Open Thread – 6/24/2019

Posted by TomCat at 10:21 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Jun 242019

I’m running way behind, because of trying to find a way to talk to a human at USPS. I get my packages delivered to Wendy, because I can’t get them here, and they clearly went to the wrong place, because they say they “could not get access to the building” Saturday, but someone was home all day, and no attempted delivery slip was left at the door. The USPS website recognizes my tracking number, but the customer service number does not and will allow me to proceed no further. ARGH! Oh God, it’s USPS Monday!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Teach Your Children

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

From Washington Post: On the campaign trail, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., largely faced a warm reception as he emerged from relative obscurity to become a promising Democratic presidential contender. But when he addressed a majority-black audience on Sunday afternoon in South Bend, things were markedly different.

This time, Buttigieg wasn’t speaking as a candidate but as the mayor of a city where emotions have run high since a white police officer shot a black man last week and failed to capture the fatal confrontation with his body camera. The town hall meeting, which Buttigieg convened to respond to the rising tensions, descended into chaos as community members shouted their anger and frustration. At times, the mayor struggled to speak amid the interruptions, and he was repeatedly heckled and booed.

“We don’t trust you!” yelled one audience member. “Liar!” yelled another.

This is a disaster for Mayor Pete, a candidate, who ran an excellent campaign, until now. South Bend PD has a long history of Racism. Mayor Pete fired South Bend’s first and only black Police Chief for recording officers making racist remarks. The officer who killed the unarmed black man has had multiple complaints of using excessive force against blacks. I fear Mayor Pete’s failure to clean up the Republican PD in his own back yard first will spell the end for him. RESIST!!

From Alternet: Children in immigrant detention centers are reportedly going without basic supplies like soap and toothbrushes but Vice President Mike Pence insisted on Sunday that it’s the fault of Congress.

During an interview on CNN, host Jake Tapper asked the vice president to “talk about the kids” who have been detained for crossing the border.

“Last week, legal advocates reported there are horrific conditions for children at the border,” Tapper said, pointing to reports that say children have gone without soap, toothbrushes and other items needed for basic hygiene.

“The administration was actually arguing in court this week that the administration should not be required to give soap or toothbrushes or showers to children detained at the border,” Tapper added. “Aren’t toothbrushes and blankets and medicine and basic conditions for kids, aren’t they a part of how the United States of America — the Trump administration — treats children?”

“Well, of course they are, Jake,” Pence replied with a shake of his head. “It’s one of the reasons we ask for more bed space.”

The vice president, who is an evangelical Christian, argued that the Trump administration will not give soap to detained immigrant children because of Congress.

This article is incorrect. Pence is NOT a Christian. He is a Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christian, the exact opposite of a real Christian. No authentic Christian could defend such Republican crimes. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Open Thread – 6/23/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:05 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 232019

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy will be here in an hour. We have lots of chores, so this is my only article today, with no links messages on Care2.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:40 (average 5:06). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (A blast from the past): George Harrison – Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

From Crooks and Liars: Brave New World creates films intended to drive home a point in a short period of time. “Families Torn Apart: America’s Deadly Immigration Policy” does just that about our Abuser-In-Chief’s masochistic policy targeting migrant children, toddlers, and babies.

Every American should see this. Click through. RESIST!!

From TPM: Oregon’s state Senate has cancelled its session scheduled for Saturday, citing a “credible threat” from militia groups over the showdown between the state’s Democratic legislators and GOP senators.

The Oregon Capital Bureau obtained an email from the Senate’s Democratic caucus telling its members on Friday to stay away from the Capitol on Saturday.

“The State Police superintendent just informed the Senate president of a credible threat from militia groups coming to the Capitol tomorrow,” the email read. “The superintendent strongly recommends that no one come to the Capitol and President Courtney heeded that advice minutes ago by adjourning until 10 a.m. Sunday. Please make sure your staffs know not to come in tomorrow.”

This latest development is a dramatic escalation of the ongoing conflict roiling in Oregon’s state government.

Oregon Republican Senators have called in Nazi storm troopers to help them evade the just consequences of breaking the law to help polluters pollute. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Everyday Erinyes #171

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 2:35 pm Politics

Jun 222019

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Since Juneteenth was this week, and I forgot to recognize it, and others have said they weren’t aware of it, I thought it might be a good time to do a little back story on it, and this article from The Conversation does a pretty good job with explaining why it matters – and how African-American independence is tied to the criminal justice system
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Juneteenth: Freedom’s promise is still denied to thousands of blacks unable to make bail

Black men occupy a disproportionate share of prison cells in the U.S.
sakhorn/Shutterstock.com

Matthew Larson, Wayne State University

June 19 marks Juneteenth, a celebration of the de facto end of slavery in the United States.

For hundreds of thousands of African-Americans stuck in pretrial detention – accused but not convicted of a crime, and unable to leave because of bail – that promise remains unfulfilled. And coming immediately after Father’s Day, it’s also a reminder of the loss associated with the forced separation of families.

On a very personal level, I know how this separation feels. Every Father’s Day since 2011, I’ve been reminded of the unexpected death of my dad at the age of 48. But also on a professional level, as a criminologist who has been researching mass incarceration for the past decade, I understand the disproportionate impact it’s had on African-Americans, destabilizing black families in the process.

Blacks behind bars

Juneteenth is a celebration of African-Americans’ triumph over slavery and access to freedom in the U.S., which occurred in Galveston, Texas, in June of 1865, over two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

While Juneteenth is a momentous day in U.S. history, it is important to appreciate that the civil rights and liberties promised to African-Americans have yet to be fully realized. As legal scholar Michelle Alexander forcefully explains, this is a consequence of Jim Crow laws and the proliferation of incarceration that began in the 1970s, including the increase of people placed in pretrial detention and other criminal justice policies.

There are 2.3 million people currently incarcerated in American prisons and jails – including those not convicted of any crime. Black people comprise 40 percent of them, even though they represent just 13 percent of the U.S. population.

Protesters march through Harlem in the March for Justice.
Rainmaker Photo/MediaPunch/IPX

Not yet guilty but not free

More troubling is the number of incarcerated individuals currently held in jail for crimes of which they have not yet been convicted.

The Prison Policy Initiative, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on mass incarceration, has reported that over a half million citizens are languishing in pretrial detention. And like most criminal justice outcomes, the burden of this disproportionately falls on minorities, especially black men and women.

In local jails alone, over 300,000 people are awaiting trial for property, drug or public order crimes. And again, these disproportionately black defendants are confined and separated from their families, friends and jobs simply because they lack the means to post cash bail – the only reason they can’t get out.

Toll on families

It should be no surprise, then, that 1 in 9 black children now has a parent behind bars, compared with the national rate of 1 in 28.

And many of these children are at an increased likelihood of experiencing physical and mental health issues, academic struggles and a range of other behavioral problems. Children of incarcerated mothers are also at heightened odds of ending up in foster care and being exposed to other traumas.

Being the partner of an incarcerated individual is another often stressful experience that also falls disproportionately on black citizens, particularly women.

Some good news

The good news is that such injustices are receiving growing attention nationwide.

Just City, a nonprofit organization working to reduce the harms of the criminal justice system, has campaigned to raise funds and promote awareness of its Memphis Community Bail Fund project for Father’s Day – in part because nearly half a million of the black men behind bars are dads.

The aim of the project is to provide both financial and legal support for defendants lacking resources to independently secure their pretrial release, with the goal of the campaign being the release of jailed fathers so that they could be with their kids for the holiday.

Bail funds similar to Just City’s have proliferated throughout the U.S.

On one hand, the multiplication of these organizations is encouraging and reason for optimism. On the other, their growth is another reminder that many of the freedoms celebrated on Juneteenth remain unrealized.

A long road continues

In cities like Detroit, where 1 in 7 adult males is under some form of correctional control in some communities, it is a monumental task to make sense of the short- and long-term impacts of incarceration for black families.

Children suffer. Parents struggle. Relationships deteriorate. And as a result, so too do so many African-American communities. Lost wages matter to families, but they also matter to communities. The lower tax base that results makes it more difficult for struggling public institutions, like schools, to progress. And with such a large share of individuals removed from some communities due to incarceration, and branded as felons upon their release, these communities lose potential voters and the political capital they carry. They are too often disenfranchised and stripped of their full power and potential.

Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of black Americans and the long, hard road they were forced to traverse to gain that freedom. But as criminologists like me have maintained time and again, the U.S. criminal justice system remains biased, albeit implicitly, against them.

Matthew Larson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, please join activists in helping to equalize our criminal justice system so the free people can actually live in freedom.

And for all of us who want to share the Juneteenth message with people we know who may never have heard of it, let alone know anything about it, here’s a video – three minutes long – which may help to make it more easily sharable.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.

Bill Maher from 6/21

Posted by TomCat at 9:42 am Politics

Jun 222019

It’s that time of week again, so here are three video clips from Bill’s show last night. Enjoy!

Monologue: Cocked and Loaded

Congrats on 500! Now we know where Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten got Cocked and Loaded. Putin was first in line.

Allan Lichtman: The Keys to 2020

Even before he wrote The Case for Impeachment, I considered Lichtman America’s premier political historian. He makes a lot of sense. Ignoring him is risky. But we do know who will meddle in the election and on whose behalf.

New Rule: Oprah 2020

I disagree. Mueller could not have laid out a better case for Obstruction of Justice. But Oprah? Give me a break! We already have a TV actor in the White House, and he’s the worst Resident in history.

I think Bill really messed up the New Rule.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 6/22/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:40 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 222019

It’s a lazy day here in the CatBox. The weather is comfortable, except for high humidity and very high grass pollen. Tomorrow is a WWWendy day, and I may publish no more than a Personal Update, with no links messages on Care2, depending on how busy we get. Have a great weekend.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:03 (average 5:42). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): President Donald Trump’s Tale Of Canceled Iran Operation Strains Credulity

The projected military losses on both sides, in addition to collateral civilian casualties is a standard part of all operational briefings for attacks. I think the Fuhrer just put on a big act to divert attention from his daily scandals. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Snopes Channel): Do Seniors on Social Security Have to Pay for Medicare While “Illegal Immigrants” Get It Free?

Thank you Snopes for exposing more Republican bullshit. RESIST!!

From TPM: Terms Limits? Who needs ’em.

President Trump tweeted a video of a doctored TIME Magazine cover that essentially depicts him running for president to infinity and beyond.

pic.twitter.com/JDS4zUXXJG

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019

Trump has embraced the Republican plan to establish a permanent, totalitarian, plutocratic Republican Reich and adapted it to include himself as its permanent Fuhrer. RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Republicans on Parade – 6/21/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:53 am Politics

Jun 212019

Here is the one hundred sixty-first article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s winner is Republican Oregon State Senator and Ammosexual, Brian Boquist. He is so honored for his love of polluters and his threat to murder state police officers for enforcing the law.

Tensions were already smoldering in the Oregon Senate Wednesday, when Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, poured gasoline on the situation, suggesting he would shoot and potentially kill any state trooper sent to haul him unwillingly back to the Capitol.

After Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. said Tuesday that his caucus was “prepared to take actions” to prevent passage of a major climate change bill, Gov. Brown announced on Wednesday that she was ready to answer Republican stonewalling by calling lawmakers back for a special session.

Brown hinted that she would be willing to send state troopers to round up Republicans if they walk out in the final days of the regular legislative session, saying in a statement that she is “in close communication with Oregon State Police.” That’s an option Democratic senators and the governor did not use earlier this year, when Senate Republicans first brought the Senate to a standstill by walking out and preventing the necessary quorum.

The governor’s hint that she would consider sending troopers in the event of a second walkout triggered an aggressive response from Boquist, which was captured by a KGW news team at the Capitol.

“This is what I told the superintendent,” Boquist said, referring to OSP Superintendent Travis Hampton. “Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”…

Inserted from <The Oregonian>

Oregon is a strange place. Most of the population is progressively left, but Eastern Oregon, with a lot of space, but little population is jam packed with RWNJ Sheeple. This KGW video shows how Boquist’s constituents reacted to him and his criminal threats.

Barf Bag Alert!

Sadly, there remains a part of Oregon that earns parades and does not lead the way.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 6/21/2019

Posted by TomCat at 9:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 212019

I hope you all had a better Spring than I did. Welcome to Summer. By my divine feline decree, today shall be the longest day of 2019. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Hope Hicks Transcript Provides Window On 2016 Dual Trump Tape Crises

There you have it. If the incident behind the infamous pee-pee tape wasn’t real, then why did the Trump campaign engage a Russian operative to stop the release of that tape and others, long before the Steele Report? The Fuhrer really is Putin’s Piddle Pervert Puppet. RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Roy Moore running again for US Senate seat in Alabama

If elected, Moore, Injustice Kava-Nazi, and Resident Trump can have Republican pervert parties in which all three branches of government are represented. RESIST!!

From PBS: …The bleak portrait emerged Thursday after a legal team interviewed 60 children at the facility near El Paso that has become the latest place where attorneys say young migrants are describing neglect and mistreatment at the hands of the U.S. government…

…Three girls told attorneys they were trying to take care of the 2-year-old boy, who had wet his pants and no diaper and was wearing a mucus-smeared shirt when the legal team encountered him…

…Binford described that during interviews with children in a conference room at the facility, “little kids are so tired they have been falling asleep on chairs and at the conference table.”

She said an 8-year-old taking care of a very small 4-year-old with matted hair couldn’t convince the little one to take a shower.

“In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention I have never heard of this level of inhumanity,” said Holly Cooper, who co-directs University of California, Davis’ Immigration Law Clinic and represents detained youth….

Can there be any doubt that the Republican Reich racists now run concentration camps to torture Latino kids? No wonder kids are dying! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Friday Fun: Solstice Means It’s Summertime!

Posted by SoINeedAName at 8:27 am Politics

Jun 212019

Today marks the Summer Solstice – and the beginning of summertime!

For a lot of folks, tradition is that the “official” start of summer occurs at Stonehenge – the 4,500 year-old Neolithic monument in England. At 15:54 UTC (that’s 10:54 a.m. CDT) summer officially begins. But for the thousands who gathered there in the darkness before sunrise today, the actual start is in the early morning hours when the sun peeks above Stonehenge’s Heel Stone (which leads up to the monument’s Stone Circle) and the first rays shine directly into the center of the circle … that’s the start of summer.

Now I’m not going to get all wonky with science about the Solstice – but I will share one illustration that gives a simple overview. The earth’s 23.5-degree tilt on its axis puts those of us in the northern hemisphere as close to the sun as we’ll be … hence, SUMMER!

But there are two other related areas I want to cover. The first is New York’s answer to Stonehenge: Manhattanhenge.

But instead of huge stones weighing up to 25-30 tons, they use skyscrapers to plot the exact alignment of the sun precisely dissecting the city’s grid of east-west cross streets.

But since Manhattan’s east-west streets are aligned at about a 29° angle clockwise from true east-west, they create Manhattanhenge a couple of weeks before and a couple of weeks after the Summer Solstice. The exact date varies each year, depending on the date of the summer solstice, but they usually fall around May 28th and July 12th.

The colloquial usage of “henge” to refer to any place where the rising or setting sun lines up with the surrounding structures has spread. Manhattanhenge is probably the best known, but other communities built on grid designs have their own “henges.” There’s Chicagohenge (it occurs on the equinoxes), Torontohenge, Montrealhenge, and even MIThenge.

In fact MIT was the first to notice this phenomenon down what has become called “The Infinite Corridor”. It’s a corridor that links buildings numbered 7, 3, 10, 4, and 8 (from west to east), and it measures 825 feet (251 meters, 0.16 miles or 147 smoots) long.

And here’s my Chicagohenge:

But what I think you’ll really enjoy about today are all the FREEBIES and DISCOUNTS!

What better way to celebrate the beginning of summer than with some ice cream? And Dairy Queen is offering a treat on the DQ mobile app and with any purchase Friday you’ll get a free small regular or dipped cone. Download the app at www.dairyqueen.com/app.

But today is not only Summer Solstice day – but also National Smoothie Day (as well as National Selfie Day, Take Your Dog to Work Day, National Seashell Day and National Take Back the Lunch Break Day, according to NationalDayCalendar.com.) So let’s hope there’s a smoothie vendor close to you offering a sweet treat:

Edible Arrangements: Get $1.99 smoothies or fruit cups (if they don’t sell smoothies) through Sunday. The deal is available at stores and for in-store orders placed online with promo code SMOOTHIE.

Fruitlove: Get the new spoonable smoothie for free after a rebate from the Ibotta cashback app at select stores for National Smoothie Day.

Jamba: The chain, which recently changed its name from Jamba Juice, is giving away free small smoothies from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday.

La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Get a free Mocha Draft Latte with any purchase Friday at all café locations.

Nekter Juice Bar‏: Superfood smoothies are $5 Friday for rewards members at participating locations. Download the app at www.nekterjuicebar.com.

Planet Smoothie: From 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, get a free 16-ounce Mediterranean Monster smoothie. No purchase is necessary and limit one free smoothie while supplies last.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop: Through Friday, the chain is celebrating “Take Back Your Lunch Day” with a buy-one-get-one free offer on sandwiches, salads or Pick-Your-Pair.

Red Mango: Get 50% off any smoothie Friday.

Robeks Fresh Juices & Smoothies: Rewards members get triple rewards on all in-store and online purchases Friday. Sign up for the loyalty program at www.robeks.com.

Smoothie Factory: Smoothies are half price Friday.

Smoothie King: Use the chain’s Healthy Rewards app with a purchase Friday and get a free 20-ounce smoothie offer loaded on the app to redeem June 22-27. The free smoothie is limited to a $6 value. Get the app at www.smoothieking.com/healthy-rewards.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe: As part of its National Flip Flop Day promotion, the chain is collecting donations through June 30. Donate $5 or more and get a discount for 5% off your purchases for the rest of the year. Learn more at www.nationalflipflopday.com.

I had NO idea there were so many smoothie outlets. I guess they’ve earned their Smoothies Day. But other food emporiums also have some good offers celebrating summer today:

Boston Market: Bring in any sandwich – whether it’s homemade or from a competitor – between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and get a free Boston Market sandwich.

Carl’s Jr.: The chain’s 100 Days of Summer promotion features a variety of limited-time offers and contests through August 20^th.

Dunkin’: At restaurants Friday through Sunday, DD Perks rewards members get one medium or large-sized iced and frozen beverages.

Wayback Burgers: Friday is the chain’s Free Shake Day. Get a free 12-ounce Black & White Milkshake, while supplies last at participating locations.

Wendy’s: Starting Friday and through July 14, get a free half-size Berry Burst Salad with any purchase using the Wendy’s mobile app.

So get out there and start your summer right by joining in on our great American pastime: EATING!

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