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.
One of the most common Republican attack lines since the Green New Deal resolution was introduced last month is that Democrats, namely Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), “want to take away your hamburgers.”
…But the truth is, the real threat to hamburgers — and to food supplies in general — is Republican inaction on climate change.
Republicans are the real threat to hamburgers, not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – ThinkProgress
hmmm
A Missouri police department has faced backlash after a video posted to social media Wednesday showed officers searching for marijuana in the belongings of a cancer patient in a hospital room.
…The video also shows police saying they received a call reporting marijuana in the room; one officer says he can smell pot.
Sousley bristles at the allegation, saying, “And there is no way they could smell it, doc, because I don’t smoke it, I don’t ever use a ground-up plant. It’s an oil I use in a capsule, there’s no smoking it. I take it like a pill.”
……Bolivar Police Chief Mark Webb told the News-Leader that the social media backlash has included threats against police and a deluge of questions that the department was unable to keep up with.
Missouri police search cancer patient’s hospital room for marijuana
Jeezus….
“My son doesn’t walk the same path as yours do, so this debate deserves more time,” Flowers, who is the only black person serving on the eight-member committee, said to her colleagues. “When you bring crap like this up, it offends me.”
…As Flowers tried to explain why more discussion was needed on the matter, one lawmaker on the committee attempted to silence her.
Sen. Alan Clark (R), the chairman of the committee, could be seen telling Flowers: “Senator, you need to stop.”
“No, I don’t,” Flowers replied.
“Yes, you do,” Clark said.
“No, the hell I don’t. What are you going to do, shoot me?” Flowers said in response.
Black Arkansas lawmaker is told ‘you need to stop’ by white colleague | TheHill
hmmm
Even as the Democratic Party has moved closer to him on economic issues, it has grown increasingly vocal on race and identity, issues that even some of Sanders’ supporters concede is a blind spot for the candidate.
…“[Sanders’] central concerns have never been war or civil rights or gay rights or women’s rights.”
…Asked about reparations earlier this week on an episode of “The Breakfast Club” radio show, Sanders said he was opposed to such cash payouts, but instead wanted to “change the banking system so that we end racism”—again, a pivot to his comfort zone of economic inequality. And on ABC‘s “The View” this month, Sanders said of reparations, “I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check.”
To be fair, Sanders’ messaging on race has shifted. In the past few weeks, he’s called President Donald Trump a racist, talked about voter suppression and discussed the need for policing reform. But to broaden his appeal to black voters, he’ll have to work harder on racial issues than he did four years ago.
This Is Not 2016’: What People Don’t Get About Bernie Sanders and Race – POLITICO Magazine
hmmm
“I was very keen and willing to come and speak and hear from the children themselves why they were able to do anything like that, being so, so hurtful to millions of other people.”
She was surprised to hear their answer: They didn’t know what their actions meant. Not the swastika. Not the Hitler salute.
At least one student from the school told the Los Angeles Times they had just learned about the Holocaust in school last month, at least in her history class, watching graphic videos of concentration camps like the one Schloss was in.
But Schloss said even if the lessons had been given, the children had not fully understood or internalized the horror of the camps that she survived and the broader Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews.
…She said she noticed “some had tears in their eyes. They didn’t realize the impact. They were very sorry.”
…the prevalence of Nazi imagery and ideology on social media can be desensitizing for others, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University.
“What disturbs me the most about some of these photos and videos is how relaxed these people are at parroting the most bigoted views that we used to see really parroted at places like skinhead rallies,” he told CNN.
Anne Frank’s stepsister meets the teens who partied with a swastika – CNN
hmmmm
Manning said this week that she had been offered immunity as part of her grand jury testimony.
A prosecutor at the contempt hearing Friday, Tracy Doherty-McCormick, said that “the government does not want to confine Ms. Manning.”
…The fact that a grand jury is interested in hearing about Manning’s interactions with WikiLeaks in 2010 could indicate that the Justice Department is still interested in pursuing Assange in relation to the publication of those sensitive documents.
Chelsea Manning jailed after refusing to testify about WikiLeaks – CNNPolitics
hmmmm
“In D.C. you’re dealing with conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Five years each, a maximum of 10. The guidelines bring you to 10. The real question for D.C. Judge [Amy Berman] Jackson is does she give him the full 10 consecutive or concurrent. And this is a judge that has had a lot of experience with Paul Manafort in D.C., you’re dealing with the fact that she vitiated his plea of guilty and bail.”
Particularly stunning to many was the way Judge Ellis characterized Manafort as living an otherwise blameless life.
“That was a rather remarkable comment I think, to say the least,” Klieman said. “It’s one thing to look at his age, his health, the fact that he did not have any prior record. It is another thing to see someone engage in a life of crime for at least 10 years and call it unblemished.”
Paul Manafort sentence: Why did judge throw prosecutor’s guidelines out the window? – CBS News
hmmmm
Nearly 23 years ago, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a landmark decision invalidating the Virginia Military Institute’s exclusion of women as a violation of equal protection. The ruling in United States v. Virginia compelled the United States’ last all-male public university to accept women, who quickly proved themselves to be worthy cadets. But as every adult man in the U.S. knows, sex discrimination in military service remains: Upon their 18th birthday, American men must register for the selective service, while women are exempt. How, almost 23 years after the VMI decision, can this flagrant inequality persist?
On Friday, a federal judge in Texas provided an answer: It can’t. In a brief but emphatic decision, U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller ruled that the Selective Service System may not constitutionally direct men to register as part of its draft requirements while excluding women. Miller’s decision closely tracks Ginsburg’s gradual development of the law toward ever-greater gender equality. While the outcome might seem startling, the logic is carefully anchored in precedent. It would be difficult if not impossible for the Supreme Court to reverse Miller’s ruling without simultaneously eroding decades of sex discrimination jurisprudence. Under any plausible interpretation of today’s equal protection principles, the men-only selective service has got to go.
Judge cites Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rules against men-only draft.
hmmmmm
Bernie Sanders Defends Campaigning With Nebraska Anti-Abortion Rights Democrat Heath Mello : NPR
This is rich, old, white guy really, really, really does not get it.
“Diversity isn’t just ‘Let’s have people of color supporting this white person’s story,’” Wu says, adding it’s a distinction she finds herself explaining repeatedly in Hollywood.
…“What he was saying was such bullshit. If you want to talk about whether or not an Asian person, or a person of color, or a trans person can open a studio movie, you can’t argue, ‘That’s not going to sell!’ because you’ve never done it before!” [Wu] takes a breath, then continues. “I think he thought because I’m a female actor and he’s super high-powered that I would try to make nice. But I don’t give a fuck.”
…“People say women are inherently bitchy and competitive. But anybody will be competitive if there’s only one seat at the table.”
…“I didn’t have any dreams or designs that a studio would want to make my work, that any awards body or critical community would embrace my work.” DuVernay chose to use this bias as an asset: “In many ways, that lack of attention put me in a really good place. No one’s going to watch it anyway, so I may as well make what I want.”
…“I’ve had people tell me, ‘You need to be a little more quiet with all this woman talk,’” Chastain admits, laughing, adding she has no interest in perpetuating damaging sexist tropes about what women should be and do, on- or off-screen. Her dedication to leveling the field extends to crew and head-of-department hires, adjustments that have real-world implications and puncture the oft-repeated lie that filling those jobs with women is “too hard.”
“I agree there are not as many women as men that have the same experience, but that’s because, in the past, women have been actively discriminated against. Male directors who had their first film in Sundance, their next offer is a huge action movie. Women haven’t been given those opportunities, and we need to ask why.”
…When asked how she freed herself from the approval matrix, Chastain pauses a beat.
“That’s a hard question because I don’t know that it was even something that I was aware of until I stopped doing it. All of a sudden, I realized, I feel really happy. Why is that? And it was because I was caring less about what others think of me.”
…“I learned it’s impossible to make everybody happy. At the end of the day, just do stuff that you’re proud of and don’t be an asshole.”
Constance Wu, Ava DuVernay and Jessica Chastain Talk Time’s Up Entertainment and Equal Pay
hmmmm
In 2016, Seattle public schools changed the starting bell from 7:50 am to 8:45 am.
By providing a group of sophomore biology students at each school with sleep-tracking watches and a daily sleep diary, the researchers collected the data two weeks prior to the schedule change and two weeks after. They found that the students on average gained an extra 34 minutes of sleep.
Following the later start time, students were also more alert and engaged in class, absences and tardiness decreased, and final grades increased by 4.5 percent.
Starting school later also helped students combat the symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation, such as fatigue, depression, and memory and cognition impairment.
…Low-income students make up almost two-thirds of the population at Franklin High, compared with only 12 percent over at Roosevelt High. Although Roosevelt’s students experienced little change after the hour setback, Franklin students’ tardiness and first-period absences dropped to levels similar to Roosevelt’s students.
…The task force’s report also pointed out districts would likely save money on programs for disciplinary actions, school health clinics, counseling, and class failures. Students are less likely to need these programs when they get more sleep.
Here’s What Happens When School Starts Later – NEA Today
hmmmm
Temin applied W. Arthur Lewis’s economic model – designed to understand the workings of developing countries – to the United States in an effort to document how inequality has grown in America.
…In the Lewis model of a dual economy, much of the low-wage sector has little influence over public policy. Check*. The high-income sector will keep wages down in the other sector to provide cheap labor for its businesses.* Check*. Social control is used to keep the low-wage sector from challenging the policies favored by the high-income sector.* Mass incarceration – check*. The primary goal of the richest members of the high-income sector is to lower taxes.* Check*. Social and economic mobility is low.* Check*.*
Temin describes multiple contributing factors in the nation’s arrival at this place, from exchanging the War on Poverty for the War on Drugs to money in politics and systemic racism. He outlines the ways in which racial prejudice continues to lurk below the surface, allowing politicians to appeal to the age old “desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks”, encouraging white low-wage workers to accept their lesser place in society.
hmmmm
“Opinion Rhapsody” is available on all streaming services iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/y75rvjzg
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody Parody (Opinion Rhapsody) – YouTube
Well done.
What’s missing is a federal commitment to a well-funded national rail plan. Instead, we have a political system in which the federal government, having devolved virtually all decision-making power to states, cannot prioritize one project over another in the national interest. We have a funding system that encourages study after study of unfundable or unbuildable projects in places that refuse to commit their own resources. And we have a bureaucracy that, having never operated or constructed modern intercity rail, doesn’t understand what it takes. This helter-skelter approach to transportation improvements is fundamentally incapable of supporting large-expenditure, long-range projects like high-speed rail.
This wasn’t always the case. In 1956, Congress approved a significant increase in the federal gas tax, and with it a national plan for interstate highways. That plan, which included a steady stream of funding and a clear map of national priorities, was mostly completed over the next three decades. Though implemented by states, highway alignments were chosen at the national level, with the intention of connecting the largest cities, regardless of political boundaries. Funding came almost entirely (90 percent) from the national government and was guaranteed as long as a route was on the national map. Physical requirements for roadways were mandated at the national level and universally applied. And construction was completed by state departments of transportation that were technically knowledgeable, accustomed to building such public works, and able to make decisions about how to move forward.
…Intercity transportation systems require active federal engagement to guarantee the development of routes that reflect national needs and national priorities.
Why Can’t the United States Build a High-Speed Rail System? – CityLab
hmmm
A police officer can be seen standing a short distance away from the man. The man can be heard shouting, “You’re on my property with a gun in your hand, threatening to shoot me, because I’m picking up trash.”
“I don’t have a weapon!” the man yells at the officer. “This is a bucket. This is a clamp.”
“I’m not sitting down and you can’t make me,” the man can be heard saying as more officers approach with their sirens on. “This is my property, this is my house, I live here.”
…The man counts out eight [emphasis: peanut gallery] police officers.
sigh…
The man told the officer he lived and worked in the building, and gave the officer his school identification card, but the officer detained the man [anyways.]
Boulder police to investigate after officers confront black man picking up trash
sigh….
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