I’m writing for tomorrow, day 77. Sunday was a slow news day, and I had a lot of work to do, so this is today’s only article. Condolences to Packer fans. Watching the ending of that game, I wanted to throw up. I’m also super tired, so I’m going to bed. (Later: stayed too long.)
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:12). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
From Daily Kos: In all fairness, the clerk handed him [a Kentucky police officer] a loaded gun and the officer wasn’t aware it was loaded. When you watch the video, you’ll notice two other shoppers that are incredibly lucky not to have been shot as well:
There’s a special word for a locality, where the store clerks are so Ammosexual that they keep the weapons in the display case loaded: Republican.
From Think Progress: Among the civil rights-era laws passed to improve equality was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The act sought to achieve Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of equality by improving federal dollars to states to support the educational needs of disadvantaged students. In the decades since, the federal government has worked — despite state resistance — to increase equity and expand opportunity for disadvantaged students.
But today, students’ right to a high-quality education is threatened.
Senator Alexander, the Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, wants to destroy the federal government’s ability to protect students’ right to a high-quality education. His recently released proposal to reauthorize ESEA, the country’s most important education law, will unapologetically eliminate states’ obligation to close race-based achievement gaps and to improve the quality of education afforded students of color.
Republicans are not racist, the Pope is not Catholic, and bears never, ever shit in the woods!
From Raw Story: [C]rews worked on Monday to clean up crude oil that spilled in and near the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana even as Bridger Pipeline LLC tried to determine what caused the weekend breach, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The release of crude oil from Bridger’s Poplar Pipeline system near Glendive, Montana began on Saturday morning, the company said in a statement.
In my 20s I fished that river many times. I feel like crying and screaming at the same time, ecpecis;;y since this failure was predicted in 2011.
Cartoon:
28 Responses to “Open Thread–1/20/2015”
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Daily Kos:
Neither one of them, both the clerk and policeman, bothered to check to see if the gun was loaded or not. The policeman may be suing the store but he did not check the gun either and consequently blew one of his fingers off. Ammosexual idiots.
Think Progress:
Lamar Alexander, Senator (R-TN) "wants to destroy the federal government’s ability to protect students’ right to a high-quality education." This screams of bigotry and racism. "His recently released proposal to reauthorize ESEA, the country’s most important education law, will unapologetically eliminate states’ obligation to close race-based achievement gaps and to improve the quality of education afforded students of color."
Raw Story:
An environmental catastrophe as reported by Rachel Maddow in last night's show broadcast. The break was predicted in 2011. Over 50,000 gallons of oil has spilled into the Yellowstone River. Residents in the area say that their drinking water tasted and smelled of oil, diesel.
Imagine what might happen if the Keystone XL pipeline had been built and the pipe broke and leaked into the aquifer.
Rachel Maddow 01/19/15
Oil pipeline leak blights Montana river (again)
Rachel Maddow reports on clean-up efforts after an oil pipeline burst, dumping tens of thousands of gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River in Montana, the second time the Yellowstone has suffered from a broken oil pipeline.
Be sure to view, listen to Maddow's report on the federal hate crimes law. Important.
Rachel Maddow 01/20/15
Hate crime law aids justice for racist murder
Rachel Maddow reports on how an expanded federal hate crimes bill, signed into law by President Obama closed a loophole, allowing prosecutors to convict all ten participants in a racially motivated murder in Jackson, Mississippi in 2011.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
Cartoon:
What are you lookin' at…
Bullshi… Republicans!
Daily Kos – both the idiots were at fault – and the police officer should go for retraining and an urgent IQ test – he should have checked to see if the gun was loaded.
Raw Story – oh no – who would have thought this could happen? And after so many other hundreds of leaks in the past, some totally catastrophic, this couldn't have been predicted – it was? – sorry that was inadequate sarcasm. Only the lying morons on the right could not have thought that could (and would) happen.
According to Rachel Maddow, a study was done afrer the last big Yellostone River Spill in 2011. It showed that failure of the pipeline that just failed was likely.
2:43 That was my Homeroom classroom number in High School, oh so many years ago. This puzzle reminds me of the ones I used to do with my Grandfather back then.
3:23 I bet that ol' puddy tat had his heart set on that wild growing cat grass! You're in trouble now Patty!
Dang! There was NIP in them thar hills!
Dailly Kos ~ It seems to me that it is a bad policy to keep loaded firearms in a gun dealership unless it is the owner's personal weapon.
Think Progress ~ Regress & Supress.
Raw Story ~ I have been posting updates on this spill on my FB page sine it happened. At the top of every post I add: "Tell me again how safe the Keystone XL Pipeline is" or "How do you clean an oil spill in a river". Benzene has leaked into the 6,000 residents water supply and truckloads of drinking water are being shipped in for them. Tell me again how a pipeline that transports 42,000 gallons of oill a day managed to spill 50,000 gallons of oil into the river without detection. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/drinking-water-trucked-into-montana-city-after-oil-spill/2015/01/19/61362a68-a04f-11e4-91fc-7dff95a14458_story.html It makes me sick!
Cartoon ~ Look away from the computer! You're starting to get cross-eyed.
Thanks for the update.
4:25 average 4:12. I doubt that you can eat a whole mountain, but there's bound to be something edible in there. Just watch out for the Scottish "Touch not the cat bote a glove" wildcats – formidable competition. (Apparently so is Pat A – and others haven't weighed in yet.)
Daily Kos – I don't think they have a clue who put it into the case loaded. But Jim is right – the first thing you do when you pick up a gun is check to see whether it is loaded. Even if you checked when you put it away nto a locked safe and it wasn't loaded then. But you know Republicans – "No harm, no foul" – a little thing like a finger isn't harm, someone has to die or at least be in intensive care before there's harm.
Think Progress – I can't say it any better than you did, TC.
Raw Story – I don't think they expected this not to happen, I think it's that they just didn't give a flying f – er, didn't really care very much. Water is only necessary for plants, animals, and humans – it's not like money.
Cartoon – Looks like instead of crying or screaming, you decided to just sit there in concentrated anger staring at the news. Can't say as I blame you. I'll try to stay out of your fur.
You Got the emotion right.
Cartoon: OMG… "Izz dat poornoo…"…
or
"I yam boored…"…
lol.
Worse…; Republicans.
Cop shoots off trigger finger… Always assume loaded and check is rule #1… 😆
Assume loaded? The cop or the gun? 😉
Ummm – both?
Perhaps pipeline installation needs to be put on hold for health and safety reasons.?
Permanently!
Puzzle — 3:23 I bet that ol' puddy tat had his heart set on that wild growing cat grass! You're in trouble now Patty!
Daily Kos — I don't know who is worse . . . the cop or the store clerk! The cop should know to check ANY weapon to ensure it is not loaded. Isn't that basic gun safety 101? If it isn't, it should be! The clerk should never have a loaded gun like that in a display case. Notice the other clerk with the other customers . . . he turns his back after the shot went off making me wonder if he was hit. I wonder if the cop will eventually go back to work . . . at least it wasn't his trigger finger.
Think Progress — Obama's veto pen is certainly going to get a work out! I guess need to think about education as a human right . . . oh I forgot, they don't believe in human rights either!
Raw Story — "Oil has been seen in the river in spots 15 and 25 miles downstream from Glendive, with some of the oil trapped under ice, the Journal said." — I wonder how they will clean up that part. And Shell wants to drill in the Arctic where there is a whole lot more ice! NO way!
Cartoon — SSDD! Doze Repubkinz er at it agin! ((Sigh!!))
Exactly!
And a 9 mo. old died at the hands of a five year old who found a loaded gun today too…too many loaded guns in too many places creating too many risks.
And Obama didn't speak of what Alexander wants to tinker with tonight…sigh
Is what is being used to clean up the oil any better for people to drink than the oil?
Puddy tat looks like he's going to join the computer in sleep mode.
He said a lot else.
Apologies in advance, because I may repeat myself tomorrow. Just got through watching and reading (CC) Pres. Obama's SOTU, and if you missed it, I can sum it up for you in four words:
OUT OF THE BALLPARK!
Now THIS was the guy I worked for, THIS was the guy I campaigned for, THIS was the guy I donated to, this … THIS is the Obama I want to see for the next two years!
And WRT to Joni "Deer-in-the-Headlights" Ernst heartwarming story about her plastic bags over her good shoes, can't we all just hear hundreds of thousands Americans that Democrats care about responding:
You actually HAD shoes?!?
Agree Nameless! I just finished watching the address and it was powerful. Equally as powerful was Boehner's apparent disdain for the whole thing. Bernie Sanders was having a fine time. And of course you could tell where the Republicanus/Teabaggers were sitting . . . they were like stone statues, cold, dour and unmoving.
Haven't seen the responses yet but I understand from watching some episodes of Rachel Maddow that there will be about 5 responses — Joni Pig Nuts, Clawson from Florida, Rubio is going to respond in Spanish (they want that Latino vote don't they!), and Rand Paul apparently was also set to respond. I'll have to wait to see them. I'm sure TC will have a posting about this.
Agree. Unfortunately 2 barf bagsm a trash bag, a trash can, my shoes and my pocket were insufficient to contain my response to the Pig Nuts resaponse.
Daily Kos: If this was on the localnews, I missed it, but I agree with the comments on Daily Kos. The first thing he should have done was be sure the gun was not loaded.
Think Progress: The act has not worked in all states. In Kentucky we still have most of the dollars going to the big city schools and rural schools still look much as they did when I was a student in the Stone Age. The way schools are funded is the problem, it is based on attendance here, and the local tax base. More dollars flow into Lexington and Louisville than the mountain counties, so of course they have better schools.
Raw Story: Sad this happened and it should be a wake up call to all those advocating the XL pipeline based on the lies from Faux news and the Republicans.
Cartoon: Are you telling us you have run out of news?
I think schools shoulf be funded at the state level, not county.