It wasn’t me!! Really!!
Jun 212015
Jun 212015
Summer is upon us, and as an authentic Christian, I greet all of you for whom this day has spiritual significance and celebrate with you. Just in case the universe is out of kilter, the days will shorten by kitty command (see below). I’m feeling somewhat tired, because street noise was worse than usual last night.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:09 (average 5:27). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Recruiting:
We still need two new players for Lefty Blog Friends, our fantasy football league. How about you? For more information, click here.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos (classic: 3/2014): http://www.salon.com/…
[T]he only people still debating whether or not climate change is “real,” and caused by human activity, are the ones who aren’t doing the actual research. In an update to his ongoing project of reviewing the literature on global warming, [geochemist James Lawrence Powell] went through every scientific study published in a peer-review journal during the calendar year 2013, finding 10,885 in total (more on his methodology here). Of those, a mere two rejected anthropogenic global warming.
Powell notes that very, very few of climate change deniers–who tend more towards filling Congressional hearings and cable "news" networks with their own carbon dioxide emissions–have ever written a peer-reviewed scientific article in support of their "position." That’s because if you write an article subject to peer review for a scientific publication, you have to back it up with…evidence.
You can be certain the two make a comfortable living from just the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise.
From NY Times: Granted, Khartoum, Tehran, Damascus and Pyongyang are not terribly popular tourist destinations. But they are places Americans can visit without running afoul of federal law. Yet, traveling to Cuba for tourism continues to be banned. Getting there for approved purposes remains needlessly difficult and expensive.
The ban — the only travel prohibition American citizens are currently subjected to — never made sense, and it’s particularly misguided in an era of broadening engagement between the United States and Cuba.
A bill introduced early this year by a bipartisan group of senators who want to repeal the travel ban is the most worthy of the flurry of legislative initiatives sparked by President Obama’s decision last December to re-establish diplomatic relations with Havana. The bill would rescind provisions in laws passed in 1996 and 2000 that barred travel by Americans as part of a strategy to punish and isolate Cuba in hopes of bringing about democratic change in that country. The freer flow of people, goods and ideas is far more likely to lead to meaningful reforms on the island.
I fully agree.
From Alternet: Friday night Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) got the rock star treatment from Real Time host Bill Maher who praised the darkhorse candidate’s campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, telling the fiercely liberal senator that his run from the left has forced consensus favorite Hillary Clinton to start “talking like Elizabeth Warren.
Bernie and Bill is to good a combination not to share.
Cartoon:
Jun 202015
Here is the seventy-second article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Republican Terrorist Dylann Storm Roof. He is so honored for his traditional Republican approach to race relations.
Let me begin by clarifying that, for a century, the hate criminals attaching black churches were Democrats. What makes this a Republican tradition is that the Democratic Party had the decency to abandon it’s white supremacist wing. The Republican Party embraced them and they became a substantial part of the Republican base. But these are the same people and groups that have practiced domestic terrorism all along, so ownership of the tradition is now Republican.
After Dylann Storm Roof allegedly shot up an AME church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine people, two flags were lowered more than 100 miles away in Columbia, the state’s capital. Atop the South Carolina State House, the U.S. flag and South Carolina’s palmetto flag flew at half-staff as the manhunt for Roof ended with his capture in North Carolina and prayer vigils were planned. The show of respect would have been appropriate even if one of the state legislature’s own — state senator Clementa C. Pinckney — had not died in the attack.
[How people convince themselves the flag represents freedom, not slavery]
But a third flag within view of the State House — a Confederate one — flew as high and as proud as ever, flapping in the breeze on a sunny day.
This looked bad.
Roof was photographed wearing flags himself — of defunct white supremacist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia — and drove a car featuring a Confederate flag license plate. The Emanuel AME Church shooting and its description by authorities as a “hate crime” were tragic enough to be compared to the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., a murderous act that claimed the lives of four young African American girls and helped bring about passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
And yet, as a pastor and members of his flock lay dead and the Supreme Court dealt a blow to those who wish to display Confederate flags on license plates in Texas, South Carolina seemed to be flaunting its heritage of slavery as the first state to secede from the Union. It was deplorable enough, critics said, that the flag was there in the first place…
Inserted from <Washington Post>
Chris Hayes and Kevin Alexander Gray discussed this crime and how it ties in with ongoing Republican race crimes.
Roof is a product of that traditional racist culture. The Stars and Bars still fly high as Republicans give dog-whistle honor to one of their own.
Jun 202015
Yesterday I completed all the little tasks that I have been putting off and paid bills. I also cleaned my email boxes, a herculean task in itself, as I typically receive over 300 items on any given day. The plan for the weekend is to blog, relax and do some solar basking. Maybe I’ll even feel rested by Monday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:12 (average 4:45). To di it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Recruiting:
We still need two new players for Lefty Blog Friends, our fantasy football league. How about you? For more information, click here.
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: The Presidential candidate Donald Trump blasted Pope Francis on Friday, arguing that the Pontiff’s recent call to save the planet had largely overshadowed his “far more reckless” call to feed the poor.
“Look, if the Pope wants to spout off about climate change, that’s his prerogative, I guess,” Trump said. “But when he starts talking about feeding the poor, that is totally dangerous and irresponsible.”
“Every other candidate is ripping the Pope’s comments about climate change,” he added. “I’m the only one in this race who seems to have noticed his truly crazy talk about feeding people.”
Trump said that, as President, it would be his job not to feed the poor “but to keep them from getting into the country in the first place.”
“We need to build a wall they’re too hungry to climb,” he said.
Andy has found the place where Trump’s soul should be. But Republicans have ass-souls instead of souls. Trump must think that Jesus fed 5,000 billionaires.
From Daily Kos: On Wednesday night, nine African-Americans were gunned down by a vile, racist killer as they attended a Bible study class at Charleston’s historic Emanuel AME church. And now Charles Cotton, a "dedicated" board member of the NRA—perhaps tiring of his political soul mates’ attempts to shift the blame from racism to religious intolerance for the mass murder—decided to weigh in with his own explanation of who was really to blame for this horrific act of domestic terrorism: One of the murder victims. In a discussion on TexasCHLforum, it is pointed out that one of the victims was State Senator Clementa Pinckney. Said Cotton of the murdered public servant and pastor of the church:
And he voted against concealed-carry. Eight of his church members who might be alive if he had expressly allowed members to carry handguns in church are dead. Innocent people died because of his position on a political issue.
I think I’m going to puke.
From Crooks and Liars: I’ll bet this is not that unusual. What’s unusual, I think, is that the student finally refused to comply:
A former Delaware State University volleyball player is now suing her old school for allegedly serving up religious discrimination.
Natalia Mendieta claims she lost her athletic scholarship after she refused to attend church or participate in Bible studies – optional activities that were reportedly made mandatory by her coach.
Had this been a religious institution or religious college, this would not be an issue. The focus of this lawsuit is on a taxpayer supported state university.
The allegation is that a newly hired coach violated a student’s first amendment rights.
The coach should be immediately fired. However, I worry that, if she is, she might end up in Congress.
Cartoon:
Jun 192015
While there remain many issues, about which I disagree with Pope Francis, I do consider him an authentic Christian. As such, he is evoking guttural responses from rabid Republicans. They are in a quandary, because that are used to Popes, like the recent Pope Pit Bull, that goose step with their pseudo-Christianity on every issue. Their absurd responses to Francis’ Encyclical on Climate Change is most entertaining.
The papal encyclical on climate change — highly anticipated and applauded by people who accept and care about the fact that human-caused climate change is threatening our existence — came out Thursday morning. Not everyone was pleased.
In the lead-up to the release of the document (which was leaked earlier this week), climate deniers and conspiracy theorists have railed against Pope Francis, theologian and former chemist, for wading into the “political” issue of taking care of the environment.
The Usual Suspects
The Heartland Institute got out ahead of the curve, publishing a piece titled Is The Global Left Counting on Pope to Split the Catholic Church Over Global Warming? back in May. Take a moment to ponder this:
Has the Left finally come out with a method that will destroy the power of the Church to cause further damage to an already weakened Church, having been busy for years preparing for this moment? Not to be forgotten is the unholy alliance of international communism with the jihadi Islamists.
According to the article, the Pope’s stance on global warming is part of a left-wing communist conspiracy to… do something. You can read the whole thing here.
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Click through for an appalling collection of Republican statements from wing-nuts and tinfoil hat racks galore! Here’s an example.
Barf Bag Alert!!
Wacka-doodle-doo!!!
Jun 192015
I’m still very tired after yesterday’s visit to the Orthopedist, but not so much so that I come empty handed. One thing really impressed me about them. When I was done, I had to wait for the LIFT bus for an hour and a half in a small alcove on the ground floor. Knowing I would be stuck there people from their office came down to check on me three separate times. I consider that superior service.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:29 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football Recruiting:
We still need two new players for Lefty Blog Friends, our fantasy football league. How about you? For more information, click here.
Short Takes:
From MoveOn: Ideas to Save the Economy: End Mass Incarceration
The Reich on the left is right again, as I know so well. I would add a #5. Switch from retributive justice to restorative justice. This is the tenth and final video of the series. Click through to MoveOn to share it from there. Bringing this series to you has been a privilege.
From Daily Kos:
In 2014, I published two stories about the surreptitious attempts by the Koch brothers to bribe their way into the academic freedom and integrity of FSU/Florida State University. The most recent story can be found in this link. For several years, FSU students, along with faculty, alumni, and concerned citizens have been adamantly dissenting the Koch influence on campus. One of the many dedicated and relentless activists in the movement is Ralph Benton Wilson. This week he contacted me with some promising news:
"FSU students have released a report (May 28th) revealing new evidence regarding the university’s agreement with the CFK/Charles Koch Foundation. Not only does the report find that the Koch agreement violates FSU’s donor policy but, contrary to university claims, the agreement was found to violate academic policy by a 2011 faculty senate investigation whose numerous findings appear to have been suppressed until being published in the student report. (Other suppressed findings include the manner in which the agreement was "forced" upon the department through threats and intimidation despite severe faculty dissent.)"
"The student report makes several recommendations which have been submitted as public comment in FSU’s current review of its donor policy. As of June 4, FSU has conceded to half of the recommendations in the student report, but we are continuing to pressure them to accept the remaining recommendations. A new public comment period is open until midnight, June 25. We are calling on the public to submit comment so that we may once and for all have a donor policy that protects FSU from the undue influence of any donor."
Wilson also sent several links, which I have included below.
If the Koch Brothers are trying to steal FSU and convert it to a propaganda mill, you can be sure they are doing so all over. Check locally to make sure you’re colleges and universities are not forced to teach only how to suck … nevermind.
From Media Matters: Fox’s Steve Doocy: It’s Extraordinary That Charleston Church Shooting Is Being Called A Hate Crime
Barf Bag Alert!!
I don’t know where they got that "pastor", but because is title is "Bishop" I have a pretty good guess. The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, is acting as if SC did not already have a long history of racist violence against black churches, so they can misrepresent this incident as part of the left wing war, which does not exist, against Christianity. Not only that, the shooter is clearly a White Supremacist.
Cartoon:
Jun 182015
I jut returned from my appointment with the Orthopedist. He said I have a frozen shoulder and gave me a shot of steroids in the joint. If successful, I should regain the use of my shoulder in three to five days. It has been a long day, and I am very tired.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:04 (average 5:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Cartoon:
Jun 172015
Here in the US, we’re up to our ears in Republican attempts to establish a permanent, totalitarian plutocracy, enforced by pseudo-Christian storm troopers, in which elections exist for show only. I satirically call this the Fifth Reich. Unfortunately, it appears that another would be Fuhrer to our north is importing Republican beliefs and methods.
From muzzling watchdog groups to persecuting whistleblowers, from devaluing Indigenous voices to undermining labor unions, from defunding environmental charities to criminalizing peaceful protests, the Canadian government made civil society organizations "Public Enemy #1."
So charges a new report released Tuesday by Voices-Voix, a coalition of 200 organizations and 500 individuals who say Canada’s federal government has pursued a deliberate strategy to repress alternative views.
"Together, we feel neither secure nor valued," the signatories write in Dismantling Democracy: Stifling Debate and Dissent in Canada (pdf). "In a culture of pervasive scare tactics and punishment, it can be easy to become paralyzed with fear, to accept the advocacy chill and give way to self-censorship."
This "crude campaign to stifle dissent" has manifested in myriad ways, according to Voices-Voix, which includes Amnesty International Canada, Greenpeace Canada, and the Council of Canadians.
Such concerns have been raised several times before. But Voices-Voix’s analysis is perhaps the most comprehensive. Drawing heavily from more than 100 case studies, the report—which journalist Karl Nerenberg, writing at Rabble.ca, said "should be compulsory reading for all Canadian voters before the next election"—documents dozens of examples of such silencing tactics.
Organizations that disagree with the government’s positions have had their funding threatened, reduced, or discontinued, the coalition says. What’s more, it adds, individuals have been fired or intimidated after speaking out on human rights or being critical of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration…
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
Harper’s Harlots have been so effective that Canada is now exporting Republicans to the US like Canadians Craig Cobb and “Uranus Inspector” Cruz. I wish you every success at flushing him, but please don’t do so southward.