Costs are expected to rise as devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts become more frequent in the coming decades
Government Accountability Office says climate change already costing U.S. billions – CBS News
Sigh….
Man Shuts Down Anti-Abortion Argument By Asking One Question
In the decade he’s been asking it, he claims he’s never gotten a straight, or honest, answer.
Man Shuts Down Anti-Abortion Argument By Asking One Question
hmmm
Full text: George W. Bush speech on Trumpism
George W. Bush’s speech delivered Oct. 19, 2017 at the at the ‘Spirit of Liberty: At Home, In The World” event in New York.
Full text: George W. Bush speech on Trumpism – POLITICO
hmmm
Pentagon Document Contradicts Trump’s Gold Star Claims
After Trump Claim, White House Still Lacked Casualty List: Email undermines veracity of Trump’s statements about Gold Star families.
Exclusive: Pentagon Document Contradicts Trump’s Gold Star Claims
Of course it does.
Trump nominees show up for work without waiting for Senate approval
Some lawyers and experts warn the administration may be bumping up against a 1998 law designed to prevent the president from doing an end-run around Congress.
Trump nominees show up for work without waiting for Senate approval – POLITICO
hmmm
Russia Wants Bulgarians to Stop Painting Soviet Monuments To Look Like American Superheroes
You cannot fault the quality of the work or the creativity involved….
Cops Fatally Shoot Pregnant Native American Woman During ‘Wellness Check’
Sheriff’s deputies in Washington state fatally shot a pregnant Native American woman on Friday after being dispatched to her home for a “wellness check.”
Cops Fatally Shoot Pregnant Native American Woman During ‘Wellness Check’ – THE INDIGENOUS AMERICAN
For God’s sake people, stop calling the police and asking them to take care of your loved ones. They will kill them. Just stop.
George W. Bush’s unmistakable takedown of Trumpism — and Trump
“Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”
George W. Bush’s unmistakable takedown of Trumpism — and Trump – The Washington Post
hmmm
2 election integrity commission members protest lack of transparency | TheHill
Two members of President Trump’s advisory commission on election integrity last week wrote letters to commission staff raising questions about the group’s transparency, according to a new report on Sunday.
The two members requested more details about the commission’s agenda and activities and charged that they were being kept in the dark about developments.
…”Investigative reports raise questions about the partisan motives and actions of the Commission,” the senators wrote.
They added that the panel has “ignored numerous requests” from lawmakers seeking to clarify its activities.
2 election integrity commission members protest lack of transparency | TheHill
hmmm
John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup
The chief of staff sees his role as controlling Trump. If the President obeys him, then the President cannot be criticized.
John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup | The New Yorker
sigh…
Unamerica mofos
Tom Price’s wife asked about quarantining people with HIV
Price, an anesthesiologist, raised the question during an exchange with the director of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s HIV/AIDS epidemiology section.
“I don’t want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it,” Price said during the meeting, which was videotaped.
“Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition,” she said. “So we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. What would you advise, or are there any methods legally that we could do, that would curtail the spread?”
Tom Price’s wife asked about quarantining people with HIV – POLITICO
Good lord…. Um, how about sex-ed? Dragon lady….
Alabama justice says the First Amendment only protects Christians
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore said that the First Amendment only applies to Christians because Buddha or Mohammed didn’t create us.
Alabama justice says the First Amendment only protects Christians | MSNBC
Scientists Bring Lost City to Surface
Off the coast of Egypt divers have discovered something that was thought to be lost a long time ago. It was said that the ancient city of Heracleion was lost under the sea for good. Well 1200 years later, off the bay of Aboukir, this ancient city has finally been discovered. The city dates back to the 6th century B.C. and holds some of the most beautiful artifacts you could imagine. Things like grand statues of gods and goddesses standing well over 15 feet tall and carved out of red granite, treasures of gold and rare stones, elaborate temples and enormous tablets. 
wild
Fact-checking the John Kelly-Frederica Wilson controversy
The Orlando-Sentinel on Friday posted video from the 2015 dedication in which, at least from what the Sun Sentinel claims was the entire speech, Wilson does not mention having had any role in securing funding for the building.
Fact-checking the John Kelly-Frederica Wilson controversy – CBS News
hmmmm
Kevin Smith Is Donating Every Cent He Makes Off The Weinstein Company To Women
“My entire career is tied up with the man. It’s been a weird fucking week,” Smith said on his podcast. “I just wanted to make some fucking movies, that’s it. That’s why I came, that’s why I made Clerks. And no fucking movie is worth all this. Like, my entire career, fuck it, take it. It’s wrapped up in something really fucking horrible.”
Kevin Smith Is Donating Every Cent He Makes Off The Weinstein Company To Women
hmmmm
After Maria, José Andrés and his team have served more hot meals in Puerto Rico than the Red Cross
“When we establish contact with a community, we maintain that contact,” Andrés said during a phone interview from San Juan. “When we go to a place, we take care of that place until we feel it has the right conditions to sustain itself. That’s what a relief organization should be.”
…Andrés hopes that World Central Kitchen is demonstrating what kind of results a nonprofit with a “private sector mentality” can achieve. He suspects that, in years to come, others will be examining “our successes and failures and how we did it.”
“How we were able to go from 100 meals to a million meals,” he added. The secret, Andrés noted, was the chef community, the many volunteers who picked up a knife and got to it. A chef’s disposition, Andrés said, is to know how to adapt to crisis.
hmmmm
LEGO launches Women of NASA set
Trailblazing women who have been instrumental in NASA’s space program are being honored in a very fun way: as LEGO toys.
LEGO launches Women of NASA set | Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building
hmmm
Afghan Army Unit Nearly Wiped Out as New Taliban Tactic Takes Toll
An Afghan Army unit in the south of the country was almost completely wiped out on Thursday, defense officials said, in a Taliban attack that used what is becoming one of the group’s deadliest tactics: packing vehicles captured from security forces with explosives and driving them into military and police compounds.
—-
hmmmm
Fake news helped shape the Catalonia independence vote
Among the more pernicious fake stories that circulated right around the Oct. 1 vote: a picture of the fingers of a woman, allegedly broken by police to stop her from voting; reports that a police officer sent to Catalonia to block the vote had died of a heart attack there, surrounded by activists; and a story of a 6-year-old boy paralyzed by police brutality.
Other fake news stories claimed that photos from a 2012 miners strike in Madrid actually depicted pro-independence Catalans injured during the vote. Some reports seemed intended simply to cause confusion. On social media, people circulated a photo of a man in a yellow shirt, claiming that he was an undercover police officer. As Maldito Bulo reported, he was in fact a pro-independence advocate.
…people sharing fake tweets from politicians and lots of videos of alleged tanks deployed in Catalonia.
El Pais reported that Russians were to blame, suggesting that news outlets such as Russia Today and Sputnik were circulating the fake stories to deepen divisions in Europe. According to Politico, Russian state-backed news organizations and bots aggressively pushed misinformation about the politically charged vote.
How fake news helped shape the Catalonia independence vote – The Washington Post
hmmm
On Trump dossier, the President just suggested the FBI, Democrats and Russia might all be co-conspirators
But even by Trump standards, this morning’s tweet is somewhat remarkable. He is suggesting that a dossier prepared by a former member of British intelligence has not only been totally discredited (it hasn’t — more on that in a minute) but that it might have been funded by some combination of Russia, the Democratic Party and, wait for it, the FBI!
“<facepalm>”
Learning to Let Go of Our Southern ‘Heritage’
Learning to let go of parts of our Southern “heritage.”
Learning to Let Go of Our Southern ‘Heritage’
Well said, Trae
A Rising Constitutional Crisis No One Is Talking About
) At issue was the proposed constitutional convention that would be called under Article V of the Constitution, a longtime conservative dreamshot that at the moment is as close to fulfillment as it ever has been. Under Article V, which deals with amending the Constitution, a constitutional convention must be called if two-thirds of the state legislatures called for it. At the moment, 27 state legislatures have done so. That leaves the plan a mere seven states short of the 34 that would meet the Article V threshold. As it happens, there are seven state legislatures with Republican majorities out there that have yet to take up the question.
…Many of the sharpies pushing the idea reassure the public that a convention thus called would be limited to a specific agenda. (Some even propose that the convention would pass TWIIAP and then everyone would drink up and go home.) There is no way to guarantee that; there’s certainly nothing in Article V that would support that argument, and very little in the history of the last constitutional convention that would do so, either.
A Rising Constitutional Crisis No One Is Talking About
hmmmm
Comments From The Peanut Gallery 