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Squatch’s Open Thread 13/02/2016

Posted by Lynn Squance at 4:08 pm Open Thread, Politics

Feb 132016

Yesterday, after returning from physio and then teaching, I decided that I had had enough for the day . . . so no Open Thread. But I am back today and rested. I'm doing laundry today but otherwise relaxing a bit.

Short Takes

CBC — More than 50 million years ago, Canada's Arctic was a warm, wet place, home to alligators, giant tortoises and — as it now turns out — giant, flightless birds.

Meet Gastornis, a giant, flightless bird that roamed around what's now known as Nunavut, munching on nuts and seeds more than 50 million years ago.

A new study by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and the University of Colorado Boulder has confirmed that a single fossilized toe bone discovered in the early 1970s on Ellesmere Island in what is now Nunavut belonged to a species called Gastornis.

The map shows how far north Ellesmere Island is to the rest of Canada. That is Greenland to the right.

These discoveries help shed light on what the Arctic was like during the Eocene epoch, when Ellesmere Island was most likely a hot, swampy environment, home to giant turtles, alligators, primates and hippo-like beasts.

That, in turn, gives us some idea of what to expect as climate change dramatically alters the northern landscape, Eberle said. In order to develop accurate climate models to predict the future, scientists need solid, measurable data from the past — especially from previous periods of warmth in the Arctic.

That is one big "chicken"! Wikipedia had this to say about the area:

Schei and later Nathorst described the Paleocene–Eocene (ca. 55 Ma) fossil forest in the Stenkul Fiord sediments. The Stenkul Fiord site represents a series of deltaic swamp and floodplain forests. The trees stood for at least 400 years. Individual stumps and stems of >1 m (>3 ft) diameter were abundant, and are identified as Metasequoia and possibly Glyptostrobus. Well preserved Pliocene peats containing abundant vertebrate and plant macrofossils characteristic of a boreal forest have been reported from Strathcona Fiord.

In 2006, University of Chicago paleontologist Neil Shubin and Academy of Natural Sciences paleontologist Ted Daeschler reported the discovery of the fossil of aPaleozoic (ca. 375 Ma) fish, named Tiktaalik roseae, in the former stream beds of Ellesmere Island. The fossil exhibits many characteristics of fish, but also indicates a transitional creature that may be a predecessor of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, including humans.

This is not to say that climate change is not anthropogenic. It is! But by looking at the past, we might be able to learn what happened millions of years ago and prevent a catastrophic change in our time.

Foreign Policy — When the refugee crisis began last summer, about 1,500 people were coming to Sweden every week seeking asylum. By August, the number had doubled. In September, it doubled again. In October, it hit 10,000 a week, and stayed there even as the weather grew colder. A nation of 9.5 million, Sweden expected to take as many as 190,000 refugees, or 2 percent of the population — double the per capita figure projected by Germany, which has taken the lead in absorbing the vast tide of people fleeing the wars in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere. …

The vast migration of desperate souls from Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere has posed a moral test the likes of which Europe has not faced since the Nazis forced millions from their homes in search of refuge. Europe has failed that test. Germany, acutely aware that it was the author of that last great refugee crisis, has taken in the overwhelming fraction of the 1 million asylum-seekers who have reached Europe over the past 18 months.

This a long but interesting article that challenges our moral compass. Sweden is caught between its moral code and the realities of the magnitude of the refugee issue. Certainly, one wonders why countries like Saudi Arabia have not welcomed refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. I suspect that the Saudis do not want the instability that can come from a large refugee influx, especially in a tightly controlled society. That more has to be done is unquestionable . . . but what?

CBC — Air balls, comedic bits and the odd quality play — the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game had a little bit of everything Friday night at the Ricoh Coliseum.

Serving as the on-court kickoff to a weekend of festivities building up to Sunday's all-star game, fans were treated to an entertaining mix of characters who delivered a brand of basketball that was high on energy and short on flow.

Congrats to the Canadian NBA All Star Celebrity team for dunking the US team 74 – 64!

Alternet — … Dr. King was also a tough-minded critic of our capitalist economic structure, much like Bernie Sanders is today.

The reality is that King himself supported democratic socialism – and that civil rights activists and socialists have walked arm-in-arm for more than a century. …

1966: In remarks to staffers at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King said:

“You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry. . . . It really means that we are saying something is wrong with capitalism. There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.”

Would Martin Luther King Jr be supporting Bernie? I believe he would.

My Universe —

Come here idiot! I want to tell you something!

We’ve Known Way Too Long!

Posted by TomCat at 1:07 pm Politics

Feb 132016

Many of you were surprised to learn that Exxon knew about climate change since 1977 and spent $millions spreading deceitful propaganda to cover up how burning fossil fuels is a primary cause. Would you believe, however, that some actually suspected and broadcast the truth almost sixty years ago? It’s true! We’ve known way too long,not to have taken the steps we needed to take!

On February 12, 1958, the American public saw the first televised warning about the dangers of carbon dioxide, global warming, and sea level rise. That warning came from The Bell Laboratory Science Series, which aired its fourth TV episode, “Unchained Goddess,” written and produced by three-time Oscar winner Frank Capra.

Capra is famous for classic films like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and not so famous for having a degree in chemical engineering. In this film, Dr. Research (Dr. Frank Baxter) explains to The Writer (Richard Carlson) that unrestricted carbon dioxide emissions could lead to a world where “Tourists in glass bottom boats would be viewing the drowned towers of Miami”:

“Even now, man may be unwittingly changing the world’s climate through the waste products of his civilization,” warns Dr. Research. “Due to our release through factories and automobiles every year of more than six billion tons of carbon dioxide, which helps air absorb heat from the sun, our atmosphere seems to be getting warmer.”

Note: Now we are emitting six times (!) as much CO2 from fossil fuels as in 1958… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Recently, someone asked me how the Republicans who are doing everything in their power to block Obama’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions here and sabotage the Global Climate Accord expect to survive the effects of their criminal greed. I have tried to answer in the above graphic.

Open Thread–2/13/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:06 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 132016

I’m running late, because I took a nap from Lona this morning. I’m still quite busy. Tomorrow a friend, with whom I have done volunteer work is stopping by to learn how to collapse my power chart and see if she can load it into her car. If she can, we will probably go out for lunch. My guys in prison are having a Community Impact meeting later this month, and since it’s in the Visiting Room, I may be able to go. Monday I have a Urology appointment.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:26 (average 7:14). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From CNN: Residents of Flint, Michigan, began getting gravely ill and in some cases dying in summer 2014 in one of the worst outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease in U.S. history, and a county health director says attempts to find the source were hampered when the state wouldn’t request federal assistance.

Genesee County Health director Jim Henry tells CNN in an exclusive interview he believes deaths could have been prevented, but the health department could not get help from the state of Michigan or the Centers for Disease Control to find the source. Eventually, 87 people got Legionnaire’s and nine died.

Henry, who was a supervisor at the time of the outbreak, says state officials purposely kept the CDC away once the county wanted to look at the highly corrosive Flint River as the Legionnaire’s uptick began. The state had decided to switch the water supply source to the Flint River, and soon brown water began flowing from taps in the city… [emphasis added]

Even if Flint River water was not the source of the infection, Republican Sturmbannführer Snyder murdered nine people by covering up his water crime, because his cover-up prevented the discovery of the source.

From Tampa Bay Times: The hedge fund manager boasted that he had traveled to "every country" in the world, studying overseas stock markets as he fine-tuned an investment strategy to capitalize on global companies’ suffering because of economic or political turmoil.

But the fund manager had an even more distinctive credential to showcase in his marketing material in June 2013: He was a "U.S. congressman," Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Now he is also among the leading Democratic candidates for one of Florida’s U.S. Senate seats.

This highly unusual dual role — a sitting House lawmaker running a hedge fund, which until recently had operations in the Cayman Islands — has led to an investigation of Grayson by the House Committee on Ethics .

The inquiry has become public, but emails and marketing documents obtained by the New York Times show the extent to which Grayson’s roles as a hedge fund manager and a member of Congress were intertwined, and how he promoted his international travels, some with congressional delegations, to solicit business.

Interviews and the documents show that Grayson told potential investors in his hedge fund that they should contribute money to the fund to capitalize on the unrest he observed around the world, and to take particular advantage when there was "blood in the streets."

I’m not going to hide from this story, because of my past support for Alan, and I do agree with the Nevada Leg Hound, Harry Reid, that Alan should leave the Senate race for Border Booter’s seat. Until and unless Alan can prove his innocence, he cannot succeed, anyway. However, Leg Hound Harry has also virtually convicted Alan. If he is guilty, he does deserve our censure, but allegations are not definitive proof, and Democrats need to stop running scared from Republicans and throwing our own under the bus, before the investigations conclude. That said, I have to admit, it looks bad, Maybe our readers from FL can enlighten us.

From PRWafch: In the face of the Republican-led Congress’ hostility to the IRS clarifying the rules for nonprofit political activity, the tax agency has apparently given up.

The IRS has granted nonprofit status to Karl Rove’s dark money political operation, Crossroads GPS, which for the past five years has pushed the legal envelope in order to influence elections but keep its donors secret.

Formed in the wake of Citizens United, Crossroads GPS has been one of the biggest secretly-funded political players, raising and spending $330 million on election-related ads attacking Democratic candidates or praising Republicans, but without doing anything that might be described as advancing "social welfare." Although the majority opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision endorsed disclosure of donors, in the five years following the decision, spending by secretly-funded 501(c)(4) nonprofits has exploded.

If Crossroads GPS can be granted nonprofit status, there may be few limits on how political operatives can use tax-exempt groups to dodge campaign finance disclosure laws. The Koch political network, for example, will have little fear of IRS enforcement as it spends almost $889 million this election cycle through its network of nonprofit groups.

If Rove Rat represents social welfare, rather than hidden election purchase, then this cat is really a dawg!

RoveRat

Cartoon:

0213Cartoon

Everyday Erinyes

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:38 pm Politics

Feb 122016

It's been a good week for Bernie (not that we aren't all working to make it even better), but stuff can still happen which seems to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with it. 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."

I have only one story this week. I just didn't think it gets any more complete than this. Here's the headline:

“A New Low” — Cop Suing the Family of a Teen HE Killed, Saying it Caused HIM Emotional Trauma

Yes, you read that right.

(In fact, you've probably seen it – it is so outrageous as to have gotten a lot of attention.)

Chicago, IL — A Chicago Police Officer who responded to a call for assistance by killing an unarmed 19-year-old college student and a neighbor, who was uninvolved in the situation, has now filed a lawsuit against the estate of the student HE killed — saying the shooting left him traumatized.

It beggars belief.

I can give names and dollar figures.

Officer Robert Rialmo is inexplicably seeking $10 million in damages from the estate of Quintonio LeGrier — apparently because killing someone is so traumatic, he must also sue for what he did.

I can give quotes from attorneys:

According to the Associated Press, Rialmo’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, “said it was important in the charged atmosphere [in Chicago] to send a message that police are not ‘targets for assaults’ and [they] ‘suffer damage like anyone else.’”

Attorney Basileios Foutris is representing Antonio LeGrier in the wrongful death suit he filed days after Quintonio’s death and said he was astonished at the “temerity” Rialmo has displayed in suing the still-grieving family of the man he shot. “That’s a new low, even for the Chicago Police Department,” he said. “First you shoot them then you sue them.”

I can provide bare bones facts:

Quintonio LeGrier was killed on December 26, after his father summoned police for what he thought would be help handling the distraught teen. Instead of giving aid, Rialmo shot LeGrier — six times — as well as neighbor, Bettie Jones, who had simply been watching for police to direct them to the appropriate apartment. Though a statement from police wasn’t forthcoming at the time of the incident, they did say LeGrier was “combative” and carrying a baseball bat.

I can give a general idea of the conflict in the stories:

While Rialmo claims LeGrier was “3 or 4 feet away” from him and was advancing aggressively with the bat, descriptions from LeGrier’s and Jones’ families say the officer was 20 or 30 feet away when he fired his weapon — and therefore could not possibly have feared for his life. Additionally, Quintonio placed the original call to 911. As Foutris stated, “If you’re calling multiple times for help are you going to charge a police officer and try to hit him with a bat? That’s ridiculous.”

I can tell you the FBI has been asked to investigate, and I can quote someone who knows a little about these situations:

Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor and current defense attorney who is not involved with this case, told the AP such a lawsuit is highly unusual, and “said it appeared intended to intimidate LeGrier’s family. He said he had never heard of an officer blaming his shooting victim for causing trauma.”

But I can't say anything more telling than the author of this article said:

Maybe if Officer Rialmo hadn’t shot and killed an unarmed teenage college student and ‘accidentally’ shot a neighbor in the neck, but had instead used de-escalation techniques and any number of less-than-lethal options, like backing up, perhaps he wouldn’t be ‘suffering’ so horribly — and these families would not have lost their loved ones.

In fact, the way I feel, if I has said that, it would have been laced with profanity. So I won't.

I will save my breath to ask Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone to hurry on down to the Chicago Police Department, and to Officer Rialmo's home, if he is on paid vacation, as so often happens. There's counseling needed here. Thank you, ladies.

This article appeared in AlterNet credited to the Free Thought Project, which I have also credited and linked as primary source. Because their view on copyright is "Feel free to republish all original content from this site. We just ask that you link back to us. You will not be sued for aiding humanity in the struggle for peace!"

The Furies and I will be back.

The Milwaukee Debate

Posted by TomCat at 1:46 pm Politics

Feb 122016

I stayed up to watch the debate last night. It was hard fought between the only two candidates in either party worth our votes. Most of the ground had been covered in the MSNBC debate. If you you missed it, I have the video and transcript for you. In general, both candidates performed well. I think it was too close to call, but I did have one observation that may prove interestying.

Let’s dispel once and for all the notion that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders don’t know what they’re doing—they know exactly what they’re doing, and on Thursday night in Milwaukee, at the second Democratic presidential debate since the field narrowed to two candidates, they sparred over the issues that will define their contest going forward, without moving the needle in any obvious direction. The two-hour debate, moderated by Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill of PBS, put the candidates on the spot on issues of race and gender, while returning again and again to the themes that dominated their earlier meetings: Wall Street, Medicare, and the Middle East.

Both candidates made an effort to shore up earlier weak spots. Sanders had a ready response on charges he’d stood in the way of immigration reform; Clinton continued to insulate herself from accusations that she was a pawn of corporate interests, and used her relationship with President Barack Obama as the rough equivalent of a character reference in a job interview. Whatever the consequences, Clinton and Sanders will be stuck with them for a while. The next scheduled debate isn’t until March 6—five days after Super Tuesday… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Mother Jones>

You can watch the complete video, or click here for the PBS debate transcript.

I did catch one difference between the two. Hillary seemed to have the upper hand on tactical matters, a specific plan for a specific problem. But Bernie seems to excel on strategic matters, an overview of what we need to do on issues. I prefer the latter, with the caveat that Bernie will need to surround himself with tacticians who share and be faithful to his world view. Obama is also a strategic thinker, but some of his tacticians were “business as usual” and too quick to cave in to Republican intransigence.

Jerry Critter Has BIG Mouth! ;-)

Posted by TomCat at 1:45 pm Blog News, Politics

Feb 122016

75-Jerry

Congrats to Jerry Critter for posting the 75,000th comment here at Politics Plus. This is his fifth award. The last was June, 2014. He used to visit, because he is addicted to the Jig Zone Puzzles in our Open Thread, but I haven't heard hum mutter “My Precious”, in quite some time. Now he is involved in all aspects of this site, and is one of the few people who has been here since before we converted to WordPress from Blogger, making him a friend of many years standing. He remains one of our most welcome commentators. When he does comment, he’s spot-on. He used to write an excellent blog of his own. You could find him at Critter’s Crap, but it's been a couple years since his last article there. Please join me in praising and thanking him. We'd like to see much more of him again.

Open Thread–2/12/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:44 pm Open Thread, Personal, Plus, Politics

Feb 122016

It’s another busy day. Jeannie (shower-aide), Arvilla (PT) and Tracey (OT) have come and gone. This is my last day with all three of them. I will miss them. They have taught me a lot. Starting on the 26th, I’ll go out for PT/OT on the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:15 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Patty Monster:

We have not seen our beloved Patty Monster for some time, so when the Squatch mentioned it yesterday, I sent Patty an email. Here is her reply.

Hi Tom.

So sorry i’ve been AWOL. I’ve just been busy around here and trying to limit my computer time.

I promise that I will show up again from time to time if for nothing else but the crossword puzzle.

Keep up the good fight. I still am!

My love and hugs to you all! Patty

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Soviet Jews: “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” (link)

This is the first of ten Inhuman and typically Republican quotes from Henry Kissinger, whom Hillary praised last year, Click through for the other nine.

From Crooks and Liars: Oh, Ted. What have you done now? First you approved an attack ad against Donald Trump that creepily used children chanting "eminent domain" and for an encore, you’ve done, what?

BarF Bag Alert!!

The woman Uranus Inspector picked for the above commercial, Amy Lindsey, is a soft porn star. Perhaps he needs to turn his TRUS down a notch or three. Bwahahahahaha!!

0212AmyLindsey

From The Guardian: Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders next square off in the Nevada caucuses. Who’s ahead there? Who knows – there’s not much polling. The Real Clear Politics average uses two polls in the last four months and shows Clinton up 20.

But hold the phone: a new poll by a TargetPoint, a Republican polling firm, conducted for the Washington Free Beacon finds – a tie! at 45-45.

That should be interesting!

Cartoon:

0212Cartoon

Squatch’s Open Thread 11/02/2016

Posted by Lynn Squance at 2:38 am Open Thread, Politics

Feb 122016

I awoke very late after chasing someone's pet rat all night long! The furry critter kept getting away from me, so I chased it. I finally woke up to find myself cuddling one of my furbabes who bears no resemblance to a rat. Tomorrow is busy with physio and teaching.

Short Takes

Huffington Post — Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was charged in federal court on Thursday with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer and obstruction of justice in connection with the 2014 standoff on federal land near his ranch.

Bundy was arrested on Wednesday night in Portland, Oregon, near the site of another standoff that previously included his sons. …

The takeover at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which began on Jan. 2, was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in the vicinity of the refuge.

The standoff, which was originally led by brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy, came to a head after the arrest on Wednesday in Portland of their father, Cliven Bundy.

My first thought, I hope the cases against these characters is rock solid. In my mind, they have demonstrated that their "rights" supersede those of everyone else. I guess only time will tell.

Common Dreams — In a move being hailed as both "defiant" and common sense, Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House on Thursday introduced the "Keep It in the Ground" Act, which would permanently block all new fossil fuel leases on public lands and waters.

"Anyone who does the math of climate change knows we need to keep most fossil fuel underground," said Bill McKibben. (Photo: kris krüg/flickr/cc/with overlay)

The bill, introduced by California Rep. Jared Huffman and cosponsored by 16 colleagues, specifically bars new leases and ends non-producing leases for coal, oil, gas, oil shale, and tar sands on all federal lands, as well as for offshore drilling in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Further, the bill outright prohibits offshore drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic.

Although this action is sorely overdue, this has about as much chance of suceeding as a snowball in hell with the current Republican dominated Congress. Hopefully, that dominance won't last forever.

Mother Jones — Ted Nugent is no stranger to mounting outrageous defenses of the gun lobby. But this week, the musician's predictable inflammatory language reached new levels of offensive starting on Monday with the following anti-Semitic image posted to his Facebook page:

With a long list of seditious and other questionable acts, Nugent, the Pied Piper of Offensiveness, has outdone himself this time. I didn't think that was possible! Thanks to Cal M at Care2, here is a petition to TELL THE NRA: REMOVE TED NUGENT FROM YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

Common Dreams — The Pentagon budget the Obama administration unveiled this week calls for quadrupling spending on efforts to counter Russia.

The money would move more troops, tanks, and artillery into position near the Russia border. This last Obama budget would also fund another installment in a $1 trillion and 30-year plan to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal with new land-based missiles, bombers, and submarines. …

4. We can’t afford it.
We’re now spending more than the next 13 countries put together, more than three times as much as China, and nine times as much as Russia. Meanwhile the water crisis in Flint, Michigan points to the consequences of our neglect of our country’s infrastructure. According to the National Priorities Project, foregoing the cost of beefing up our nuclear arsenal for one year would enable the U.S. to send nearly 600,000 more students to college for four years. Instead we want to spend more to rekindle the Cold War?

Click through for the other 5 reasons. The proposed US budget would include funds for the nuclear weapons arsenal. Isn't the US a signatory to the Treaty for the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons? Yes, and this appears to fly in the face of that treaty. If the Republicans actually take the time to view the budget proposal, they are likely to start licking their chops.

My Universe —

I you can't go around, and you can't go under, go over but be nice about it!

Dedicated to all the Big Mouth award winners and their big mouth friends!

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