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.
Proponents of such ceremonies say it is about self-love and acceptance, and claiming the social affirmation normally reserved for couples who wed.
…But not everyone welcomes the trend, with some calling it narcissistic, and others [criticizing] it as a pointless submission to a patriarchal institution.
Italy woman marries herself in ‘fairytale without prince’ – BBC News
hmmmm
The government says a vote on whether to change the country’s abortion law will be held next year.
Irish abortion law: Referendum ‘to be held next year’ – BBC News
hmmm
Senate hearing seeks to answer if the SEC breach held the potential for insider trading and how long the SEC knew about the security breach before disclosing it.
Congress questions SEC chairman on security of files after Equifax hacking – CSMonitor.com
hmmm
One of the country’s up-and-coming leaders in the “alt-right” movement opened his playbook to KyCIR, offering a window into his recruitment tactics and to-do list. His grand plan to spread neo-Nazi beliefs across Appalachia starts in southern Indiana.
Good lord… Have those miscreants become inbred enough to die off like the dinosaurs they are yet?
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin successfully fought to include an amendment to the FY 2018 State Department appropriations legislation to prevent the elimination of two critical offices for ensuring LGBTI rights are a U.S. foreign policy priority.
…Senator Baldwin’s amendment to the Fiscal Year 2018 State Department funding bill prevented the elimination of the Office of the Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons within the State Department, which facilitates high-level, bilateral engagement on LGBTI rights, and the LGBTI Portfolio within USAID, which coordinates and leads USAID’s efforts to support inclusive, culturally-specific development efforts that respect and further the human rights of LGBTI people. Both programs have been restored to current funding levels.
hmmmm
Starting in 1792, the Ohio Company of Associates made a deal with potential settlers: anyone willing to form a permanent homestead on the wilderness beyond Ohio’s first permanent settlement would be granted 100 acres of land. To prove their homesteads to be permanent, settlers were required to plant 50 apple trees and 20 peach trees in three years, since an average apple tree took roughly ten years to bear fruit.
Ever the savvy businessman, Chapman realized that if he could do the difficult work of planting these orchards, he could turn them around for profit to incoming frontiersmen. Wandering from Pennsylvania to Illinois, Chapman would advance just ahead of settlers, cultivating orchards that he would sell them when they arrived, and then head to more undeveloped land. Like the caricature that has survived to modern day, Chapman really did tote a bag full of apple seeds. As a member of the Swedenborgian Church, whose belief system explicitly forbade grafting (which they believed caused plants to suffer), Chapman planted all of his orchards from seed, meaning his apples were, for the most part, unfit for eating.
It wasn’t that Chapman—or the frontier settlers—didn’t have the knowledge necessary for grafting, but like New Englanders, they found that their effort was better spent planting apples for drinking, not for eating. Apple cider provided those on the frontier with a safe, stable source of drink, and in a time and place where water could be full of dangerous bacteria, cider could be imbibed without worry. Cider was a huge part of frontier life, which Howard Means, author of Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story, describes as being lived “through an alcoholic haze.”
…During Prohibition, apple trees that produced sour, bitter apples used for cider were often chopped down by FBI agents, effectively erasing cider, along with Chapman’s true history, from American life
hmmm
The HHS secretary sometimes combined official travel and meetings with friends and family.
Price’s private-jet travels included visits with colleagues, lunch with son – POLITICO
Hope he ends up disgraced and in jail.
“Yes I said it,” Pennsylvania fire chief Paul Smith said after calling Tomlin a “no good N—–” in a Facebook post.
Fuck embarrassed. In stead of tripping over himself to try and downplay his language he should be resigning.
Indian woman’s illustrated shopping list to her husband inspires laughter on social media.
‘Husband-proof’ shopping list goes viral – BBC News
a lighter story….
Given how economically and racially segregated the country remains, many Americans, and especially wealthy whites, have little direct knowledge of what life looks like for families in other demographic groups.
…We’re inclined, as well, to believe that society is fairer than it really is. The reality that it’s not — that even college-educated black workers earn about 20 percent less than college-educated white ones, for example — is uncomfortable for both blacks who’ve been harmed by that unfairness and whites who’ve benefited from it.
…These findings suggest that the motivation to see the world as fair may be even stronger in this context than stereotypes white Americans hold, for instance, equating blacks with poverty.
hmmmm
Those close to him say he would have opposed this administration and what it stands for.
Trump appropriates the memory of Pat Tillman, a liberal whose widow slammed Trump – ThinkProgress
hmmm
“Turds, your dumbass isn’t paid to think about politics….dance monkey dance,” the official wrote.
Massachusetts official to kneeling Patriots: ‘Dance monkey dance’
Jeezus…
A federal judge permanently struck down provisions of an Indiana law passed last year that would have banned abortions sought due to fetal genetic abnormalities and required that aborted fetuses be buried or cremated.U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt’s decision, issued Friday, found that those two provisions and a third one are unconstitutional. She granted an order permanently blocking all three from being enforced and granted summary judgment in favor of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, which had sued the state in April 2016 after then-Gov. Mike Pence signed the provisions into law.
Federal judge permanently blocks Indiana abortion limits | WGN-TV
hmmmm
The representative criticized the president’s remarks calling for the firing of NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.
Congresswoman takes a knee on House floor – WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL
hmmm
The batch of more than 3,000 Russian-bought ads that Facebook is preparing to turn over to Congress shows a deep understanding of social divides in American society, with some ads promoting African American rights groups, including Black Lives Matter, and others suggesting that these same groups pose a rising political threat, say people familiar with the covert influence campaign.
The Russian campaign — taking advantage of Facebook’s ability to send contrary messages to different groups of users based on their political and demographic characteristics — also sought to sow discord among religious groups. Other ads highlighted support for Democrat Hillary Clinton among Muslim women.
…The divisive themes seized on by Russian operatives were similar to those that Trump and his supporters pushed on social media and on right-wing websites during the campaign. U.S. investigators are now trying to figure out whether Russian operators and members of Trump’s team coordinated in any way.
…In addition to the ads described to The Post, Russian operatives used Facebook to promote anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim messages. And Facebook has said that one-quarter of the ads bought by the Russian operatives identified so far targeted a particular geographic area.
hmmmm
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined his team’s players in kneeling before the national anthem before their game Monday night at Arizona.
Jones, Coach Jason Garrett and other Cowboys coaches and front office executives locked arms while standing on the field. Before the anthem, Jones and the players and coaches took a knee.
They then stood up, with arms still interlocked, for the anthem.
…Arizona players also stood and linked arms during the anthem, but they did not take a knee beforehand.
…The Cowboys “tossed around ideas” and sought a solution that promoted unity while satisfying both the group of players who wanted to kneel for the anthem and the group that wanted to stand for it. Once the compromise was reached, members of the Cowboys’ ownership group discussed the plan with representatives of the Cardinals’ ownership, the person with knowledge of the planning said.
…The Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans were not on the field for the anthem before their games Sunday. Many players on other teams chose to kneel for the anthem. Other teams demonstrated unity with players standing with interlocked arms. Several owners stood on the sideline with their players and locked arms with them. But Jones became the first owner to kneel.
“Everyone should know, including the president, this is what real locker room talk is,” Joe Lockhart, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications and public affairs, said in a conference call with reporters earlier Monday.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones kneels with Dallas players before anthem in Arizona – The Washington Post
hmmmm
A female US Marine has made history by becoming the first woman to complete the Corps’ famously gruelling infantry officer training.
The lieutenant, who wants to keep her identity private, graduated in Quantico, Virginia, on Monday.
She will soon be assigned to lead a 40-strong platoon.
US Marines get first female infantry officer – BBC News
Ooo-rah!
Brown v Board of Education, the landmark 1954 supreme court ruling that segregated schools were unconstitutional, should have meant she and fellow pupils could take their places at Central High. But Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas, in the deep south, remained defiant and used the national guard to block their enrollment. The African American children were left in limbo for three weeks.
On the first day of term, the national guard were there to stop the nine entering Central High, where all 1,900 attendees were white.
…On 23 September 1957, the group did get into the building with police protection. But an angry mob of more than a thousand white people had gathered in front of the school, chanting racist abuse such as “Go back to Africa.”
The mob started a riot and police decided to remove the students for their own safety. “At about 10am they said: ‘You’ve got to come down to the office,’ and we went down into the basement. They put us in these cars and the cops driving the cars were shaking. They had the guns and sticks and they were scared. ‘Oh wow, this is scary.’ Some of us were told to keep our heads down
……President Dwight Eisenhower sent in 1,200 paratroopers from the 101st airborne division.
…On 25 September, the group braved a hostile white crowd, climbed the school steps and were escorted to class by US army troops. …The soldiers escorted the students single file into the school for their first full day of classes and dispersed the demonstrators.
…But although 25 September is the date people remember, troops remained at Central high school for the rest the school year and the Little Rock Nine ran the gauntlet of hatred every day. They were taunted, assaulted and spat upon by their white counterparts; a straw effigy of a black person was hung from a tree. They were kept apart in different classes so they could not vouch for each other’s claims.
Little Rock Nine: the day young students shattered racial segregation | World news | The Guardian
Only sixty years ago!
KOAA-5 first reported Monday morning that Miller had been “fired” from his deal with Phil Long because of his protest but Miller has not had an agreement with the dealership for nearly six months. Miller’s previous agreement with Phil Long Ford expired in March. There had been talks about a renewal, but nothing had materialized.
Von Miller didn’t lose Phil Long Ford endorsement over national anthem protest
So Phil Longs is cashing in on some free publicity at Miller’s expense? Classy.
[Sanders voters] are my natural colleagues, and most are as upset as I am by Trump’s victory. But they played a big role in the thin edge (not a landslide, as Trump would have us believe) that gave Trump the election. For while Trump supporters hooted and cheered for their candidate, forgiving him every lie, every crime, every bit of disgusting [behavior], too many young Democrats made it very clear (in newspaper and internet interviews, in polls, and in the mainstream media) that they were only voting for Hillary Clinton as the lesser of two evils, “holding their noses”, tears still streaming down their faces over the primary defeat of the person they felt truly deserved their votes. Some didn’t vote at all. And as much as I am in agreement with many of his ideas, Bernie Sanders splintered and ultimately sabotaged the Democratic party – not because he chose to run against Hillary Clinton, but because of how he ran against her.
… When Sanders denied that badge of [honor] to Clinton he wasn’t distinguishing his agenda from hers (their positions on most issues were, in reality, pretty similar), he was excluding her from the company of the good and pure – and in the process, limiting what counted as progressive causes, too. His list didn’t include the struggle for reproductive rights or affordable child care. Nor, at the beginning of his campaign, was there much emphasis on racial justice.
…Sanders gave Clinton no credit for her longstanding progressivism in [equal rights for women and minorities,] while identifying her with the corruption he was dedicated to cleaning up. …Portraying Clinton as the enemy of systemic change …was not only factually incorrect, but proved politically disastrous in the general election.
…Like progressive, establishment is a pretty meaningless term, particularly when lobbed at one Washington politician by another. Neither Sanders nor Clinton had been working outside the system.
Appearances to the contrary, Sanders was not a union organizer, but rather a longtime member of the Senate. And if Clinton had more support from the Democratic party, that was due in large part to the relationships she had cultivated over the years, working with others – something Sanders was not particularly good at.
…[Sanders later described] Planned Parenthood and NARAL as “establishment” and abortion as a social issue.
…[The media] posted pictures of him being arrested at a protest against the University of Chicago’s real estate investments, while making no mention of the work Hillary had done, when she was the same age, investigating racist housing practices with Marian Wright Edelman.
hmmmm
Hillary Will Sit Down and Shut Up When Bernie Does – The Daily Banter
Stuff like,
Clinton ran a good campaign, won a massive popular vote victory and required an equally massive effort on the part of disparate groups to eke a technical win out for Trump.
…is a little much. It wasn’t a terrible campaign, compared to the history of American politics it probably can be called a good campaign but it could have been much better. It was a decisive win but I’m not sure that I’d go all the way to massive.
The author’s defensiveness of HRC does not lend itself to persuasion. If the facts were presented without the hyperbole the point would still be made, with the added bonus of added potential to actual open and change minds to the author’s point. (Liberals, this is why we can’t have nice things.)
All that said, there are some interesting things in here.
very well done
Building light bulbs to last poses a vexing problem: no one seems to have a sound business model for such a product.
The L.E.D. Quandary: Why There’s No Such Thing as “Built to Last” | The New Yorker
Agggghhhhh!
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