Jul 292015
 

Last week I had a small but thoroughly enjoyable meeting with five of my guys.  The prison fouled-up the turnout, so ten were not released for it.  We discussed the importance of maintaining an ongoing personal inventory, and using it as a tool to recognize when we are wrong, admit it, make amends, and learn from it.  As always, I could not be more proud of them.  It was very hot, as the Activities section is over the kitchen.  I feel tired and sore, but I did get some good sleep last might.  Today is a grocery delivery day, so I have some cleaning to do in preparation.  The forecast high is 95° and will not dip below 90° until 8/3 at the earliest, so the next heat wave is officially here.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:22 (average 5/26).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: Changing austerity measures starts with changing how we value our own work.

Like the frog in the pot that didn’t know it was boiling until it was too late, some of us have gotten used to these things. But some of us haven’t and aren’t willing to. Like Agnes Török, who filmed this moving poem that puts into words the frustrations so many of us have felt.

Her words are inspiration for those of us who’ve internalized economic disparities as our own character failures.

 

This hero truly understands Republican tinkle down policies. Kudos.

From The New Yorker: In what critics are calling a desperate attempt to draw the media’s attention away from Donald Trump, the other fifteen candidates for the Republican nomination have released a joint sex tape.

The tape, including such luminaries as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Texas senator Ted Cruz, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, appeared briefly on major news Web sites before an avalanche of viewer revulsion demanded it be taken down.

According to Carol Foyler, a viewer who happened to catch the tape during its brief appearance on the CNN Web site, the video contained images “I may never be able to get out of my mind.”

“I couldn’t believe that these people would participate in such a thing,” she said. “Except maybe Santorum.”

Dang Andy! Lindsey Poo was a bottom.  I have no doubt that Frothy was the man on dog, but do we need to change a name from "Upchuck Huck" to "Buttf*** Huck"? Smile with tongue out

From Washington Post: Openly gay Americans can now legally marry, serve in the military (as long as you’re not transgender) and, as of Monday, lead a Boy Scout troop.

So what can’t they do? In fact, there are still several things gay Americans can’t do that straight Americans might take for granted.

We did some research and talked to the Human Rights Campaign’s legal director, Sarah Warbelow, to find out what openly gay Americans are still fighting for.

1. Give blood

This prohibition is specifically for gay and bisexual men, whom the federal government prohibited from donating blood in 1983, during the AIDS epidemic.

The Obama administration recently lifted the ban, but with one very important caveat: A man can only donate blood if he hasn’t had sexual relations with another man in the past year. The ruling was disappointing to LGBT rights groups.

"That’s really unrealistic to ask people," Warebelow said — "especially those who are in long-term relationships."

2. Be protected from housing discrimination in 28 states

In 28 states that don’t include sexual orientation in their housing discrimination laws, gay and lesbian Americans can be denied an apartment to rent, a home to buy or obtain a mortgage on the basis of their sexual orientation.

In the 30 states that don’t ban housing discrimination based on gender identity, transgender Americans face the same possibility.

3. Be protected from business discrimination in 28 states

In 28 states, gay and lesbian Americans can get kicked out of a restaurant, be refused services by a hairdresser or asked to leave a shopping mall. That number’s even higher for transgender people, who don’t have similar protections in 32 states.

The federal government also has no law prohibiting LGBT discrimination in public spaces and services.

In the states and cities that do have anti-discrimination laws — including about a dozen cities in Indiana — some conservatives have successfully pushed for a religious freedom bill to give extra legal protections to service providers who refuse LGBT Americans.

Click through for the other four. The battle against the Republican Reich for LGBT equality has just begun.

Cartoon:

0729Cartoon

Where InsaniTEA rules supreme.

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  54 Responses to “Open Thread–7/29/2015”

  1. 4:26 (average 5:26)  One of the figs that God is supposed to hate?

    Upworthy – Thank God for the "Fight for Fifteen."  Motto:  "I am paid less than $15 an hour, AND AM WORTH MORE!"

    New Yorker – Oh how scary!  Once seen, cannot be unseen! 

    WaPo – The giving blood exclusion also applies to women who have had sex with a man who has has sex with another man.  What they think tey are doing about women whose partners have not toold them they have had sex with another men, I really have no idea.

    New Topic:  Did y'all see this?  Very funny and very pointedly true:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw9eV6K_yHg&feature=youtu.be

    Cartoon – Embarrassed to say I need an explanation.

    • Wonderful and funny video with an important message, thanks Joanne.

    • That was funny, but more importantly, right on!

      I can tell you that all of my Iranian friends are in favour of the deal and are keeping their fingers crossed that the government, the clerics, hold fast to the agreement.  They don't want to see a war with the US and the rest of the world.  Now how do we get Bibi on the correct path and away from his war mongering ways?

  2. Couple of interesting developments the past day or so:

    WTF?!?

    A "Forensics Linguistic" lecturer at a university in the UK has put together multiple maps of the USA with each showing regional variations of usage of some very strong swear words(Red represents very frequent usage, and Blue is infrequent usage)

    https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/mapping-the-united-swears-of-america/

    If you zoom in real tight & look very closely you'll note a fire-engine red dot on each map at exactly where I live.

    … AND it turns out that the daughter of Oklahoma's governor has been living in a trailer that she pulled up right next to the mansion on mansion grounds and tapped into its utilities lines.  Both of which are in violation of Code – so she's moving out.

    “It never dawned on me that a mansion, a governor’s mansion, might be on a Capitol medical zone, so we’re gonna remove the trailer by this Sunday and she’s going to make other living arrangements,” Fallin said.

    I'm not positive, but there's a good chance that after she moves out this Sunday, the Governor's mansion will be the ONLY domicile in Oklahoma that does NOT have a trailer parked in the yard.

    … AND I'm sure most of you have seen this (or a similar) headline the past day:

    Donald Trump Promises To Put Sarah Palin In His Cabinet If He Is Elected President

    While we all know the odds of that are infinitesimal, I'm actually fine if Trump wants to put Palin in his Cabinet.  But what I want to know is, what are the odds she could ever find her way out?

    • I think bastard is losing ground because who cares anymore if people who produce children are married.  My mother's big word was "shit," and she was born in California, raised in Oregon, then spent most of the reat of her life in California  She also had some variants like "I'll be dipped in shit," and "Shit and slide in it!"  I thought she would love the variant I found in "The Loved One" by Evelyn Waugh, which was "Well, I'll be dipped in shit and rolled in bread crumbs," but she never took to it.  My husband, however, loves it. 

      And Sarah – it may depend on what else the cabinet is used for.  If it's a liquor cabinet, she is gone for good.  Very funny, Nameless, as always!

    • Governor Fallin – it also has never dawned on her that her job heads the Executive Branch, and that that is an actual branch of government.  I forgot that (I don't know how).

    • Thanks, NoName, I've passed the united swears of America article straight on, but are going to find that little red dot above your head in each map. Thanks for all my other laughs too:-)

    • I couldn't make them zoom in.

  3. Glad to find company here since there is a couple hours of lagtime on the other site.

    I watched a Tony Robbins video last night, addressing a millenials audience and he used a lot of cuss words.  Seems they are less cuss and more vernacular among many of that age and if Tony included them, some high price advisor must have said it would enhance relateability–what is acceptable is changing yet again.  He also shared three words to remember if you want to change (like your guys TC)–in reverse order of importance:

    After you can be specific on what you want:

    develop a good strategy and act on it; adjust your story (on why it wasn't happening before, etc.); and adjust your state of mind (enthusiasm, etc.)

     

    Love that AB

     

  4. 3:15  Great colour for this succulent!  As the purple in my hair "fades", it becomes a very bright colour like this flower!  Have to love it!

  5. Upworthy:  I shared this on Facebook.  The American people are working harder and harder and earning less and less.   Our childe are graduating from colleged burdened by enormous debt.  But, we should be grateful that the banks have been bailed out and the 1% is enjoying enormous profits.  This video is powerful and I am glad you posted it.  I fear for the world my granddaughter will inherit.

    The New Yorker:  OMG!

    Washington Post:  I wonder if those other 28 states will ever wake up.  My hairdresser is gay, I got my hair cut today and we had a discussion about Trans genders and the way gays are still treated.   I love this guy, he is my friend as well.  He has been in a committed realationship for 24 years, but they are afraid to apply for a marriage license because it might affect their livilihood if it is publiczed.  This is just wrong.

    Cartoon:  SAD BUT TRUE.

  6. Update on my cousin, Phillip:  They sewed his chest up today, everything is functioning but his kidneys and they are keeping him on dialysis.  They plan to wake him up on Friday.  They seem pretty positive that  he will survive.  Good news indeed.  I will be going to Louisville on Saturday to let him know we love him.  Thanks for all your prayers.

  7. Puzzle — 3:15  Great colour for this succulent!  As the purple in my hair "fades", it becomes a very bright colour like this flower!  Have to love it!

    Upworthy — Agnes Török nailed the Republicanus/Teabaggerum, and I am sure many other conservative austerity first governments!  Kudos indeed!!!

    The New Yorker — Republicanus/Teabaggerum family values from the nomination hopefuls.  I think a movie was made about this . . . Sex, Lies and Videotape!  Good one Andy!

    Washington Post — I wonder how the Republicanus/Teabaggerum would feel if they were discriminated against just because they were Republicanus/Teabaggerum? . . . put the shoe on the other foot so to speak.  How fast can you say SCOTUS?  I am sure there would be yowling and howling, and great nashing of teeth.

    Cartoon — You can have it Teabaggerum!

    • Did you forget to post to Care2 or was it acting up so you decided "screw this"?

    • Yeah Lynn, how about that post? How am I going to give you your green star? You know you only get them for a worthwhile comment.

      • Then how come I've been getting stars from you Lona?  LOL!!

      • Yeah, I didn't receive near the stars yesterday that I usually do.  Ironically, every other time I refreshed the page or reloaded it from my bookmarks, Care2 gave me 50 more points.  I could never have gotten that many points from stars.  But frankly I would rather have had fewer points and gotten the stars, which cheer me with the thought that someone is paying attention.

  8. Upworthy – so true.

    New Yorker – am too frightened and repulsed to even think about that 'video'!  Thanks a bunch Andy – we could all have nightmares!

    W Post –  so illogical, it must make them despair.

    Cartoon – hits the nail on the head.

     

  9. Upworthy: Enjoyed the Agnes Török video above, worth a look and listen.

    New Yorker: Gotta see this "sex" tape. lol. 

    WaPo: A Mess. 

    Cartoon: A loss for words.

    In Joanne's # 1 comment box "New Topic" hot link is also worth watching and listening. I'm amazed on how they got all those people to speak out for Diplomacy Works, the nuclear deal with Iran.

  10. It's a pity you went all the way to Salem just to meet up with a third of your guys,TomCat, but as it was a very good meeting and you were able to share really important stuff with them, it certainly wasn't a waste of time. From your description you're all prepared for another heat wave; let's hope it isn't as long as the previous one and you'll sail through it. Good luck with that.

    Upworthy: Briliant poem, performance, video. Like the myth of the boiling frog debunked by just putting the frog in a pan without a lid and having it jump out as soon as the water got slightly above comfortable temperatures, so does Agnes Török debunk the myth of Austerity. They may tell us that we are worthless and should be glad we can work for a minimum wage while they keep making obscene profits out of our work, but, like the frog, we should leap out of our pan as soon as it gets uncomfortable and not try to adapt. No, there is no lid on the pan either, just sock puppet Republicans who can be disposed off by voting.

    The New Yorker: No one else can turn the despair of the clowns not at the steering wheel of the clown car into so much glee for non-Republicans like Andy can. We can expect to see much, much more of this as the driver, who never had a license, runs the car of the road. Let's hope he's touring the North Rim of the Grand Canyon by then.

    Washington Post: Gay men can donate blood since 2012 her in Holland, but blood banks do not have to accept them if they think the donor is HIV positive and the test won't show that for months. It's a precautionary dismissal to safeguard the quality of donated blood, not a discriminatory one. We donate blood for free, by the way. As far as I know, LGBT people are protected from housing, business, employer, adoption and academic discrimination. In fact they are protected from discrimination period, just like every one else. Conversion therapy is relatively unknown here, and no one can be made to go through it, not even minors, as it isn't an accepted form of therapy.

    Cartoon: I would have loved to see this picture taken an hour later in that rain: the brown tea dripping over her face and neck…

  11. Thanks all!  I hope the Glitch Monster stays in his cave today.

  12. The triumph of CitizensUnited, 16 Wannabees, all with filthy rich backers, each one wanting to BUY AMERICA. I guess Romney was right. !!.Holy Cow is  the USA. in BIG trouble??

  13. So sad that the LGBT community has come this far and not gotten over the past. SAD. Truely sad!

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