Pence’s vacation neighbors in Aspen hang “Make America Gay Again” banner.

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,Leave a comment

The people who live next door apparently were a bit apprehensive about hanging the banner in front of the law enforcement and Secret Service officers that were stationed there. “He was real sheepish and thought he might be confronted by the Secret Service or deputies who’d tell him he couldn’t do it,” Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo said. “When they said, ‘We’re not here to control your free speech rights,’ they came out with chili and began feeding them.”

Pence’s vacation neighbors in Aspen hang “Make America Gay Again” banner.

Good on ya, neighbors!

FBI Affidavit Details Ex-Sheriff David Clarke’s Intimidation Of Fellow Passenger

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

FBI Affidavit Details Ex-Sheriff David Clarke’s Intimidation Of Fellow Passenger | HuffPost

This is why we can’t have nice things.

…And a glaring example of the lawlessness and bullying that so typifies American law enforcement in this day an age. The former Sheriff and the officers involved should be in jail for illegally detaining this man, harassment and intimidation.

If officers of the law do not face severe consequences for flaunting the law they will continue to murder, harass, and intimidate the citizenry like the thugs that so many of them so clearly are.

Trump Terminated All Members Of HIV/AIDS Council Without Explanation

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

The council, which still had 16 members, was completely dismissed with a letter sent through FedEx on Wednesday, the Washington Blade first reported.

“Current members of Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) received a letter informing them that the Administration was terminating their appointments” on Dec. 27, 2017, Hayes told HuffPost in a statement sent via email.

“Many of us, our terms were over earlier this year and we were sworn back in, and three were stayed on nearly four months after an executive order was signed continuing the council,” [a former council member] said.

…Six members of the council had earlier resigned in June due to “a president who simply does not care,” according to one member in a Newsweek op-ed entitled “Trump doesn’t care about HIV. We’re outta here.”

Trump Terminated All Members Of HIV/AIDS Council Without Explanation | HuffPost

More erratic incompetence from the Cheeto.

Scientists Predict ‘Mini Ice Age’ Will Hit Earth in Five Years

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Every cycle is different, and it’s not possible to entirely predict what’s coming, but by looking at certain signs in the sun’s solar activity, Zharkova has made some educated guesses about the upcoming cycle.

If Zharkova’s predictions are correct, starting in 2021, the sun will quiet down a lot, letting off a lot less energy and heat. This, then, will affect our planet, as global temperatures drop as a result of less light and heat making it to the Earth.

…Miniature ice ages (known scientifically as “Maunder minimum” periods) have come many times in the past – a similar one, for example, was reponsible for low temperatures that froze the River Thames in London back in the seventeenth century.

…Of course, the danger of news like this is that certain people can willfully ignore its full implications. It’s nice to hear that the world will be cooling slightly and that some of the terrible weather effects we’ve been seeing recently will likely slow, but this doesn’t mean that major polluters are off the hook. This is a grace period, providing us with enough time to sort out our crap (sometimes literally), but eventually the bubble will burst, the sun will heat up, and we’ll all be in danger if we don’t clean up our act.

Bundle Up: Scientists Predict ‘Mini Ice Age’ Will Hit Earth in Five Years

hmmm

‘What Are We Going to Do About Tyler?’

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Gulf Coast Region,Leave a comment

Tyler Haire was locked up at 16. A Mississippi judge ordered that he undergo a mental exam. What happened next is a statewide scandal.

…During his childhood, Tyler had been found to be suffering from seven different mental disorders, the first diagnosis coming when he was just four years old; he had threatened to bomb his school; he had chased his two siblings with a knife trying to stab them; his family suspected that he’d strangled a cat to death with his bare hands; he’d been hospitalized on several occasions and later placed in a home for troubled boys.

The local prosecutor joined the defense lawyer’s request for an evaluation, and Judge John A. Gregory immediately signed an order to have Tyler assessed at the state hospital in Whitfield to determine if Tyler had a factual and rational understanding of the legal proceeding against him, as well as whether, at the time of the non-fatal assault, he knew the “difference between right and wrong.”

“It is therefore ordered and adjudged,” Gregory wrote on April 23, 2013, “that the defendant Tyler Douglas Haire be given a mental evaluation at the earliest possible date.”

Tyler’s evaluation would not happen for three and a half years.

During the 1,266 days Tyler spent in the Calhoun County jail before he received his evaluation, he was never once visited by a psychiatrist. He went without any of the multiple drugs he had taken as a boy. He received no educational instruction.

‘What Are We Going to Do About Tyler?’

sigh…

Chess champion to miss Saudi Arabia tournament over women’s rights

On By peanutgallerynhIn Middle East,Leave a comment

A two-time world chess champion has said she will not defend her titles at a tournament held in Saudi Arabia because of the way the kingdom treats women as “secondary creatures.”

…The sport’s governing body, Fide, had claimed a measure of success in persuading Saudi authorities to allow female competitors to compete in high-necked white blouses and blue or black trousers instead of full-body abayas.

However, for Muzychuk, it was not enough. “I am going to lose two world champion titles, one by one,” she wrote on Facebook. “Just because I decided not to go to Saudi Arabia. Not to play by someone’s rules, not to wear abaya, not to be accompanied getting outside and altogether not to feel myself a secondary creature.  Exactly one year ago I won these two titles and was about the happiest person in the chess world but this time I feel really bad. I am ready to stand for my principles and skip the event, where in five days I was expected to earn more than I do in a dozen of events combined. All that is annoying, but the most upsetting thing is that almost nobody really cares. That is a really bitter feeling, still not the one to change my opinion and my principles. The same goes for my sister Mariya – and I am really happy that we share this point of view. And yes, for those few who care – we’ll be back!”

Chess champion to miss Saudi Arabia tournament over women’s rights | Sport | The Guardian

Go, girl!

Tehran Police Say Women Will No Longer Be Arrested For Violating ‘Islamic’ Dress Code

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Middle East,Leave a comment

On Wednesday, Tehran police announced that women will no longer risk arrest for breaching the country’s conservative interpretation of Islamic dress code, which includes a ban on wearing nail polish, heavy makeup or loose headscarves. Instead, violators will be ordered to take police-instructed classes on “Islamic values,” while repeat offenders could still be subject to legal action

Tehran Police Say Women Will No Longer Be Arrested For Violating ‘Islamic’ Dress Code | HuffPost

hmmm

The Power Politics Behind Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration

On By peanutgallerynhIn Middle East,Leave a comment

For Palestinians, Trump’s Jerusalem declaration ended all hopes that the long-moribund peace process might lead to an independent Palestinian state.

…In recent years, Abbas has satisfied all of Israel’s demands but has still been rejected by Netanyahu. And now, Trump’s declaration had exposed the hopelessness of the U.S. serving as a fair arbiter.

…The U.S., a sponsor of the Oslo Accords, has openly violated one of its paramount provisions: that the status of Jerusalem be decided in final-status negotiations. Any pretense of Trump’s impartiality is gone, and, no Palestinians will be waiting to hear the promised peace plan by Jared Kushner.

…Since returning home, in 1978, I have closely tracked the stream of legal changes that allowed Israeli settlements to develop near Ramallah and in numerous other parts of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. I wrote extensively about Israel’s plans to annex the areas it occupied in 1967 by gradually extending Israeli laws to its ever-growing settlements. I firmly believed that if these violations of international law became known, Israel would no longer be able to carry them out. I was wrong.

…Gradually, during the early two thousands, the Israelis limited Palestinian access to Jerusalem by building the separation wall. They justified it as necessary to stop suicide bombings, but none of the restrictions were reversed when security conditions improved.

…It is important to remember that the Palestinians have consistently called for Jerusalem to remain undivided, and urged that when it became the capital of both states, Israel and Palestine, it would remain an open city. After a peace settlement, the city would serve as a model of coëxistence. Instead of furthering this objective, Trump and Netanyahu have condemned us, both peoples, Israeli and Palestinian, to perpetual conflict.

The Power Politics Behind Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration | The New Yorker

Sigh….