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.
The 2018 midterms are still 561 days away, but an unprecedented early surge of Democrats have already declared their candidacies for the House of Representatives, setting up what will likely be one of the longest and most crowded series of House Democratic primary campaigns in memory.
hmmmm
It describes a world in which women are not individual human beings—witness these men who cannot even imagine a reason why any man might choose to share a meal with a woman he doesn’t intend to fuck—but generic objects of sexual temptation at which men have only very limited power to resist flinging their genitals. It weaponizes women—most especially young, unmarried women—against themselves: I can’t be alone with you, even over some friggin’ nachos, or your presence might cause me to fuck you. Indeed there could be no other reason for us to sit down to a meal together. This is the sort of thing that is being referenced when people use the term “rape culture.”
What Does Mike Pence Think Happens At Restaurants?
Weaponizes women and infantilizes men. Insulting all ’round.
While still short on specific policy changes, Sessions has made it clear that he plans to crack down on drugs and immigration while resuscitating the harsh sentencing laws that have given the United States the world’s highest incarceration rate.
Jeff Sessions is quietly preparing to double down on mass incarceration – VICE News
Sigh…
We are witnessing the spread of a progressive form of federalism under a GOP-led government.
Has Jeff Sessions Ushered In A New Kind Of Federalism? | The Huffington Post
hmmm
…The Laikipia Nature Conservancy, has been the center of a bloody battle for weeks, as a large-scale drought has pushed cattle-herders to extreme measures to try and find grazing land.
…”You have nomadic herders who are moving into private wildlife conservancies with thousands of heads of cattle,” [NPR’s Eyder] Peralta said. “And in response, the Kenyan government launched a military-style operation to push the herders out. But what we’ve seen is an escalation of violence. Police have killed lots of cows. And the herders have responded by burning tourist lodges on the properties.”
…Members of the Pokot and Samburu tribes have long grazed on conservancy land in Kenya, but over the past few years things have changed. Herders have brought more and more cows, killed other wildlife, and begun to vandalize property.
..”That is heavily politicized violence. And that is what’s much more worrying about this situation.”
[Gallmann’s daughter, Sveva Gallmann] added that she doesn’t think the herders even own many of the cows.
“There’s a lot of, actually, politicians, people within the police, people within the administration storing their wealth in cattle and laundering ill-gotten money through cattle,” she said.
…Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office issued a statement warning politicians in the area not to inflame the situation with “reckless rhetoric.”
“Politicians encouraging invasions of privately-owned property or attacks on individuals can expect strong deterrent action in terms of the law,” Kenyatta’s spokesman, Manoah Esipisu, said.
‘I Dreamed of Africa’ Author And Conservationist, Shot In Kenya : The Two-Way : NPR
hmmm
The White House was forced Monday to defend its controversial positions to keep its visitor logs secret and …Trump’s tax returns private.
…The administration tries to shift the issue back to Barack Obama.
…The decision not to voluntarily release the logs means Americans won’t see who visits the president until at least five years after he leaves office, and it prompted quick pushback from open-government advocates. But after Trump won the presidency without releasing tax returns, as major candidates have done for decades, the White House appears to be attempting to wait out the critics who want more insight into Trump’s finances and schedule.
…“It’s the same thing that was discussed during the campaign trail. The president is under audit,” Spicer told reporters. “It’s a routine one. It continues. And I think that the American public know clearly where he stands.”
…As USA Today reported last week, the president and vice president’s tax returns are automatically audited every year. The IRS has said an audit does not bar a taxpayer from choosing to release his or her tax returns.
…the White House often does not confirm details such as whether Trump is playing golf when he travels to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump’s White House on defensive over transparency – POLITICO
Spicer, he’s not entitled to anything in terms of private, personal time. If he doesn’t like how his job works, then he shouldn’t have asked for it.
NBC News reviewed video and photos from a 2015 Moscow gala that Mike Flynn was paid $45,000 to attend to see who else was in the room.
…U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, the only American besides Flynn at the head table.
Stein’s 2016 campaign was heavily promoted by RT.
“And my own connection to RT, you know ironically, it takes a Russian television station to actually be open to independent candidates in this country and that is a shame. A shameful commentary on our own media,” she told NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald.
(Stein did well enough to help Russia achieve its aims. Her vote totals in the crucial states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan were all greater than Clinton’s margin of defeat, and arguably denied Clinton an Electoral College victory.)
Guess Who Came to Dinner With Flynn and Putin – NBC News
hmmm
Mary McCord, who was leading the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had ties to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, is leaving her position next month.
hmmm
Trump quietly met a pair of former Colombian presidents last weekend at his family-owned Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, thrusting his administration into an ugly power struggle in Latin America that threatens to undermine the country’s controversial peace agreement with rebel leaders.
Trump holds secret meeting with Colombian opposition | Miami Herald
What the???
Private funding isn’t enough to offset the president’s proposed budget cuts, they say.
Scientists Brace for a Lost Generation in American Research – The Atlantic
Arrrrggggghhhhh!
Prosecutors are assessing whether charges should be filed related to the spreading of stolen U.S. information by WikiLeaks, sources said
U.S. officials re-examining intel leak cases – CBS News
hmmm
Many of those Searle studies that Gross questioned are now lumped into the data that says aspartame is safe. And though the question of aspartame causing brain tumors has largely been dismissed over the years, there hasn’t been much new data on the subject. In fact, a 1987 General Accounting Office report states that 28 out of 69 scientists said more research was needed in the areas of “neurological functions, brain tumors, seizures, headaches, and adverse effects on children and pregnant women.” Nonetheless, the report added, research was ongoing in all areas except brain tumors. What’s more, the FDA dissuaded the National Toxicology Program (NTP) from doing further cancer research on aspartame. As the founder of the NTP, David Rall, put it, “It’s a wonderful way to ensure that it isn’t tested—discourage the testing group from testing it and then say it’s safe.”
…It’s well established that there is a correlation between being overweight and diet soda consumption, but the question is which way the association works. Do people who are overweight tend to drink diet soda, or is something about the diet soda contributing to weight gain? A 2015 study found that long-term consumption was associated with increased waist circumference. And a 2016 study found that mothers who consumed diet soda while pregnant had babies with a two-fold higher risk of being overweight at age one.
While the question of whether the sweetener causes weight gain, diabetes, or other metabolic disease is unsettled, there are some remarkable correlations.
The Story of How Fake Sugar Got Approved is Scary As Hell – Tonic
hmmm
‘Where is this Europe?’ asks one Pakistani migrant worker as they share stories of abuse and working without pay.
‘My biggest regret’: Being a migrant worker in Greece | Greece | Al Jazeera
hmmm
Supposedly, Pence wasn’t meant to go outside during his visit to the DMZ, but this man LIVES FOR THE FUCKING DANGER, and for easily manipulated photo ops.
With the same kind of steely eye that Sarah Palin gave Russia from her skinnin’ porch, Pence bravely stared down a country where people have to eat bark soup and declared YOU SHALL NOT PASS.
Dude, you’re fucking afraid to eat dinner with a woman.
Simpy, pathetic loser.
Dr. Thomas Rid of Kings College London’s Department of War Studies explained that polarization makes societies vulnerable to manipulation by disinformation campaigns.
Russia, Rid explained, according to CBS News, likes to use “unwitting agents” to carry out its work. WikiLeaks, Twitter and “overeager journalists” all contributed to Russia’s efforts to destabilize the U.S. by disrupting its 2016 election.
“They were trying to ..drive a wedge within the Democratic Party between the Clinton group and the Sanders group… …And then in our nation between Republicans and Democrats.”
Supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) reported earlier this month that during the 2016 election, their social media feeds and pro-Sanders Facebook groups were inundated with what they now believe were Russian bots spewing anti-Hillary memes including fake news stories about Clinton.
Russians used ‘Bernie Bros’ as ‘unwitting agents’ in disinformation campaign: Senate Intel witness
Not shocking exactly.
Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles resigned from the Florida Legislature on Friday, consumed by a scandal that erupted three days earlier over a diatribe of insults the Miami Republican unleashed against two lawmakers at a Tallahassee bar.
Miami lawmaker resigns over racial slur scandal
Justice served.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy was removed from his post by the Trump administration and has been replaced temporarily by his deputy.
The statement continued, “Dr. Murthy has been relieved of his duties as Surgeon General and will continue to serve as a member of the Commissioned Corps. Secretary [Tom] Price thanks him for his dedicated service to the nation.”
Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, a nurse who served as Murthy’s deputy, will serve as the acting Surgeon General, according to the statement.
Surgeon General removed from post by Trump administration, replaced by deputy – ABC News
Probably refused to tell the public to drink snake oil.
Envoys of several countries including the US and UK as well as the UN have called for a thorough investigation into the murder.
Prominent Maldivian Civil Society Activist Yameen Rasheed Murdered
hmmm
On Friday, the former fossil-fuel favoring governor ordered a study to see whether solar and wind development is making the electricity grid less stable.
whaaa the faaaa? Does Perry actually comprehend anything about how the world around works?
The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday asked several senior Obama administration officials, including former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, to testify publicly in the panel’s probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election.
The committee has also invited FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers to return before the committee to testify in a closed setting.
House intel panel invites former acting AG Sally Yates to testify | TheHill
hmmmm
Money that Congress approved last year to help states combat the opioid epidemic is headed to New Hampshire.
Shaheen has been urging President Donald Trump’s administration to revise the formula used to allocate the funding so it prioritizes states like New Hampshire that are hardest hit by the crisis. She says she’s pleased officials have indicated that they will review the formula ahead of distribution next year.
Shaheen: Money to Fight Opioid Epidemic Coming to N.H. | New Hampshire Public Radio
hmmm
President Donald Trump’s lawyers argued in a Thursday court filing that protesters “have no right” to “express dissenting views” at his campaign rallies because such protests infringed on his First Amendment rights.
Trump lawyer: ‘No right’ to protest at rallies – POLITICO
That’s not really how the 1st amendment works there, Donner….
Officers stopped men wearing hats from entering the church sanctuary unless they removed them, and men who would not remove their hats were asked to leave. The issue led to arguments between members of the public and police.
They also escorted people out who used profanity inside the church.
“There’s a couple people that’s arrested,” Johnson said. “There’s a couple people cussing in the church, disorderly conduct.”
Multiple people arrested at Flint water town hall meeting | MLive.com
What the faahhhhk were the doing holding it in a church, making me take off their hats, and arresting people for swearing anyways???
As the French prepare to vote Sunday in a presidential election marked by acrimonious debate about Russian influence in Europe, there’s little doubt about which candidate Moscow backs.
Last month, the combative populist Marine Le Pen of the right-wing National Front flew to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin.
…American politics was jolted when 17 intelligence agencies concluded in January that Russia had covertly intervened in the 2016 presidential campaign with the aim of electing Donald Trump. Such activity is nothing new in Europe, where Russia has launched a series of clandestine and open efforts to sway governments and exert influence, according to European and U.S. national security officials, diplomats, academics and other experts interviewed by ProPublica in recent weeks.
“The Russians have had an aggressive espionage presence here for a long time,” a senior French intelligence official said. “The Russians now have more spies, more clandestine operations, in France than they did in the Cold War.”
Russia is engaged in a full-scale shadow war in Europe
hmmmm
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