary aversion and you mention your distaste for globalism and support a man with business (capitalist) interests all over the world. It's no wonder you like Trump. You are Trump. I'm glad the alt-right movement has allowed you and so many to get in touch with their inner asshole. If you've had difficulties in your experience I suspect most of that difficulty is because you're just as odious a human being as the Donald who learned it all from his mentor, Roy Cohn, but, hey, you alt-right guys don't care about such things as that and it's just my opinion (right?) and in your world offensiveness is encouraged if not applauded? The fact that you appropriate Martin Luther King's words as your own is a delusion of importance you can never hope to achieve.
Grow up Miss Thing.
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Then why did you come in here? If not to glorify yourself and your 1:55 at the podium, then what was the purpose, other than to stir the pot?
To represent a perspective from the other side of the political spectrum.
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I don't need a vainglorious Trump apologist lecturing me; and saying "you people lost the election"
Well...you did lose. Your pollsters got it wrong. Your media got it wrong. Your campaign got it wrong. As Bernie Sanders, along with pretty much every political pundit has said, the Democrat Party has got to rethink itself and get in touch with the needs of the people.
and singling out groups for ridicule and derision and name calling and then accusing others of obsession with racists or racism.
Who did I ridicule, deride, or call names during this conversation? You're the one who has been doing that in your responses to me.
You're a masculinist because you're afraid of women, which explains your Hillary aversion
You don't know me well enough to evaluate my psychological state. Maybe you should spend less time watching Dr. Phil. I already told you that Hillary cost me and my partner our jobs back in the 1990s. If you want evidence that what I said is true, below are the stock graphs between 1992 and 1994 for Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline. All of these companies were customers of the ad agency my partner and I worked for at the time.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi154.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs258%2Fmilomorris%2FHillaryJnJ_zpsgnnvrbfh.jpg%3F1480593530694%26amp%3B1480593588956%26amp%3B1480593640786&hash=e498c481bcf1970c494bf3debd251b918ec14fc5)
JnJ
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi154.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs258%2Fmilomorris%2FHillaryMerck_zps1xeieewx.jpg%3F1480593530694%26amp%3B1480593588957%26amp%3B1480593640786&hash=ccb98619bf1d41457428b0e60b6718a37b21cd4f)
Merck
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi154.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs258%2Fmilomorris%2FHillaryGSK_zpsqyuvmrbf.jpg%3F1480593530694%26amp%3B1480593588957%26amp%3B1480593640786&hash=1f42b5f3a6539e8d7a3180256946e715b8e1a0cc)
GlaxoSmithKline
you mention your distaste for globalism and support a man with business (capitalist) interests all over the world.
Doing business overseas is not a problem for us populists. Problems start when businesses are sucking money out of America. But the real problems with globalism come in the form of lopsided trade deals. Energy and environmental treaties that put an undue burden on industry are also a problem. Letting countries get away with not paying their justified share for defense is yet another problem. Continuing to line the pockets of foreign leaders and their cronies with US tax dollars in the form of "foreign aid" is a problem.
Grow up Miss Thing.
Here's the name-calling again. Don't poke the bear, dude.
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I must admit I’m a little surprised at the lack of tolerance. I also admit I’m guilty of it as well, with respect to the Trump/Clinton discussion.
But if we really want to look at things, what’s better than talking? Not trying to change minds – that won’t happen. But Milo has put forth facts and opinions, if we don’t agree that’s fine. But to say outright that he’s not welcome here because of them? Then this forum is promoting exactly what most here say they’re against: intolerance.
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I must admit I’m a little surprised at the lack of tolerance.
Thank you for pointing that out. If nobody puts out a POV from the opposite end of the political spectrum, you end up with an echo chamber.
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I refrained from posting numerous times, especially about Clinton. Lyle and I could have spent days on end going back and forth about her pluses and minuses, but I frequently felt I wasn't allowed to voice my opinion, so I just shut up...which was, I'm sure, the preferred outcome.
Not that i supported Trump, but I couldn't support Clinton. I think Trump said a lot of things to get elected. I think his white supremicist supporters are far outnumbered by his suburban mom and dad supporters...there aren't enough rednecks in the country to get him elected...it wasn't them, it was the middle class.
You know, imo...
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I must admit I’m a little surprised at the lack of tolerance. I also admit I’m guilty of it as well, with respect to the Trump/Clinton discussion.
But if we really want to look at things, what’s better than talking? Not trying to change minds – that won’t happen. But Milo has put forth facts and opinions, if we don’t agree that’s fine. But to say outright that he’s not welcome here because of them? Then this forum is promoting exactly what most here say they’re against: intolerance.
That is priceless coming from you. I won't embarrass you by putting up some of your replies to me. In many ways this is the most intolerant forum I have ever visited. And it is not all members, but it is a "group" that is consistent in their intolerance of anything they disagree with.
I knew as soon as Milo appeared on here the other day and posted how it would go, an attack that would turn personal!
I even tried to change the subject, to a current tragedy in the news and THAT was met with an insult, by you..
Anyway as anyone can see here I had to re-register, so I am Pepe now instead of Bubba. Oddly yesterday there was a problem with me getting on, not the first time it has happened, I am sure it won't be the last.
So I can't retrieve my messages, just to let some people know.
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You can't embarrass me bubba...I'm just baffled by your disturbing desire to always be the first to post tragedies.
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I refrained from posting numerous times, especially about Clinton. Lyle and I could have spent days on end going back and forth about her pluses and minuses, but I frequently felt I wasn't allowed to voice my opinion, so I just shut up...which was, I'm sure, the preferred outcome.
I'm sorry to hear that you felt that voicing your opinion was not allowed. That is one of the terrible things about political correctness--it silences people. One of the things that my fellow volunteers and I discussed while working on the campaign was that we knew there was a population out there who were keeping their support for Trump in the closet lest they face ridicule, derision, and name-calling. I know a guy personally who put a Trump sticker on his car, and a co-worker tried to get him fired for it. This closeting might even have had an affect on the results the pollsters were getting, hence the expectation--right up to Nov 8--that Hillary was going to win. In an atmosphere of cultural libertarianism, that would have been far less likely to happen. When people are allowed to voice their opinions and be transparent about what they think, its less likely that others around them will form false impressions.
I think his white supremicist supporters are far outnumbered by his suburban mom and dad supporters...there aren't enough rednecks in the country to get him elected...it wasn't them, it was the middle class.
White supremacists, white nationalists, neo-nazis, and the KKK all bundled together do not add up to enough people to sway an election. The KKK has been powerless for decades, and these newer groups operate at the margins of the political landscape. The media empowers them by focusing on them. But if you look at who attends their gatherings, and who makes up their various "chapters" around the country, you'll see a couple of dozen over here and a 5 or 6 over there. If that now-infamous celebration in DC by white nationalists had like 1,000 attendees, I would be worried. As it was, it was a just a handful of people.
But you're right. The middle class did put Trump into office. He spoke to their needs, and has offered solutions that resonate with them. Let's just look at federal income tax. Under Hillary's plan, nothing changes for the middle class, but new brackets are added for the rich. Under Trump, nothing changes for the rich, but anyone who makes less than $29,000/year pays 0%. That is extremely important to middle class families trying to make ends meet. Hearing that Trump wanted to grab somebody by the pussy was pretty crude, but it was not nearly as important as tax relief. Again, people have different priorities in life.
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Anyway as anyone can see here I had to re-register, so I am Pepe now instead of Bubba.
Pepe???
BWAAHAAHAAHAAHAAA!!!!
How fitting for this discussion.
What do you think happened to your bubba account?
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Pepe???
BWAAHAAHAAHAAHAAA!!!!
How fitting for this discussion.
What do you think happened to your bubba account?
:laugh: :laugh: I thought about that after - Pepe!! No clue what happened, but then I never do. 8)
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You can't embarrass me bubba...I'm just baffled by your disturbing desire to always be the first to post tragedies.
It's called "the news"!
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Interesting. ...
I decided to see if I could find a definition of masculinist to see if it meant what I suspected it meant. It seems there is some disagreement over what it means.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/masculinist (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/masculinist) :
"an advocate of male superiority or dominance"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/masculinist (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/masculinist) :
"Characterized by or denoting attitudes or values held to be typical of men.
Relating to the advocacy of the rights or needs of men."
Oh, and that plane crash that killed all those young soccer players is just terrible. Last I heard about it, last evening, the pilot supposedly kept requesting to land because he was running out of fuel, and he was repeatedly denied. If that's true, somebody ought to be criminally charged over that.
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From what I've read elsewhere, it seems to me that at least some on the alt-right have confused good manners and consideration for others with political correctness. They state their opinions in rude and outrageous ways just to stir things up. They're really not interested in reasoned or reasonable debate, only in emotionally charged argument. I guess they think it's funny.
William F. Buckley, Jr., may have lost his temper and been rude to Gore Vidal, but generally speaking I suspect the alt=right has him spinning in his grave.
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http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/masculinist (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/masculinist) :
"Characterized by or denoting attitudes or values held to be typical of men.
Relating to the advocacy of the rights or needs of men."
That's the definition that is in use nowadays.
Oh, and that plane crash that killed all those young soccer players is just terrible. Last I heard about it, last evening, the pilot supposedly kept requesting to land because he was running out of fuel, and he was repeatedly denied. If that's true, somebody ought to be criminally charged over that.
Tragic indeed. I'd be interested to hear what the investigation finds.
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Oh, and that plane crash that killed all those young soccer players is just terrible. Last I heard about it, last evening, the pilot supposedly kept requesting to land because he was running out of fuel, and he was repeatedly denied. If that's true, somebody ought to be criminally charged over that.
Thank you Jeff, for taking a minute to acknowledge what a tragedy it was. Just terrible, my thoughts and prayers certainly go out to all those lost souls and for their families and friends... and fans.
Will be interesting to see what happens, first I read he dumped his fuel, because he knew he was going to have to crash land, then I heard he ran out of fuel. Either way it ended as bad as it possibly could.
My husband and son fly to Europe on Sunday, makes me nervous as always...
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From what I've read elsewhere, it seems to me that at least some on the alt-right have confused good manners and consideration for others with political correctness.
One can be politically correct and still be quite rude. I know you've heard this story, but it bears repeating. When I was working for Cunningham Piano Co., I was assigned to man the booth at the trade show for a day with one of the female salespeople. During our conversation, I referred to myself as homo. She looked shocked and corrected me saying, "Milo, the word is 'gay.'" She was being politically correct by using the approved terminology, and she was also being rude by telling me how to self-identify.
They state their opinions in rude and outrageous ways just to stir things up. They're really not interested in reasoned or reasonable debate, only in emotionally charged argument. I guess they think it's funny.
Yes. There is definitely an element particularly among the younger followers that does this. The snark factor can be pretty high.
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Thank you Jeff, for taking a minute to acknowledge what a tragedy it was. Just terrible, my thoughts and prayers certainly go out to all those lost souls and for their families and friends... and fans.
Will be interesting to see what happens, first I read he dumped his fuel, because he knew he was going to have to crash land, then I heard he ran out of fuel. Either way it ended as bad as it possibly could.
My husband and son fly to Europe on Sunday, makes me nervous as always...
I hadn't heard that about dumping the fuel. All those poor young people--and I'm sure you've heard, one had just found out he was going to be a father.
I understand your nervousness, but I'm sure everything will be OK.
BTW, if off topic, I suppose your not being able to get on to the forum seems suspicious, but perhaps it's just some weird electronic fluke. Several months ago I had a similar problem on another forum--I was actually actively "banned"! I couldn't even re-register. Eventually I tried using a different browser, and--bingo!--no access problem. Some time later I tried again using my usual browser, and the problem had gone away. Go figure.
Sorry to take up space on this thread for this, but you said you couldn't access messages.
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One can be politically correct and still be quite rude. I know you've heard this story, but it bears repeating. When I was working for Cunningham Piano Co., I was assigned to man the booth at the trade show for a day with one of the female salespeople. During our conversation, I referred to myself as homo. She looked shocked and corrected me saying, "Milo, the word is 'gay.'" She was being politically correct by using the approved terminology, and she was also being rude by telling me how to self-identify.
I've got a memory like a sieve these days, so I don't remember that story, but I would agree that was quite rude of her. In the first place, you were speaking of yourself, and in the second place, in my book the way she said it was rude. Even if she felt compelled to disagree with your usage, there are other ways she might have said it. Maybe I'm just a wimp or a wuss, or maybe it's how I was raised, but in my book, adults don't talk to other adults the way she said that to you.
Yes. There is definitely an element particularly among the younger followers that does this. The snark factor can be pretty high.
Yes. A short while ago I read a magazine article about some guy with a big Twitter following--his name has already escaped me--and I got the distinct impression that he thought it was funny to be snarky.
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On Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42-year-old seamstress named Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger, even after the white bus driver demanded that she do it. After her arrest, Parks was tried and convicted for civil disobedience.
https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/rosa-parks2.jpg?w=669
some pictures inside!
Again a good example of someone who took the difficult road. She will be remembered..
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To represent a perspective from the other side of the political spectrum.
please. If it was just for political discussion why go back to the Retreat and talk about how "I Lit Up DCF Again" and invite others to "watch the show"?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi327.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk463%2Fdcfmod%2Flit%2520up%2520dcf.jpg&hash=145738e126e8aa2bc49ff757c1e08ec1c8589c8e)
*side note* my job blocks YouTube and labels all videos from there as "possibly adult material" which is what I've blocked out. I was not trying to deface Milo's video.
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Oh, and that plane crash that killed all those young soccer players is just terrible. Last I heard about it, last evening, the pilot supposedly kept requesting to land because he was running out of fuel, and he was repeatedly denied. If that's true, somebody ought to be criminally charged over that.
Jeff, if the published recording as on BBC news is genuine and complete, there are no denials, just repeated requests from the pilot and the tower both desperate to find the relative position of the plane and the runway.
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Jeff, if the published recording as on BBC news is genuine and complete, there are no denials, just repeated requests from the pilot and the tower both desperate to find the relative position of the plane and the runway.
Oh, I hope that's accurate!
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During his greeting to the Portuguese-speaking pilgrims at the General Audience, Pope Francis recalled the victims of the plane crash in Colombia. There were 71 people who died, most of them members of the Brazilian soccer club, Chapecoense.
POPE FRANCIS
"Also today I would like to remember the pain of the people of Brazil because of the tragedy with the soccer team, and pray for the deceased players and their families. In Italy we understand this well because we remember the Superga Tragedy in '49. They are hard tragedies and we pray for them."
In that accident 31 players were killed from one of the great European teams of the moment, the Torino soccer team, the winner of the last five Italian championships.
On Tuesday, Pope Francis sent a telegram to Colombia and Brazil in which he expressed that he is "deeply distressed" and that he is praying for the victims and their families.
http://www.romereports.com/2016/11/30/pope-recalls-chapecoense-soccer-players-killed-in-the-plane-crash
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please. If it was just for political discussion why go back to the Retreat and talk about how "I Lit Up DCF Again" and invite others to "watch the show"?
I posted that AFTER Lyle's reaction.
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On Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42-year-old seamstress named Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger, even after the white bus driver demanded that she do it. After her arrest, Parks was tried and convicted for civil disobedience.
https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/rosa-parks2.jpg?w=669
some pictures inside!
Again a good example of someone who took the difficult road. She will be remembered..
Thanks! I'm supposed to be a history major, yet I don't think I ever knew what date (month and day) it happened!
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I posted that AFTER Lyle's reaction.
Duh, you wouldn't have had any reason to do it immediately.
Very lame excuse. Or in your case, lamé.
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:laugh: :laugh: I thought about that after - Pepe!! No clue what happened, but then I never do. 8)
LePew no doubt.
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Well...you did lose. Your pollsters got it wrong. Your media got it wrong. Your campaign got it wrong.
Your your your. Separation again. That's what you believe in. Us against them. Sad.
(Or, you just do it to provoke, like Trump and the alt-right is prone to do. If that's true
what kind of a human being does that make you?)
By the way, in the National Polling, throughout the year Clinton was ahead by 2-4 percentage points and that includes the day before the election at an aggregate of 2% ahead. Today the results stand at:
CLINTON: 48.3%
TRUMP: 46.3%
I guess THE polls were right about that, eh? It just didn't translate to a win in the electoral college.
But make no mistake, and don't forget it, more people voted for Hillary Clinton, the woman, the female,
who apparently ruined your life.
SIDEBAR: You never answered THIS question, or anything else I asked because, as you said, "I simply don't care." But now that I've gotten a little personal with you, you want to cry intolerance; you like playing the victim, but, in any case, want to answer this question now?
So, if you were one of the suppliers that Trump did not pay, one of the employees who were stiffed out of their pay because of his continual bankruptcy filings or got bamboozled in his Trump University scam, among other things, you would not have voted for him?
Returning to the polls, yes, over two and a half million more people voted for the woman. 2,526,094 to be exact. And counting. And Trump is so insecure he is tweeting out nonsense that he won the popular vote or would have if several million people hadn't voted illegally. What kind of a person does this? You elected a mental case to lead the country. He won and he still can't accept it. But your response to me about anything to do with Trump is: His voters choose to believe it's false or not important. Facts are facts, but to Trump supporters you justify these things by the simple act of dismissal. I don't like that fact: dismiss it as false. Failing that: I don't care.
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.
Who did I ridicule, deride, or call names during this conversation? You're the one who has been doing that in your responses to me.
Your language of division ("you people", "your" "your" "your", for example) is ridicule and derisive, for one example. Get it?
ridicule
verb / subject (someone or something) to contemptuous and dismissive language or behavior.
deride
verb / express contempt for; ridicule.
As for name calling, that's what you provoke when you come to state your position and then refuse to engage in the responses except to cry "intolerance." So the purpose of your visit was to what? Feel superior? Gloat? You say you won't respond to my questions, but you're quick to respond to my posts that you feel are attacking you personally. That's called playing the victim. But regardless, does this not apply to me, too:
In other words everybody gets to say whatever they want to say regardless of who gets offended. We might think they are totally wrong, but they have a basic right to express themselves.
You don't know me well enough to evaluate my psychological state.
You've been posting on this forum for ten years and Bettermost for that long, too. I invite anyone to go back and read your posts on both forums and then decide if I know you well enough or not.
Miss Thing.
Here's the name-calling again. Don't poke the bear, dude.
You're right, Miss Thing is actually a compliment. For those that don't know what it means:
Miss Thing: a woman or gay man who is so attractive, well-groomed, hip and confident as to seem utterly unassailable to critics.
I should've used the pejorative: Miss Thang.
Milo: "Anything I say, don't take it as personal, unless it is." And don't complain, you've given
me permission to say whatever I want to without remorse or abandon. I repeat:
In other words everybody gets to say whatever they want to say regardless of who gets offended. We might think they are totally wrong, but they have a basic right to express themselves.
From what I've read elsewhere, it seems to me that at least some on the alt-right have confused good manners and consideration for others with political correctness.
To paraphrase The Treasure of Sierra Madre:
"Manners? We don't need no stinkin' manners."
And a few other things:
If nobody puts out a POV from the opposite end of the political spectrum, you end up with an echo chamber.
If you put out your POV and don't respond to those asking you questions, it's also your own personal echo chamber.
I'm sorry to hear that you felt that voicing your opinion was not allowed.
It's not that people posting their opinions isn't allowed, which is a weird thing to say from an alt-righter
when alt-righters go and swamp comment sections to disrupt and stop people from making their views
known, the term "swamping" has come from that, it's that people making their opinions known don't
want to engage in back and forth with those who might have different opinions. You, Milo, have posted
to me that you don't want to reply to my questions to you because you just think they're incorrect
assumptions or you just don't care. (Echo chamber?)
I've often said things I get called out on about here, right Jeff?, but I don't take it personally, I usually try
to clarify or rethink what I was talking about in light of the other person's post.
One of the things that my fellow volunteers and I discussed while working on the campaign was that we knew there was a population out there who were keeping their support for Trump in the closet lest they face ridicule, derision, and name-calling. I know a guy personally who put a Trump sticker on his car, and a co-worker tried to get him fired for it.
Yes, we know, Trump supporters are victims and shy about voicing their support for him. LOL! Hail, Trump!
I can point you to just as many people who were keeping their support of Hillary Clinton quiet for the
very same reasons, and as many injustices as you point out in that realm, but it wouldn't interest you, because it doesn't support your victim narrative.
This closeting might even have had an affect on the results the pollsters were getting, hence the expectation--right up to Nov 8--that Hillary was going to win.
National Polls and the results: see above
Under Trump, nothing changes for the rich.
Yes, the rich keep getting richer. Nothing new there to see, move along.
(I see that Trump had Mike Pence remain Governor of Indiana during the transition so that
he could go back to Indiana, give $7,000,000 tax dollars and tax breaks from the citizens of
Indiana, who had no say in this, to Carrier, so that some of the jobs Carrier was going to
export to Mexico would remain in Indiana and they could announce this as a great triumph,
even though Trump promised during his campaign that companies like this would never get
any handouts like that from the states in this regard in a Trump administration. So convenient
Mike Pence didn't resign his office yet. Indiana Gives $7 Million in Tax Breaks to Keep Carrier
Jobs, Wall Street Journal.)
And, to quote Linda Ellerbee: "...and so it goes..."
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I've often said things I get called out on about here, right Jeff?
Yes.
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I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show yesterday on which Mr Fallows was a guest. It was quite appalling to hear the one who was a supporter of Mr Trump declare that there is no such thing as facts.
http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/11/theres-no-such-thing-any-more-unfortunately-as-facts/509276/
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Thanks! I'm supposed to be a history major, yet I don't think I ever knew what date (month and day) it happened!
Thanks for answering Jeff! ;) I never knew the date either, but I will remember it going forward. This lady had guts!
And hey good for you on being a history major. I want to go back to school again one day, maybe when I am a senior and it becomes free! :D
Parks resided in Detroit until she died of natural causes at the age of 92 on October 24, 2005, in her apartment on the east side of the city. She and her husband never had children and she outlived her only sibling. She was survived by her sister-in-law (Raymond's sister), 13 nieces and nephews and their families, and several cousins, most of them residents of Michigan or Alabama.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks
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LePew no doubt.
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/19/47/56/1947563dfff0c1287e45e39e2d9a9658.jpg)
:-* :-*
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please. If it was just for political discussion why go back to the Retreat and talk about how "I Lit Up DCF Again" and invite others to "watch the show"?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi327.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk463%2Fdcfmod%2Flit%2520up%2520dcf.jpg&hash=145738e126e8aa2bc49ff757c1e08ec1c8589c8e)
*side note* my job blocks YouTube and labels all videos from there as "possibly adult material" which is what I've blocked out. I was not trying to deface Milo's video.
OK, well, I couldn't see this at my job, either. But I'm home now.
Somehow, I feel strangely flattered to have been mentioned at The Retreat. :D
Except that I wouldn't say I made a snarky comment about Trump winning the election. I'd say I made a snarky comment about the President-elect personally (see: childish assclown). That is to say, even if the Donald had lost--which he did, in the popular vote :D --I'd still consider him a childish assclown.
:laugh:
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/19/47/56/1947563dfff0c1287e45e39e2d9a9658.jpg)
:-* :-*
"Le gasp! Le pant!" :D
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/19/47/56/1947563dfff0c1287e45e39e2d9a9658.jpg)
:-* :-*
So by choosing PEPE as a moniker, does it mean that you are a supporter of the so-called "alt-right" white supremacist gang ?
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But now that I've gotten a little personal with you, you want to cry intolerance; you like playing the victim, but, in any case, want to answer this question now?
No. I'm not going to waste my breath arguing with you. The first thing you did was to deploy the ad hominem fallacy. You lost the debate before it even started. It was clear at that point that you had no interest whatsoever in engaging in honest debate. And you’ve been foaming at the mouth since that point.
Next time, either step to me correct, or step off.
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To represent a perspective from the other side of the political spectrum.
No, all you did was post a 1:55 clip of you singing the National Anthem, that just happened to be at a rally. I saw no political perspective at all.
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please. If it was just for political discussion why go back to the Retreat and talk about how "I Lit Up DCF Again" and invite others to "watch the show"?
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi327.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk463%2Fdcfmod%2Flit%2520up%2520dcf.jpg&hash=145738e126e8aa2bc49ff757c1e08ec1c8589c8e)
*side note* my job blocks YouTube and labels all videos from there as "possibly adult material" which is what I've blocked out. I was not trying to deface Milo's video.
Interesting post, considering that you've been defending and sucking up to Milo for the last ten years.
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That is priceless coming from you. I won't embarrass you by putting up some of your replies to me. In many ways this is the most intolerant forum I have ever visited. And it is not all members, but it is a "group" that is consistent in their intolerance of anything they disagree with.
I knew as soon as Milo appeared on here the other day and posted how it would go, an attack that would turn personal!
I even tried to change the subject, to a current tragedy in the news and THAT was met with an insult, by you..
Anyway as anyone can see here I had to re-register, so I am Pepe now instead of Bubba. Oddly yesterday there was a problem with me getting on, not the first time it has happened, I am sure it won't be the last.
So I can't retrieve my messages, just to let some people know.
The most intolerant forum you've ever been on? Girl, you've got to get out more. Getting called on stupid comments is not intolerance.
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No. I'm not going to waste my breath arguing with you. The first thing you did was to deploy the ad hominem fallacy. You lost the debate before it even started. It was clear at that point that you had no interest whatsoever in engaging in honest debate. And you’ve been foaming at the mouth since that point.
Next time, either step to me correct, or step off.
Bossy, aren't we?
Because we practice cultural libertarianism. In other words everybody gets to say whatever they want to say regardless of who gets offended. We might think they are totally wrong, but they have a basic right to express themselves.
Am I exempt from saying whatever I want to say, regardless?
Dismissal is a good tactic when you really don't want to answer questions inspired by your posts. But it's kind of cowardly. My question, which you deign to answer, is more accurately an ad hominem tu quoque, which I've made use of often during the campaign months when I spot hypocrisy. There's been a whole lot of it.
I didn't start out to debate you at all, honest or otherwise, because YOU said:
I didn't come here to debate with anyone
Which brings up another question.
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No, all you did was post a 1:55 clip of you singing the National Anthem, that just happened to be at a rally. I saw no political perspective at all.
I did say, "and I helped." That statement was so that I could go on record with my support for Trump. Then I provided tangible evidence to prove that I did indeed support him. My support for Trump does indeed constitute a perspective of someone on the other end of the political spectrum.
More to he point, when I was asked why, I provided a direct answer.
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I didn't start out to debate you at all, honest or otherwise, because YOU said:
You had already launched several personal attacks on me BEFORE I said that I didn't come here to debate.
You started with:
Your sig line:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sorry you failed to measure up.
You can't seriously expect that anyone is going to engage in political discourse with you when the first words out of your mouth are a personal attack. It just isn't going to happen.
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Yes, the rich keep getting richer. Nothing new there to see, move along.
(I see that Trump had Mike Pence remain Governor of Indiana during the transition so that
he could go back to Indiana, give $7,000,000 tax dollars and tax breaks from the citizens of
Indiana, who had no say in this, to Carrier, so that some of the jobs Carrier was going to
export to Mexico would remain in Indiana and they could announce this as a great triumph,
even though Trump promised during his campaign that companies like this would never get
any handouts like that from the states in this regard in a Trump administration. So convenient
Mike Pence didn't resign his office yet. Indiana Gives $7 Million in Tax Breaks to Keep Carrier
Jobs, Wall Street Journal.)
Just so anyone reading knows that tax breaks for companies are the norm, and the Carrier deal is nothing out of the ordinary:
Samsung to hire hundreds more workers in Austin, invest $1 billion in facility
Nov 1, 2016, 8:19am
Samsung received incentives worth as much as $230 million from local and state governments in 2005 for its Northeast Austin location. That included $47.5 million from the city of Austin in rebates and fee waivers, $10.8 million from the state and $112 million in tax breaks from the Manor Independent School District.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2016/11/01/samsung-to-hire-hundreds-more-workers-in-austin.html (http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2016/11/01/samsung-to-hire-hundreds-more-workers-in-austin.html)
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Just so anyone reading knows that tax breaks for companies are the norm, and the Carrier deal is nothing out of the ordinary:
That is absolutely true. Here in Pennsylvania, the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton have all benefited from economic development money made available by the state. They use that money to offer tax incentives to business that move into Neighborhood Improvement Zones defined by each city. Formerly blighted areas of these cities have become vibrant, prosperous communities.
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I did say, "and I helped."
Just like the little girl in the old Shake 'n' Bake commercial. ...
(Is that stuff still around? Anyone else besides me old enough to remember that commercial?)
Hmm. Kind of an odd thing for an avowed masculinist to quote?
Just sayin'.
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Oh, yuck.
I read in this morning's newspaper that some guy in Louisiana killed his parents, dismembered them, and tried to dissolve their remains in acid to destroy the evidence.
Ick.
At least he got caught.
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Just like the little girl in the old Shake 'n' Bake commercial. ...
(Is that stuff still around? Anyone else besides me old enough to remember that commercial?)
Hmm. Kind of an odd thing for an avowed masculinist to quote?
Just sayin'.
Yeah, I am old enough to remember it, Jeff!! :D
And yes it is still around.
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I did say, "and I helped." That statement was so that I could go on record with my support for Trump. Then I provided tangible evidence to prove that I did indeed support him. My support for Trump does indeed constitute a perspective of someone on the other end of the political spectrum.
More to he point, when I was asked why, I provided a direct answer.
Why not just start out with this "so called" tangible proof, instead of aggrandizing yourself (which your henchman does in spades) with a 1:55 video of your singing. You only stated your perspective only after being called on it, NOT with your original post.
As you proved by your own words", the only reason you came here was to troll and stir up shit, because this is what you do, how you get your jollies. So don't act superior to anyone here, as your motives were proven by your post on the Retreat. Next time cover your inferior tracks a little better.
Like attracts like.
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Why not just start out with this "so called" tangible proof, instead of aggrandizing yourself (which your henchman does in spades) with a 1:55 video of your singing. You only stated your perspective only after being called on it, NOT with your original post.
If it was understood from my original post that I was a Trump supporter, then I did indeed state my perspective. The video IS the proof.
As you proved by your own words", the only reason you came here was to troll and stir up shit, because this is what you do, how you get your jollies. So don't act superior to anyone here, as your motives were proven by your post on the Retreat. Next time cover your inferior tracks a little better.
I didn't stir anything up. I stated my perspective, that was the whole point of me posting to begin with. I just wanted to present an opposing view. Lyle jumped in immediately with a personal attack, so if you want to blame someone for stirring up shit, blame him. He could have kept on scrolling if he didn't like it. After several of his posts attacking me personally, I could have gotten angry and lashed out at him in kind. But instead I decided to have a little fun with his vitriol so I decided to let the folks at the Retreat in on the exchange.
I don't need to cover my tracks because I didn't do anything wrong.
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Well, I could take the fall for starting all this. After all, I'm the one who called the President-elect a childish assclown.
But President-elect, President, or even if he had not won in the Electoral College, that's still my opinion of him, based on his behavior as a candidate.
BTW, since the Donald knows more about ISIS than the generals, I hope he shares what he knows with Gen. Mattis. ...
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Well, I could take the fall for starting all this. After all, I'm the one who called the President-elect a childish assclown.
There's no "fall" to take here. You think Trump is a childish assclown. You have a right to say that, even if I disagree. I just decided it was time to go on record here at DCF as a Trump supporter. Neither one of us is responsible for what happened next. That responsibility rests with those that decided to gang up on me.
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There's no "fall" to take here. You think Trump is a childish assclown. You have a right to say that, even if I disagree. I just decided it was time to go on record here at DCF as a Trump supporter. Neither one of us is responsible for what happened next. That responsibility rests with those that decided to gang up on me.
Perhaps. I have a right to say it, but that doesn't mean I should open my mouth--or hit my keyboard--and actually say it.
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Just so anyone reading knows that tax breaks for companies are the norm, and the Carrier deal is nothing out of the ordinary.
Talk about "normalizing".
The point is that all through the campaign Trump was decrying the giving of subsidies (tax breaks) of any kind to companies moving jobs out of the country. His position was that they shouldn't be coddled into staying and, if they do leave, heavy subsidies, tariffs or taxes were to be added to their products if they tried to bring them back in the U.S. to sell. He is doing exactly the opposite of what he was railing against.
It also opens up the door for companies to play games and say "Oh, I'm thinking about moving out of the country, too,
where's my tax breaks?
Not only that, CARRIER just gave a retirement package to someone who left the compnay of something like 150 million dollars. They and other big corporations don't need any tax breaks. They also played nice because they didn't want to lose
any of those government contracts they have with the U.S. Government.
The deal isn't even that great. 800 jobs are being saved, but 200, of the 1000 number they keep touting were saved, weren't going anywhere anyway. and 12-1300 jobs are still going to Mexico.
Donald Trump’s Carrier Deal is an Empty PR Stunt — And a Bad Precedent that Incentivizes Bad Corporate Behavior
Donald Trump "saved" a few hundred jobs by bribing the company with tax breaks. That's a grift, not a policy
Article HERE (http://www.salon.com/2016/12/01/donald-trumps-carrier-deal-is-an-empty-p-r-stunt-and-a-bad-precedent-that-incentivizes-bad-corporate-behavior/).
The Bad Economics of Trump's Carrier Deal
This is all terrible for a nation's economic vitality if businesses make decisions to
please politicians rather than customers and shareholders.
Article HERE (http://theweek.com/articles/664619/bad-economics-trumps-carrier-deal).
Conservatives are Worried Trump's Carrier Deal Could Set a Bad Precedent
“When the president interfers it makes clear that this is a crony economy, to benefit
the president’s friends, and that individual companies can be subject to pressure and
punishment directly at the hands of the president. That’s not something that normally
characterizes a democratic or republican form of government.”
Article HERE (http://www.businessinsider.com/conservatives-worried-trump-carrier-deal-bad-precedent-2016-12).
And other such headlines:
Trump's Carrier Deal Could Permanently Damage American Capitalism
--Washington Post
Trump Saved Jobs at Carrier by Making a Bad Deal for America
--Slate
Carrier Issues Statement On Trump Deal
--ZeroHedge
Shortly after the deal, questions emerged as to what the motive behind Carrier's decision may have been. Was Carrier pressured into doing a deal that was not in the best interest of shareholders of its parent, United Technologies? Was strongarming involved? Did Trump make a major concession as part of a political deal or did Carrier simply bend over backwards to appease the President-elect? We now know the answer.
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You had already launched several personal attacks on me BEFORE I said that I didn't come here to debate.
You started with:
Your sig line:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sorry you failed to measure up.
You can't seriously expect that anyone is going to engage in political discourse with you when the first words out of your mouth are a personal attack. It just isn't going to happen.
Why do you feel that's an attack? This was my 12th Presidential election in which I've voted and it is my opinion that in this year of challenge and controversy, we had the clearest choice of whom to elect President ever, at least in my lifetime, and I have voted for some Republicans before in Presidential elections, which I point out so that you can't dismiss what I'm saying so quickly, as dismissal seems one of your modus operandi.
Despite the flaws of Hillary Clinton, whom I have not always been fond of, she always fought sensibly for the rights of women and children for her entire career, advocated for multiple worthy causes, helped millions through foundations, charities, non-profits, championed all manner of progressive ideas and projects for more than 30 years, survived political scandals and political gaffes with grace and temerity to become a successful attorney, First Lady, state Senator, Secretary of State, even as she had to endure vicious criticism and brutal sexism the likes of which would make most human beings wither, and yet she emerged intact stronger than anyone could imagine to become an amazing intelligent inspiration for women and girls (and men), a singular feminist powerhouse full of kindness and grace, skilled beyond measure to lead this country and transform history. To begin with.
On the other hand we had a candidate, birther at the start, a man who openly mocked and demeaned women, blacks, Islam, immigrants, Jews, LGBT folks, kindness in general, who scammed and conned everyone, didn't pay workers, groped females in the crotch and called them fat pigs, lost a BILLION dollars in a year, failed as a scabby salesman of vodka, mattresses, cheap watches, bad steaks, neckties, has held a grudge against Rosie O'Donnell for two decades because in one three minute The View segment she mocked him the way he always does others; he lurched through six bankruptcies, skipped out on millions of dollars in taxes, fellates Russian thugs, speak's with the skill of a 5-year-old's vocabulary, denies climate change and sustainable energy, promises to destroy the planet, ignore human rights, supports violence and conspiracy, lies, wants to take away the healthcare of millions, turn marriage equality for LGBT folks back to each state, says he'll advocate to restore DADT, picked the most homophobic Republican to run as his V.P. and has an obsessive need to be adulated. For starters.
And you were more than happy to say: "And I helped," to elect this humiliation.
So, I quoted your sig line:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
...and I said it was too bad that you failed to measure up to that. Y o u d i d n o t .
You failed miserably. That you see what I said as a personal attack is proof in my opinion.
Because, you see...it's not all about you. It's what was best for the United States. It's an
American tragedy that this man will occupy the White House--or not, as he asked if he really
had to live there.
His election was the triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism,
misogyny and racism. On January 20th we will bid farewell to President Barack Obama, a man of
integrity, dignity, and generous spirit--and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn
endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. A man who talks so much about winning
because deep inside, as a human being, he is a loser. It is impossible to react to these moments with
anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.
So there Milo. That's what I was thinking when I wrote: "Sorry you failed to measure up."
To think that MLK would have been proud of you is akin to Trump believing he's fit to be president.
If you take it personally as an attack, then so be it. But--even if it was, as you think, purely
a personal attack, why doesn't it fit with your stated mantra?
Because we practice cultural libertarianism. In other words everybody gets to say whatever they want to say regardless of who gets offended. We might think they are totally wrong, but they have a basic right to express themselves.
You seem to think very highly of yourself in ways that the rest of us should applaud. Sorry to disappoint, I find your
support for the man troubling, selfish and misguided. The fact that he won has enabled you to do your superior dance.
I leave it to you.
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Conservatives are Worried Trump's Carrier Deal Could Set a Bad Precedent
“When the president interfers it makes clear that this is a crony economy, to benefit
the president’s friends, and that individual companies can be subject to pressure and
punishment directly at the hands of the president. That’s not something that normally
characterizes a democratic or republican form of government.”
Article HERE (http://www.businessinsider.com/conservatives-worried-trump-carrier-deal-bad-precedent-2016-12).
Sounds like a banana republic, er sumpin'.
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That responsibility rests with those that decided to gang up on me.
And I was the only one who commented on what a lovely singing voice you had! ;)
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(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk%2Fi%2Fkeep-calm-and-carrier-on-20.png&hash=e1f8663fde37b59a030c719d39896f313e95a4cc)
Sarah Palin Slams Donald Trump’s Carrier Deal as ‘Crony Capitalism’
“Republicans oppose this sinfully stupid practice, remember?” she reminded the president-elect.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sarah-palin-calls-out-trump-s-carrier-deal-warns-against-n691426
Rexnord Officially Decides to Move Hundreds of Indianapolis Jobs to Mexico...Your Move Trump
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – Rexnord Bearings has officially decided to pull out of Indianapolis and move hundreds of jobs to Mexico, according to United Steel Workers Union President Chuck Jones.
http://fox59.com/2016/11/14/rexnord-officially-decides-to-move-375-jobs-to-mexico-says-union-president/
The Parts of the Carrier Deal Trump Doesn’t Want to Talk About
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-parts-the-carrier-deal-trump-doesnt-want-talk-about
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On the other hand we had a candidate, birther at the start, a man who openly mocked and demeaned women, blacks, Islam, immigrants, Jews, LGBT folks, kindness in general, who scammed and conned everyone, didn't pay workers, groped females in the crotch and called them fat pigs, lost a BILLION dollars in a year, failed as a scabby salesman of vodka, mattresses, cheap watches, bad steaks, neckties, has held a grudge against Rosie O'Donnell for two decades because in one three minute The View segment she mocked him the way he always does others; he lurched through six bankruptcies, skipped out on millions of dollars in taxes, fellates Russian thugs, speak's with the skill of a 5-year-old's vocabulary, denies climate change and sustainable energy, promises to destroy the planet, ignore human rights, supports violence and conspiracy, lies, wants to take away the healthcare of millions, turn marriage equality for LGBT folks back to each state, says he'll repeal DADT, picked the most homophobic Republican to run as his V.P. and has an obsessive need to be adulated. For starters.
Lyle, this is so well put I hate to be picky, but I think you meant to say "restore," "reenact," or maybe "repeat" DADT (that last would make it a simple typo).
I suppose the grudge against Rosie O'Donnell shows that he can dish it out but he can't take it.
His election was the triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism,
misogyny and racism. On January 20th we will bid farewell to President Barack Obama, a man of
integrity, dignity, and generous spirit--and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn
endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. A man who talks so much about winning
because deep inside, as a human being, he knows he is a loser. It is impossible to react to these moments
with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.
This is also beautifully put; I'll only disagree with one point: I think the man is so self-deluded that he doesn't know he's a loser.
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^^^
Correct (I agree) on both counts, I believe I will go back and edit...!
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Anyone want to discuss him getting in over his head with China/Taiwan, the Philippines and Pakistan already?
And by "over his head" I mean he doesn't know what he's doing.
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And by "over his head" I mean he doesn't know what he's doing.
Totally agree. His lack of empathy, limited social skills and inability to compromise are terrifying when it comes to what is laughingly called his "foreign policy".
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Hurricane Matthew --
I got an email from Mark (EnnisDelMark) late last night. He's in Lake City, Florida, which is in the
Northeastern part of Florida near Jacksonville.
He wrote:
"It's supposed to be right off the coast by Jacksonville at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, which would put it the closest
to me (80 miles). Huge winds now; scary. I'll let you know something. I'm praying I don't lose power."
The "Lake City Reporter" is announcing several more emergency shelters opening.
It's almost 2 p.m. there now; hoping for the best for Florida!
Thinking of you Mark!
I just saw this, Lyle...thank you for thinking of me and all the other forum members who thought of me, as well. Love y'all!
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The anger and bafflement of the Left on the election of Donald Trump is also being felt by Labor/Green supporters elsewhere in the West including here in Australia.
Apart from economic pressures which are well known, here is an explanation based on cultural concerns quoted in the Atlantic magazine which I think comes closest to why many middle of the road, non political types supplemented by conservatives voted the man in:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/donald-trump-voters/401408/#Trump%20Is%20a%20Corrective%20to%20American%20Culture's%20Pathologies
Trump is a Corrective to American Culture’s Pathologies
Although I am not yet committed to any candidate, I nevertheless do see the value in a Donald Trump candidacy. To be entirely honest, his appeal is more emotional than rational. I know this is not the best way to begin an endorsement, but having admitted that, I still believe he is the right candidate for today’s America.
Trump hasn’t elaborated much on any practical policy endeavors he would pursue. However, I think the bulk of his appeal comes through his defiance of the prevailing culture of political correctness among the media and academia. Although a seemingly minor issue relative to the economy or foreign policy, political correctness ignites conservative blogs and social media more than anything else.
Beyond speech codes, “trigger warnings,” or Twitter outrage mobs, the preeminence of political correctness among the culture class indicates a momentous shift away from formerly prominent middle-class cultural values and towards something entirely different. Even if Donald Trump were to accomplish little in his presidency, I think there is a hope that were he president, he could in some way alter that prevailing Washington/media culture and set a new cultural tone.
Many would probably question why, of all people, a decadent, rude, and pompous billionaire should be trusted to meddle with American culture? I think it comes down to a perception that America has already drowned in a post-modernist nightmare of moral relativism, from which extreme political correctness and protest culture stem. Trump, on the other hand, is all absolutes. Everything he says, accurate or not, is stated in absolute, definitive terms. His personal morality is clear: He respects people who work hard, are loyal, innovate, and “win,” and he shuns those who don’t meet the criteria. Cruel as it may sound, I think America needs to reenergize these fundamental cultural values before we can ever hope to create a better society.
So there you have it in words better than I could come up with. The same cultural concerns apply equally throughout the West. The current regime of the Left consensus is felt to be overwhelmingly oppressive to free speech and often to common sense.
The only push back powerful enough to have any affect (probably involving overkill) was seen to be this fearless, what-you-see-is-what-you-get so-called barbarian alpha male (they still exist mirabile dictu!) who doesn’t care about insults, and who cannot be intimidated by the media and twitter mobs who have bullied a whole generation out of speaking their mind, cost people their jobs and reputation who stepped out of line and thereby closed down debate.
People looked around and asked “Who you gonna call?”
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demonizing racism and bigotry helped elect Trump.
When will the Left have get off this one track refrain of calling anyone a bigot if they happen to have a different world view to you?
For many people securing a country’s border and vetting entrants is not racist
- it is an assertion of national sovereignty
- it ensures that national security is protected
- it ensures that immigrants arrive in numbers that can be managed properly and that the locals can more happily accept (this is in the immigrants/refugees interests as well)
For many people support for man/woman marriage does not mean they hate gays – they just have an emotional attachment to this tradition
For many people the notion of gender fluidity genuinely applies to a small minority but should not be applied to the other 98 percent of children at school as official ideology
And so on.
Perhaps the Left can’t afford to drop this focus on race etc because identity politics is all they are really interested in. But most other people give priority to other practical concerns – like getting a job!
This is what Hillary forgot.
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I must have been drunk when I posted that.
BTW, aren't you in Australia where they put refugees in concentration camps? Nice!
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I must have been drunk when I posted that.
BTW, aren't you in Australia where they put refugees in concentration camps? Nice!
After 1200 drowning deaths (some of which we all witnessed on TV as a refugee boat crashed on rocks during a storm at Christmas Island) the Labor Government decided to restore offshore processing which had previously stopped the people smuggling trade in its tracks and has done so once again. The refugees and others live in the community on Nauru and Manus Islands with better health/education facilities than the locals. The government is currently negotiating with the US to resettle them there.
Australia has one of the most generous refugee intakes in the world but this was being overwhelmed by people entering through the back door. The current situation is less than ideal but you only have to see the chaos in Europe and continued mass drownings in the Mediterranean to see what the alternative looks like.
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I must have been drunk when I posted that.
When will the Left have get off this one track refrain of calling anyone a bigot if they happen to have a different world view to you?
Drunk or sober, there seems to be little doubt that the language Trump used in his campaign has "given permission" to genuine racists and homophobes to act out on their disgusting beliefs. Around here, since election day, racist and homophobic graffiti have appeared on walls and even in school bathrooms, and a gay man who lives not far from me has been badly injured by a letter bomb (it seems he was specifically targeted, but the investigation is ongoing).
Just sayin'. ...
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I must have been drunk when I posted that.
BTW, aren't you in Australia where they put refugees in concentration camps? Nice!
True one of the many reasons why I say I am an Aussie by birth but a Kiwi by choice. New Zealand offered to rescue many of the refugees but Australia refused.
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When will the Left have get off this one track refrain of calling anyone a bigot if they happen to have a different world view to you?
For many people securing a country’s border and vetting entrants is not racist
- it is an assertion of national sovereignty
- it ensures that national security is protected
- it ensures that immigrants arrive in numbers that can be managed properly and that the locals can more happily accept (this is in the immigrants/refugees interests as well)
For many people support for man/woman marriage does not mean they hate gays – they just have an emotional attachment to this tradition
For many people the notion of gender fluidity genuinely applies to a small minority but should not be applied to the other 98 percent of children at school as official ideology
And so on.
Perhaps the Left can’t afford to drop this focus on race etc because identity politics is all they are really interested in. But most other people give priority to other practical concerns – like getting a job!
This is what Hillary forgot.
Well, let's take a look at the definition of bigot.
--bigot
a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions; a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance; a person who has strong, unreasonable beliefs and who does not like other people who have different opinions; the English noun bigot is a term used to describe a prejudiced or closed-minded person;
Securing the country's border and vetting entrants
Some of my thoughts are, who on the left disagrees with what you say about that above? The problem is how you look at that issue. Do we treat people with compassion and dignity while doing those things or do we treat them like they are unwanted people to be feared or mocked or ridiculed or suspicious of because they have different "world views." In fact, we do have an extreme vetting process for the Syrian refugees that the right is so afraid of, for example, I heard it explained in much detail on a PBS Frontline program, but that doesn't seem to take hold in the minds of those who find any extreme example to nullify this idea. If you read what the plaque says on the Statue of Liberty, that doesn't seem to be a standard the right wants to hold up and exemplify. In fact, there has been movement on immigration issues a couple times in the past decade, but who keeps blocking any movement forward on it because they can't have their own way on everything? I ask you.
For many people support for man/woman marriage does not mean they hate gays – they just have an emotional attachment to this tradition
The "emotional attachment to to this tradition" was expressed in many hateful ways toward gay people, let me tell you. I campaigned against Prop 8. I'm not going to relive some of that reaction I received from others emotional attachment to a tradition. Is what you're saying a form of selfishness? If people say that marriage is for me and not you, then it's hard not to take that as a form of dislike, if not hate.
The tradition of America is to bend to the long arc of justice and equality for all. The problem on the right, and look at all the commenters online during this election season, is that it seems to me it stems from the notion that the right thinks that everyone else is getting something they're not. I don't know how many times I kept reading things like: They're getting special treatment and I'm not. They're getting free handouts and welfare and food stamps and medical care and put to the head of the line and free entry to the U.S. and I'm not. So this large group of white middle class in the mid-west who were treated royally by this Government and unions after WWII, could go out and make a living from factory jobs that paid them a full living wage for a one head household while the baby boomers grew up and now that bubble in the economy has burst and they still want that same thing, though they don't want to move anywhere that might happen for them, nor do they want to retrain or learn anything new to get to that goal, nor do they want to accept jobs that don't pay like their unions used to guarantee, unions that the Right have always hated and fought against. What happened to all the self-reliance the right is always talking about? Oh, yeah, they turned to someone else "who alone can fix it."
For many people the notion of gender fluidity genuinely applies to a small minority but should not be applied to the other 98 percent of children at school as official ideology
Another example of selfishness. I assume you're talking about this issue of people using the bathroom for the gender they feel they are? The right has made this an issue and made a huge stink about it. The best thing ever I saw about this is after a rather long news story with people shouting doom and gloom and the sky is falling and the 98% are under attack and prone to their heads exploding, they interviewed a 12-14 year old whom this policy was designed for and who was then asked a pretty lengthy question about all these concerns from the 98% you speak of and the teen started to answer, then stopped, paused what seemed a long time for a faster-faster news segment then just looked up exasperated and softly said, "I just want to go to the bathroom."
Perhaps the Left can’t afford to drop this focus on race etc because identity politics is all they are really interested in. But most other people give priority to other practical concerns – like getting a job!
It "takes two to tango" comes to mind. The tone of what I write might sound like I don't have any concern for the issues of the people whom I write and use the term "selfish" about, but why the attitude that "everyone else is getting 'things' I'm not" in the diatribes I read? You talk about practical concerns like getting a job, as though only the right needs jobs. Didn't President Obama 4 years ago put forward a public works and infrastructure plan to rebuild the U.S.? Yes. He did. Who kept it from happening. The left? No. Who saved the auto industry in 2008? I could continue...
This is what Hillary forgot.
It's some voters who forgot.
And, by the way, none of this even takes into account that...
[...] ...we had a candidate, birther at the start, a man who openly mocked and demeaned women, blacks, Islam, immigrants, Jews, LGBT folks, kindness in general, who scammed and conned everyone, didn't pay workers, groped females in the crotch and called them fat pigs, lost a BILLION dollars in a year, failed as a scabby salesman of vodka, mattresses, cheap watches, bad steaks, neckties, has held a grudge against Rosie O'Donnell for two decades because in one three minute The View segment she mocked him the way he always does others; he lurched through six bankruptcies, skipped out on millions of dollars in taxes, fellates Russian thugs, speak's with the skill of a 5-year-old's vocabulary, denies climate change and sustainable energy, promises to destroy the planet, ignore human rights, supports violence and conspiracy, lies, wants to take away the healthcare of millions, turn marriage equality for LGBT folks back to each state, says he'll advocate to restore DADT, picked the most homophobic Republican to run as his V.P. and has an obsessive need to be adulated. For starters.
I find [...] support for the man troubling, selfish and misguided.
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The refugees and others live in the community on Nauru and Manus Islands with better health/education facilities than the locals. The government is currently negotiating with the US to resettle them there.
Lies from the Australian government.
From Amnesty International.
"The Australian government’s failure to address serious abuses appears to be a deliberate policy to deter further asylum seekers from arriving in the country by boat. Refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru, most of whom have been held there for three years, routinely face neglect by health workers and other service providers who have been hired by the Australian government, as well as frequent unpunished assaults by local Nauruans.
They endure unnecessary delays and at times denial of medical care, even for life-threatening conditions. Many have dire mental health problems and suffer overwhelming despair—self-harm and suicide attempts are frequent. All face prolonged uncertainty about their future."
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Trump is a Corrective to American Culture’s Pathologies
As much as I enjoy The Atlantic, I have to say, about this headline:
Trump is not a corrective to "American culture's pathologies" (if I even agree with that); he is
an aberrant symptom of it. That's like saying the disease is the cure. Trumpism's a disease.
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Drunk or sober, there seems to be little doubt that the language Trump used in his campaign has "given permission" to genuine racists and homophobes to act out on their disgusting beliefs. Around here, since election day, racist and homophobic graffiti have appeared on walls and even in school bathrooms, and a gay man who lives not far from me has been badly injured by a letter bomb (it seems he was specifically targeted, but the investigation is ongoing).
Just sayin'. ...
That's too bad. It sounds similar to what happened in CA when Prop 8 passed. A "victory tour" for the winners to brag and boast.
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Australia has one of the most generous refugee intakes in the world .
More lies from the Australian Government. Figures from 2007 to mid 2015 (so largely before the current Syria crisis)
Refugees per 1000 population
Australia 1.51
Canada 4.19
Austria 7.13
Germany 3.10
France 4.13
UK 1.82
and to be fair
USA 0.84
NZ 0.3 which is being changed and I have joined the campaign as a proud new Kiwi .
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For many people support for man/woman marriage does not mean they hate gays – they just have an emotional attachment to this tradition
For many people the notion of gender fluidity genuinely applies to a small minority but should not be applied to the other 98 percent of children at school as official ideology
So the right wing in the current Australian Government who have pulled every trick in the book to stop same-sex marriage are not bigots? Their "emotional attachment to tradition" is so important to them they prevent others from sharing in the happiness they have. They campaign against education in schools which could prevent suicides. Just last week, the news broke that 13-year-old Brisbane schoolboy Tyrone Unsworth committed suicide after years of bullying. Unsworth’s tormenters called him a faggot and a fairy, put him in hospital, and drove him to end his life. The schoolboy’s death has reignited debate around Safe Schools, that inexplicably controversial program whose critics, in the light of Tyrone’s suicide, should feel crushed with shame.
The Left are children in the school of bigotry compared to the Right.
I am proud to label myself left wing which means support for all the minorities (2%?) in society that they should also get the so called Aussie tradition of a fair go for all.
My blood boils when I hear people say "I have no objection to gays but traditional marriage is between a man and a woman" If that is bigotry so be it. Traditional marriage would have the husband own his wife who he has bought from her father. Little emotional attachment from women to that tradition.
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Drunk or sober, there seems to be little doubt that the language Trump used in his campaign has "given permission" to genuine racists and homophobes to act out on their disgusting beliefs. Around here, since election day, racist and homophobic graffiti have appeared on walls and even in school bathrooms, and a gay man who lives not far from me has been badly injured by a letter bomb (it seems he was specifically targeted, but the investigation is ongoing).
Just sayin'. ...
That's too bad. It sounds similar to what happened in CA when Prop 8 passed. A "victory tour" for the winners to brag and boast.
And I forgot to mention the Hispanic high school student who found a note in her locker (or maybe it was her backpack--I forget which) telling her to go back to Mexico, and the young women students at the University of Pennsylvania who received racial slurs on some sort of social media from some jackass in Oklahoma.
And I agree with you, Lyle: Trump is a symptom of disease, not a cure for it.
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Just last week, the news broke that 13-year-old Brisbane schoolboy Tyrone Unsworth committed suicide after years of bullying. Unsworth’s tormenters called him a faggot and a fairy, put him in hospital, and drove him to end his life.
That's terrible. Of course, it happens all too often here in the U.S., too.
My heart goes out to his family.
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there seems to be little doubt that the language Trump used in his campaign has "given permission" to genuine racists and homophobes to act out on their disgusting beliefs.
Hi Jeff. Trump evidently decided to say what has been unsayable for years i.e. calling out Islamic terrorism, the need to take preventive action at the border and confronting the fact there are serious criminal elements among illegal immigrants who are being deported only to return again and again.
Yes it is uncomfortable for many to “mention the war” and some lunatics will decide behave badly. But people have finally had enough of sweeping things under the carpet.
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do we treat them like they are unwanted people to be feared or mocked or ridiculed or suspicious of because theyhave different "world views."
Certainly no-one should be mocked for having a different “world view”. The trouble arises when that world view has been found to be largely incompatible with the host culture in terms of general mores, women’s rights, gay rights, separation of church and state etc etc which leads to ghettoization, alienation and possible radicalisation among the next generation
In fact, we do have an extreme vetting process for the Syrian refugees that the right is so afraid of, for example, I heard it explained in much detail on a PBS Frontline program,
When you consider the utter chaos in Syria for last couple of years, scepticism re security checks is IMO understandable. Nevertheless Australia is taking in 12,000 Muslims and religious minorities (Christians, Yazidis etc) with an emphasis on the latter as they have been subject to attacks in refugee camps, cannot return and are considered better bets for smoother more risk free integration into society.
The "emotional attachment to this tradition" was expressed in many hateful ways toward gay people, let me tell you. I campaigned against Prop 8. I'm not going to relive some of that reaction I received from others emotional attachment to a tradition.
Lyle I am sure you had to face down a lot of hostility in your campaign which must have been horrible. Perhaps emotions were running high on both sides?
The right thinks that everyone else is getting something they're not. I don't know how many times I kept reading things like: They're getting special treatment and I'm not. They're getting free handouts and welfare and food stamps and medical care and put to the head of the line and free entry to the U.S. and I'm not. So this large group of white middle class in the mid-west who were treated royally by this Government and unions after WWII, could go out and make a living from factory jobs that paid them a full living wage for a one head household while the baby boomers grew up and now that bubble in the economy has burst and they still want that same thing, though they don't want to move anywhere that might happen for them, nor do they want to retrain or learn anything new to get to that goal, nor do they want to accept jobs that don't pay like their unions used to guarantee, unions that the Right have always hated and fought against. What happened to all the self-reliance the right is always talking about? Oh, yeah, they turned to someone else "who alone can fix it."
Why is it that all the compassion in the world is lavished by the left on minorities who do it tough but not a skerrick of sympathy for your other fellow countrymen left behind by the forces of unfettered globalisation? Those people could see Trump was able to relate to them and actually cared about them. They also saw that the Democratic Party and its representative in Hillary Clinton not only couldn’t give a stuff about them (and hadn’t done so for years) but actually blamed them for being so “deplorable”. Look no further than your own words on the matter.
the 98% are under attack
Funny you should raise that possibility. There is in fact a concerted campaign in primary schools in Australia, the UK and probably in the US to teach kids that gender fluidity applies to all, often without parents’ consent.
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Hi Jeff. Trump evidently decided to say what has been unsayable for years i.e. calling out Islamic terrorism, the need to take preventive action at the border and confronting the fact there are serious criminal elements among illegal immigrants who are being deported only to return again and again.
Yes it is uncomfortable for many to “mention the war” and some lunatics will decide behave badly. But people have finally had enough of sweeping things under the carpet.
Much remains to be seen. I don't necessarily disagree with you that he said things that have been "unsayable for years," but I still suspect him of demagoguery--and I still believe the way he spoke during the campaign has "given permission" to racists and homophobes to act out.
"Calling out Islamic terrorism" is one thing. Insulting John McCain, and through him by implication everyone else who suffered as a POW, is something else entirely, and completely unforgivable.
On the other hand, I was surprised to hear on morning TV news that John Huntsman has been named as a possible secretary of state; he might actually be a good choice.
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On the other hand, I was surprised to hear on morning TV news that John Huntsman has been named as a possible secretary of state; he might actually be a good choice.
Let's hope the guy continues to surprise - in a good way.
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^^^^^^
So you ignore the first two sentences of Jeff's post and just hone in on the last one.
Even a broken clock is accurate twice a day.
Why do you like Trump so much? He is a loathsome human being. Why does none of this, that I again quote below, bother you,
and you keep ignoring?
[...] ...we had a candidate, birther at the start, a man who openly mocked and demeaned women, blacks, Islam, immigrants, Jews, LGBT folks, kindness in general, who scammed and conned everyone, didn't pay workers, groped females in the crotch and called them fat pigs, lost a BILLION dollars in a year, failed as a scabby salesman of vodka, mattresses, cheap watches, bad steaks, neckties, has held a grudge against Rosie O'Donnell for two decades because in one three minute The View segment she mocked him the way he always does others; he lurched through six bankruptcies, skipped out on millions of dollars in taxes, fellates Russian thugs, speak's with the skill of a 5-year-old's vocabulary, denies climate change and sustainable energy, promises to destroy the planet, ignore human rights, supports violence and conspiracy, lies, wants to take away the healthcare of millions, turn marriage equality for LGBT folks back to each state, says he'll advocate to restore DADT, picked the most homophobic Republican to run as his V.P. and has an obsessive need to be adulated. For starters.
I find [...] support for the man troubling, selfish and misguided.
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He totally scares me.
I'm talking about Lyle, that is.
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He totally scares me.
I'm talking about Lyle, that is.
:laugh: :laugh:
Madonna, Billboard's Woman of the Year, said she met Trump "years ago" for a Versace campaign at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida – and she found him charming, if unfitting for the presidency.
"He's a very friendly guy, charismatic in that boastful, macho, alpha-male way," she said. "I found his political incorrectness amusing. Of course, I didn't know he was going to be running for president 20 years later. People like that exist in the world, I'm OK with it. They just can’t be heads of state. I just can't put him and Barack Obama in the same sentence, same room, same job description."
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/madonna-on-donald-trumps-election-win-were-f--ked-w453873
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Hi Jeff. Trump evidently decided to say what has been unsayable for years i.e. calling out Islamic terrorism, the need to take preventive action at the border and confronting the fact there are serious criminal elements among illegal immigrants who are being deported only to return again and again. Yes it is uncomfortable for many to “mention the war” and some lunatics will decide behave badly. But people have finally had enough of sweeping things under the carpet.
You hear what you want to hear, don't you? Trump has said everything and been on both sides of most every issue he's ever talked about, sometimes even contradicting himself within the same sentence. So to argue with you about what he says isn't very useful, because he s a y s everything. But, please, none of these things you wrote have been unsayable "for years", Trump just decided to use all of this as scare tactics, the Republicans are always using fear to generate votes--fear gay people, fear minorities, fear strong women... to get people "more" afraid. And really, the Republican party won't come to the table on any immigration policy so nothing happens. So Trump gets all these people to fear all these problems, which he's exaggerated ten-fold, all these problems where the results of these things largely affect population centers that do not vote Republican.
A lot of the problem with having sympathy or caring about the people you talk about is that they've been voting against their own interests for years. The right has been feeding them on social issues that they get all up in a bunch about, so they vote them in office, and then the right works against their economic interests and then they blame the left. (See the book "What's the Matter with Kansas" for one take on this.)
A lot of the hypocrisy from the voters who vote right is what is irking to me in particular and why sympathy is hard to come by.
Republican voters:
--Who wants to vote for someone who's wife who wasn't born a citizen of the U.S.?
(That would be John Kerry's wife. Melania: We don't care.)
--We support the military and anything seen as against the military we reject.
(John Kerry and Al Gore both served in the military, volunteered in fact, while their
opponents got stateside draft deferments. HRC was Secretary of State and dealt in
military matters consistently, while the first and second ladies honored and worked to
help military families and veteran's issues. Trump got seven draft deferments and considered
his triumph to have not gotten syphilis during the Vietnam war era, while his wife made soft
core porn.)
--Religious right could never vote for a man as immoral as Bill Clinton.
(But as for this year we will come up with tortured thinking to still vote for someone as immoral as anyone
and who has proclaimed it in words and deeds by saying, "Sometimes God uses imperfect vessels to deliver
his message.")
--For 8 years the Republicans have kept stating that no programs can be put forth without a plan to pay for them.
(Now they will put any plan forth and come up with some plan later on...maybe.)
--The United States is strongest when everyone does their part to make it better and help one another
and in time of need we sacrifice and come together.
(We voted for "I alone can fix it.")
--We believe in self-reliance.
(But not if that happens to mean we might have to do something to improve our condition, like move or
relocate or train for a new job or educate ourselves in some way.)
--We hate all Government hand-outs like welfare and food stamps and medical coverage that go to all these people
who are not us, black, latinos, immigrants and everyone else getting something we aren't, and even though we are
as U.S. citizens eligible for the same things.
(But if it affects us, we want the Government to do it all--save the auto-industry, give welfare to corporations to bribe
them into keeping jobs where we are, job retraining programs for us, relief from environmental problems that occur
because the regulations were repealed, tornado disaster and flood relief so we can rebuild in the same place, etc.)
Among other things.
In any case, MM, there's enough people in the U.S. to argue about Trump. I don't know why you like him so much.
Perhaps he'll visit you in Australia, and you can meet him. Though, if he doesn't like the way you look, prepare to be
called a dog, a pig or insulted in some way, but if you do meet with his approval be prepared, also, to be kissed without
your permission and have your pussy grabbed or the like.
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I don't know why you like him so much.
Lyle,
We could go back and forth on this thing and arrive back where we started as i'm sure you realise. My aim in posting was not to persuade you or anyone to change their mind but simply to shed some light on why so many Americans voted for Trump – and did so in many if not most cases without rose coloured glasses re his personal qualities.
For my part, Trump’s personality did not charm and I shared concerns about his emotional maturity and ability to take advice. But I also saw that he has a clear agenda to get the country moving again and create jobs; that he is prepared to rock the boat that badly needs rocking after 8 years of laid back Obamadom; that he will not mouth platitudes to keep in good with the Twitter mobs; and that his patriotism and concern for ordinary people is genuine.
Here you have a genuine America First Father of the Tribe – and that will include all the tribe (criminal/ratbag elements not so much) - as you may eventually come to see.
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Lyle,
We could go back and forth on this thing and arrive back where we started as i'm sure you realise. My aim in posting was not to persuade you or anyone to change their mind but simply to shed some light on why so many Americans voted for Trump – and did so in many if not most cases without rose coloured glasses re his personal qualities.
For my part, Trump’s personality did not charm and I shared concerns about his emotional maturity and ability to take advice. But I also saw that he has a clear agenda to get the country moving again and create jobs; that he is prepared to rock the boat that badly needs rocking after 8 years of laid back Obamadom; that he will not mouth platitudes to keep in good with the Twitter mobs; and that his patriotism and concern for ordinary people is genuine.
Here you have a genuine America First Father of the Tribe – and that will include all the tribe (criminal/ratbag elements not so much) - as you may eventually come to see.
OH. My. God. I'm sorry, the comments I bolded blew me away! How an otherwise intelligent sounding person can even utter such bullshit is mind boggling. Trump doesn't have concern for anyone but himself. If you can't see that, then you are sadly deluded. The man is a narcissistic conman with a complete lack of empathy. I can only hope that the electoral college does its job and not elect him president or barring that, that he gets impeached within the year. I'm mean FFS, he's missed most of his intelligence briefings but hasn't missed one episode of SNL.
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Trump doesn't have concern for anyone but himself. If you can't see that, then you are sadly deluded. The man is a narcissistic conman with a complete lack of empathy.
It has been said that while the media took Trump literally but not seriously, the voters took him seriously but not literally. Trump's skill is to provide inspirational vision which opens up possibilities in people’s minds. This is what Obama did too. How much of all that hope and change did he deliver on? Did the seas stop rising and the planet start to heal? To be frank, that always sounded like a bit of a con job to me!
Graham Richardson, a former Australian Labor Government minister and power broker turned political commentator has a favorite saying about politicians: “The mob will always work you out.” If Trump is the cynical con man you make him out to be and fails to deliver, the mob will indeed work him out and vote him out in 2020.
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The only problem is what Trump will manage to do in those 4 years. The world is still suffering 8 years later due to George W Bush and he was only half the misfit that Trump is already showing signs of being.
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It has been said that while the media took Trump literally but not seriously, the voters took him seriously but not literally.
I have not heard this before. I don't know who said, "The voters took him seriously but not literally," but I think the idea that voters did not take him literally is crap.
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Former Vice President Al Gore has met President-elect Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump to discuss climate policy.
The meeting "was a sincere search for areas of common ground," said Mr Gore, a climate change activist.
During his presidential campaign, Mr Trump called man-made climate change a "hoax" perpetuated by China.
His daughter Ivanka reportedly wants to make the subject one of her signature issues.
It is unclear what role she will have in her father's administration, but he had said that his children would take over his global business interests.
All three of Mr Trump's adult children are serving on his transition team...
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38211695
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OH. My. God. I'm sorry, the comments I bolded blew me away! How an otherwise intelligent sounding person can even utter such bullshit is mind boggling. Trump doesn't have concern for anyone but himself. If you can't see that, then you are sadly deluded. The man is a narcissistic conman with a complete lack of empathy. I can only hope that the electoral college does its job and not elect him president or barring that, that he gets impeached within the year. I'm mean FFS, he's missed most of his intelligence briefings but hasn't missed one episode of SNL.
I am glad you wrote this, because I thought I was losing it for a minute.
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I LOVE Van Jones, and not only the way he looks, although that's right up there. I love his discussions, his arguments, the way he is so persuasive, how he defends his beliefs, how he thinks. I love him.
(CNN)The Messy Truth, a special program hosted by Van Jones, airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST.
The messy truth about the gulf between Trump and Clinton voters
By Van Jones
I got tired of just sitting on the CNN set, talking about Donald Trump voters.
So, days before the 2016 election, I decided to fly into a battleground state -- and talk to them.
I visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where a major battle was fought in America's Civil War. I wanted to know one thing: Are we on the verge of another civil war?
What I learned surprised me. The answers are even more important, now that Trump has won.
My film crew recorded our Gettysburg encounters in hopes they'd shed light on this tense moment in America.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/12/opinions/van-jones-messy-truth/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/12/opinions/van-jones-messy-truth/)
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Hmm. I just read what was available to read on that link. This might be worth watching.
OTOH--and I realize I may be missing the point--it takes two to dialog. Just about everything I read before the election showed no willingness on the part of Trump supporters to dialog. They weren't interested in the point of view of Hillary's supporters. All they were interested in was demonizing her and blaming her for things for which she was not at fault. And now that Trump has won, why should they dialog? After all, their guy won.
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...for a man who says "believe me" so frequently, are we to think his voters didn't take him literally, at his word?
It has been said that while the media took Trump literally but not seriously, the voters took him seriously but not literally.
Excuse me, but if I am electing someone I need to trust them and you do not seriously trust someone that you cannot take literally. People didn't take Hitler's "Mein Kampf" literally, either. I have heard that phrase and it's being repeated as an excuse or pathetic attempt to make sense of the non-sensical. A lot of people believed in Hitler, too. His slogan was, in effect, Make Germany Great Again.
If voters did not take Trump literally, then what exactly were they doing? Please explain. Trump has just said that when he was campaigning in Indiana and railing against Government bailouts to corporations leaving the country, as Carrier was planning, that he had no intention of actually intervening in that situation, but then he saw an Indiana man on TV who quoted what Trump said: “Believe me, if I were in office right now, Carrier would not be leaving Indiana, that I can tell you,” Trump said at an April rally in Indianapolis.
The man on TV believed it and Trump saw this man say it and said, "I don't remember saying that. Then they showed me saying that, and I thought, well, I have to do something about this then. I thought, this man really believes what I had said."
Trump's skill is to provide inspirational vision which opens up possibilities in people’s minds.
Enlighten me on what Trump's inspirational vision is? Lock her up? Build a wall? His phrase Make America Great
Again means what exactly?
This is what Obama did too. How much of all that hope and change did he deliver on? Did the seas stop rising and the planet start to heal? To be frank, that always sounded like a bit of a con job to me!
Comparing the oratorical skills of President Obama and president-elect trump, is like comparing Shakespeare to Mad Libs.
If you have to ask what President Obama has done while in office you were not paying attention. You can Google articles about it. But the elecrtorate that gave Trump their blessing has no use for facts. Facts don't seem to mean anything any more.
This man you admire has just nominated Gen. Flynn for Secretary of State. Flynn's adult son has been propagating false news stories all through the campaign season. One of them was about claims that Hillary Clinton and her former campaign manager, John Podesta, ran a child sex ring at a pizzeria in D.C. called Comet Ping Pong. Over the past few weeks, Donald Trump supporters and white supremacists on social media have pushed the conspiracy theory — leading to headlines like “Pizzagate: How 4Chan Uncovered the Sick World of Washington’s Occult Elite” on fake news websites.
On Sunday, a man walked into a pizzeria in Washington, DC, with an assault rifle and fired one or more shots. He came from North Carolina because he was disturbed about this story and wanted to check it out for himself. Gen. Flynn and his son have continually refused to back down from this conspiracy theory story and even after this instance have yet to do so.
Yesterday, Trump announced that he was going to appoint Ben Carson to a position in his cabinet for which he admits he has no experience for and has stated Trump would be better off appointing someone else.
When I read your posts, MM, I can only think of you as the woman in this picture:
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zQfqPYVwWfU/VylJfYIOgkI/AAAAAAAA5s8/wbJcPstWcecO90hrJRWN3QDYN9bsvyYqACLcB/s1600/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg)
It's worth repeating and never forgetting, though it doesn't change anything, but the people of this country did not overwhelmingly vote for Donald Trump to become the President. They voted for Hillary Clinton by 2,653,958, and still counting. As many as 10 recent Presidents have taken the oath of office with LESS a margin than that in the popular vote total, so to claim any sort of mandate is ridiculous. Add soon, when the electoral college meets to vote, we will see this system that was designed to have a check on the idiocy of the American people when it came to actually choosing a leader, is entirely flawed and needs to go.
This sums things up better than anything:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0_1HKO3w7M&t=67s
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Hmm. I just read what was available to read on that link. This might be worth watching.
If you read the comment section, populated still by Hillary bashing trolls, you'll see what you wrote
here come to life: ...showed no willingness on the part of Trump supporters to dialog. They weren't
interested in the point of view of Hillary's supporters. All they were interested in was demonizing her
and blaming her for things for which she was not at fault. And now that Trump has won, why should
they dialog? After all, their guy won.
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After my service in the US Army I have worked for four decades for a fellow NATO military establishment as a civilian. The Germans are baffled and not a little scared about what the next administration may bring. The protections that NATO offers are not only for other countries, but for the US itself. I have many friends from college of Lithuanian and Ukrainian ancestry, and they are also apprehensive about the free hand that T will give Putin in Eastern Europe. I realize that a country like Australia sees itself far away from this danger, but the distance only delays and doesn't stop the danger. Just like in the film On the Beach, Australia survived a while longer than most other countries of the world, but their remoteness did not protect them in the long run.
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Now Pence is doubling down on the lies of his boss.
Mike Pence Says That Baseless Lies are 'Refreshing'
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/national-interest/99410-mike-pence-says-that-baseless-lies-are-refreshing
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This is what Obama did too. How much of all that hope and change did he deliver on?
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/
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When I read your posts, MM, I can only think of you as the woman in this picture:
LOL It's true - Whether Jesus had anything to do with it or not I am thankful we dodged Hillary and I stand by my reasons for thinking Trump is the right choice for America and the world at this time.
The Dow is up and I sense America's tail is up too!
I leave you with this question. Did any of you really take Obama literally when he said that having elected him President "this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal". FMD!
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/trump-makes-his-case-in-pittsburgh/501335/
In one of the better stories written about Donald Trump’s core base of supporters during the 2016 campaign, the Atlantic’s Salena Zito observed that while the national media had a tendency to take Trump literally without taking his presidential ambitions seriously, his fans did just the reverse: They took him seriously but not literally.
As a point about the state of mind of Trump supporters, Zito is absolutely correct. But one of Trump’s most prominent supporters, the media-savvy billionaire Peter Thiel, took Zito’s turn of phrase and inverted its meaning. He said that the media misunderstands Donald Trump by taking him literally rather than seriously.
What we’ve seen thus far of Trump’s transition, however, shows just the opposite. The national press’s Trump coverage did to an extent err by not taking him seriously enough. But it also failed in exactly the same way many Trump supporters failed. The celebrity candidate seemed so much more emotionally invested in his rallies than his policy proposals that not nearly enough attention was paid to the literal commitments he was making and what they literally said.
But throughout history and across various countries, the best guide to how politicians will govern is to pay attention to their policy promises. And Trump’s transition so far suggests that this is an area where he will be typical. Like any president, he won’t accomplish 100 percent of what he promised to do. But he’ll make a good faith effort at the vast majority of it, and probably succeed in many cases.
We should, in other words, have taken Trump both seriously and literally.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/28/13728086/trump-literally-and-seriously
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After my service in the US Army I have worked for four decades for a fellow NATO military establishment as a civilian. The Germans are baffled and not a little scared about what the next administration may bring. The protections that NATO offers are not only for other countries, but for the US itself. I have many friends from college of Lithuanian and Ukrainian ancestry, and they are also apprehensive about the free hand that T will give Putin in Eastern Europe. I realize that a country like Australia sees itself far away from this danger, but the distance only delays and doesn't stop the danger. Just like in the film On the Beach, Australia survived a while longer than most other countries of the world, but their remoteness did not protect them in the long run.
Hi Fritz!
Australia may be far from Russia but we are very concerned about China's unfettered expansionism in Asia under Obama's watch via the islands it has converted into military outposts in the South China Sea. Early indications are that Trump is not likely to take any bullshit from Beijing.
Trump won't have to work too hard to improve America's ability to keep Russia under control. I mean how well did Obama's famous reset with Russia work out? And if Trump gets European nations to pull their finger out and spend more on their own defence budgets instead of sucking on America's teat how can that be a bad thing?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/2016/11/29/donald-trump-should-stand-up-for-americans-by-giving-nato-to-the-europeans/4/#5401c5e71b60
But exactly why must Washington, more than seven decades after the conclusion of World War II, treat the continent as a helpless dependent? NATO advocates have no good answer. No one can seriously claim that the Europeans cannot afford to do more. And stating the obvious, that they prefer to spend their money on other priorities, might be too much even for American Atlanticists. Officials like von der Leyen, whose governments lag in their commitment to the alliance, emphasize shared values, but the latter justifies defense cooperation among equals, not a permanent U.S. military dole for Europe.
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The less money spent on defence budgets anywhere in the world the happier I will be.
China won't need to attack Australia, they will own most of it soon.
Being linked by trade is the best way to prevent war.
I grew up when the Chinese were the "big danger" and that brought us the Vietnam disaster. Fortunately I turned 20 just 6 months before the conservatives brought in the national conscription lottery.
The Century of US world dominance is coming to an end. The next century will see the Chinese and Indian economies dominate. I thought it would be mainly after I have gone but Trump will only hasten the process.
Latest figures NZ exports to China 18% and increasing, Australia 17% and declining, USA 12% also declining
Imports to NZ are from China 20%, Australia 12%, USA 12%.
Now that the TPP seems to have fallen through (and I opposed it because it gave too much power to US multinationals especially pharmaceuticals as well as lengthened copyright laws also to please the US), there is already talk of increased agreements with China.
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Michelle Obama Breaks Her Silence About the Night Donald Trump Was Elected: ‘I Went to Bed’
http://people.com/politics/michelle-obama-donald-trump-election-night/
Some nice pics, they will be missed!
“Anything that I felt about the election I said and I stand by,” the first lady says now, adding of her early election night, “Once you do what you can do, then the rest is easy. It was in the hands of the American people.”
Though the first lady stands by her campaign-trail criticisms of Trump, she, like her husband, is prepared to help the president-elect as he transitions to the White House.
“This is our democracy, and this is how it works,” she says. “We are ready to work with the next administration and make sure they are as successful as they can be. Because that’s what’s best for this country.”
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Michelle Obama Breaks Her Silence About the Night Donald Trump Was Elected: ‘I Went to Bed’
http://people.com/politics/michelle-obama-donald-trump-election-night/
Some nice pics, they will be missed!
“Anything that I felt about the election I said and I stand by,” the first lady says now, adding of her early election night, “Once you do what you can do, then the rest is easy. It was in the hands of the American people.”
Though the first lady stands by her campaign-trail criticisms of Trump, she, like her husband, is prepared to help the president-elect as he transitions to the White House.
“This is our democracy, and this is how it works,” she says. “We are ready to work with the next administration and make sure they are as successful as they can be. Because that’s what’s best for this country.”
Michelle is a class act from the word Go. I will miss her greatly.
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http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/
Don't waste your time, Chuck, MM is really not interested in reading anything about President Obama
and is ignoring everything that the U.S. public voted to eject from public life, bar the electoral college
technicality.
The fact that she posts quotes from Peter Thiel on a BBM forum, one of the most loathsome gay men
around, pretty much assures me that she lacks character judgment.
There's a movie out called DENIAL and is about the British man (Irving) who was a holocaust denier and sued a
writer for libel making them actually prove the Holocaust happened. There are so many parallels in the film that
you can see the Irving character as Trump that it's uncanny, disturbing and those with a sense of history and a
modicum of thought find a great foreboding for what's in store for this country.
MM sees:
The Dow is up and I sense America's tail is up too!
The root of all evil, you see? Money money money? America's tail is up, that's for sure. That's why
40 states have plans (you can find the websites) for mass public demonstrations on Inauguration Day
and the day after the Inauguration the largest mass demonstration against an incoming administration
ever (The Million Woman--with their plus one) march is planned in Washington, D.C.
People like MM might think it's silly, but the one thing Trump cannot stand, and to quote a movie line,
"He's vindictive as hell," is to not be liked. He must have his after-election "heil, Hitler," rallies (that's
what they remind me of) to bathe and bask in the glory of himself. So to see these kinds of demonstrations
across the country will be a thorn he won't soon be able to remove from his Vietnam deferred feet.
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Michelle is a class act from the word Go. I will miss her greatly.
What? Don't you find comfort in taking a look at Melania's soft-core porn.
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“This is our democracy, and this is how it works,” she says. “We are ready to work with the next administration and make sure they are as successful as they can be. Because that’s what’s best for this country.”
As Donald Trump is already doing what's NOT best for the next administrations after him, by mouthing off about
one of the only two companies (Boeing) in the world that can build a new Air Force One, because he was irked at
an article concerning Boeing and their attitude toward him that he happened to see yesterday, thereby causing
Boeing's stock price (pay attention MM) to drop. Then he shouts he wants to cancel those contracts because it's
too expensive. (Even though the final plans haven't been drawn up, therefore neither has the cost been finalized.)
But, hey, Donald, let's take that contract away from an American company and workers and give it Airbus t do,
the only other company capable of such a thing, because, you know, you're all for keeping American jobs in tact.
But Trump won't get the use of the new Air Force One planes, so what does he care?
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What? Don't you find comfort in taking a look at Melania's soft-core porn.
Hey, I'm on your side here! >:(
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Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary
I just finished watching the Pearl Harbor ceremony in Hawaii today, commemorating the 75th Anniversary
of the attack. I was there on the 60th Anniversary to attend the event, the year of 2001, which was three
months from the 9/11 attacks and brought much talk and writing about the parallels between the two.
Today's keynote speech by Admiral Harris at the ceremony had some digs, at least I thought so, of the president-elect, when he
delivered passages about the call to service when your country needs you and he referenced those who took the call to duty, then
mentioning each war, and at talking about Vietnam he talked about men who chose to wear a business suit and live the easy life,
and saluted those who gave service to country instead of service to self. He also remarked, after the Navy band had played a rousing
version of the National Anthem, that you wouldn't find anyone who was present at Pearl Harbor taking a knee or not standing for the
National Anthem.
The one thing I remember most about that day I was there was that the ceremony starts with the moment the attack began, at 7:55 a.m.
At that precise moment, a rainbow suddenly appeared from the sky and it's arc shown down onto the exact spot where the U.S.S. Arizona
lay beneath the water. I have pictures I took of that.
Everyone present was given the name of a person, written on a slip of paper threaded into a plumeria flower,
who had been lost on that day. When people left the ceremony and wound around the stone sidewalk along the
waterfront, we were to throw the name and flower into Pearl Harbor.
The day included music, talking to those who had been in Hawaii that day in 1941, a tour of the U.S.S. Missouri and the
WWII submarine U.S.S. Wahoo and the surrounding park and museum and, of course, the speeches and ceremony that
gave pause for reflection. Not to mention people watching: all the handsome young sailors, marines and army men in all
their spiffy uniforms!
There was also time for a tour of a coffee plantation, writing Hawaiian Christmas cards to postmark on Dec. 7th (a stamp of
the famous Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku had been issued that fall, too), catching some of a surfboard competition on
the North Shore, the Dole maze gardens and much food and drink!
____________
Today's ceremony reminded me of all that.
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president-elect: "America's enemies have changed over the past 75 years. But the fact remains, as President Reagan said when first proclaiming National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 'there can be no substitute for victory' in the pursuit of peace," he said.
Wrong, Reagan did not first proclaim National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day aka Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day or Pearl Harbor Day. It started in 1942 (Remember Pearl Harbor) and has been noted by Presidents every year since and observed in various ways every year in the U.S., but Congress did not permanently designate the day with official status until August 23, 1994, by Pub.L. 103–308. On a day of remembering history, the history should be remembered correctly.
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Remember, it's a post-truth society now.
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Remember, it's a post-truth society now.
I guess we've even moved beyond truthiness.
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The root of all evil, you see? Money money money?
Correction: Love of money is the root of all evil.
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Sit down and have a cup of tea – maybe Trump and the Left in the UK and the US share more ground than you assume.
British commentator Melanie Philips writes:
“You will, by now, be familiar with the argument: that Donald Trump’s triumph in the American presidential election represents a kind of social and political apocalypse. That his victory came at the hands of fundamentally irrational, bigoted, disgusting extreme right-wingers beyond the pale of civilised values. It is axiomatic that there can’t be any good reason behind voting for him, so it is assumed that 60 million Americans were duped by ‘fake news’ which must now be suppressed altogether.
“This Pavlovian reaction of demonisation, character assassination and censorship, which also characterised the left’s reaction to the Brexit vote, is always caused by overwhelming fear. Of what are the left so afraid? Might their hysteria arise from their deepest nightmare: that they actually have much in common with those they consider the acme of right-wing evil?
“Trump is a protectionist and against free trade. So is the far-left Democrat Bernie Sanders. Trump is against globalisation and outsourcing jobs to cheaper markets. So is the British left. On foreign policy, Trump is said to be isolationist. So is the left. Trump thinks Nato is too costly and outdated. Jeremy Corbyn has said of Nato: ‘I’d rather we weren’t in it’.
“Like the populist right, the hard left is reacting against a world which the centrist establishment has created. This is the world of globalisation, liberal universalism, corporatism, managerialism, the deliberate erasing of historical and traditional cultural bonds.”
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/11/trump-and-corbyn-have-more-in-common-than-you-think/
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Hmm. Interesting reading. I don't think one necessarily has to assume that 60 million Americans are irrational bigots to suspect that they have been duped.
I mean, I certainly don't intend to "normalize" Trump, but I do think it will be very interesting to see how much of what he told people on the campaign that he would do, he actually can do.
But I still believe his campaign has unleashed certain forces of bigotry in this land, and I admit I am very much afraid of them. I wrote "someplace else" that I will not be surprised to see the glass start breaking in the gayborhood where I live.
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Pardon me if I call bullshit.
Sit down and have a cup of tea – maybe Trump and the Left in the UK and the US share more ground than you assume.
British commentator Melanie Philips writes:
“You will, by now, be familiar with the argument: that Donald Trump’s triumph in the American presidential election represents a kind of social and political apocalypse. That his victory came at the hands of fundamentally irrational, bigoted, disgusting extreme right-wingers beyond the pale of civilised values.
For many people, it's not that he is president-elect because those kinds of people voted for him, it's that Trump himself is fundamentally irrational, bigoted and disgusting. The voters basically voted on party lines. Trump has no overwhelming mandate or victory from the U.S. electorate. In any other country with a democratically elected head of state, he would not be president-elect. 54% of the electorate voted against his 46%. As the mail in and absentee votes are still being counted, Hillary Clinton's margin of votes is approaching what President Obama won by in 2012. So, except for this arcane electoral college system we have in the U.S. that allows losers to win, Trump has no mandate to crow about.
The other problem that anti-Trump voters have with those that voted for him is the gleeful hypocrisy in which they explain away all semblances of human decency and decorum to come up with tortured reasons to cast their votes. Things that they've used as reasons for decades to vote against Democrat candidates are suddenly quite acceptable in a candidate with the right designation on the ballot. It's either "acceptable" now, or for many as I've been learning from you and Milo, ignorable.
I've brought up these things in several posts before, I don't need to do it again. Right from the start he showed he wasn't fit to be President by demonizing parts of the electorate, showing his bigotry in a years long birther crusade and ignoring science and history. You: So what? Each and every month after that he gave more and more examples of this, but... You: SO what? Everyone was enjoying the show. The drama queen at work.
As far as his "policies
It is axiomatic that there can’t be any good reason behind voting for him, so it is assumed that 60 million Americans were duped by ‘fake news’ which must now be suppressed altogether.
Is Melanie Phillips really suggesting that fake news should NOT be supressed altogether?
Church Lady: "How conveeenient."
“This Pavlovian reaction of demonisation, character assassination and censorship, which also characterised the left’s reaction to the Brexit vote, is always caused by overwhelming fear. Of what are the left so afraid? Might their hysteria arise from their deepest nightmare: that they actually have much in common with those they consider the acme of right-wing evil?
Methinks the author protest too much. If I may point out, the Trump election campaign was all about "demoniszation, character assassination and censorship."
If there is fear "on the left" I can only wonder why those that voted for him did not have any fear about a man who has demonstrated no interest in actually doing the job he ran for...most importantly, he is responsible for the safety of the people of the U.S. and in his entire campaign for the office and into the interim period, he keeps declining to take the intelligence briefings offered to him each day but, as Oilgun pointed out, he hasn't missed an episode of SNL to comment on the portrayal of him. Do people really think that Trump "knows more than the Generals?" He actually looked up what the ACA was online the day after he met with President Obama, much as pro-Brexit voters looked up "What is the EU?" the day after the vote.
So, you can point out all the policy things you think he may or may not support or want to do or whatever in that regard. If I was a supporter of every single policy or idea that came out of his mouth I would not support him for president because his character is below freezing. That you and a minority of voters have chosen to disregard that in total, that a person who has stated that Roy Cohn is the greatest and most influential person in his life, support this man, then you may make all the excuses for that you want, but I will never support a man with his character and temperament just because he's entertaining masses of people.
And, sorry, I do not care for tea, either.
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George Takei: Donald Trump is 'uninformed'
....Now, 75 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Takei said the man who will become America's 45th president should learn from the past.
"It is an echo of what we heard from World War II coming from Trump himself. That sweeping statement characterizing all Muslims. There are more than a billion Muslims in this world. To infer they are all terrorists with that kind of sweeping statement is outrageous, in the same way that they characterized all Japanese Americans as enemy aliens," he said...
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/08/us/takei-on-trump-cnntv/index.html
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If I was a supporter of every single policy or idea that came out of his mouth I would not support him for president because his character is below freezing.
Lyle,
I accept that you are speaking with total sincerity in regards to your assessment of Trump.
IMO he is brash, overtly egoistic and brags too much. Has very likely handled the truth carelessly in his days as an entrepreneur, cut corners as a businessman and has been wrong headed in involving himself in the birther controversies. He has many other flaws no doubt. Nevertheless I am prepared to cut him considerable slack on those issues for the following reasons:
- No man would run for president unless he was supremely self-confident – Trump is just more upfront about it which is part and parcel of the showman/entrepreneurial personality.
- Trump has expressed concern for the US economy as a whole not just his little corner of it in New York as far back as 30 years ago (see video clip below)/ I suspect this concern has evolved into a desire to do something about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEPs17_AkTI
- That he is outspoken on national and border security issues and calls out Islamic terrorism in blunt terms does not in my view make him a racist. In doing this he is nevertheless prepared to be accused of racism and that makes him brave in today’s environment.
- He is pragmatic and not an ideologue and hallelujah for that
- Where you see an Elmer Gantry figure hoodwinking the masses, I see a big personality who manages to connect with ordinary people and who speaks their language. The fact he speaks without high falutin rhetoric is part of his appeal
- He is not wishy washy.
As I am a rightie you will not be shocked to learn that I am fed up with over the top climate alarmism and repressive political correctness. I think Trump has the intestinal fortitude to meet headlong the massed ranks of an outraged Left in order to bring some common sense and balance in regard to these issues.
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Nevertheless I am prepared to cut him considerable slack on those issues for the following reasons:
During the campaign, Trump was often compared to Hitler, the extreme of extremes when comparing someone to anyone, because, after all, that's the worst. I mean, who could be compared to the worst? (But Trump himself supports Alex Jones, who believes things like President Obama and Hillary Clinton are actual demons and you can smell the sulfur coming off them.) But I refer you to this section from an Atlantic article published last spring. I thought of it when I read your line that I quoted above.
Looking at historic precedents, folks have used to comparisons to Hitler. I think there is some truth to this, given his Nazi-esque predilection for scapegoating minorities, his love for white essentialism and his capability to use fear and not vision and the painting of a country in ruins as the basis of a campaign.
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.
I just found out that: Nearly 30% of Trump supporters believe that California's votes should not be included in the National U.S. vote total. To which I say, not only should they be included, they should have the same representation as smaller states electoral votes do when determining the Presidency. Example, Wyoming has 3 electoral votes. That corresponds roughly to each one of their electoral votes representing 177,556 people. California has 55 electoral votes which corresponds to each of our electoral votes representing 627,253 people. Wyoming's influence is three times greater than California's. The will of the people indeed.
Trump voters think Donald Trump is "real." He's a reality show version of real, that's for sure, but here's a hint: Reality shows are anything but real. (By the way, an article reported yesterday that Trump still intends to be executive producer of The Apprentice while he's in office because, I guess, he'll have a lot of free time on his hands.)
A new Public Policy Poll (PPP) was released today.
Article HERE (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-his-supporters-and-the-persistence-the-reality-gap).
Trump, His Supporters, and the Persistence of the ‘Reality Gap’
by Steve Benen
12/09/16
For all the Republican talk about Trump having a “mandate” as a result of his “landslide” victory, the fact remains that Trump, who lost the national popular vote, currently by 2.7 million votes, is not held in high regard. The Pew data found most of the country still considers him ill-qualified, reckless, hard to like, and lacking in sound judgment. To think Trump will take the White House with the American mainstream on his side, with the electorate rallying behind his vision and agenda, is plainly ridiculous. But what struck me as especially notable about the new survey results is the persistence of the so-called “reality gap.”
* Unemployment: Under President Obama, job growth has been quite strong, and the unemployment rate has improved dramatically. PPP, however, found that 67% of Trump voters believe the unemployment rate went up under Obama – which is the exact opposite of reality.
* Stock Market: Since the president was elected, the stock market has soared, nearly tripling since the height of the Great Recession. PPP found that 39% of Trump voters believe the market has gone down under Obama – which is also the exact opposite of reality.
* Popular Vote: As of this morning, Hillary Clinton received roughly 2.7 million more votes than Donald Trump, but PPP nevertheless found that 40% of Trump voters believe he won the popular vote – which is, once again, the exact opposite of reality.
* Voter Fraud: Even Trump’s lawyers concede there was no voter fraud in the presidential election, but PPP found that 60% of Trump voters apparently believe “millions” of illegal ballots were cast for Clinton in 2016 – which isn’t even close to resembling reality.
* Soros Conspiracy Theory: A whopping 73% of Trump voters believe George Soros is paying anti-Trump protesters – though in reality, George Soros is not paying anti-Trump protesters.
We are, in other words, looking at a political landscape in which much of the president-elect’s core base appears to be living in an alternate reality.
To be sure, some of these attitudes may reflect tribal, reactionary instincts. Perhaps some Trump voters know, deep down, that the unemployment rate improved dramatically under President Obama, but they say the opposite solely because of their contempt for him.
This explanation, however, only goes so far. It might explain some of the polling results, but not all. Indeed, as regular readers know, the “reality gap” isn’t even new: for years, many Republicans have told pollsters they believe border security has weakened under Obama (it’s actually strengthened), the deficit has gotten bigger (it’s actually shrunk by a huge margin), and the nation’s uninsured rate has gone up (it’s actually at an all-time low).
Whatever the cause – the conservative media bubble, tribalism, fake news – this reality gap is a frustrating drag on the discourse. If those engaged in a public debate have no shared reality, then there’s no common foundation to build upon, and even less to talk about.
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There is something similar in Australia due to the historical fact of Federation in 1900. The Upper House or Senate is suppose to represent the States so each state has 12 Senators despite the fact that Tasmania population is 517,000 while NSW is over 7 and half million and Victoria is nearly 6 million.
The two territories have just 4 each but the Australia Capital territory has more than half the population of Tasmania.
Small parties have a much better chance of winning a senate seat in the smaller states.
Of course the Senate does very little support of State rights anymore.
I agree with your views about Hitler. The end of WW1 left Germany in a terrible economic position and it was quite easy for Hitler to promise to overturn many of the unfair restrictions and make Germany Great again.
Unfortunately free world trade has made life difficult for manufacturers in wealthier countries. My city was the major manufacturing area of NZ because it was the largest city in the early 20th century. There was an outcry when the government sourced rail wagons from China and now the rail workshops have closed. The large white goods manufacturer now produces overseas but have kept the design and management in the city. However we are now becoming a leader in internet based industries, helped by having a large university and being the first Gigabyte city in the Southern Hemisphere. Obviously they do not employ the same people and it is hard for some, especially those near the end of their working life and they need support. Promising to turn back the clock will not work.
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Lyle, thanks for the quote from the Atlantic article, and for the Benen article.
That "reality gap" frightens me. Of course, the Republicans have been spewing that malarkey for years. ...
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Well, I've been banned from commenting on the Breitbart site, lol! It's pretty ironic since they are always accusing the left of censoring free speech. Like Trump, they are pretty thin skinned because I made a point of being civil when commenting. It must have been my "Milo Yiannopoulos is the Zoolander of the alt-right. Blue Steel baby!" comment that did it.
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^^^
A badge of honor, maybe!
And, yes, Jeff the "reality gap" is very disconcerting. How does one find the only way to cope is to just believe
in what you want to, regardless if that has any semblance of reality.
If 73% of Trump voters believe that an individual is "paying" anti-Trump protesters, then there is no discourse. They don't
believe the concerns the protesters have are even worth discussing, because they're just doing it for money and, therefore,
they have no reason to protest otherwise.
And this is one of the poll results that I didn't mention from that article. Every group polled thought that Donald Trump needs
to release his income tax returns. Except Trump voters. A whopping 59% don't think he should ever do that. And if any sane
person is watching all the potential conflicts of interest come into focus day by day with Trump's shady business deals all over
the world, then that is the biggest stupidity of Trump voters and a huge asset for Trump. Why should he ever do the right thing
when his core support just doesn't give a flying fig?
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I accept that you are speaking with total sincerity in regards to your assessment of Trump. IMO he is brash, overtly egoistic and brags too much. Has very likely handled the truth carelessly in his days as an entrepreneur, cut corners as a businessman and has been wrong headed in involving himself in the birther controversies. He has many other flaws no doubt. Nevertheless I am prepared to cut him considerable slack on those issues for the following reasons:
- No man would run for president unless he was supremely self-confident – Trump is just more upfront about it which is part and parcel of the showman/entrepreneurial personality.
Self-confidence is a whole different ball game than being self-aware. A self-confident a-hole thinks "they know best." "What I say goes." "I alone can fix it." Just last night at one of his "Heil, Trump" rallies he told his supporters "I don't need your votes anymore." In other words, leave me alone to do what I want. I suppose his supporters took that as a positive statement when they should actually be insulted. "I know more about Isis than the Generals."
The most worrying thing about this person you support, in a very long list of worrying things that you apply slack to, is that he hasn't the time to listen to his daily intelligence briefings.
Information HERE (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-skips-intel-briefings-questions-intensify).
Trump has no experience or background in government, foreign policy, national security, or counter-terrorism. If intelligence agencies stand ready, every day, to provide him with access to classified information – walking him through international developments, answering any questions he may have, etc. – it’s to his (and our) benefit that he take the time to learn.
If Trump has time to complain about “Saturday Night Live” and attend self-indulgent rallies celebrating himself, he has time to attend intelligence briefings.
But they just don’t seem to interest the president-elect as much as they should, which leads to speculation about why. Is Trump just lazy? Does he find the briefings too boring? If officials made them more entertaining – including more pictures, playing music in the background, reading materials in funny voices – would he be more inclined to sit and listen for a while?
Or is this simply a matter of Trump not trusting U.S. intelligence agencies? And if so, who exactly will the president-elect turn to for daily security information once he’s in the Oval Office?
[...] ...it’s hard not to feel uncomfortable with these circumstances. The least experienced, least knowledgeable presidential candidate in American history – prone to believe weird conspiracy theories and disregard facts he finds inconvenient – is preparing to take office soon, and at this point, he seems passively indifferent towards security information.
The fact that Trump has no idea what he’s doing is alarming. The fact that Trump doesn’t seem eager to learn is almost certainly worse.
But, hey, give him some slack.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_russiahack-745p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.fb5730883ce0
Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House
Trying?
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But what I think is a more dire truth to the Hitler-Trump comparison is how he could actually come to power.
You will have heard of “shy Trump voters”. Why did they keep quiet? Because IMO everyone on the right of politics knows that often in the workplace and in their social circle, left wing friends and colleagues might think them morally suspect if they knew how they vote. That’s just the way it is. So it is unsurprising to me that a force of nature such as Trump, and those who support him to a lesser extent, evoke for some shades of the thirties even though I think that's over the top.
Here is a meditation on this theme penned before the election which confronts this fear of Trump head on:
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/139119223061/why-does-trump-terrify-people
“It isn’t unusual for members of the public to hate politicians. For example, lots of people hate President Obama. Some of that hatred is because of his policies, some is because of racism, and I assume there are a few other reasons. But I have never seen anyone who was literally afraid of him on a visceral level.
“Trump, on the other hand, actually scares people. I have seen people’s bodies twist up and go into full panic at the thought of him being president. I’m talking about actual, literal, bodily fear, as if a monster is already in house and you don’t know where it is hiding. Even professional members of the media feel this fear.
“And yet I feel none of that fear – not even a trace amount. To me, Trump looks like the safest candidate in the history of presidential elections, and I don’t even share his politics on a number of topics. So I have to ask myself why I have zero fear of Trump while so many others are in full panic mode. Should I be more afraid?
“I have no reason to believe my reaction to Trump is more accurate than anyone else’s. I’m not generally immune to fear – when it is real – so this is a bit of a puzzle to me. Let’s see if we can suss it out a bit.
“If fear is the topic, we can leave out the boring policy discussions such as trade negotiations and budgets. Let’s talk about the stuff that can kill you. That’s where real fear comes from.
“For starters, Trump hasn’t made much noise about cutting social programs. So I don’t think the fear is coming from that. And most people seem to think Trump would be a good choice for the economy. A strong economy keeps the social programs intact. So I don’t think the fear is coming from that domain even if you prefer another candidate’s plans.
“Healthcare is a life-and-death issue. Sanders wants universal healthcare, so does Clinton, and so does Trump. They would get to in in different ways. Sanders might be the most committed, with Clinton a strong second, but no one is doubting Trump’s ability to change minds and get things done. So in terms of execution, Trump seems like a solid bet for healthcare, assuming he makes it a priority. I don’t see the future of healthcare as a source of Trump fear, but maybe it is for some.
“Trump’s immigration plans are scary business for sure. His call to deport illegal Mexican immigrants and to temporarily ban Muslim immigration sound racist on the surface. But one layer below the surface you can see that he is consistent about protecting U.S. Citizens from non-citizens. That’s the job description of the President of the United States. If you are a citizen, Trump has the strongest immigration plan for keeping YOU safe, even if it is bad news for non-citizens.
“As I have said a number of times, Trump’s plans are designed to be opening bids to set the table for the negotiations to follow. He says that clearly and often. He even put it in writing in his book. To me, Trump sounds like the most reasonable person in the room. If you don’t start with a big ask, you aren’t the right person to be president. Bernie Sanders has big asks too, and like Trump, he probably assumes he will negotiate to something less perfect.
“All past presidents have had robust deportation programs for illegal immigrants. Trump might do more of it, and I respect any argument that says more deportations might be too much. But I don’t see any risk of legal citizens being deported. So I have trouble understanding how this topic could make legal citizens physically afraid.
“Then there’s the question of who has their finger on the button for the nuclear arsenal. Here Trump has a long history of opposing sketchy wars. At the same time – like Reagan – he wants to project maximum force to deter others from starting something. And we can see from Trump’s recent behavior that he can turn off the “bad boy” act any time he wants. He is completely honest about playing the clown for the primaries, in order to win. We have never seen a candidate this transparent.
“… The elephants in the room are race and gender. I’m the same race and gender as Trump, so I see no risk of him discriminating against people like me. But to women and minorities, he probably seems unpredictable, unsympathetic, and powerful. That’s the scariest combo.
“Unpredictable people with no power are no problem. People with power who act in predictable ways can be avoided. And sympathetic people can generally be trusted. But an intentionally unpredictable person with great power and no love for political correctness is scary as hell.
“I have predicted that Trump’s unpredictability would become predictable over time, and less scary as a result. We see that already. The press now understands his “act” and how it is engineered for the primaries. And Trump has revealed in his New Hampshire victory speech and in other ways that he can turn off the act at will. Once the public sees that pattern enough, Trump will seem predictable. He always seemed predictable to me. You probably see his patterns now too.
"On the empathy dimension, Trump is slowly decoupling the idea of political correctness from empathy. He shows empathy in his own ways, but makes sure you know a joke is still a joke. Unless you are a huge pussy. You can hate Trump’s sense of humor and his insensitive ways. But you will also get used to it. And when you do, you’ll no longer see it as a lack of empathy. Because it isn’t. …
“…Where I grew up, in upstate New York, empathy looks exactly like Trump. Political correctness wasn’t a thing when I grew up, and probably isn’t a thing in my old hometown today. If you’re trying to “make America great” or anything productive at all, you’re 100% empathetic according to the way I was raised. Anything else is posture. Where I grew up, you have to be useful or go home. Trump is trying to be useful. That’s empathy, according to my people.
“You see Trump’s ambitions as coming from narcissism and ego. Every famous person has a bit of that. But I can tell you as a protestant-raised kid from New York, where emotions go to hide forever inside people’s bodies, that Trump’s approach is what passes for empathy for white, New York protestants. If we’re trying to be useful, it’s because we care.”
Trump will privilege American citizens be they black white or brindle - rather than people of a particular race or religion. This is but one aspect of his mantra America First.
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So why do you think people are afraid of Trump? Did I hit all the reasons?
He didn't hit all the reasons. Trump's choice for head of the EPA scares the hell out of me.
Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general, has spent six years waging war against the EPA's climate and clean air initiatives. He's often done so in close coordination with the fossil fuel industry, which has given him nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions during his political career. And like Trump, Pruitt has dismissed the world's most daunting environmental challenge, rejecting the overwhelming scientific consensus that human beings are heating the planet by burning coal, oil and natural gas.
Pruitt has fought President Obama's climate and clean air regulations, usually decrying them as federal overreach and too costly to businesses and energy consumers. He unsuccessfully sued the EPA over a 2011 rule to limit emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants, which the agency estimates will save up to 11,000 lives and prevent 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 asthma attacks per year. More recently, he sued the EPA over a regulation designed to reduce the amount of smog-forming, lung-damaging ozone in the air. That case is pending.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/12/09/trumps-epa-pick-rejects-climate-science-fights-fossil-fuels/95231986/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/12/09/trumps-epa-pick-rejects-climate-science-fights-fossil-fuels/95231986/)
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^^^
You can multiply that example by 100, Nancy.
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MM, "shy Trump voters?" Another reality Trump voters use to play victim. There's absolutely no
evidence of shy Trump voters.
You chose to disregard the reality Trump voters have displayed in the PPP survey and post one man's position. You can always find a Trump apologist, MM, and you found a huge one. I read some other things on that Scott Adams blog. He thinks that "anti-Trumpers are living in an illusion".
And yet, look at the PPP survey I wrote about. Trump voters believe in things that simply are NOT true. They disagree with things that are "facts." So, who's in an illusory world? As a supporter of DT, he also neglects to write about the fear expressed by Trump supporters all throughout the campaign of HRC becoming President and their belief in fake news stories about her that have casued people to express their desire to rise up and storm the country if she were to be elected. So, really, give me a break. Everything that bothers people about Trump, Scott Adams just says, "You'll get used to it."
This, above anything, describes why he likes Trump, he's just like him, a lite version of him: "Scott Adams has likely failed at more things than anyone you’ve ever met, including his corporate career, his inventions, his investments, and two restaurants. So how did he go from hapless office worker to great success in just a few years? Read 'How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.'"
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^^^
By the way, I am also a white, protestant from upstate New York. He does not speak for me.
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I see by my morning newspaper that Rick Perry, who proposed eliminating the U.S. Department of Energy, is under consideration by the President-elect to head that department.
Talk about the inmates running the asylum. ...
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^^^
It seems that almost everyone he is picking for a cabinet position doesn't like the
department they're heading or has no experience in the field.
Like the Secretary of Labor, supposedly a department with the best interest of the workers
and voters who supported this administration, who doesn't support a minimum wage of any
amount much less raising it.
The people he is picking seem ready to harm the very people that voted for Trump, but the stars in their eyes for their beloved con man in chief is their political version of the actual opioids this group is said to be hooked on. (As reported during the Primary season.)
________________________
As for the news about Russia helping to elect Trump, can you imagine the outcry from Republicans
if Hillary had won and then Trump received 3 million more votes than she and then there was news
that Russia had been trying to help get her elected? But we're supposed to give him a chance?
The Tainted Election
A New York Times opinion piece.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/opinion/the-tainted-election.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/opinion/the-tainted-election.html?action=click&contentCollection=Movies&module=Trending&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article)
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It seems that almost everyone he is picking for a cabinet position doesn't like the
department they're heading or has no experience in the field.
I suppose that's one way to destroy something: Put someone in charge of it who hates it.
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Meanwhile in the rest of the world. ;D
New Zealand has a new Prime Minister. John Key resigned last week because he did not feel he could face another full term, we have elections sometime next year. I was not a great fan. While he grew up in a State House, he has been a merchant banker in new York and has oodles of cash. He was very much mister nice guy. Holidays every Christmas in Hawaii where he plays golf with Obama. He has received praise for giving up the top job in his own time. Has not happened in Australia for 49 years. They either lose an election or their party overthrows them in mid-office over there.
I did not agree with him on economics but he did allow a free vote for Same-sex marriage and voted in favour himself. Again, unlike Australia. I have to admit that the NZ economy is doing very well now, much better than Australia. The only downsides has been repairing after earthquakes fro which you cannot blame the government.
The new Prime Minister has been the deputy under John Key for 8 years. He is a traditional Catholic, one of 12 kids and has 6 kids of his own. His wife has a low profile but campaigns against abortion and euthanasia and he voted against same-sex marriage. However yesterday in a news conference he "revealed he would vote in favour of same-sex marriage if another vote was held, saying he has witnessed the positive impact it has had on gay couples in New Zealand.
Mr English also said he would not use his prime ministerial position to push through or lobby for socially conservative changes in New Zealand.
He was chosen as the party's new leader after a short caucus meeting yesterday morning, and was sworn in as Prime Minister at Government House yesterday afternoon.
Speaking after the caucus meeting, Mr English said he was an "active Catholic and proud of it''. But while his Catholic faith was an important influence, it did not define him, he said.
He said his opposition to euthanasia and abortion remained the same. But his position on gay marriage had changed.
"I'd probably vote differently now on the gay marriage issue. I don't think that gay marriage is a threat to anyone else's marriage.''
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Sounds positive. Good.
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Well guys,
It was a bit nostalgic posting at DC again. My intention was to go some way towards explaining the seeming unexplainable not with the aim of making it acceptable to you nor to troll. In return you have well explained the basis of your misgivings.
In the meantime ... hold on to your hats - it's going to be a bumpy ride for everyone - not just Americans either!
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year and have confidence in the checks and balances instituted by your Founding Fathers :)
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Hello Brian
Mr. English says that his religion does not define him and he would vote for same sex marriage next time. As a women, I am appalled that he votes against abortion. It's not a subject that he as a male should have any say about (when male pregnancy becomes a reality, then he may). Mine is not the popular view, I know, and I'm an old, white woman.
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I also come from the day and age that pregnancy was the most terrible thing ever to happen to the girl (the slut) and the family was shamed.
My sister and I escaped the shame but our mother who was married in 1938 was pregnant. Fortunetly our father did marry (for 62yrs), our mother. Now, thank goodness, no one cares. In my age group, I'm surprised at how many women I know whose husbands are not the fathers of their first child. I also ask men I know how many children they have, their wives would be very surprised. All this hiding in the name of religion that was waiting to shame us all.
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Hi Bentgyro
I completely agree with you. I was just reporting Bill English's views. and the fact that he had changed his views on same-sex marriage. His party, now in Government never gets my vote. Another member of parliament who is gay was quite scathing of his change of views now that the law has been passed several years ago. I also advocate for euthanasia to be allowed. There is a committee of parliament discussing this now and I signed the petition for it.
I always give my vote to the Green Party which advocates for free access to abortion by all women up to the 20th week. At the moment in NZ there is de facto access to this because the law allows 2 doctors, one a gynaecologist to allow it if the woman's mental health is at risk but the Green Party says this often unnecessarily delays women from having an abortion.
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Any minute now it'll be Kim Kardashian for Secretary for Culture.
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I also come from the day and age that pregnancy was the most terrible thing ever to happen to the girl (the slut) and the family was shamed.
My sister and I escaped the shame but our mother who was married in 1938 was pregnant. Fortunetly our father did marry (for 62yrs), our mother.
My eldest uncle was born before my grandparents were married. My grandfather was his father, but still. ... I remember hearing that my mother learned this from a gossipy neighbor when Mother was still a child, and she was quite upset. My grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary was quietly ignored because of this.
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Any minute now it'll be Kim Kardashian for Secretary for Culture.
LOL Janie!
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My eldest uncle was born before my grandparents were married. My grandfather was his father, but still. ... I remember hearing that my mother learned this from a gossipy neighbor when Mother was still a child, and she was quite upset. My grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary was quietly ignored because of this.
How sad that is, Jeff. So what date would that have been - their fiftieth?
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I have trouble and have largely given up researching my ancestry on my mother's side. I could not find the birth records for my grandfather until a researcher in the farming community suggested using his mother's maiden name. By the time of his marriage he had the name of his "father" which was my mother's maiden name but there is no mention of him as progeny in the death notice of that man. So I do not know if that man was my actual great grandfather or not. He never married my great grandmother.
To get my first passport in 1974 I only needed the shortened version of my birth certificate but I let it lapse and needed a new passport in 1996. I had to obtain the full version and was shocked to discover I was the third child of my parents. I rang my sister and said "I know about you, who is this other?"
She told me we had an older sister who only lived 2 days but was born within 9 months of my parents' marriage in 1930. Of course, she was most likely premature but I was told never to speak to my mother about her (my father had already died). She was buried in the same grave as my grandfather was later buried and there was no headstone but we remedied that after my mother's death with both names inscribed. So different today when children are often the attendants at their parents' marriage.
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Kanye West Visits Donald Trump as President-Elect Says They’ve Been Friends for a ‘Long Time’
http://people.com/music/kanye-west-visits-donald-trump-as-president-elect-says-theyve-been-friends-for-a-long-time/
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” the 70-year-old business mogul told reporters as he posed for photos with the rapper. He added that the pair met to discuss “life.”
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Kanye West Visits Donald Trump as president-elect Says They’ve Been Friends for a ‘Long Time'
He says "everything."
No time for security briefings Mister p-e?
Now the p-e has announced his secretary of state will be the head of Exxon Mobil. Another person with no government
experience, elected or otherwise, no policy experience in foreign relations except that Putin awarded the guy the highest
honor Russia can bestow on a non-citizen. Sounds promising.
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Well guys,
It was a bit nostalgic posting at DC again. My intention was to go some way towards explaining the seeming unexplainable not with the aim of making it acceptable to you nor to troll. In return you have well explained the basis of your misgivings.
In the meantime ... hold on to your hats - it's going to be a bumpy ride for everyone - not just Americans either!
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year and have confidence in the checks and balances instituted by your Founding Fathers :)
I do appreciate the give and take you have brought us about this the past couple weeks, believe it or not. You have stated many of your concerns about policies and positions that you'd like to see turned a focus on and in those I understand why you and others may have supported a candidate to address those and possibly take action on. My problem with Trump supporters in that regard is, and has always been, that he is not the right vessel for the job. I always explain it this way: "If you need to have an operation you hire a surgeon, not a chef. If your Mercedes-Benz needs an overhaul you take it to a qualified mechanic, not a magician." And this doesn't even address his abhorrent, and seemingly boundless less than stellar, personal qualities. I, for one, never trust people too much who have no sense of humor. The fact that Trump voters are willing to overlook all that, or simply just do not care about it, or, worse, don't see the danger or actively want to throw a Molotov cocktail into our presidency, and have raised this Forrest Gump creature into the ether is still unexplainable to me.
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And you have people who react to the election in this manner.
http://www.joemygod.com/2016/12/13/arizona-man-storms-lgbt-friendly-church-claims-trump-gave-permission-scream-abuse/
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^^^^^^
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cc-SsNwUMAEl7kR.jpg)
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How sad that is, Jeff. So what date would that have been - their fiftieth?
That was years and years ago, the early 1970s.
My mother was the fifth of eight children, and she was born in 1930.
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(https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15400939_10154840581726800_8807854495544601076_n.jpg?oh=22a60b31d3641ad272bab86b223dc493&oe=58E4947A)
Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses the racial barriers President Obama had to overcome. http://on.cc.com/2gKbU2l
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Pathetic...and no idea why the threats were made 1/10, yet the arrest wasn't made until 12/12..
Florida woman charged with threatening Sandy Hook parent over hoax conspiracy theory
A Florida woman has been charged with making death threats against the parent of a child killed in the Sandy Hook school massacre because she thought the attack was a hoax, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
Lucy Richards, 57, of Tampa was arrested Monday after a grand jury indictment on four felony counts of transmitting threats, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
The threats were made Jan. 10, according to authorities, and included messages that said, "you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon," and "LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH."
Another threat said, "there's nothing you can do about it," according to court documents.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-florida-sandy-hook-hoax-20161207-story.html (http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-florida-sandy-hook-hoax-20161207-story.html)
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Donald Trump's family will be the main attraction at a fundraiser the day after the inauguration, celebrating hunters, shooters and fishermen who probably pushed Trump over the line in November.
TMZ obtained a draft of the invite for "Opening Day," a massive party that will be thrown at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in D.C.
The attire is "Camouflage & Cufflinks ... Jeans, boots and hats are welcome."
Now, here's what you get ... for a price.
-- BALD EAGLE PACKAGE ... a private reception for 16 guests to rub elbows with Donald J. Trump. The package includes a "multi-day hunting and/or fishing excursion for 4 guests with Donald Trump Jr. and/or Eric Trump." You also get 85 VIP guest tickets to the event. Price: $1 MILLION.
-- GRIZZLY BEAR PACKAGE ... private reception for 8 people to meet and greet Donald J. Trump. The hunting/fishing trip is also part of the package. It's a scaled-down version of the Bald Eagle Package. Price: $500,000.
There are other packages as well. As for the entertainment, Alabama and Toby Keith will perform.
Our sources say it's still not clear if President Trump will attend ... they're all working on the details, and if he's not there it could affect price. That said, the event is legit and the Trump family is behind it.
Our sources say "Opening Day" is being thrown to thank the hunting, shooting and fishing communities for their support. It's something mainstream media didn't cover, but Donald Trump Jr. and others spent a lot of time in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Iowa ... all states with a huge population of hunters, fishermen and gun enthusiasts.
Our Trump sources believe these people came out in force and made the difference in the election.
Proceeds will be distributed to conservation charities.
http://www.tmz.com/2016/12/16/donald-trump-inauguration-party/
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Donald Trump stole the election with the help of Vladimir Putin.
Hey, if Trump's supporters can believe what they want to without regard for reality, why can't I? ;)
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The day after I'll be participating in a demonstration on the mall, with neighbors.
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Our sources say "Opening Day" is being thrown to thank the hunting, shooting and fishing communities for their support...
how are they gonna thank the skinheads, burn a cross on somebody's lawn?
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Maybe on the White House lawn. That would be quite a statement.
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there are worse things for kids to believe in than Santa...
Preacher to kids at mall: 'Santa Claus does not exist'
An Alaskan street preacher, driven by a philosophical beef with Santa Claus, invaded a Christmas village in Texas and tried to dash the holiday whimsy of children waiting to see old Saint Nick.
"There is no such thing as Santa Claus," David Grisham told the line of children at the Westgate Mall in Amarillo on Saturday afternoon. "Santa Claus does not exist. The Christmas season is about Jesus."
The 56-year-old said he went to the mall to preach the real Biblical meaning behind Christmas and expose Santa Claus as a falsehood. He also shouted there is no flying reindeer or workshop of elves making presents in the North Pole. Rather, he told the children, parents buy all their gifts at the mall.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/12/13/preacher-children-santa-claus-does-not-exist/95371826/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/12/13/preacher-children-santa-claus-does-not-exist/95371826/)
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The day after I'll be participating in a demonstration on the mall, with neighbors.
Good for you, Fritz!
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Donald Trump stole the election with the help of Vladimir Putin.
Hey, if Trump's supporters can believe what they want to without regard for reality, why can't I? ;)
Except this reality has a basis in fact, whereas Trump's supporters believe insane things, like Trump's newly appointed deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, Monica Crowley, who, in June of 2008, while candidate Barack Obama was heading toward the nomination: "claimed Obama is not black, and that he’s lying by presenting himself as African-American."
But Trump saw her on TV...have you noticed how many of Trump's hires have been Fox News contributors or worked for them entirely? As Trump said when confronted with a lie he was espousing early in his campaign and asked by a reporter where he got the information, "Well, I read it online." Then asked where he gets his information about Government topics he said, "I watch the news shows." And he meant on Fox news, which is where numerous appointments are coming from.
During the last year I read a lot of election related articles. I was not so successful in avoiding the comment sections afterwards where Trump supporters would say the most offensive things or comments that seemed like they got their information from some opioid induced reality. Trump's impending ascent to the helm of our Government seems to have given them permission to unleash their inner whacko and become even more offensive, and the most insane things are now being spewed as truths that they actually think are real. And they still cannot leave Hillary alone, they really do want to see her locked up...and that's the mildest thing of note in that regard. These people reference George Soros so much that I asked several of my HRC voting friends if they know who he was and most of them didn't even know the name, much less who he is. This idea that the internet would open people's minds to new wisdom and truth and knowledge has actually just made people of like minds come together and feel like their insanity is normal. Remember when we were in grade school and the teacher would keep these people apart and separate them from sitting together to keep some semblance of order in tact and not let anarchy erupt very often. Well, the internet has brought all of these people together.
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And this just in: Trump is considering hiring Sylvester Stallone to chair the National Endowment for the Arts. :)
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And this just in: Trump is considering hiring Sylvester Stallone to chair the National Endowment for the Arts. :)
http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/World/2016/12/16/22690782-wenn-story.html
Apparently not true, but seems they are good friends, which I didn't know...
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It seems to me that BOTH of these things can be true unless I've forgotten how to comprehend an article while reading it.
Trump is considering hiring Sylvester Stallone to chair the National Endowment for the Arts.
From the article:
“No decision has been made here yet,” a Republican National Committee representative tells Fox News.
-
Sylvester Stallone said that while he is “flattered” to be considered for an arts post by President-elect Donald Trump, he believes he’ll be more effective working for veterans.
In a statement released by his publicist on Sunday, Stallone said that he was “incredibly flattered to have been suggested to be involved with the National Endowment of the Arts. However I believe I could be more effective by bringing national attention to returning military personnel in an effort to find gainful employment, suitable housing and financial assistance these heroes respectfully deserve.”
http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/sylvester-stallone-donald-trump-national-endowment-for-the-arts-1201945032/
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Zsa Zsa Gabor, who many argue pioneered the business of being a celebrity and paved the way for socialite stars like the Kardashians, has died at age 99.
Multiple reports suggest she died of a possible heart attack at her Los Angeles home Sunday, two months away from her 100th birthday.
Born Sari Gabor in Budapest, Hungary, she fled Europe during the Second World War in 1941 to join her younger sister, Eva, also an actor, in the United States...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/zsa-zsa-gabor-dead-1.3902595
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Zsa Zsa Gabor, who many argue pioneered the business of being a celebrity and paved the way for socialite stars like the Kardashians, has died at age 99.
Multiple reports suggest she died of a possible heart attack at her Los Angeles home Sunday, two months away from her 100th birthday.
Born Sari Gabor in Budapest, Hungary, she fled Europe during the Second World War in 1941 to join her younger sister, Eva, also an actor, in the United States...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/zsa-zsa-gabor-dead-1.3902595
I always thought Eva was prettier. ... ::)
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Trump is tweeting like a child about the drone incident with China.
Well, his favorite game show is "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader."
There are fifth graders I would trust with the presidency more than
this abomination. That's a term I'm going to use often, I'm guessing:
the Trump administration abomination.
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Well, the electoral college is voting in each state today. People were trying to hope that they'd come to their senses and do what this thing was designed to do in the first place, prevent abominations like Donald J. Trump from setting foot anywhere near the seat of Government, but like many of our institutions, it's been a feeble excuse for which it was intended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ragMBCzPA
We got G. W. Bush out of it, who now seems like an Einstein compared to what we now have in store for us. Because much of the population of the U.S. now moves around a lot and usually toward cities and population centers, this electoral college scenario could very well play out again and again if not overcome.
So, unless an addendum from any Secretary of State is filed before the first week of January when today's electoral college votes are made official the first week of January, in a count in Congress with the Vice-President officiating, then Hillary Clinton's National Presidential Vote total lead will be 2,864,978 votes. 48.2% to 46.1%. It's a sad state of affairs when 77,744 votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania combined lost HRC the election when overall she received 2,787,234 more than that in this country.
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Donald Trump has cruised to victory in the Electoral College despite thousands of anti-Trump protesters who converged on state capitols across the country.
Monday's vote ensures that the billionaire will become America's 45th president.
Texas put the Republican president-elect over the 270-vote threshold. Electors had been deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support Trump. Two Texas electors cast protest votes against Trump, but in the end he had more than he needed....
https://ca.yahoo.com/news/latest-trump-35-electoral-votes-163143590.html
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^^^^^^
You do like to rub it in, don't you? By choosing to quote that Trump "cruised to victory" you
seem to imply (and enjoy) your own admiration (and normalization) of Donald Trump and if
that's the case, then why don't you admit it here now. You've quoted enough stories about
him and his family, after all. Why else would you quote the news that we all knew would
happen yesterday, but have dreaded?
On Monday night, Trump issued a statement saying, "today marks a historic electoral landslide victory in our nation's democracy." He also tweeted out "We did it. Just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media)."
Such a man of tact, grace and vision. He cannot even be gracious in his election. He cannot even be truthful. In fact, in nearly 80 percent of previous presidential elections, the winning candidate earned a larger share of the electoral vote than Trump. And even more percent than that actually had more votes than their opponent. You lost the national vote Donald. You're a loser. I will not let you forget it, since you continually lie about it (in his case "it" means "everything").
___
Lola, Bubba, Pepee, you can have two more chances to quote "he cruised to victory" coming up:
There are two more steps in the process. States will submit a "certificate of vote" to the Federal Register by Dec. 28. Then, on Jan. 6, Congress will formally tally the Electoral College's votes in a joint session and make it official.
Ironic...January 6th: Epiphany. Too bad Epiphany didn't occur on November 8th.
All hail the Pig/Pence Administration Abomination.
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The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen, is a short tale about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, no one dares to say that they don't see any suit of clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as "unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent". Finally, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!"
We are currently living a real life version of this.
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Finally...a use for Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqJRBdmmbZg
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^^^^^^
You do like to rub it in, don't you? By choosing to quote that Trump "cruised to victory" you
seem to imply (and enjoy) your own admiration (and normalization) of Donald Trump and if
that's the case, then why don't you admit it here now. You've quoted enough stories about
him and his family, after all. Why else would you quote the news that we all knew would
happen yesterday, but have dreaded?
On Monday night, Trump issued a statement saying, "today marks a historic electoral landslide victory in our nation's democracy." He also tweeted out "We did it. Just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media)."
Such a man of tact, grace and vision. He cannot even be gracious in his election. He cannot even be truthful. In fact, in nearly 80 percent of previous presidential elections, the winning candidate earned a larger share of the electoral vote than Trump. And even more percent than that actually had more votes than their opponent. You lost the national vote Donald. You're a loser. I will not let you forget it, since you continually lie about it (in his case "it" means "everything").
___
Lola, Bubba, Pepee, you can have two more chances to quote "he cruised to victory" coming up:
There are two more steps in the process. States will submit a "certificate of vote" to the Federal Register by Dec. 28. Then, on Jan. 6, Congress will formally tally the Electoral College's votes in a joint session and make it official.
Ironic...January 6th: Epiphany. Too bad Epiphany didn't occur on November 8th.
All hail the Pig/Pence Administration Abomination.
Lyle you are losing it buddy. I quoted a news story, a story that yes you have been talking about for a month... I didn't say sailed to victory, the article did.
And my name is not Pepee, it's Pepe as I explained to you in a message.
And I hate to burst your bubble, but Trump isn't listening to you. He will be the next President of the United States. Try to move on, enjoy your holidays and your life.
As for me, I keep telling you I have no feelings about him one way or another, he isn't my President, I have a Prime Minister, one I actually like.
Now in other news, and yes there is other news going on in the world, which I do post, but the only responses seem to be the political ones.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4054140/How-German-police-bungled-hunt-Europe-s-wanted-man-Asylum-seeker-23-wrongly-blamed-Christmas-market-massacre-jumping-red-light.html
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^^^
I guess what you don't seem to realize is that when you choose to post something, you are saying
something about yourself. Unless you are just randomly looking for anything to post whether
you are interested in it or not, and that also says something about you.
As for me, I keep telling you I have no feelings about him one way or another, he isn't my President.
Really? Everyone on earth has an opinion on this guy and you haven't formed any opinion about him? At all?
If one cannot be sure whether you post anything you want to discuss or not, or that you want to talk about or
that you even care about in one way or another, I guess there is no point in responding to them.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4054140/How-German-police-bungled-hunt-Europe-s-wanted-man-Asylum-seeker-23-wrongly-blamed-Christmas-market-massacre-jumping-red-light.html
Just posted a story I was interested "again", but again you chose to respond on Trump.
Trump has been a household name for decades, and I could have taken him or left him. Did I think he was ever going to be President, no! Do I think he seems Presidential, no! Will he make a good President of the U.S., I couldn't tell ya, I am going to let him get in office first and go from there.
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Finally...a use for Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqJRBdmmbZg
Heh!
Does anyone remember an early 1960's Disney film (it might have been made for the Sunday night
Disney program) called "Sammy, the Way-Out Seal?" It was a childhood favorite of mine, I guess,
because I was the age of the boys in it and there was lots of slapstick. About ten years ago I came
across a VHS of it, so I got it and watched it again. One of the stars in it was Robert Culp and the
next day I went to the grocery store and who did I run into in an aisle? Robert Culp! I told him that
it was odd because I'd just seen him in that film the night before. His response was something about the
experience being kind of negative and Disney being really "cheap." I just replied that it was a childhood
favorite of mine and said "thank you." Which reminds one that just because we like a work that an artist
of any kind is involved with, the experience for them may not hold the same sentiments and their reaction
to the public may not be what we might want!
I remember the writer Larry Gelbart being interviewed on PBS once. He was asked about the film Tootsie
that he was involved with. He responded by saying that he understands that the film is held in high regard
and that most people seem to love it and all, but for him, the experience working on it was so horrendous
that he cannot share that viewpoint and so he doesn't discuss it any further.
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Will he make a good President of the U.S., I couldn't tell ya,
"I guess when you see red flags you just think there's a parade going on."
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"I guess when you see red flags you just think there's a parade going on."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVus6eJA1yI
:)
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38392128
ANIS AMRI
6 Aliasis....refused asylum....known follower of ISIS....crime sheet as long as your arm in his own country......arrested a number of times and questioned about involvement and support of ISIS.....and STILL they let him loose.His papers were found under the seat of the lorry that ploughed into Berlin's Christmas Market 24 hours AFTER the police had "checked" out the lorry.Even before this he was branded "most wanted" for above reasons and others. Germany's Police Force and Immigration Services are now branded totally incompetent.
I think I have to agree.
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I have to agree as well, Sue!
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Earlier this month, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah plan to reintroduce an embattled bill that barely gained a House hearing in 2015. But this time around, they said, the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) was likely to succeed due to a Republican-controlled House and the backing of President-elect Donald Trump.
First Amendment Defense Act Would Be 'Devastating' for LGBTQ Americans
by Mary Emily O'Hara / NBC News
The language of the bill positions the right to discriminate against one class of Americans as a "first amendment" right, and bans the government from taking any form of action to curb such discrimination—including withholding federal funds from institutions that discriminate. FADA allows individuals and businesses to sue the federal government for interfering in their right to discriminate against LGBTQ people and would mandate the Attorney General defend the businesses. Senator Lee's spokesperson said the election of Trump had cleared a path for the passage of FADA.
_____________________
To paraphrase Allan Sherman's classic tune:
Goodbye DOMA, Hello FADA,
Donald's sitting in Trump Towah
Trump is very entertaining
And they say we'll have some fun if he stops reigning.
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CRAZY people! :o
http://www.tmz.com/2016/12/22/ivanka-trump-flight/
Ivanka Trump just had a bumpy start to her Xmas holiday ... an out-of-control passenger on her flight began verbally berating her and "jeering" at her 3 kids.
Ivanka was on a JetBlue flight leaving JFK Thursday morning with her family when a passenger started screaming, "Your father is ruining the country." The guy went on, "Why is she on our flight. She should be flying private." The guy had his kid in his arms as he went on the tirade.
A passenger on the flight tells TMZ Ivanka ignored the guy and tried distracting her kids with crayons.
JetBlue personnel escorted the unruly passenger off the flight. As he was removed he screamed, "You're kicking me off for expressing my opinion?!!"
BTW ... Ivanka, her family and bunch of cousins were all in coach.
update_graphic_red_bar
8:35 AM PT -- JetBlue just released a statement, saying, "The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. If the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs the risk of escalation during flight. Our team worked to re-accommodate the party on the next available flight."
7:48 AM PT -- The husband of the unruly passenger tweeted an hour before the plane took off, "Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them."
-
Earlier this month, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah plan to reintroduce an embattled bill that barely gained a House hearing in 2015. But this time around, they said, the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) was likely to succeed due to a Republican-controlled House and the backing of President-elect Donald Trump.
First Amendment Defense Act Would Be 'Devastating' for LGBTQ Americans
by Mary Emily O'Hara / NBC News
The language of the bill positions the right to discriminate against one class of Americans as a "first amendment" right, and bans the government from taking any form of action to curb such discrimination—including withholding federal funds from institutions that discriminate. FADA allows individuals and businesses to sue the federal government for interfering in their right to discriminate against LGBTQ people and would mandate the Attorney General defend the businesses. Senator Lee's spokesperson said the election of Trump had cleared a path for the passage of FADA.
This sort of thing doesn't surprise me at all. It's what I've been fearing since Election Day.
It's only a matter of time before someone tries to overturn marriage equality.
Supreme Court decisions have been overturned in the past.
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CRAZY people! :o
Yes, read all the comments on that post from Trump supporters bashing gay people (the person in question on the plane)
and anyone that doesn't salute their new fuhrer. They are crazy indeed. And they now feel they have permission to
come out from under their rocks and then probably hurl them at us.
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Yes, read all the comments on that post from Trump supporters bashing gay people (the person in question on the plane)
and anyone that doesn't salute their new fuhrer. They are crazy indeed. And they now feel they have permission to
come out from under their rocks and then probably hurl them at us.
Interesting. So it actually was a gay male couple with a child. I was wondering if that mention of "the husband of the unruly passenger" was a mistake, or not.
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Well, since I'm about to head out to spend Christmas with my dad, this morning I suddenly thought of a "hot topic" that maybe wasn't so hot this year, with everything else going on.
I can only speak for myself, but I haven't heard, or seen, or read one thing this year about "The War on Christmas"!
Have a lovely holiday weekend, everyone!
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Thanks, Jeff, you too! Is your Dad also in Pennsylvania? Wow, you are able to still spend time with your Dad!
I hope that's a good thing for you. If so, enjoy, many of us wish we could do the same.
Yes, the War on Christmas b.s. has been muted this year, though it's been noted that's why Trump wants all his
victory tour "Heil Hitler" rallies to be decorated with Christmas trees and he is purposely saying "Merry Christmas"
at each one of them about a thousand times.
The 2016 Right Wing Watch War On Christmas Gift Guide
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-2016-right-wing-watch-war-on-christmas-gift-guide/
Oooh...here's an item for your celebration:
Merry Trumpas: Trump's been trying to get his supporters into the Christmas spirit during his multistate victory tour, even speaking in Mobile, Alabama, in front of a giant cedar tree that was cut down from a public park solely so it could be used at his rally, angering most residents. With Christmas becoming part of the Trump brand, it is only fitting that the president-elect’s campaign has released a “Make America Great Again Red Cap Collectible Ornament.” For the reasonable price of $99, you too can remember what Christmas is all about: Trump!
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fmagaorn.jpg&hash=fe75d31aaa07ca355c2350b4e3fd6ff0fde4f8ba)
The article says $99, but this ad says $149.00. On Amazon it's $250!
___________________________
About cutting down that tree, a Trump bedazzled city official replied:
In preparing for this event, I worked closely with the advance team. In an effort to make sure every detail was covered and the expectations of the President-Elect's team were exceeded, I became overzealous. I now know there are citizens who are upset and offended that a tree from a City park was used as part of the decorations for the event. I accept full responsibility for having this done.
For this, I sincerely apologize. Going forward, I will be more sensitive to the spectrum of concerns regarding trees."
- Colby Cooper, Chief of Staff, City of Mobile
Seems Colby's got Trumpilepsy.
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Hi, Jeff & Co.!
Interesting. So it actually was a gay male couple with a child. I was wondering if that mention of "the husband of the unruly passenger" was a mistake, or not.
Sure looks like it:
A gay couple was kicked off a JetBlue flight after they were accused of “harassing” Ivanka Trump about her father’s upcoming presidency.
Matthew Lasner and Dan Goldstein were boarding a JetBlue flight home for the holidays when they noticed the future First Daughter on the plane, along with her husband Jared Kushner. Goldstein, a lawyer, decided to challenge Trump about her father.
(https://ultimatebrokebackforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimageslogotv-a.akamaihd.net%2F%2Furi%2Fmgid%3Afile%3Ahttp%3Ashared%3Anewnownext.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F12%2FScreen-Shot-2016-12-22-at-3.19.36-PM-1482438033.png%3Fquality%3D0.8%26amp%3Bformat%3Djpg%26amp%3Bwidth%3D600&hash=b72b2ad6d648e14de5a125d92a6701cb1eada91e)
http://www.newnownext.com/gay-couple-booted-off-jetblue-flight-for-harassing-ivanka-trump/12/2016/
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Hi, Jeff,
It's only a matter of time before someone tries to overturn marriage equality.
Supreme Court decisions have been overturned in the past.
Yep, things could get scary in the coming months.
I saw this article a while back, on romper.com:
Can Trump Repeal Same-Sex Marriage? The Answer Is Complicated
Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election has created a culture of fear within the LGBTQ community, members of which are worried about what the election results could mean for them after years of enjoying political gains during the presidency of Barack Obama.
"...Overturning same-sex marriage can only happen in one of three ways, according to Reference.com:
1. States themselves can amend the Constitution, which requires approval by three-fourths of all state legislatures
2. The Supreme Court can overrule itself by revisiting same-sex marriage due to a new conflict that pertains to the original Obergefell v. Hodges decision
3. On rare occasions, Congress can address a Supreme Court ruling it doesn't agree with by passing new legislation to counter the legal precedent
It is important to note, however, that President-elect Trump can easily nullify existing executive orders pertaining to the LGBT community, such as the aforementioned guidance on transgender facilities in schools. He could also decide that LGBTQ people can no longer serve in the military..."
Fingers crossed.
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7:48 AM PT -- The husband of the unruly passenger tweeted an hour before the plane took off, "Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them."
That still sounds crazy to me!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4060308/Ivanka-Trump-family-escorted-Secret-Service-JetBlue-plane-passengers-ushered-waiting-private-jet-bound-Hawaii-accosted-father-flight-took-screaming-lawyer.html
Here is more on the story!
also:
'When the JetBlue staff went back to speak to the man I overheard Ivanka say to them 'I don't want to make this a thing.' My assessment is that she was happy to let the man take his seat. Security made a different call.'
Any way having a husband who just flew four times in the last three weeks, I am not a fan of any kind of commotion/altercations on planes, it is not the time for it.
-
In this case I do agree, it only plays into the opposition's hands.
Two nights ago a man blew a van up outside a Right wing Christian group's offices in Canberra, anti-same sex marriage and anti-abortion. He is in a serious condition in the hospital burns ward. The police are saying it was not political or religious motivation. It seems he was just a nutcase. Fortunately it was at 9pm and the offices were empty.
The group of course is playing it up as victimisation and saying it is a result of hate speech against them.
In my city there is an archdeacon who is virulently anti gay. I saw him in a coffee shop one day and while I ignored him, I wrote on my blog that I felt like throwing my coffee over him but that would be a waste of good coffee. One of the church blogs picked it up and spread my comment over NZ Anglican church blogs. My vicar made no comment (he never does) but the curate asked to have a meeting with me. After telling him my past history (we had never really said much more than good morning before), he was sympathetic and told me although he is an evangelical he is changing his mind on homosexuality. However he did criticise my statement saying the archdeacon was a brother in Christ. I just snorted.
The same archdeacon came to our church a few weeks ago. he just sat with his family in the service. If he had taken any official role, I would have walked out. He was standing right behind me at coffee but stayed safe ;D
Our bishop is retiring in April. He has been a leader in pushing for gay rights in the church. I am afraid this archdeacon may be campaigning for the job. If he gets it, I will leave. However I think he is too extreme for most of the people in our diocese which already has a few both open and known only to a few, including the bishop, Gay and Lesbian priests.
Anyway my long message just reinforces that we must be careful as the Right wing like to play the victims at the first opportunity.
-
Carrie Fisher Massive Heart Attack on Plane
www.tmz.com/2016/12/23/carrie-fisher-heart-attack-plane/
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Got him! Anis Amri shot dead in Milan.
One more less to worry about.
Sorry....but that's the only way I can look at it.
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Carrie Fisher Massive Heart Attack on Plane
www.tmz.com/2016/12/23/carrie-fisher-heart-attack-plane/
Carrie Fisher in hospital intensive care unit after medical emergency on plane
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-4063058/Carrie-Fisher-suffers-cardiac-arrest-plane-claims-report.html#ixzz4TmMBuFXA
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Still no word, wonder how her Mom is holding up?
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Christ, 2016, quit already
Ex-Wham! singer George Michael dies
Singer George Michael has died aged 53, his publicist has said.
The star, who launched his career with Wham! in the 1980s and later continued his success as a solo performer, is said to have "passed away peacefully at home".
Thames Valley Police said South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13:42 GMT.
Police say there were no suspicious circumstances.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38432862 (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38432862)
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Thanks, Jeff, you too! Is your Dad also in Pennsylvania? Wow, you are able to still spend time with your Dad!
I hope that's a good thing for you. If so, enjoy, many of us wish we could do the same.
Yes, the War on Christmas b.s. has been muted this year, though it's been noted that's why Trump wants all his
victory tour "Heil Hitler" rallies to be decorated with Christmas trees and he is purposely saying "Merry Christmas"
at each one of them about a thousand times.
Thanks, Lyle. Yes, Dad is in my home town in Pennsylvania. I've had a nice long visit with him, though I think I spoke too soon about "no War on Christmas." The local newspaper in my home town was full of that nonsense. :(
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I saw Carrie Fisher on the Today show last month, and I remember thinking she didn't look well. No offense--she was only two years older than me, but I thought she looked a lot older, and her voice was very deep and husky.
But still, I'm really, really saddened by her death.
And George Michael. I never heard a song of his that I disliked. I was always impressed that his voice was so clear; you could here every word of the lyrics. And back in the ancient days of the early 1980s--oh, Lordy, would I have gone there!
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And George Michael. I never heard a song of his that I disliked. I was always impressed that his voice was so clear; you could here every word of the lyrics. And back in the ancient days of the early 1980s--oh, Lordy, would I have gone there!
Agreed on all counts! ;) Looked like a Greek God, sang like an angel and wrote some beautiful songs, he will be seriously missed.
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Hello members!!!! The Admin/Mod/Tech team is coming to you with news for the new year.
When this forum was originally founded, it was under the URL we all know, www.DaveCullen.com, however, it was often referred to as the "Ultimate Brokeback Forum". Dave's website had a link to the forum, and the two entities were joined as one.
For a host of technical reasons beyond Dave’s technical ability, he needs to turn his website over to a service that can handle much of the work—and it can’t support the massive forum database. Dave really wants the forum to proceed, so the solution is simple: just split Dave’s personal pages and the forum to two separate web addresses. Everything else remains the same.
To continue to follow Dave Cullen, you can use the existing address, www.DaveCullen.com .
To access the Ultimate Brokeback Forum, you will need to bookmark this new address: https://www.UltimateBrokebackForum.com/forum.
We expect this change to take place within a week's time, and there should be no major disruption to the forum. While the UBF will no longer be linked to DCF, Dave Cullen will retain his ownership of both sites.
Please continue to watch the threads/newsbox for further updates! We will attempt to give you all 24 hours notice before the change takes place. However, you should make note of the new address now. If you try to log in at the old address and you are unable to, try to use the new address. Thanks for your continued participation in this community!
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Glad to see the forum continuing after over a decade!
Happy New Year 2013 - 2014 to those on the Current Events thread!
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And we being the year with another nightclub massacre, this one in Istanbul. :(
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Glad to see the forum continuing after over a decade!
Happy New Year 2013 - 2014 to those on the Current Events thread!
Yea why is the date not right in here, I have asked that a few times!