Category: Domestic Affairs,

Tom Price’s wife asked about quarantining people with HIV 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Price, an anesthesiologist, raised the question during an exchange with the director of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s HIV/AIDS epidemiology section.

“I don’t want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it,” Price said during the meeting, which was videotaped.

“Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition,” she said. “So we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. What would you advise, or are there any methods legally that we could do, that would curtail the spread?”

Tom Price’s wife asked about quarantining people with HIV – POLITICO

Good lord…. Um, how about sex-ed? Dragon lady….

After Maria, José Andrés and his team have served more hot meals in Puerto Rico than the Red Cross

On By peanutgallerynhIn Caribbean,, Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

“When we establish contact with a community, we maintain that contact,” Andrés said during a phone interview from San Juan. “When we go to a place, we take care of that place until we feel it has the right conditions to sustain itself. That’s what a relief organization should be.”

…Andrés hopes that World Central Kitchen is demonstrating what kind of results a nonprofit with a “private sector mentality” can achieve. He suspects that, in years to come, others will be examining “our successes and failures and how we did it.”

“How we were able to go from 100 meals to a million meals,” he added. The secret, Andrés noted, was the chef community, the many volunteers who picked up a knife and got to it. A chef’s disposition, Andrés said, is to know how to adapt to crisis.

After Maria, José Andrés and his team have served more hot meals in Puerto Rico than the Red Cross – The Washington Post

hmmmm

On Trump dossier, the President just suggested the FBI, Democrats and Russia might all be co-conspirators 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,

But even by Trump standards, this morning’s tweet is somewhat remarkable. He is suggesting that a dossier prepared by a former member of British intelligence has not only been totally discredited (it hasn’t — more on that in a minute) but that it might have been funded by some combination of Russia, the Democratic Party and, wait for it, the FBI!

On Trump dossier, the President just suggested the FBI, Democrats and Russia might all be co-conspirators – CNNPolitics

“<facepalm>”

A Rising Constitutional Crisis No One Is Talking About

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

) At issue was the proposed constitutional convention that would be called under Article V of the Constitution, a longtime conservative dreamshot that at the moment is as close to fulfillment as it ever has been. Under Article V, which deals with amending the Constitution, a constitutional convention must be called if two-thirds of the state legislatures called for it. At the moment, 27 state legislatures have done so. That leaves the plan a mere seven states short of the 34 that would meet the Article V threshold. As it happens, there are seven state legislatures with Republican majorities out there that have yet to take up the question. 

…Many of the sharpies pushing the idea reassure the public that a convention thus called would be limited to a specific agenda. (Some even propose that the convention would pass TWIIAP and then everyone would drink up and go home.) There is no way to guarantee that; there’s certainly nothing in Article V that would support that argument, and very little in the history of the last constitutional convention that would do so, either.

A Rising Constitutional Crisis No One Is Talking About

hmmmm

“A deranged animal”: Trump’s newest lie about Obama is causing fury inside and outside the military 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Military,Leave a comment

The former military and civilian officials were responding to a comment Trump made Monday after being asked why he hadn’t yet reached out to the families of the four American Special Forces members killed in a recent ambush in Niger.

“If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said at a Rose Garden press conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “A lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate.”

…But to me, the most important takeaway of this latest Trump lie isn’t simply that it was false, or that it injected politics into what is normally a bipartisan tradition of respecting the nation’s war dead.

Instead, I was struck by the fact that the comment inadvertently highlights the disrespect, bordering on contempt, that Trump has for many in the military, including its top generals. Put another way, Trump’s comment says less about Obama’s relationship with the military and more about his own.

…Trump’s feuds with the military range from matters of strategy (the generals prefer using diplomacy to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff; Trump has effectively threatened war) to social issues like Trump’s transgender ban (which many in the military oppose) and issues of basic human decency like Trump’s refusal to outright condemn the recent neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia (every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did so unequivocally).

…Like his predecessors, Trump gives orders that will in some cases inevitably result in the deaths of American troops. He owes it to them and their families — and to the broader military for which they gave their lives — not to turn those losses into political attack lines. And he owes it to them — and to us — not to tell lies about what Obama, Bush, and other presidents treated as a hard but sacred part of their jobs.

“A deranged animal”: Trump’s newest lie about Obama is causing fury inside and outside the military – Vox

Cheeto is Chief reaches new heights of fucktardary every day he is in office.

The deadly ambush Donald Trump hasn’t yet acknowledged

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,, Domestic Affairs,, Military,Leave a comment

It’s been nearly two weeks since U.S. forces were ambushed in Niger, an attack that left four American servicemen dead. 

…The Pentagon has not provided a detailed accounting of the ambush by 50 ISIS affiliated fighters which left four US soldiers dead and two wounded and has said the incident remains under investigation. But CNN has talked to half a dozen US officials who describe details of the chaos and confusion which led to the troops being left on the ground for nearly an hour before help could get to the remote area of southwestern Niger where they were operating.

…When four American servicemen are killed, it’s not unrealistic to think the president who routinely tweets random passing thoughts would at least briefly acknowledge their sacrifice.

The deadly ambush Donald Trump hasn’t yet acknowledged | MSNBC

hmmmm

Microsoft to NSA: WannaCry is your fault 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Privacy,Leave a comment

Microsoft’s top lawyer has blamed the government’s stockpiling of hacking tools as part of the reason for the WannaCry attack, the worldwide ransomware that has hit hundreds of thousands of systems in recent days.

Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer, pointed out that WannaCrypt is based on an exploit developed by the National Security Agency (NSA) and renewed his call for a new “Digital Geneva Convention,” which would require governments to report vulnerabilities to vendors rather than stockpile, sell, or exploit them.

…Smith said he hopes the recent WannaCry attack will change the minds of government agencies and stop developing hacking tools in secret and holding them for use against adversaries, especially since the technology for WannaCry was stolen from the NSA.

Microsoft to NSA: WannaCry is your fault | Network World

hmmmm

At the Intersection of Russia Probe and Social Media: Donald Trump’s Digital Chief 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Brad Parscale was the Trump campaign’s digital director and his San Antonio company was its highest-paid vendor. Giles-Parscale drew nearly $88 million for about 18 months of work, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures, on top of an additional $4 million since Election Day, which included millions paid to Facebook and other social-media companies. As digital director, Mr. Parscale was responsible for creating and placing ads on social-media platforms such as Facebook, developing the campaign’s website and driving online fundraising efforts.

…Mr. Parscale’s work was prolific. The campaign tested 40,000 to 60,000 Facebook ads every day, according to a person familiar with the spending. A senior GOP campaign aide said the team would start each day with 70 ads in each target state, such as Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and buy new ads every five minutes, based on what was successful on a range of metrics. Peak days reached nearly 200,000 unique ad combinations, the person said.

The extent of the Trump digital operation’s activity was largely unreported because there are no federal disclosure requirements for online ads. Unlike when they air television and radio ads, campaigns running online ads aren’t required to disclose how much they paid for the ads, whom they paid and where the ads would run. [emphasis: mine]

…The House panel also has contacted Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics company paid $5 million by the Trump campaign last year that worked together with Mr. Parscale’s firm, for information related to the Russia probe, a Cambridge Analytica spokesman said.

While broadcast stations are required to disclose to the Federal Communications Commission how much they earn from political campaigns and groups and where those dollars are directed, social-media companies don’t have to disclose what share of their advertising revenue comes from political ads. [again, emphasis: mine]

…Every vendor that worked with Mr. Parscale on the campaign signed a nondisclosure agreement, according to the person familiar with the spending, and didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Trump ads Mr. Parscale purchased on Facebook were largely focused on fundraising, showing users images of Mr. Trump or his family while asking them to donate, said the person. Images and videos of Mr. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, were targeted to mothers. Some contained cartoons attacking Hillary Clinton as corrupt. The campaign also used Facebook to draw large crowds to Mr. Trump’s campaign rallies, the person said.

Images and videos were tested in battleground locations, comparing results by gender and in rural areas and urban areas using a range of metrics. If small ad buys on certain targets performed well, the campaign purchased more, the person said.

At the Intersection of Russia Probe and Social Media: Donald Trump’s Digital Chief – WSJ

hmmmmm

Here Are the Names of the 69 House Republicans Who Voted Against Aid for Puerto Rico

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Here is the full list of Representatives that voted against disaster relief for United States citizens:

Justin Amash (R-Michigan)
Jim Banks (R-Indiana)
Andy Burr (R-Kentucky)
Joe Barton (R-Texas)
Jack Bergman (R-Michigan)
Andy Biggs (R-Arizona)
Mike Bishop (R-Michigan)
Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee)
Rod Blum (R-Iowa)
Dave Brat (R-Virginia)
Mo Brooks (R-Alabama)
Ken Buck (R-Colorado)
Ted Budd (R-North Carolina)
Steve Chabot (R-Ohio)
James Comer (R-Kentucky)
Warren Davidson (R-Ohio)
Scott DesJarlais (R-Tennessee)
Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin)
Jeff Duncan (R-North Carolina)
John Duncan (R-Tennessee)
Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota)
Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina)
Trent Franks (R-Arizona)
Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin)
Thomas Garret (R-Virginia)
Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio)
Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia)
Paul Gosar (R-Arizona)
Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia)
Andy Harris (R-Maryland)
Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas)
Jody Hice (R-Georgia)
French Hill (R-Arkansas)
George Holding (R-North Carolina)
Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina)
Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana)
Walter Jones (R-North Carolina)
Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
Trent Kelly (R-Mississippi)
David Kustoff (R-Texas)
Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado)
Jason Lewis (R-Minnesota)
Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia)
Kenny Marchant (R-Texas)
Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky)
Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina)
Luke Messer (R-Indiana)
Alex Mooney (R-West Virginia)
Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)
Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota)
Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina)
Gary Palmer (R-Alabama)
Steve Pearce (R-New Mexico)
Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania)
Robert Pittenger (R-North Carolina)
John Ratcliffe (R-Texas)
Todd Rokita (R-Indiana)
Keith Rothfus (R-Pennsylvania)
David Rouzer (R-North Carolina)
Mark Sanford (R-South Carolina)
David Schweikert (R-Arizona)
Jamex Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin)
Jason Smith (R-Missouri)
Chris Stewart (R-Utah)
Mark Walker (R-North Carolina)
Jackie Walorski (R-Indiana)
Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio)
Roger Williams (R-Texas)

Here Are the Names of the 69 House Republicans Who Voted Against Aid for Puerto Rico

Un-American asshats.

Drone Video Shows Postal Worker Still Delivering Mail in Neighborhood Ravaged by Wildfire

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Wildfires have consumed over 170,000 acres in California since Sunday and thousands have taken refuge in shelters as their homes have burned. But for the United States Postal Service, the deliveries must go on. In a devastated neighborhood in Santa Rosa, a professional drone cinematographer caught this astonishing footage of one mail carrier’s surreal shift.

Drone Video Shows Postal Worker Still Delivering Mail in Neighborhood Ravaged by Wildfire

USPS – I don’t think they get enough credit for the job they do on a normal day. Let alone being people’s touchstone to civilization like they were the freaking pony express or something…

Trump Addresses Values Voter Summit: In America ‘We Don’t Worship Government, We Worship God’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

The president became the first sitting president to address the Values Voters Summit, an annual D.C. gathering of religious conservatives, as he solidifies his ties to the GOP’s evangelical wing.

Trump Addresses Values Voter Summit: In America ‘We Don’t Worship Government, We Worship God’ : NPR

I call bullshit on the Cheeto. In The Cheeto’s mind we don’t just worship god, we should worship his government like it was a god. A temperamental, slightly schizo, mostly incompetent and completely arbitrary in its acknowledgement of reality god.

Opinion: Evangelical conservatives are proving their harshest critics right

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Religion,Leave a comment

Democrats accused Christian conservatives of being closet theocrats, seeking to impose Christianity on the country and refusing to accept, let alone embrace, American diversity. 

…That’s stunning to the many Americans who think the divine right of kings was what we fought against in the American Revolution. A God-chosen president can do no wrong, tell no lie, make no error. And that, it seems, has been the default setting for many of Trump’s most loyal supporters among the religious right.

The notion that lies don’t matter, that politics is akin to a religious mission, strikes many Americans as a scary repudiation of the Constitution’s establishment clause. 

…having lost on gay marriage, on legalized abortion and on cultural decay, now takes refuge in nativism, xenophobia and white grievance. For these evangelical figureheads, “us vs. them” has replaced a message of brotherly love and Christian charity.

Evangelical conservatives are proving their harshest critics right – The Washington Post

hmmmm

Out of options, rural communities turn to charters to keep schooling local 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Education,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

Nationally, about 44 percent of all charters are professionally managed by either a non-profit Charter Management Organization (CMO) or a for-profit Educational Management Organization (EMO), according to data from 2014-15. Just 19 percent of rural charters are operated by CMOs or EMOs, however, with 81 percent run independently, often by local community groups, based on data from 2009-10. 

In rural places affected by public school consolidation, the argument for keeping a community school through chartering often extends beyond academics. A school can provide a small town with economic benefits, employing residents and consequently helping out local businesses, notes Mara Tieken, an associate professor of education at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. 

Less tangibly, Professor Tieken and others say, a school can be a powerful force for building relationships between members of the community and giving a town an identity.

…Part of working toward rural sustainability at River Grove and other charters involves nurturing a deeper connection between students and their hometowns through place-based education and involvement with the local community. At River Grove, this means lots of outdoor time and hands-on science lessons to reflect the natural setting of Marine on St. Croix. 

The Sugar Valley Rural Charter School, a community-run school in Loganton, Pa., employs a similar strategy to bolster students’ appreciation of the local farming culture. The charter school, founded by a group of parents in 2000 after the closure of Loganton’s longtime K-12 public school, also teaches the region’s agricultural history to its 485 students. 

…To encourage relationships between students and members of the community, the school has neighbors volunteer to give lessons in areas of expertise such as gardening, baking, and art.

…Back in the days of the traditional public school, she recalls, high school sports were a popular attraction for locals. She’s hopeful that building a new gymnasium and expanding the charter school’s athletic offerings will help rally neighbors around something to root for. 

Out of options, rural communities turn to charters to keep schooling local – CSMonitor.com

hmmmm

United Nations peacekeepers in Central African Republic

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,, Military,Leave a comment

Amnesty International is urging the United Nations to take swift action on allegations that one or more of its peacekeepers drugged and raped a 19-year-old woman in Central African Republic last month.

United Nations peacekeepers in Central African Republic

Rape is violence. It is the opposite of peace. Peace keeps who engage in violence like rape should be punished as harshly as the militaries they belong too will allow. Not only are they abusing the citizen they are there to protect, they are working against the mission they serve. Flagrant disobedience is the enemy of any well disciplined fighting force. Jail is the very least the offenders should receive.