Everyday Erinyes #55

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:13 am Politics

Dec 172016

From this week on you may assume that I have cut the stories down; that there are more which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them, but I can't feature all of them, even all of them which are underreported. Because it's going to continue to be true for the foreseeable future. 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."

Last week I mentioned the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, and how it made homeless not only whoever may have survived it, but also a lot more people who have been trying to live and create in similar spaces (not only in Oakland, incidentally; other cities elsewhere in the country are cracking down on anyone who is using this kind of housing). If you thought that was rock bottom, think again. As of Monday, December 5, 36 had been confirmed dead but only 11 identified. A chaotic situation for friends and relatives of residents. On Facebook, a "Memorial Page for Oakland Fire" was set up, and survivors could post requests for information.

One survivor, Anna Mendiola, posted a photo of her sister in law, Jenifer (Mendiola), who also used the name Alana Kane, requesting any information. Some friends also posted, and they tagged her Facebook page. So, naturally, an uncounted number of trolls ran right over to Jennifer's page and started trolling like mad.

Mediaite will not post a link to the Facebook page out of respect. But they posted a couple of examples. Under a post urging friends to sign a petition that would encourage universities to cooperate less with ICE concerning undocumented students was posted "sanctuary schools? fuck no. rip. Trump 2029"

Under a call for Oakland residents to protest the election of Donald Trump, there are at least three comments:

"Worst post ever on FB. You should be ashamed of yourself."
"Trump2020"
"All these anti-TRUMP anarchists are burning in HELL. quite literally I'd say!"

Or, as Mediaite sums it up: "A woman is missing — and, judging by some of the comments on the page, presumed dead — and trolls have taken to her page to criticize her for not supporting Trump. Her friends and family can see these comments."

I don't think you are going to have any trouble finding them, Ladies. Like the old saying: "Fools' names and fools' faces/Are often found in public places." Apparently FaceBook is one of those places. You'll track them down.

Nazareth College, in Rochester New York, "despite what the biblical name might evoke, is not a religiously affiliated college; it dropped its Roman Catholic affiliation in the 1970s…. Instead, the college picked up a commitment to religious pluralism: Every undergraduate is required to take a religious studies course, and engage with faith traditions other than their own."

The most obvious way to so engage is to attend the religious services of another fairh, introducing themselves as students, and asking questions like: "What are your core values? How do you see them as the same or different from those of other religions?" This is what a couple of Muslim students did, picking the evangelical Browncroft Community Church. Their first visit was so successful, they returned for a second visit, during which they also went to the coffee hour and talked to members. They felt that the second visit went at least as well – a rich, positive learning experience. Some of the church members hugged them as they left.

But, after they left, a "concerned congregant" called the Department of Homeland Security (who went to the state police, who went to campus security, who called the Religious Studies Department Head) because apparently their homework assignment had become a "cause for concern."

You will be happy to know there is going to be no protesting over this. The college officials, the senior pastor of the church, and the students, as well as the Muslim Student Association, don't want protest, but they do all want dialogue. The President had a good conversation with the senior pastor, as a result of which a metting was set up between the course teacher and another pastor, and all have hopes that good will come of it.

All, maybe except Concern Troll. So, Ladies, I think you need to look up Concern Troll. And – an expression I don't use lightly – put the fear of God into him or her.

But, speaking of the fear of God, maybe Pastor David Grisham in Texas is not the guy to emulate.

He strolled into a Texas mall, found a bunch of kids and parents waiting in line to take a picture with Santa, and started to YELL. (He would probably call it "preaching"; most people would call it a "rant"; I would think almost anyone would call it rude and uncalled for.)

Some of what he said:

"… When you substitute the lie of Santa Claus in the heart of your child for the truth of Jesus Christ, you are bearing false witness against God. Don’t lie to your children and tell them there’s such a thing as Santa, when you know in reality that there are no flying reindeer, there is no workshop at the North Pole, there is no elves making toys, that you buy all the gifts and put ’em under the tree.

That’s all the truth. And there is no real Santa Claus. There is no Santa. It is not your place to lie to your children. Tell them the truth about Jesus Christ."

He then went home and posted a video of the rant to Facebook, claiming he had been "assaulted." Yeah, right. Someone coming up to you and asking you to stop yelling is not assault in my book. (The video is at the link, so you can judge for yourself.) His teeth looked like that BEFORE he started yelling. They do look like Trump voters' teeth, though, don't they? I think he needs to be schooled by you Ladies. Draw straws or flip a coin for who goes where – these people are all so pathetic that it's hard for me to say.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4027075

Reich on the Pending Tyranny

Posted by TomCat at 1:58 pm Politics

Dec 162016

Of course we’ve covered how the Reich on the left, Robert Reich is always right, and the Reich on the right, the Republican Reich is always wrong. However, the Republican Reich is now it’s worst ever, and barring unexpected actions, we are about to descend into a level of tyranny reminiscent of 1930s Germany. To help us, Robert has detailed "The 4 Syndromes of Passivity in the Face of Pending Tyranny."

As the era of Trump approaches, some of you are succumbing to the follow four syndromes:

1. Normalizer Syndrome…

2. Outrage Numbness Syndrome…

3. Cynical Syndrome…

4. Helpless Syndrome…

…If you find yourself falling into one or more of these syndromes, that’s understandable. Normalizing, numbing, becoming cynical, and feeling powerless are natural human responses to the gross absurdity and genuine peril posed by Trump.

But I urge you to pull yourself out. We need you in the peaceful resistance army, starting January 20.

From <Robert Reich>

I have not shared the detail under any of the headers, so you need to click through for the bulk of what he has to say, and it’s assuredly worth the read.

Although I have not submitted to any of them, I nave to admit that number 4 has been a temptation to me, but I have seen all of them in people that I know, so please take care.

RESIST!!

Open Thread – 12/16/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:58 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 162016

Wendy made it yesterday, and I felt most relieved. It’s amazing how much more foul I felt after one extra day. She did some light housekeeping and also brought burgers, so by the time she left, I was purrrring. We have another Winter Storm Warning tomorrow with more snow forecast.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:51 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Big changes are coming to the White House press corps, Reince Priebus suggested in an appearance on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. Starting with daily press briefings:

"I think that it’s important that we look at all of those traditions that are great, but quite frankly, as you know, don’t really make news and they’re just sort of mundane, boring episodes," Priebus said. […]

Priebus said the White House team is currently discussing how to change things up, including where the press sits in the White House briefing room.

You really can’t say White House press briefings never make news—remember Jeff Gannon? If they’re looking to change the seating chart and increase the amount of news made by the daily briefing, though, putting Breitbart News and Stormfront in the front row should help.

Not only will the Fuhrer be putting Nazis in the front row, but we also may get a rerun of the Jeff Gannon/James "Bulldog" Gluckert fiasco. It really freaks out Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians, when their family values icons turn out to be gay prostitutes.

1216gannonbush

From NPR: A jury in Charleston, S.C., has found Dylann Roof guilty on all 33 counts of federal hate crimes he faced for murdering nine people and attempting to kill three others in the basement of a historically black church.

As the sentence was read, Roof stood emotionless, reported Alexandra Olgin of South Carolina Public Radio, who was in the courtroom. The charges included murder, attempted murder, damage to religious property, obstruction of religious belief and weapons charges.

This creates a difficult situation for the Fuhrer. Trump will have to pardon this Republican, before he can appoint him to a post in civil rights oversight.

From MSNBC: Obama vows action against Russia

President Obama said Thursday "we need to take action and we will" against Russia for interference in the election. Russian pro-democracy leader and famed chess champion Garry Kasparov joins Lawrence, saying he doesn’t need "intel" to verify Putin’s nefarious role.

I’ve studied Kasparov’s chess games. He is brilliant. I also think he’s spot-on. Obama’s "time and place of our choosing" had better happen damn soon. You know that Putin’s co-conspirators, Trump and the Republican leaders, are traitors. They will do nothing good after Obama is gone. So far, all Obama has done about this outrage is to grab his ankles and bend over.

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Friday Fun: Penguins, Christmas Carol & Cancer

Posted by SoINeedAName at 11:02 am Politics

Dec 162016

OK, I’m sneaking a small reprise in from last year. But you can’t create traditions without repeats. Besides, few things are cuter at any time of the year than Penguins – whether singing, dancing, waddling … or helping raise money for leukemia research.

Let’s start with my reprise from last year – and feel free to join in the singing to the tune of “Hark the Herald Penguins … err ANGELS Sing” …

“Hark!” the Herald Penguins sing:

“Please don’t eat our little wings!

“Eat a goose down to the bone,

“But leave Penguins all alone.

“Baby ducks are very sweet;

“Tastier than Penguin meat.

“Find us in your grocery store?!?

“Please don’t shop there anymore!”

So how exactly do Penguins help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society? Well, right here in the KCMO Metro we can find that answer by meeting a Scrooge who had an epiphany.

Paul Craig of Olathe, KS lost his Mother to leukemia shortly before Christmas back in 1999, and his sorrow at Holiday time carried over for several years.

"For the next few years, I was no fun to be around during Christmas," Craig explained.

But then in 2003 he saw some of colorful giant inflatable penguins in a big box store, and decided to play joke on his wife who has been collecting penguin tchotchkes for years. So he bought three of them to surprise her by putting them up in the yard.

(Below is just some of his wife's Penguin tchotchke collection)

And like his wife's, Paul's inflatable penguin collection continued to grow and grow until there are now over 150 inflatable, motorized-moving, music-playing, bubble-blowing, illuminated display of penguins that fill his entire yard (and spill over into a neighbor’s) from Thanksgiving to New Year.

And thus was born Paulie’s Penguin Playground – to the delight children of all ages. And to make the Penguins – plus Santa, elves and other Christmas characters – feel right at home, he has now even added a snow-making machine!

Craig begins the work (with help from neighbors and friends) of putting the display up right after Halloween of setting up the display which requires over two miles of 12-guage extension cords! He estimates that the cost over the years for purchases, storage and financing the running of the display has mounted to over $100,000 – all of which he pays for out-of-pocket.

His biggest ongoing cost is the electricity bill. It jumps from a typical $300/month to more than $2,500 for the month of December!

Friends have pointed out to him that he could use the $2,500 to pay for a vacation to go and see REAL LIVE PENGUINS in their natural habitat.

But Craig says, “When you see the eyes of the little kids light up as much as the lights in the penguins, it just brings such joy to your heart. Then the other part, the good part we’re doing is raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.”

All the donations visitors leave go directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society – none are used to help pay Craig’s bills. And he’s raised over $50,000 in donations!

The past year Paul had surgery and was worried the Penguins were not going to get off the ground. But friends and neighbors pitched in, and Paulie’s Penguins were soon flying high again

Well, okay – Penguins don’t actually fly. But they sure make Holiday spirits soar! And all while helping to find a cure for a disease that had robbed him of the Joys of Christmas Season …

[NOTE: The Slideshow is NOT AutoPlay, so hopefully it won't so loading down too much. Click on the thumbnails to manually advance them at your own pace.]

(FOOTNOTE: I’ll be heading up to spend Christmas with my Mom in Illinois, so this will be the last "Friday Fun" for a bit. So hope you all have a Joyous Holiday – however, you spend it.)

Putin Directed it Himself

Posted by TomCat at 9:50 am Politics

Dec 152016

There is no longer any question that Russia interfered in our election to sway the victory to Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten. There is no longer any doubt that Republican traitors colluded in that crime by covering it up until after the election. We already knew these things. But what is new is this. We only assumed Vladimir Putin (R-RU) was involved, but now we know it with high confidence. Putin directed it himself.

U.S. intelligence officials say they believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was directly involved in efforts to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election, NBC News reported Wednesday.

NBC’s bombshell story comes days after The Washington Post reported that the Central Intelligence Agency believes Russia sought to influence the election and help secure President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. Those efforts reportedly included hacking the emails of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and providing them to WikiLeaks. The New York Times, in an extensive report on the hacks, offered details on how the attacks were carried out and reported that Democratic House candidates were also targeted.

According to NBC, officials believe the meddling went all the way to the very top of Russia’s government…

From <Huffington Post>

Chris Hayes discussed the situation with Former CIA operations officer, Evan McMullin.

Lawrence O’Donnell covers Putin’s presonal involvement in more detail.

If Putin was personally involved in directing how to use the hacked material. Whom in the Trump campaign was he directing, Manafart or the Fuhrer himself? How much did Putin and his operatives edit the materials? Did he confer personally with Julian Assange? Did he personally select the propaganda Jill Stein parroted for him in her many appearances on RT, his propaganda network?

The more answers we get, the more questions we have!

Open Thread – 12/15/2016

Posted by TomCat at 9:47 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 152016

Our winter storm turned out to be a doozy. I did get my grocery delivery. It arrived just as the snow was starting to stick. Phew!! Wendy’s main day job is as a secretary for a middle school. She had to work late yesterday afternoon to babysit kids, whose parents had not picked them up because of the weather. When she finished, conditions were so severe, that she could not make it downtown, so I’m even more stinky than normal. She will come today in her 4 WD truck. Late in afternoon, my Physical Terrorist called to cancel my appointment, and TriMet Lift cancelled my ride. The snow is deep, and the high temperature is not forecast above 32° until Sunday. BRRR!! It’s so cold that my poor kitty dingles are acting like castanets!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Hamilton’s Plan to Keep Trump From Becoming President | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

The idea has merit, but I would prefer Colin Powell, He’s more qualified and it would make alt-right Nazis and the KKK baggers shit their pants.

From MSNBC: Michael Moore to Electoral College: Resist!

Filmmaker Michael Moore gives an impassioned plea to the Electors who will choose the American President on December 19th to think hard about the security of the United States.

Electors, don’t make us miss Crawford Caligula. RESIST!!

From NY Times: Mindful of the clock ticking down to a Trump presidency, the Obama administration issued a final rule on Wednesday to bar states from withholding federal family-planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates and other health clinics that provide abortions. The measure takes effect two days before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald J. Trump.

The rule was proposed three months ago, when many Democrats assumed the next president would be Hillary Clinton; she presumably would have promoted the rule’s completion if it were still pending. It requires that state and local governments distribute federal funds for services related to contraception, sexually transmitted infections, fertility, pregnancy care, and breast and cervical cancer screening to qualified health providers, regardless of whether they also perform abortions.

Mr. Trump has sent mixed messages on Planned Parenthood’s work, supporting its health-related services other than abortion. Yet with backing from Republican leaders in Congress, he has indicated he will undo many Obama administration rules and regulations, especially last-minute additions. In this case, however, unraveling the new rule would first require a time-consuming process, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kudos to Obama. That time consuming process had better take over four years!

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Introducing Alt-Right Reich Radio

Posted by TomCat at 2:10 pm Politics

Dec 142016

Imagine if you will, giving Breitfart and other Alt-Right Nazis control of a massive broadcasting that they could use to broadcast their white-supremacist hatred hatred throughout the world/ Does that sound too horrid to believe? Introducing Alt-Right Reich Radio.

The Voice of America is one of the world’s largest broadcasters that you have never heard of.

You probably also have never heard of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty RFE/RL) either.

Yet these two networks combined, reach an audience or more than 150 million people worldwide. That makes them bigger than NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox and pretty much every other broadcaster in the US.

The reason you have never heard of them is that, until recently, they were forbidden from broadcasting in the US by law. But you pay for them. They are taxpayer supported.

Their broadcasts (television, radio and Internet) are designed specfically [sic] to bring honest and truthful news and information to people who live in societies that don’t allow a free press; whose governments control the news and information they have access to. VOA and RFE/RL are not about entertainment. They are vitally important to people who live in repressive socieites [sic] -and there are more and more of them every day….

,,,Earlier this week, in a move that has barely been noticed, the Republican controlled House quietly inserted an amendement [sic] to the Defense National Authorization Act that will gut the VOA and RFE/RL and turn it into a Trump controlled propaganda machine.

Since its founding the VOA, RFE/RL AND Radio and TV Marti have been under the control of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)…

…Last week’s legislative action, however, replaces the BBG with one Presidentially appointed Director, who has the power to hire, fire and control editorial content.

In short, Donald Trump and Steve Bannon of Breitbart have effectively just been handed the keys to one of the world’s biggest media companies -and you are paying for it…

…Breitbart on its own is bad enough. Its’ a website. But marry Breitbart to a global broadcasting machine that goes out to more than 100 million people daily and you have a real recipe for a massive disaster. The fact that as taxpayers you will be paying for this only adds insult to injury. This is the world of people like Vladimir Putin, who took control of what had been the free press and liberal media in Russia and crushed them out of existence. Dictators don’t like a free press…. [emphasis added]

From <Huffington Post>

RESIST!

Open Thread – 12/14/2016

Posted by TomCat at 2:09 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 142016

I’m starting late today to be sure to be up when Store to Door comes with my grocery order. Wendy comes later to scrub and de-stink the TomCat. I may or may not be posting more than a Personal Update tomorrow. I have an an appointment for Physical Terrorism with Courtney, but it’s cold enough to freeze the dingles off a brass puddy tat., and Portland is under a Winter Storm Warning with several inches of snow forecast tonight. If TriMet lift goes onto emergency service only, or if the snow is too deep for me to safely navigate to the lift bus, I’ll have cancel the appointment and will post as normal.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:05 (average 5:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In what Donald Trump’s transition-team members are calling a further example of international coöperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to receive daily U.S. intelligence briefings in the place of the President-elect.

Trump, who had earlier decided that he did not need the briefings and had assigned Vice-President-elect Mike Pence to receive them, said on Tuesday that Putin was a “much better choice.”

“No offense to Mike, but Vladimir Putin is just a terrific, terrific guy to do this,” he said. “He knows all the players.”

Is this straight news Andy? I’m sure the Fuhrer gets his security info from Putin’s FSB.

FRom YouTube (GQ Channel): The Grave Danger of Trump’s Intelligence Failure | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

It’s treason, just like I’ve been saying. RESIST!!

From YouTube (TYT Channel): Rick Perry To Head Agency He Forgot Existed

The pattern is all too clear. When Perry gets done, we might as well forget DOE too. Check Wolf-PAC out.

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