Category: Domestic Affairs,

Amid questions of Gary Johnson’s interest in details, Libertarian VP nominee viewed as losing faith

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

 SANTA FE, N.M. — For state lawmakers here who used to work with Gary Johnson, something is familiar about the former governor’s baffled looks that have turned into an embarrassment for his third-party presidential campaign.

Longtime Republican state Sen. Stuart Ingle recalled how Mr. Johnson, soon after taking office in 1995, mostly shrugged and stared during their first meeting together. As Mr. Ingle asked Mr. Johnson questions about his agenda, Mr. Ingle said, Mr. Johnson’s most common refrain was, “I don’t know.”

…Over the next eight years, New Mexico lawmakers would struggle to work with a governor who paid little attention to details. Those who worked closely with Mr. Johnson, then a Republican elected as a political novice vowing to shake up the established order, recall a chief executive who would speed through meetings and often preferred to discuss his fitness routine than focus on the minutiae of policymaking.

…Although he describes himself as a social liberal, Mr. Johnson angered many on the left when he ended collective bargaining for state employees and cut off Medicaid funding for abortions that doctors deemed medically necessary. Mr. Johnson now says he regrets the Medicaid decision.

(but apparently not the whole depriving women of medical procedures deemed necessary by their doctors part. He’s totally OK with having done that.)

Meanwhile, Mr. Weld vowed to remain Mr. Johnson’s running mate but said his main goal was to stop Mr. Trump.

“Mr. Trump’s proposals in the foreign policy area, including nuclear proliferation, tariffs and free trade, would be so hurtful, domestically and in the world, that he has my full attention,” Mr. Weld said.

In theory, Mr. Weld’s efforts could help Democrat Ms. Clinton, whose allies have sought to minimize support for Mr. Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, especially in three states where third parties could make a big difference: Colorado, Missouri and New Mexico. President Barack Obama has suggested that Americans who vote for Mr. Johnson or Ms. Stein, or who decline to cast ballots, are in effect voting for Mr. Trump.

Amid questions of Gary Johnson’s interest in details, Libertarian VP nominee viewed as losing faith | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

hmmm

Teachers Union Claims The ‘Trump Effect’ Is Warping Kids’ Minds 

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

The National Education Association says Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant stance is emboldening schoolyard bullies.

Teachers Union Claims The ‘Trump Effect’ Is Warping Kids’ Minds | Huffington Post

And adult sized bullies too.

…Which makes it all the more important for our elected officials to display principled leadership on race and immigration. Anything else is fueling the fire that is the unruly mob.

Duckler: When taking a knee means you’re standing up tall

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Granite State,, Race,Leave a comment

Duckler: When taking a knee means you’re standing up tall

The reactions this young man has endured because of his peaceful protest are a prime example of why we need better leadership than the kind who are willing to drape the flag of nationalism over their xenophobia and call it patriotism or acting in the interests of national security.

Ghana Will Remove ‘Racist’ Gandhi Statue From Its Oldest University 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Africa,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

Professors and students at the University of Ghana called the statue “a slap in the face” because of Gandhi’s “racist identity.” 

…The petition, which had more than 1,700 supporters on Thursday, cited letters Gandhi wrote during his time in South Africa as evidence that he advocated for the superiority of Indians over black Africans. It also took issue with his use of the derogatory term kaffir to refer to native Africans and criticized the lack of statues of African heroes and heroines on campus.

Ghana Will Remove ‘Racist’ Gandhi Statue From Its Oldest University | TIME

hmmm

FLASHBACK: When Millions Of Lost Bush White House Emails (From Private Accounts) Triggered A Media Shrug

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Even for a Republican White House that was badly stumbling through George W. Bush’s sixth year in office, the revelation on April 12, 2007 was shocking. Responding to congressional demands for emails in connection with its investigation into the partisan firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the White House announced that as many as five million emails, covering a two-year span, had been lost.

The emails had been run through private accounts controlled by the Republican National Committee and were only supposed to be used for dealing with non-administration political campaign work to avoid violating ethics laws. Yet congressional investigators already had evidence private emails had been used for government business, including to discuss the firing of one of the U.S. attorneys. The RNC accounts were used by 22 White House staffers, including then-Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who reportedly used his RNC email for 95 percent of his communications.

…Just to repeat: In 2007, the story was about millions of missing White House emails that were sought in connection to a Congressional investigation. Yet somehow the archiving of Clinton’s emails today requires exponentially more coverage, and exceedingly more critical coverage.

Of course, back in 2007 Fox News seemed utterly uninterested in the Bush email story days after the news broke. A search of Fox archives locates only one panel discussion about the story and it featured two guests accusing Democrats of engineering a “fishing expedition.”

From then-Fox co-host, Fred Barnes: “I mean, deleted e-mails, who cares?”

Indeed.

FLASHBACK: When Millions Of Lost Bush White House Emails (From Private Accounts) Triggered A Media Shrug

Sigh…

Maher, Silverman: Gary Johnson is no Bernie 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

When discussing their support of Bernie Sanders during “Real Time with Bill Maher,” which aired Friday, Maher read the latest poll numbers that showed Johnson with 29 percent support among millennials.

…”And we thought he was a cool guy, you know he smokes pot, he was for pot — he is not making pot look good, by the way,” Maher added.

Maher then played a video clip of Johnson’s infamous gaffes, including his failure to answer a question about Aleppo, Syria and name a foreign leader that he admires.

…Silverman concluded by agreeing with Maher and stating that people are voting for Johnson because “they are totally misinformed.”

hmmm

Man who tried save woman who ended up dying after Hoboken train crash shares his story 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Infrastructure and Transportation,, Local Interest,Leave a comment

The man who rushed into chaotic train crash scene Thursday in Hoboken and gave comfort to the woman as she lay dying on the platform, is sharing his account of the event.

…”Yes. I’m healthy, I’m a strong, kid you know, just go help as many people as you can, and that’s what I did,” Perkins said.

…”The first person I saw was a gentleman and he had a beam on his leg. So me and like five other guys picked up the beam and we moved it,” Perkins said.

Then not far away, he would spot 34-year-old Fabiola Bittar de Kroon.

…”I could tell she could hear me, but I was just telling her like focus on your family, at that point I didn’t know she had a daughter, I didn’t know she had a husband, I was just like, focus on your family, focus on them I’m with you, you’re going to be all right just fight,” Perkins said.

…”I just tried to like comfort her, like, ‘I am going to be here with you, I am not going to leave you by yourself,’ and the police officers were like listen, ‘you did all you could,'” Perkins said.

Those words, Perkins says, will stay with him, along with a wish that he could have kept Bittar de Kroon from becoming the lone fatality in a crash she didn’t see coming.

He says he has since spoken with the victim’s husband. They discussed those final moments that he will never forget.

Man who tried save woman who ended up dying after Hoboken train crash shares his story | abc7ny.com

Sigh…

What a crazy thing to happen and what a tragedy for all of the people involved.

There is a bit of solace in the fact that the lone fatality was not alone in her final moments though.

Jamycheal Mitchell’s final hours – unchecked by guards – were detailed in footage released by the jail 

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

Mitchell, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, died Aug. 19, 2015, of extreme weight loss and heart problems. He had lost 46 pounds during 101 days at the jail.

He was ordered by a judge to be transferred to a state mental hospital for treatment, but he never made it because his paperwork was stuffed in a desk drawer by an admissions worker at the hospital.

Jamycheal Mitchell’s final hours – unchecked by guards – were detailed in footage released by the jail – Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia News

Jeezus… For the love of humanity, this stuff needs to stop.