Open Thread–4/17/2016

Posted by TomCat at 12:49 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

Apr 172016

I got up super early this morning to do my taxes on the last possible day. It went quite well. I posted the Squatch’s birthday article first, because I wanted to be sure that was up, no matter what else happened, I don’t owe Infernal Revenue or the State of Oregon any money. I did, however, have to pay a $35 Portland Arts Tax. The poor and middle classes get to pay for the rich to attend events that the rest of us can’t afford. It’s been a pet peeve of mine for years. Also on a positive note, I’m stable enough on George that I can now pee standing up. At this rate, it won’t be long, before learn how to miss the pot like a normal guy. Tomorrow I have an appointment with one of Megan’s (PCP)associates. Julie, cannot approve my Oxycodone, because she’s a PA. It should be an interesting trip, because I’m taking the normal bus, and the forecast high is 88°. I may have only a Personal Update tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:56 (average 5:23). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Donald Trump’s father, Fred, was a pretty crummy guy. He was a low-income housing profiteer who used state and federal subsidies in developing his real estate empire—the one his son Donald benefits from—and abused his position.

As the man who controlled the FHA’s New York office, Powell controlled the flow of money for Beach Haven, a big apartment complex Fred Trump built with FHA loans. He allowed Trump to start building before Beach Haven was actually approved and start renting to vets and others six months before he had to start repaying his loan.

In that time Trump pocketed $1.7 million in rent payments. Trump was also allowed to pocket most of a fee—5 percent of the Beach Haven development’s cost—that was earmarked for architectural work. Trump was also permitted to borrow more in federally subsidized funds—$3.7 million, to be precise—than he actually needed.

Beach Haven was the apartment complex Woody Guthrie moved into in 1950. Unfortunately for Woody, Trump was a racist shit (apples and trees).

Here’s Woody!

Like Republican father, like Republican son!!

From TPM: In an extraordinary display of internal discord, the chairman of the Republican Party’s rules committee is accusing top GOP officials of "a breach of our trust" by improperly trying to impede a proposed change in bylaws that would make it harder for party leaders to nominate a fresh candidate for president.

Bruce Ash, RNC committeeman from Arizona, wrote the harshly worded email to the other 55 members of the GOP rules committee that he chairs. The confidential email, obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday, was written days before party officials gather in Hollywood, Florida, for preliminary discussions about what rules the GOP will use at its presidential nominating convention this July.

Ash wrote the note at a time when some top Republicans consider the party’s two leading presidential contenders, billionaire Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, to be likely November election losers and have discussed how to replace them with alternatives at the summer convention in Cleveland, Ohio. It is possible that no contenders will have the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination at that gathering, which would produce the first GOP convention without a presumptive nominee since 1976.

Because this has become such a contentious issue, I’m going to leave the current poll up for the rest of the month. May Republicans have a civil war between themselves. Nothing could be better for our down-ballot candidates.

From Raw Story: Saturday Night Live took aim at a multitude of subjects associated with the rise of religious freedom laws that are anti-LGBT legislation in disguise, with a parody film preview of an “oppressed Christian” baker forced to not only make a cake for a same-sex couple but also to declare that “God is gay.”

Dang!! It looks like God and I have something in common!! Smile with tongue out

Cartoon:

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What a Day!!

Posted by TomCat at 6:06 am Politics

Apr 172016

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That’s our Sasquatch!!

Republicans on Parade–4/16/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:00 pm Politics

Apr 162016

RepublicansOnParade3

Here is the eighty-fourth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Governor and Presidential also ran, John KKKasich (R-OH). He is so honored for his Republican views on women’s role in society.

KKKasich At a town hall in Watertown, Pennsylvania on Friday, a local college student asked Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich what he would do as president to make young women like her feel safer on campus. She cited what many consider a current epidemic of “violence, harassment and rape” at colleges and universities.

Kasich at first ignored the student’s question and turned to his staffer, joking that he had to go and didn’t want to miss his ride. He then suggested that all colleges offer victims of sexual assault “confidential reporting,” rape kits, and “the opportunity to be able to pursue justice after you have had some time to reflect on it all.” He concludes by telling the woman, a first-year at New York’s Saint Lawrence University: “I will give you one bit of advice. Don’t go to parties where there’s a lot of alcohol.”…

…The Democratic National Committee blasted Kasich for “blaming victims of sexual and domestic violence,” and noted, “It is no wonder women are turning away from the Republican field in huge numbers.”

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Barf Bag Alert!!

He actually sounded almost reasonable until the end, but this was not a case of simple misspeaking. Rachel Maddow covered his issues in much more detail.

KKKasich’s attitude on a woman’s place could not be clearer.

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Open Thread–4/16/2016

Posted by TomCat at 12:57 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 162016

I’m waiting for Julie to come fore my first appointment with her. My appointment yesterday went poorly. In less than five tears my nevus has grown from nothing to 3.6mm and thick, so the Retinal Ophthalmologist thinks that I have a 75% chance that it’s a choroidal melanoma, and is referring me to the two specialists at Casey Eye Institute that do nothing else. You’ll know more when I do. tomorrow my articles may be late or missing, because I can’t do anything else before my taxes are done. Later: Julie came. She’s fantastic.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The Senate Republicans’ most vulnerable member is running awfully hard away from his party, as he runs for reelection. Illinois’ Mark Kirk is running furiously from his party, now that voters are actually paying attention in race against Democrat Tammy Duckworth.

Kirk is one of just two outliers in the Senate GOP Conference on whether the chamber should vote on Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court this year and has bent over backward to show he disagrees with his fellow Republicans. Aside from telling other Republicans to "man up" and vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee, Kirk has circulated memos to Republicans touting Garland and boasted about a personal note from Obama thanking Kirk for advocating for his nominee.

Just this week, Kirk co-sponsored a criminal justice reform bill that would loosen some mandatory minimum sentences, despite complaints within the GOP that it would unwittingly release violent criminals early from prison. And he joined with five of the most liberal senators to urge the NBA to move its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, in response to the state’s controversial new law that bans anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people. […]

He’s so full of Republican, that his eyes are brown. Before election season, Kirk was goose-stepping with the Reich, and if elected, he will be again. Yay Tammy Duckworth!!

From NY Times: It was the sort of question — Does Israel have a right to defend itself as it sees fit? — that had often caused candidates, especially those with designs on winning a primary in New York, to produce paeans to the strength of the Israeli-American relationship and a stream of pro-Israel orthodoxy.

But Senator Bernie Sanders dug in.

“There comes a time when if we pursue justice and peace, we are going to have to say that Netanyahu is not right all of the time,” Mr. Sanders said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, amid cheers from the crowd at Thursday’s Democratic debate in Brooklyn. He added: “All that I am saying is we cannot continue to be one-sided. There are two sides to the issue.”

I agree with Bernie 100%. Sadly, Most liberal US Jews, are ultra-conservative on maintaining an "Israel. Right or wrong" stance. J Street supporters, Jews who recognize Bibi as the butcher he is, are far too few and far between. Sadly, Bernie’s integrity will cost him dearly in NY, but I admire and commend him for it.

From TPM: Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders enjoyed a visit with Pope Francis Saturday during his trip to the Vatican.

According to NBC News, Sanders met with the pope just outside the Vatican’s breakfast room at 6 a.m. The New York Times reported the meeting lasted just five minutes.

"In terms of economic justice, the need to combat climate change — nobody in the world has been more profound and articulate than the pope, and I’m delighted to go forward with him on those issues," Sanders told NBC News.

So, is Francis feeling the BERN?

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Squatch’s Open Thread 15/04/2016

Posted by Lynn Squance at 10:29 am Open Thread, Politics

Apr 162016

It has been another busy week and I have not posted as often as I would like. I had the annual meeting with my mother's care team and everything is going as well as can be expected. I had an ESL and French teaching session and was rewarded with a dinner to take home. Neda is too good to me. Saturday my 2 boys will be 8 years old so there will be plenty of belly rubs dished out and a freshly roasted chicken breast for dinner, their favourite! Only one stipulation, they have to share with their sister. This coming week will be very busy as well. To boot, the gas company wants to replace my gas metre but I managed to put them off until 02/05/2016.

Short Takes

Reuters — As ports struggle to cope with a global oil glut, huge queues of supertankers have formed in some of the world's busiest sea lanes, where some 200 million barrels of crude lies waiting to be loaded or delivered.

The vessels, filled with oil worth around $7.5 billion at current market prices, would stretch for almost 40 km (25 miles) if formed up in one straight line. …

Ralph Leszczynski, head of research at shipbroker Banchero Costa, in Singapore, said the snarl-up was "one of the worst tanker traffic jams in recent years".

The cause was "a perfect storm of red-hot demand from new entrant refineries in China and port infrastructure in the Middle East and Latin America that is unable to cope", he said.

From a Globe and Mail article from 18/02/2016:

Oil prices rose more than 14 percent over the last three days after a plan by Saudi Arabia and Russia, endorsed without commitment by Iran on Wednesday, to freeze oil output at January’s highs.

The Saudi-Russian production freeze plan, also joined by Qatar and Venezuela, is the first such deal in 15 years between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members.

This will due little to quell the numbers of oil tankers at sea, the costs involved, and do absolutely nothing for the inadequate infrastructure in the ports.

Huffington Post — The biggest number of complaints, by far, was levelled at a political flyer by the Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform that featured images of aborted fetuses and the slogan "No2Trudeau."

There were 105 complaints against the flyer, and Advertising Standards Canada agreed it was excessively shocking and upsetting.

The ASC also received and upheld 96 complaints against two billboards in the Montreal area posted by Friends of Science Society.

friends of science billboard

One of the billboards said "The Sun is The Main Driver of Climate Change. Not You. Not CO2" and the other said "Global Warming Stopped Naturally 16-Plus Years Ago." The ad council found they omitted relevant information.

There have been flyers delivered in some areas with very graphic pictures of aborted fetuses. The idea is to promote pro-life, but IMO, shock and awe is not the way to do it. Likewise, inaccurate or deceptive claims about climate change are not acceptable. I am very glad that there agencies that address these issues.

The Guardian — Vermont senator hopes to align campaign with issues Pope Francis has raised in what seems to be a gamble for a candidate who rarely speaks about religion.

Bernie Sanders plans to warn against “the idolatry of money” in a speech at the Vatican next week which the Democratic candidate hopes will align his insurgent presidential campaign with the moral preaching of Pope Francis.

“What the pope has been clear about is linking the issue of morality with the global economy and making the point that you can’t have a moral economy when so many people are living in poverty,” Sanders told the Guardian.

“He has raised the issue more than any other person on the planet and I am very proud to be with him in the Vatican,” he added in an interview shortly after the campaign announced his surprise attendance at the conference on 15 April.

It seems to me that the author has missed a basic point — inequality, poverty, and economic morality are NOT religious issues! One needs only be a halfway intelligent and compassionate human being to see and understand the global effects of inequality and poverty. Likewise, those criticising Bernie for leaving the campaign trail for a day or so with the New York primary only days away are likely the same ones who criticise Obama for being away when something significant happens.

Go Bernie!!!

My Universe — BROTHERS OF THE WIND: Golden eagle hunts chamois

Wikipedia: The chamois (Rupicapra spp.) is a goat-antelope genus native to mountains in Europe, including the European Alps, thePyrenees, the Carpathians, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, the Caucasus, and the Apennines.

Did that eagle get it's feathers ruffled, or what?

Everyday Erinyes

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 10:17 pm Politics

Apr 152016

It was a rough week. I was truly challenged to limit myself to three stories and a reference in passing which really call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them. 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."

Did you know that the CIA has a "Venture Capital Arm"? I didn't, but I do now. It's called In-Q-Tel. You can read about it at its own website or on Wikipedia (probably less self-serving). I'm sure it will surprise no one that this entity is investing in tools to mine technology such as cell phones and social media, but my eye was caught by a deal it has going with a skin care company. Skin care? WTF?

Yes, Skincential Sciences is getting funding from In-Q-Tel for a product they call "Clearista." It is, or is based on, and I quote, "a patented technology that removes a thin outer layer of the skin, revealing unique biomarkers that can be used for a variety of diagnostic tests, including DNA collection." It is, quote, "said to require only water, a special detergent, and a few brushes against the skin, making it a convenient option for restoring the glow of a youthful complexion — and a novel technique for gathering information about a person’s biochemistry."

Now, you may be wondering – I know I am – how in the world they expect to harvest this stuff in any way that is traceable to any particular person. However – I have little faith in the CIA's ethics, but I have great faith in their ability to dream up ideas like harvesting DNA.

The names of several other firms funded by In-Q-Tel have come out this week, and if anyone decides to try to follow the money, you will find it is quite a Pandora's Box (I'm sure the Furies are familiar with those LOL). The CIA, on its own and through In-Q-Tel, seems always to be messing with things that don't concern them. It just never quits. So I think, maybe Alecto, you might be the one to look into this.

And while we are speaking of spying and intrusion (and sometimes it seems that those are one and the same – a class action suit has been filed by the Michigan chapter of CAIR on behalf of 18 named plaintiffs and thousands of unnamed plaintiffs against the Terrorist Screening Center, which comes under the FBI. One of the named plaintiffs – well, the court has his name but his identity is being protected – is a young man, an American citizen, now four, whose name was placed on the watch list when he was seven months old. Numerous current and former employees of the Terrorist Screening Center are also individually named in the suit. Apparently any one of us could get onto the list if someone is having a bad day and happens to see our names. "No accountability" hardly seems to cover it, does it? But I'm happy to let CAIR handle this for now. We can always jump in later.

Now I have a situation in Arizona. Seems their state Speaker of the House, David Gowan, has come up with a New Rule, as speakers are wont to do. Under this rule, any reporter who wants access to the floor of the house will have to submit to a background check. Anyone with certain offenses on their record will be disqualified from the floor of the house for up to ten years.

Quote: The new policy goes as far as to list specific offenses, including misdemeanor ones like trespassing, which automatically disqualify a reporter from being on the House floor for up to 10 years. That’s significant because misdemeanor trespass is an offense that Arizona Capitol Times reporter Hank Stephenson was convicted of following a bar fight a couple years ago.

Early this year, Stephenson wrote a piece scrutinizing Gowan’s use of a state vehicle during a 19-day period last October during which he logged nearly 4,800 miles of windshield time. Some of the events he traveled to were related to his congressional campaign, and using a state vehicle for that purpose is unlawful. Gowan has since reimbursed the state more than $12,000, and his is office is now under investigation by Arizona’s Attorney General for misuse of public resources.

And, as Hunter at Daily Kos says,

Yes, what ARE the odds that the only House reporter who seems to be disqualified by these new, very specific rules is the one whose reporting cost David Gowan $12,000 worth of free state vehicle time. It is uncanny, and so forth, and so on.

To their credit, state reporters are refusing to go along with the "background" checks, because there doesn't seem to be anyone in the state who really believes this is about anything other than David Gowan being peeved that reporters caught him doing something blatantly illegal.

That's vengeful indeed. So, Tisiphone, this one's for you.

As I said, it's been a busy week, and I could give another voter ID story, but this story on a different subject just seemed so grudging I had to put it in for you, Megaera. Readers Digest version: "If you had an abortion in Missouri between 2010 and 2015, you’re on Missouri State Senator Kurt Schaefer’s hit list."

Schaefer (need I say he is a Republican?) is demanding that Planned Parenthood, and a St. Louis area pathologist, turn over to him all medical records of all women who had abortions in Missouri between 2010 and 2015. (Need I say this would be a blatant violation of HIPAA?) Doesn't phase him.

He hasn't mentioned what he would do with the names if he got them, but I'm thinking suboenas to a House hearing, which would also result in publication, which would certainly resuly in shaming, if not harassment, if not dangerous physical violence.

Even the main stream media (in the form of the St. Louis Post Dispatch) says his demand is “…a thinly veiled effort to expose the identities of abortion patients as a means of shaming and discouraging other women from exercising their constitutional rights.” But he is not backing down, and has managed to seduce or extort the Missouri Senate's Rules and Ethics committee to approve a resolution to compel Planned Parenthood's CEO to “appear before the whole Senate to explain why they should not be punished for failing to comply with the demand.” (Spoiler: It's HIPAA, stupid)

Did I mention he is running for Attorney General?

He has also threatened to hold her in contempt if she fails to produce the list he wants. Personally, I think she would be rationally able to rejoin, "What a coincidence. That's exactly how I feel about you." But she probably has better manners than I do. Besides getting him, Megaera, I hope you will have her back. Many thanks.

The Furies and I will be back.

Friday Fun – Fun Job: Goat Cuddler. I “Kid” You Not!

Posted by SoINeedAName at 8:36 am Politics

Apr 152016

There are few things as cute as a baby goat (kid) …

In southern Virginia, February’s kidding season at Caromont Farm (a goat cheese farm a few miles south of the University of Virginia) has usually been a harrowing, hectic time for owner Gail Hobbs-Page and her employees when her baby goats run wild and her staff is run ragged.

But this year, Gail, an accomplished chef for decades who transitioned to goat farmer in 2007, took the advice of her staff and decided to use social media to enlist the aid of volunteers who signed up for four-hour stints helping to keep almost 100 new baby goats (kids) warm, dry, clean and fed. Within a day the local NBC affiliate had a feature, and within two days the Washington Post ran a story on the “Goat Cuddlers”.

Gail, who is devoted to local agribusiness farming, was dubious about her staff’s suggestion of using the Caromon Farm’s Facebook page – but joyously overwhelmed when she had over 2,000 requests from people as far north as Quebec and far west as California! And all seventy-two of the four-hour slots were snapped up by young and old in just three days! People are already requesting the opportunity to cuddle and snuggle with the goats during next year’s kidding season.

“Every year we work our butts off with these baby goats, and everyone gets a little run-down,” says Gail Hobbs-Page, who started the farm in 2007. “I guess I really didn’t know how news works now,” says Hobbs-Page. “This—going viral—was never our intention. The phone is ringing off the hook.”

“What I tapped into is some sort of need that people have to connect…to connect with something so innocent as a baby goat, and to connect with where their food comes from.”

http://modernfarmer.com/2016/01/goat-snuggles/

Gail explained that having the volunteers work at keeping the kids warm, dry and fed was critical not only for their well-being, but also "When they become milkers for the cheese operation, they're easier to handle. If we didn't do this on some level, you couldn't get your hands on them. They'd just run away."

Caromont is a 120-goat farm that makes some 30,000 pounds of goat cheese each year to distribute up and down the east coast, as well as hosting gourmet dinners featuring … what else?

Consistent with what Hobbs-Page feels is her devotion to responsible, artisanal farming she does not use any GMO feed, pays her help a living wage, and extensively interviews anyone she sells her goats to.

But watching the volunteers in action this year helping to tend to her “kids”, Gail observed, "I'm not quite sure they need the cuddling as much as the people need to cuddle."

Open Thread–4/15/2016

Posted by TomCat at 7:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Apr 152016

Color me rushing to get this up, before I have to leave,

Jog Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:42 (average 4:32). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Getting attention today: The court case in which Republican now-presidential candidate Ted Cruz, then the Texas solicitor general, ferociously defended the state’s law barring the sale of dildos.

The brief insisted that Texas in order to protect "public morals" had "police-power interests" in "discouraging prurient interests in sexual gratification, combating the commercial sale of sex, and protecting minors." There was a "government" interest, it maintained, in "discouraging…autonomous sex." The brief compared the use of sex toys with "hiring a willing prostitute or engaging in consensual bigamy," and it equated advertising these products with the commercial promotion of prostitution. In perhaps the most noticeable line of the brief, Cruz’s office declared, "There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one’s genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship."

Cruz lost, with a federal appeals court opining that the state had no legal business telling people what they could and couldn’t do in their own bedrooms.

I wonder if Cruz had his dildo, his TRUS, up his butt when he wrote that brief,

From The New Yorker: Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, stirred controversy on Thursday by saying in a televised interview that he had no recollection of running for President of the United States.

Appearing on the Fox News Channel, Dr. Carson responded to host Sean Hannity’s question about his ten-month-long candidacy by saying, “I do not recall any of that occurring.”

“I’ve been told that I did it, but I find it impossible to believe,” he said. “I don’t think I’d forget a thing like that.”

Dr. Carson said he had seen photographs and videos of him campaigning for the Republican nomination but called them “the work of an evil person who is really good at PhotoShop and whatnot.”

Here’s why, Andy!! Uncle Token has been brain dead, ever since he operated on himself.

From Crooks and Liars: Bernie Sanders gave a spirited closing argument for why he believes he’s the best candidate for the Democratic nomination.

I agree with him. Go Bernie!!

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