I’m getting a late start today. I took a nap this morning because I have groceries coming this afternoon and have to put them away. Then Wendy is coming to de-stink the TomCat later. The world must prepare for a great blessing tomorrow, as it is a high holy day, marking the return of the Blessed Ellipsoid Orb. The Church od the Ellipsoid Orb convenes at 5:30 PDT.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:55 (average 6:56). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: It’s easy to get away with lying about immigrants when your audience has never met one.
[A]ccording to a new working paper by Jonathon Rothwell, senior economist at Gallup, the voters cheering, clapping, and nodding in agreement at Trump’s speeches aren’t likely to be interacting with racial or ethnic minorities or immigrants on a regular basis: The best predictor of whether a person supports a Trump presidency is how white their neighborhood is.
Trump’s entire campaign is based upon his supporters’ fear of ethnic minorities, mostly Latino and Hispanic, specifically the fear that these people of a certain color are taking away jobs from “real Americans,” spreading horrendous crimes, or other similar contrived right-wing horseshit. This is the core of his appeal, a theme to which he returns again and again, in speech after speech, rally after rally. It is the glue that binds his supporters together. [emphasis original]
The Trump supporters to whom this does not apply are the well-educated super-rich people, who choose to knowingly play on the ignorance of others out of greed or lust for power.
From NY Times: Scientists and regulators agree that earthquakes like the 5.6-magnitude tremor that struck Oklahoma on Saturday, and thousands of smaller ones in recent years, have been spurred by the disposal of millions of tons of wastewater that is pumped to the surface, and then injected back into the ground, during oil and gas production. The shock last week tied a record set in 2011 in Prague, Okla., for the strongest such tremor in the state’s history.
State regulators have ordered well operators to stop wastewater injections in a 725-square-mile ellipse around the quake’s center. But they conceded that trying to prevent more quakes was an inexact science. And in Oklahoma, where oil and gas are dominant economic and political forces, any effort to regulate the industry produces an entirely different set of shocks.
Perhaps the best solution is to limit fracking to deep red states, cut off federal aid, and make frackers pay to relocate Democrats.
From Democracy Now: On Saturday in North Dakota, security guards working for the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction. If completed, the Dakota Access pipeline would carry about 500,000 barrels of crude per day from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois, where it would meet up with an existing pipeline that would carry the oil all the way down to Texas. The pipeline has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and members of nearly 100 more tribes from across the U.S. and Canada. On Friday, lawyers for the tribe filed documents showing how the very land where Dakota Access would bulldoze on Saturday was, in fact, a tribal burial site. Democracy Now! was on the ground on Saturday, and we bring you this exclusive report.
Kudos to the Rosebud Sioux. The executives of Dakota Access Pipeline and their goose-stepping brown shirts belong behind bars.
Cartoon:
17 Responses to “Open Thread – 9/7/2016”
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4:30 But I and my true love will never meet again by the bonny, bonny banks.
Another great blessing tomorrow: the 75th birthday of Bernard Sanders.
DKos – Not that the well educated super rich generally live in neighborhoods filled with people of color either – although there are well-educated and successful people of color all over.
NY Times – I don't know where it would be safe to allow fracking. I am thinking no pace. But having frackers pay to relocate Democrats might still be a good isea.
Democracy Now – Petition here
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/275/077/005/demand-for-legal-action-against-dapl-protest-attackers-and-energy-transfer-partners/?z00m=28332594
and here
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-dakota-access-pipeline-to-stop-their-construction-and-negotiate-fairly-with-the-standing-rock-families
and here
https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/petitions/sign-if-you-agree-stop-the-dakota-access-oil-pipeline
All different aspects. I was "thrilled" this morning to read that Jill Stein had showed up and vancalized a vehicle with spray paint, accompanied by cheers.
Cartoon – Well, she looks cute.
Thanks for the links!
signed
There is controversary about fracking causing earthquakes. To the deniers, I say go here,
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
Zoom the map to show the world. The red lines on the map are faults. Virtually all the earthquakes in the world are lined up along the fault lines…EXECPT for a cluster in Oklahoma. Every day there is a new cluster in OK. They are caused either by fracking or all the republicans farting at one time. Take your pick.
Thanks for the map, Jerry!
NYT: Fracking here in Texas is a big deal. It's also dangerous to the environment, and those folks who live around the sites, as evidenced by OK's quake. But of course, it's big money, and nothing will be done. It's pathetic.
DN: Sacred Land. So sad. Kudos to the Tribes. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has backed the Standing Rock Sioux … that it should have a say in the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. … "There is no reason to kill our only planet capable of sustaining life."
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/The-UN-Backs-Tribal-Opposition-To-Dakota-Access-Pipeline.html
Cartoon: Nice outfit.
Ahhh…football. The magic word for 'Fall'. Hoping your team wins. Enjoy your evening, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
*Signed all petitions. Thank you, Joanne.
Neat link, Pat!
Well, I woke up Saturday morning at 7:02 with my bed rockin and rollin! I have a pad on my bed and I could see it flipping at the end of the bed when it got. Seems like it lasted forever!!! They just upgraded it to a 5.8 !!! WOW! I thought that only California had quakes like that!
In 1865 there was a 5.0 one in and about Memphis TN – which doesn't get talked about much. Otherwise, yeah, California USED TO be the place. Bot now …
Thank God nothing happened to you!!
Daily Kos: Shared this on Facebook. So many of my friends are Trump supporters, and we grew up in a town that had immigrants, blacks, many different ethnic groups. We were all hill billies with about the same income. We all got along. Now I hear prejudice that I did not realize existed. Trump encourages these feelings, too.
NY Times: Scientists have been telling regulators that fracking was causing these earthquakes for a long time. I like your solution.
Democracy Now: I read today that Dakota Pipeline had halted construction. I have signed two petitions to have the company that sent attack dogs on the protestors be prosecuted. So far, there has been minimal news coverage of this event.I suppose that is because Trump wasn't there.
Cartoon: I have a picture of my grandmother in a similar outfit. Can you imagine that on a beach today?
f
Puzzle — 3:52 It's mine, all mine! No rapacious Puddy Tat allowed!
Cartoon — Don't let the French see that bathing suit . . . they'll ban it from the beaches!
Didn't sleep last night because of the throbbing in my left leg, so I am close to doing a face plant. Had physio today followed by ice, and it is feeling a bit better but still very sore. I see the doctor tomorrow but I am sure that this is just going to take a bit of time to heal.
Wish you were feeling better.
Read today that Trump is winning with "least educated voters" – no surprise there as only the ignorant would think his bragging, vile, narcism indicated any kind of wisdom.
Signed the petitions and forwarded links, Joanne – thank you. Big Bully Oil doing what they do best…causing misery everywhere they go.
Labor Day holiday just past and already looking forward to the return of Ellipsoid Orb, and smelling like catnap (the fine equivalence of roses) too. You must be in a good mood, TomCat. Batch of catnaps on the way to keep you in that mood for the rest of the week.
DK: "The best predictor of whether a person supports a Trump presidency is how white their neighborhood is." Of course it is, if they had more true interaction with minorities they would understand how much is populist Drumpf is playing on their biggest fear: that they're going to be a minority soon and then get treated like they've treated others.
NYT: There's only one solution to the problems of earthquakes in this area which isn't near a natural fault line that could cause them: stop all fracking immediately. And even then the quakes won't disappear overnight because there's no way to repair de damage and destabilization deep in the earth's crust brought about by fracking. And of course there's no excuse to continue fracking near natural fault lines, that is courting a disaster on a major scale. But with fracking it's the same as with climate change, nothing substantially will happen until after a catastrophe, when prevention is a station left behind a long time ago.
DN: Let's hope the emergency restraining order on pipeline construction will turn into a permanent stop. The tribes have every right to protest the construction and demand it to be terminated. As more people hear of these protests and stand with them the tribes might just have a chance of reaching that goal.
Thanks!! Need those naps!!
Thanks all! Hurried Hugs!