What goes through my my mind when I read the news with my morning coffee. …Or for the Simon's Rockers in the group, this is my response journal.
Clinton puts Trump on watch: ‘We are better than this. We won’t let this happen in America.’
‘History made’: Clinton claims nomination – POLITICO
Go, girl.
…Oh, I think the common wisdom on Sander’s language tonight is off. He emphasized “the struggle” over fight. The fight he talked about bringing to the convention was about the platform, not the nomination. Just saying.
Barack Obama is reportedly on the verge of announcing his support for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Here’s where he could help…
What an Obama endorsement will mean for Hillary – BBC News
hmmm
For better and for worse, Sanders made all the big decisions.
Inside the bitter last days of Bernie’s revolution – POLITICO
Dayum, them’s some bitter sour grapes!
Ronald Reagan’s son blasted Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying the whole family is insulted by comparisons between the two.
Ronald Reagan’s son says family is insulted by Trump comparisons – Business Insider
hmmmm
California voters faced a tough time at the polls Tuesday, with many voters saying they have encountered broken machines, polling sites that opened late and incomplete voter rolls.
sigh….
Schools suspend minority students at much higher rates than their peers, starting from the beginning, preschool.
Black preschool kids get suspended much more frequently than white preschool kids, U.S. survey says
Disgusting.
Documents obtained by Vice News through the Freedom of Information Act show that Edward Snowden tried to express his concerns about government surveillance to the NSA before handing over files to journalists. These revelations contradict federal agencies’ assertion that Snowden never went through “proper channels” to address concerns over the constitutionality of certain NSA practices.
Documents Reveal Snowden Tried to Register Concerns About Surveillance With the NSA
Sigh….
Clinton won all seven delegates available in the U.S. Virgin Islands and at least 33 of the 60 delegates available in Puerto Rico. She beat the Vermont senator there by roughly 61 percent to 39 percent.
Clinton now has 1,809 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses; Sanders has 1,520.
Hillary Rodham Clinton gets closer to Democratic nomination | Sun Journal
hmmm
Sanders could damage Clinton’s relationship with pro-Israel voters. He has appointed two strong critics of the Jewish state to the drafting committee.
Bernie Sanders Promises a Bloody Platform Battle Over Israel
hmmm
Stanford law professor leads campaign against judge who gave six months to the former Stanford swimmer who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman
hmmm
A simple hand-drawn picture of two bicycles has been taped above the bed of a 23-year-old woman to remind her, she says, that there are “heroes in this story”.
Those bicycles above the woman’s bed are a small reminder of two university students, whom she did not know, and who were cycling by the dark alley when they saw something amiss and stopped to intervene.
‘Hero’ students tackled Brock Turner after Stanford University rape | Stuff.co.nz
mensches
The father of an ex-Stanford University swimmer who was sentenced to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman last week believes his son should have received probation because the 20-year-old has already suffered for “20 minutes of action.”
On Thursday, Brock Turner was given a six-month prison sentence for his sexual assault of a woman in January 2015 outside a fraternity party on the school’s Palo Alto campus. His dad argued that Brock’s label as a sexual offender, his loss of appetite and a swimming scholarship is punishment enough.
Ex-Stanford swimmer’s dad calls son’s 6-month sentence for rape ‘a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action’
Absolutely no question about where this young man got his skewed sense of responsibility for his own actions and the effects those actions might have on others. Piss poor parenting. It’s never absent in cases like this. It is all well and good to have your kid’s back and see the best in them but come on!
His parents should be ashamed of themselves for bringing up the inconveniences their son experienced because of his own, thoughtless, immoral, and 100% criminal assault on an unconscious individual. His suffering will never begin to reach the level of the suffering he has inflicted on the actual victim (You know, victim… As in, not the perpetrator) in this case.
I hate to blame the parents for the actions of a legal adult but in this case I would say that they deserved to be tarred and feathered on their way out of town.
Two days before Tuesday’s primaries in California and five other states, Mr. Sanders repeated his pledge not to concede even if Mrs. Clinton acquires enough delegates to reach 2,383, the threshold for securing the nomination.
hmmm
Rachel Maddow pointed out how Hillary Clinton took apart Donald Trump in a way that no other candidate has been able to do.
Rachel Maddow Exposes How Hillary Clinton Destroys Trump In Ways Republicans Couldn’t
hmmm
Here’s what they don’t teach: When the blind-deaf visionary learned that poor people were more likely to be blind than others, she set off down a pacifist, socialist path that broke the boundaries of her time—and continues to challenge ours today.
The Radical Dissent of Helen Keller by Peter Dreier — YES! Magazine
hmmm
The presumptive Republican nominee’s backers say the physicist’s use of the terms “demagogue” and “lowest common denominator” was designed to confuse them.
Stephen Hawking Angers Trump Supporters with Baffling Array of Long Words – The New Yorker
Heh
A study of the eight main Hawaiian Islands shows that ocean debris regularly accumulates around the archipelago, and that most of it is not linked to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, state officials said today.
Aerial surveys document ocean debris around Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
sigh…
Unfortunately, after reading the defendant’s report, I am severely disappointed and feel that [the assailant] has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol. Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence. It is deeply offensive that he would try and dilute rape with a suggestion of “promiscuity”. By definition rape is the absence of promiscuity, rape is the absence of consent, and it perturbs me deeply that he can’t even see that distinction.
On the other hand, as a society, we cannot forgive everyone’s first sexual assault or digital rape. It doesn’t make sense. The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly, we should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error. The consequences of sexual assault needs to be severe enough that people feel enough fear to exercise good judgment even if they are drunk, severe enough to be preventative.
…How fast [the assailant] swims does not lessen the severity of what happened to me, and should not lessen the severity of his punishment. If a first time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be? The fact that [the assailant] was an athlete at a private university should not be seen as an entitlement to leniency, but as an opportunity to send a message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class.
Here’s The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read To Her Attacker – BuzzFeed News
Amen.
Seven members of Baylor’s 2016 recruiting class have requested their release.
Baylor rape scandal: Seven recruits request release
hmmm
“So it is an additional service that facilitates the lifestyles of one sector of Saudi women, who are the minority.” …[Hatoon al-Fassi, a women’s rights activist and academic at King Saud University] warned against interpreting the popularity of Uber as a feat for women’s rights.”It is not this [Uber] that will make the difference … there are people that have an interest in keeping women the way they are.”
Women react to Saudi $3.5bn Uber cash injection – AJE News
sigh…
The case will likely have consequences for enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
Supreme Court rules against White House in water pollution case | TheHill
Argh……….
This is not a simple candidacy — or candidate.
Did Hillary’s Campaign Have to Be This Hard? — NYMag
hmmm
Comments From The Peanut Gallery 