Miscellaneous political debris

September 21, 2017

Facebook Hands Over Data to Congress and Promises Better Disclosure on Political Ads


“Disclosing content is not something we do lightly under any circumstances. We are deeply committed to safeguarding user content, regardless of the user’s nationality, and ads are user content. Federal law also places strict limitations on the disclosure of account information,” Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch wrote in an announcement accompanying the video.


http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/09/facebook-promises-transparency-on-political-ads.html


Less than a year ago, in the immediate aftermath of the election, Zuckerberg dismissed the idea that Facebook's fake news problem had anything to do with the results.

Today's address suggests that the billionaire founder, who built a platform that two billion people rely on for news and political interactions, is finally starting to appreciate that his creation can do as much harm as good in this world.

https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-election-ad-reform/


Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg live-streamed a statement in which he said that his company was "actively working" with the U.S. government in the ongoing Russia investigations.

Zuckerberg also announced a series of rule changes on the site that he hoped would help guard against interference with elections in the future.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ongress-in-russian-election-interference-prob


A source with knowledge of the arrangement tells Mother Jones that the information to be shared will include targeting data associated with the ads


Over the past few weeks, there has been increasing pressure for Facebook to share more information with Senate investigators. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the co-chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, previously said that Facebook’s September 6 admission about Russian-purchased ads during the election was “the tip of the iceberg,” and earlier this week called on the company to share more information about the operation. Warner also suggested that perhaps new legislation was needed to make it clear when foreign buyers are trying pay for ads on social media networks.


http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/09/facebook-to-share-russian-ads-with-congress/

gotsnowgotslush said:

September 14, 2017

The new Forest Service chief, Tony Tooke, was sworn in by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Sept. 1. But he’d hardly settled into his new D.C. office when he flew to Oregon to see the damage caused by the Eagle Creek Fire, which is burning through the Columbia River Gorge.

Though the link between worsening wildfire seasons and climate change has been clearly established, the Forest Service now has to talk about climate change in coded ways.

“It’s going to take a very nimble administrator to figure out how to keep responding to the pressures that climate change brings without saying that’s what it is,” Miller says. According to Susan Jane Brown of the Western Environmental Law Center, Tooke has a firm grasp of science and an understanding that climate change is making fire act differently than it has historically. While visiting the Eagle Creek Fire, however, he did not mention climate change in his remarks.

Tooke’s background suggests he may be open to taking a progressive tack. In his role as Director for Ecosystem Management Coordination in the Forest Service’s D.C. office, he spearheaded the agency’s development of restoration guidelines for its 2012 land management planning rule. “The guidelines aren’t perfect,” says Falk, “but they show a thoughtful perspective on the national forest as an ecosystem and not just a pool of resources that can be extracted for profit.” Tooke is not, as Falk puts it, a “career timber beast.” “He has at least been willing to follow a career path through ecosystem management,” Falk says. He also has a reputation as a good collaborator, and Furnish, who has worked with him, described him as honest, sincere and professional.

http://www.hcn.org/articles/public-lands-forest-service-leadership-lands-in-southern-hands

They did not give a fuck, until U.S. Forest Service officer was involved


http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-n...sf/2017/09/witness_teens_giggled_as_they.html

Click to expand...

If he is this good and this qualified, how did he get hired by this administration? The norm is to find the person with the least amount of qualifications and a past of being anti the department for which they have been hired.

September 2017 coming to a close

Russiagate is magically morphing. What was once a castle constructed from clouds, has gradually settled down to earth as a fortress of snow. The transformation from icy walls to cold steel walls, has begun.

The announcement of a book to be published, prompts Trump to tweet-


September 12, 2017

Donald J. Trump

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!
8:56 AM · Sep 12, 2017

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017...use-book-trump

New York Times White House correspondents Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush have agreed to do a Trump book for Random House.

September 19, 2017

Isn't That Trump's Lawyer ?

A Reporters's Accidental Scoop

Why would these important White House figures decide to conduct a conversation containing sensitive information, in a restaurant known to be a NY Times hangout ?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/u...tal-scoop.html

Trump is causing many books to be written.

Tonight, PBS is airing an expose centered on Steve Bannon, and his involvement with Trump's White House, as Chief Strategist.


Trump replaced Bannon, as the face of The Extremist Radical Right, and promptly dumped Bannon. Trump successfully co-opted Bannon's followers.


Bannon's War

Trump advisor Stephen Bannon's war-with radical Islam, Washington, and White House rivals. The story of Bannon's fight to deliver on Trump's promises, with a confrontational style based on his personal crusade to dramatically transform America

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/


Despite his attempts to remain largely outside of public view during his time in the Trump White House, Bannon was a common sight on magazine covers and Saturday Night Live. On SNL he was portrayed as the Grim Reaper, who would take over the Oval Office’s resolute desk while Trump played with children’s toys. Those sketches left Trump “especially upset,” the Washington Post reported in February.

More recently, Trump was reportedly annoyed about the cover of Devil’s Bargain, a book from Bloomberg News reporter Joshua Green, which showed Bannon and Trump side-by-side.

Bannon’s next move will be closely watched in Washington, and the early odds appear to be on a return to Breitbart. Matt Drudge was the first to suggest as much on Friday, and a former spokesperson for the website told Business Insider that Bannon will “continue to use his weapon of choice, Breitbart, to attack his adversaries inside the West Wing.”

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...ite-house.html

Who wrote Trump's speech, to the UN ? All that speak, are expert liars...

Steve Bannon helped write President Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly before he was ousted from the White House last month, Sebastian Gorka told Newsweek Thursday. Gorka, who previously worked with Bannon at Breitbart News, left the administration just days after Bannon as part of an overhaul following John Kelly’s appointment as chief of staff.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-pol...ring-un-speech

Steve Bannon helped write President Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly before he was ousted from the White House last month, Sebastian Gorka told Newsweek Thursday.

The White House responded that Gorka’s claim was “100 percent false and Sebastian Gorka and Steve Bannon played no role in the U.N. speech.”


"The speech was 100 percent written internally and all consultation and edits were sought and received by senior staff and cabinet secretaries,” he added. “Nobody outside the administration had any input.”

-National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton


http://www.newsweek.com/steve-bannon...h-gorka-669140


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/w...ingtonpost.com

Most observers saw Bannon as the most sinister presence in the White House, a white nationalist Rasputin with special access to Donald Trump's id. It was assumed that getting rid of Bannon meant that Kelly had removed the main influence that stoked Trump's darker impulses.

It turns out that Stephen Miller, the remaining member of the "alt-right" trio those House members demanded be fired, was the savviest political player among them. Rather than jockey for power with the president's powerful son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as Bannon did, Miller was smart enough to see that family would be the last people Trump would abandon. So he moved into Kushner's orbit.

http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/s...ps-white-house

A source of some of Steve Bannon's ideas-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/enter...=.b8590ebfa413

Anthony Scaramucci appears on the public stage, to talk out of the other side of his mouth-


Scaramucci (had once) gushed that Breitbart has "captured the spirit of what is actually going on in this country,” shortly after getting his White House gig. But now that he is out of the White House, he may be one of the few former Trumpers willing to openly declare the uncomfortable truths about that operation.

This week, he sings a different tune-

The criticisms began after Scaramucci said that Bannon had a "bit of a messianic complex." According to the so-called "Mooch," Bannon at one point took issue with Scaramucci's decision to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, even though he had been sanctioned to do so by the White House communications team.

"Because he's an anti-globalist and he was hitting that economic forum at Breitbart for so many years, that put me in disfavor with him," Scaramucci said.
Sunny Hostin then asked Scaramucci about the accusation that Bannon is a white nationalist.

"I would say that he has those tendencies. If you read Breitbart, there is a lot of that white nationalist economic fervor," Scaramucci said.

Next up-

What does Former FBI Director James Comey have to say ?

gotsnowgotslush said:

September 2017 coming to a close

Russiagate is magically morphing. What was once a castle constructed from clouds, has gradually settled down to earth as a fortress of snow. The transformation from icy walls to cold steel walls, has begun.

The announcement of a book to be published, prompts Trump to tweet-


September 12, 2017

Donald J. Trump

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!
8:56 AM · Sep 12, 2017

Click to expand...

I think that tweet was about Hillary's book, not a book to come.

The Entanglements of England's Revenues and America's Economic Progress

The Governor becomes Chief Justice

Despite his skill as a judge, Hutchinson’s appointment earned him the undying enmity of James Otis Jr., for whom challenging Hutchinson became the leading obsession of his already unstable personality.

Without Otis and the resentment he harbored, there might have been no comprehensive legal assault on the customs service, no writs of assistance case, no attacking of Hutchinson for failing to include natural rights doctrine in his draft of the petition against the Stamp Act, and no destruction of his house on 26 August 1765. “From so small a spark,” Hutchinson later observed, “a great fire seems to have been kindled."

A Smuggling Problem

(Sugar and Other Goods of Illicit Trade- The evil cycle, profits in secret- Sugar, Slaves, and Rum. Why pay tax to England, on goods from other places ?)


Hutchinson had long been aware of the unquestioned use in England of writs of assistance (general search warrants issued without specifying place or probable cause) and knew that Shirley during his time in office had issued such warrants to customs officers in Massachusetts. Indeed, Hutchinson himself had stopped some officials about to enter his brother Foster’s warehouse with a general warrant, and, although he eventually permitted them to enter, he warned them that only a court could issue such instruments.


Otic maintained that the writs of assistance violated the fundamental rights of British subjects: “A Man, who is quiet, is as secure in his House, as a Prince in his Castle.”

(Revenue Act of 1764 (The Sugar Act) Duties on duties on sugar and molasses are reduced. But, there is a catch. Trade restricted to Britain and Britain's colonies.)

The Stamp Act

On 15 May, the Boston town meeting appointed a five-man committee (including relative newcomer Samuel Adams) to draft instructions for its members in the General Court to oppose the Stamp Act.

On the morning of 14 August, effigies of Andrew Oliver, the stamp distributor for Massachusetts, and Lord Bute, the much-hated adviser to George III, appeared hanging from the branches of a great elm (soon to be known as the Liberty Tree) in the southern end of town.

(Soon followed by the attack on houses, and businesses.)

A little over a week later on 26 August, a crowd assaulted the houses of William Story, registrar of the Admiralty, and Benjamin Hallowell, comptroller of customs. The choice of targets suggests that the riot of 26 August had more to do with Bernard and Hutchinson’s three-year-old efforts to suppress smuggling than with the Stamp Act itself.


https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/2511#ch02

Walker To Launch Re-Election Campaign Nov. 5 In Waukesha
Campaign Kick-Off To Be Followed By A Dozen Events Across The State


October 19, 2017

https://www.wpr.org/walker-launch-re-election-campaign-nov-5-waukesha


A mistake in the FoxConn contract, and a Microsoft facility in Green Bay--those are at the top of the list for this week's round-up of the latest Wisconsin news

Closed session discussion, so the public is not permitted to hear about what went wrong.

https://www.wpr.org/listen/1178626

Something went terribly wrong...


Wisconsin board delays vote on Foxconn incentives until at least November
The leaders of Gov. Scott Walker's job creation agency met behind closed doors again to discuss contract negotiations with Foxconn Technology Group but didn't take any action

https://www.racinecountyeye.com/foxconn-wedc-deal-stalls/

l
MADISON – Wisconsin's jobs agency likely won't vote before Nov. 8 on up to $3 billion in taxpayer incentives to bring a flat-screen plant to Racine County, a top official said.

The board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. got an update Tuesday on the subsidies for the Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan in a private session but for the second meeting the board took no action.

WEDC Chief Executive Officer Mark Hogan said he didn't expect his agency or board to take a final action on the contract before the board's next scheduled meeting Nov. 8.

"That's probably the earliest we would do it," Hogan told reporters Tuesday, noting that both he and Gov. Scott Walker are traveling to Israel later this month for a trade mission.

https://www.racinecountyeye.com/foxconn-wedc-deal-stalls/

October 21, 2017

Mariano Rajoy, announced that he was stripping Catalonia of its autonomy and imposing direct rule from Madrid in an attempt to crush the regional leadership’s move to secede.

In an address on Catalan television on Saturday night Puigdemont, speaking in Catalan, Spanish and English, described the move as the worst attack on Catalonia’s institutions since General Franco’s dictatorship between 1939 and 1975, under which regional autonomy was dissolved.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/21/catalonai-crisis-spain-rajoy-direct-rule

Earlier on Saturday, Mr Rajoy had outlined plans that would see the region’s separatist leaders removed from office, including Mr Puigdemont, and the local parliament stripped of much of its power.

In a significant upping of the stakes in his bid to rein in the region’s pro-independence rulers, Mr Rajoy has said that although the Catalan parliament will not be dissolved immediately, its functions will be limited to “avoid measures contrary to the constitution”.

Ministries in Madrid will oversee the management of the Catalan administration, as well as directing the Catalan local police forces and, probably, the region’s public television and radio channels.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ndum-worst-attacks-since-franco-a8013241.html

October 19, 2017

Catalonia: As Spain vows to trigger 'the most explosive clause in the constitution', what would 'direct rule' mean for Catalan independence?


Spain's ruling party calls crisis the worst to hit Spain since failed coup of 1981

Catalonia is a region responsible for a fifth of Spain’s GDP

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-catalan-what-will-it-look-like-a8009716.html


AFAIF, Catalan requested a mild form of increased independence. Spain remained stiff and unwilling to yield. Spain did not focus on keeping the peace between them.

The question remains- Did Spain provoke this crisis, deliberately ?

Killer Volcanos

NOVA follows a team of volcano sleuths as they embark on a worldwide hunt for an elusive volcanic mega-eruption that plunged medieval Earth into a deep freeze. They look for the signature of a volcanic eruption big enough to have blasted a huge cloud of ash and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere, which chilled the entire planet. Across the globe, it turned summer into winter.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/killer-volcanoes.html


Follow a team of volcano sleuths as they embark on a worldwide hunt for an elusive volcanic mega-eruption that plunged medieval Earth into a deep freeze. The mystery begins when archaeologists find a hastily dug mass grave of 4,000 men, women, and children in London. At first they assume it’s a plague pit from the Black Death, but when they date the bones, they turn out to be too old by a century. So what killed off these families? The chronicles of that time describe a run of wild weather that devastated crops and spread famine across Europe. NOVA’s expert team looks for the signature of a volcanic eruption big enough to have blasted a huge cloud of ash and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere, which chilled the entire planet. From Greenland to Antarctica, the team finds telltale “fingerprints” in ice and soil layers until, finally, they narrow down the culprit to a smoldering crater on a remote Indonesian island. Nearly 750 years ago, this volcano’s colossal explosion shot a million tons of rock and ash every second into the atmosphere. Across the globe, it turned summer into winter. What would happen if another such cataclysm struck again today?

"The most fascinating scientific treasure hunt in this series uncovers details of a volcano that blew in 1257 in Indonesia with such power that its ash and sulphuric acid dimmed the entire Earth for at least a year thereafter."

The source of one of the most enigmatic eruptions over the last 10,000 years may have been conclusively identified. An eruption that occurred in 1257 or 1258 A.D. left one of the largest climate signals in the past few thousands years, producing significant sulfate spikes in the ice caps in 1258-59 and evidence from around the world of dramatic weather shifts for years afterwards.

Most interestingly, historical chronicles in Indonesia suggest a catalysmic eruption that buried the capital city of Lombok’s kingdom at the time (Pamatan) before the end of the 13th century, which would time perfectly with a massive eruption of Rinjani.


https://www.wired.com/2013/09/samal...fied-source-of-the-1258-a-d-missing-eruption/

Young and his colleagues were able to find traces of a few moraines--heaps of debris left at glaciers' ends--that, by their layout, they could tell predated the Little Ice Age advances. Using newly precise methods of analyzing chemical isotopes in the rocks, they showed that these moraines had been deposited during the Viking occupation, and that the glaciers had neared or reached their later maximum Little Ice Age positions between 975 and 1275. The strong implication: it was at least as cold when the Vikings arrived as when they left. "If the Vikings traveled to Greenland when it was cool, it's a stretch to say deteriorating climate drove them out," said Young.

The findings fit with other recently developed evidence that the effects of the Medieval Warm Period were not uniform; some places, including parts of central Eurasia and northwestern North America, may actually have cooled off.

The new study may feed recent suggestions by other researchers that the Medieval Warm Period was in part just an extended phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Modern observations show that the NAO is a generally decadal-scale climate cycle, in which warm winds from the west strengthen and boost temperatures in Europe and Iceland, but simultaneously make southwest Greenland and Baffin Island colder, by sucking in more Arctic air. That makes the two regions seesaw in opposite directions.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151204145919.htm



The oceans were colder than we thought

Date:
October 26, 2017

Source:
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Summary:
A team of researchers has discovered a flaw in the way past ocean temperatures have been estimated up to now. Their findings could mean that the current period of climate change is unparalleled over the last 100 million years

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171026085756.htm

Oh, for goodness sake, Elizabeth Warren. Bernie Sanders is an adult.


Today's Headline

Hillary Clinton 'rigged' presidential nomination process, prominent Democratic senator (Elizabeth Warren) confirms


Elizabeth Warren says Democrats need to do some soul-searching


In an interview with Ms Warren, who like Mr Sanders represents the party’s farther-left progressive wing, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked point-blank if the Massachusetts Democrat agreed “with the notion that it was rigged”.

“Yes”, Ms Warren replied.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-a8034791.html

Daphne Caruana Galizia: Malta buries journalist as EU demands justice


The EU Commission has told Malta its investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia should leave "no stone unturned" as the funeral of the journalist took place.


Last Sunday, an estimated 10,000 people staged the second major post-murder demonstration in Sliema, a beach haven near the capital, Valletta, to press demands that Malta's chief of police and prosecutor general be replaced by parliament to restore public confidence in Malta's administration.

On Friday, the heads of eight European and American media outlets, including Britain's The Guardian, Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung and France's Le Monde, urged the EU executive to use "all powers" at its disposal.

http://www.dw.com/en/daphne-caruana-galizia-malta-buries-journalist-as-eu-demands-justice/a-41223607


"The fact that they hit a woman who did investigative journalism is proof that sometimes they're more afraid of a pen than a pistol," (Rosy) Bindi said

(Rosy Bindi, head of Italy's anti-mafia parliamentary commission)

Bonfire Day has come, and gone.

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England's overthrow.
But, by God's providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James's sake!
If you won't give me one,
I'll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

There is always someone that is willing to say, write, or post, something that is off-the-wall, and possibly harmful to the people that they victimize.

Jack Posobiec, a pro-Trump figure with a large following on social media, who has a reputation for creating and pushing fake news stories about leftists, posted a screen shot of something that looked like a direct message conversation on Twitter.

The conversation was between a man named Dave Pollack and It’s Going Down (IGD), a self-described “digital community center for anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements” frequently associated with “antifa” protests.

The Dave Pollack figure says in the screenshot:

“Go after the heart of the far-right: conservative churches.”

A spokesperson for Its Going Down, who asked not to be named, told Newsweek through a direct message that the screenshot was entirely fabricated, but noted that many people on social media have seized onto the picture and shared it anyway.

On ZeroHedge, a libertarian blog, one of the commenters on a post about the mass shooting summed it up this way: “ He's Antifa, but you'll never see that confirmed because the FBI is a bunch of leftist commie sympathizing traitors,” a user named Gaius Frakkin’ wrote.

“Today we learned that Jack Posobiec was sharing a manufactured and fictitious conversation that was created to look like our account speaking with several others,” the spokesperson for IGD wrote to Newsweek.

“The conversation implied that anarchists and antifa organizers are somehow supportive of church shootings. Nothing could be further from the truth, and our hearts go out to people across the U.S. who have lost, and continue lose loved ones in these horrific mass shootings.”

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-p...inning-vile-new-conspiracy-theory-about-texas

gotsnowgotslush said:

The Dave Pollack figure says in the screenshot:

“Go after the heart of the far-right: conservative churches.”

Click to expand...

I'm reminded of pulp comix in the couple of post-WWII decades, cheapo flimsy plotlines with cardboard-cutout villainous masterminds and blobby toadies. The honest cop learns of a dastardly plot to (whatever) but his chain-of-command brushes aside his warnings. Pluck and luck win the day, along with tommyguns.

If a nefarious villain was to target conservative churches, small-town congregations are small potatoes. Mortar rounds lobbed into a megachurch on Sunday -- THAT would get attention, and drive the conversation away from mere firearms controls. It's kinda like rural witchcraft -- if you've got those satanic powers, why the fuck hang around in the sticks? Go to town! If you're gonna target rednecks and fundy jeezoids, get-em in large numbers. Avoid the petty shit.

When is Armistice Day, in the U.K ?

Armistice Day is celebrated on November 11 each year, and this year it falls on a Saturday. Armistice Day marks the day the armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany that brought the end of WWI.


When is Remembrance Day in the U.K. ?


Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday of November and this year it will take place on Sunday November 12.


What time is the Armistice Day silence?

This armistice took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, which is why the UK holds two minutes of silence at 11am every November 11

Why do we wear poppies ?

The reason the poppies are worn is because they are the flowers which grew on the battlefields after the first World War ended.

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyl...fo-why-do-we-wear-poppies-poppy-a3688141.html


United States of America

This year, in Boston, it will be chilly and breezy.

(A mainly sunny sky. High 37F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph A cold night, in the 20f range)

There is no Remembrance Sunday in the USA.

The US previously observed Armistice Day, but the holiday was was renamed Veterans Day in 1954

Veterans Day is observed annually on November 11.

It coincides with Armistice Day and Remembrance Day.

When Veterans Day falls on a Saturday, then the preceding Friday may be designated as the holiday. If it falls on a Sunday, then the holiday is typically observed on the following Monday. This year, it is being celebrated on Friday, November 10.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ebrate-event-wars-dead-remember-a8047036.html

How is Veterans Day different to Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is marked to remember those who have died in service while Veterans Day honours all of those who have served in the military. “In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank living veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served – not only those who died – have sacrificed and done their duty,” the United States Department of Veterans Affairs website reads.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...hings-you-probably-did-not-know-a6730101.html

Some poppies laid and worn for Memorial Day in May, in parts of the US.

The poppy was officially adopted by the American Legion.

The red poppy is the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

Veterans Day is an official US public holiday honouring military veterans who served in the US Armed Forces.

Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May

Last Monday of May is Memorial Day. The purpose of Memorial Day is to honor those who have died in American military service.

A time to visit the graves, and bring flowers. Sadly, the bronze plauques

American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and AMVETs, Disabled American Veterans


Canada

Canada is distributing 18 million poppies for Remembrance Day this year, says Bob Butt of the Royal Canadian Legion. Canadian poppies, which are made in Toronto, have four petals with a black centre and no leaf - like Scotland's.

I had intentions of examining the use of the word, rino. "Republican In Name, Only" I was sidetracked by a twirp. At the end of this day, and this week, my mind was on Eric Garner. I have read enough, from many sources, for the circumstances of his death to sink in deep. Here, perhaps, is another chance to add to my understanding.

Breaking From Trump-Bashing, Matt Taibbi Examines Eric Garner's Death In 'I Can't Breathe'

October 24, 2017


http://www.wbur.org/artery/2017/10/24/matt-taibbi-i-cant-breathe


In the book, Taibbi then went further than Garner’s life and death, into the protests on both sides of the divide, the beginnings of Black Lives Matter and the resistance from the NYPD among others.

In Garner, Taibbi wasn’t given a perfect victim as a subject. Garner, a former athlete who’d become obese and diabetic, had violent relationships with women. Slovenly and unkempt, he was a small-time career criminal who chose to deal smokes — selling anything from “onesies” to cartons — because the profit margin was high and the risk manageable. He knew even if he was busted it was small potatoes compared to the fate of a crack dealer. He had a ready customer base after Mayor Bloomberg had imposed a huge tax on cigarettes sold in New York in 2006, effectively pricing many lower income nicotine addicts out of the market.

Among the ironies of Garner’s life and death, he wasn’t selling cigarettes at the time he was confronted by police.

(gsgs comment- This news is well known.)

This is the very tail end of my night. Perhaps, there will be something more, for an answer, at another time.

so a MISHAP needs a book written?

WHY?

Leeann Tweeden is speaking up on the View, this morning.


She is making a point. Leeann Tweeden had a professional relationship during the USO tour in 2006. Leeann Tweeden kept Al Franken's unacceptable, un-professional, physical gesture to herself.

Tweeden said she did not inform any of the officials on the trip because she did not wish to cause trouble. She said she performed the skit as written but turned her head away so Franken could not kiss her lips

Click to expand...

What stopped her from raising an objection about having a co-worker shoving his body part into an opening of her body ? (Mouth)

Would she be blamed for disharmony within the performing group, and isolated, because she dared to begin a larger discussion about violations of personal boundaries ? Blamed for bringing division to the group ?

Would she be attacked for being a "bad sport" "poor loser" "unprofessional" "oversensitive" ? Blamed for over-reacting, over "just a kiss."

At issue- Sexual politics, sexual aggression, sexual consent, sexual agency.

Consider the circumstances-

He wants to rehearse a kiss that will be used in a skit. She does not consider it necessary to rehearse the kiss. She refuses. He badgers her. She agrees to rehearse.

The grey area where theatre and reality meet- No one but Al Franken knows what intentions he had, and what emotions, what thought process, led him to put his hands on her face and force his tongue down her throat.

Where was his focus ? Why did he do it ?

He violated her expectations and her mouth.
We only know what he did, at that moment.

He did not stop, victimizing her, after he violated her mouth. He drew horns on her publicity portrait. He and a photographer took part taking pictures that were humiliating to her. She was asleep, at the time.

Here it is, 11 years, later.

He is not the same person that he was, on that USO tour. He is now firmly entrenched on the pro- woman side of politics, now.

Someone must have explained everything to him, thoroughly.

He "gets it," now.

He made an apology. He is sorry that he changed and ruined her experience of the tour.

She accepted his apology. She does not want him to leave office.

Al Franken Apology to LeeAnn Tweeden, #1

“I certainly don't remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it.”

Al Franken Apology to LeeAnn Tweeden, #2


Dear Leeann,

I want to apologize to you personally. I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, but that doesn’t matter. There is no excuse and I understand why you could feel violated by that photo.


I remember that rehearsal differently, but what’s important is the impact it had on you and you felt violated by my actions and for that I apologize. I have tremendous respect for your work for the USO, and I am ashamed that my actions ruined that experience for you. I am so sorry.


Sincerely,
Al Franken

I am a Democrat because I am a feminist who lives under a two-party system, where one party consistently votes against the interests of women while the other sometimes does not. I am not a true believer in the party itself nor in any politician. I am a realist who recognizes that we get two viable choices, and Democrats are members of the only party positioned to pump the brakes on Republicans’ gleeful race toward Atwoodian dystopia. Meanwhile, I recognize that men’s harassment of and violence against women is a systemic issue, not a Democrat or Republican problem, a Hollywood problem, a sports problem, or a media problem. Its roots lie in a patriarchal culture that trains men to believe they are entitled to control women’s bodies —for sex, for sport, for childbearing, for comedy.

When you combine these things — an awareness that the Democratic Party is no more or less than best of two, and an understanding that men in power frequently exploit women — it becomes difficult to believe that Franken is the only sitting Democrat with a history of harassment, abuse or assault. The recent #metoo campaign demonstrated how normalized unwanted kissing and groping are in our culture. Donald Trump was caught on tape crudely admitting to both of those transgressions, and we made him our president.


I’m a feminist. I study rape culture. And I don’t want Al Franken to resign.

Kate Harding

November 17 ,2017



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-al-franken-to-resign/?utm_term=.b4f71636f228

awwwwww fuck!



October 28, 2017


When author and journalist, Matt Taibbi, sat down at Harvard Book Store on Wednesday to discuss his latest book, titled: I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street, about the life and death of Eric Garner, he was confronted with some of his past works and remarks.


http://www.dailywire.com/news/22876/author-matt-taibbi-confronted-over-lewd-remarks-frank-camp

https://jezebel.com/writers-matt-taibbi-and-mark-ames-serviced-no-one-but-t-1820007051


https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/02/exile-201002

OTOH

http://billmoyers.com/story/media-normalizing-election/

An earworm attached itself to my ear, when I was listening to Jeremy Peters, on Washington Week 50- "They want to push it back to 150 years after we started..."


The year following the Boston Massacre ?

Who is it that wants to return to the confrontations of 1770 ? Trump's true believers want to break everything down, and start all over, again. They voted for Trump, because he is Anti- Establishment. They want to start a fight against everything the Establishment has constructed. Trump has supporters that are in opposition to the conventional Conservative Republican party, as much as some American Colonials were against the people that benefited from their association with the English aristocracy. Some Amercan Colonials enjoyed the advantages associated with England, and were not willing to support the rebellion. A great many Republicans did not have the desire to see Trump placed into power.


Trump has supporters that will deny reality, and fight against it, if it challenges the belief system that they have adopted. There are plenty of people willing to give them the opportunity to avoid reality.


How is it possible for modern 2017 America reflect 1770 Colonial America ? That was 247 years, ago. There are 325 million people in America, now.

1770, the world of White Europeans, Native Americans, slaves from Africa, and an untouched wilderness. That world left relics, and the beginnings of our Democracy, and our Republic.

When did the American Colonials begin their confrontation ?

After robbing Native Americans, enslaving Native Americans, murdering Native Americans, Colonial Americans were in a position to battle their rulers.


Trump's rebels have their truest prototype, in a man from another world, long dead-

Leading up larger rebellions- 1676

Governor William Berkeley had his hands full. Intervening between colonists and Native American tribes was a headache. Hardly anything was orderly, or controlled. Tribes moved in and out of the territory without notice and control. Colonists disregarded orders and occupied forbidden land.


Nathaniel Bacon Jr. would not heed orders from Gov. Berkeley, forbidding him from attacks on Native Americans. Bacon's raids resulted in the deaths of allies, and theft.

An army supported by taxpayers coins, was formed by Gov. Berkeley to control Native Americans. Nathaniel Bacon Jr.'s rebellious actions caused Gov. Berkeley to deny him a commission as a leader in the local militia.

Individual traders to Native American tribes were locked out, because Gov. Berkeley wanted to restrict gun sales. A commission was needed in order to trade, and the commissions were granted to Gov. Berkely's friends.

Nathaniel Bacon Jr. formed an army of volunteers, and funded it. He would not turn back from his rebellion. House of Burgesses was split, much like the Republican party of 2017. Half of the House of Burgesses wanted Nathaniel Bacon Jr. brought to heel. The other half elected Nathaniel Bacon Jr. to the House of Burgesses.

Bacon turned his violence on the House of Burgesse, because they refused to make him General of all armed forces. Berkeley gave in to Bacon's demands for campaigns against the Indians without government interference.

Nathaniel Bacon dominated Jamestown from July through September 1676.


Nathaniel Bacon Jr. issued his "Declaration of the People" on July 30, 1676 which stated that Governor William Berkeley was corrupt, played favorites and protected the Indians for his own selfish purposes.

Nathaniel Bacon Jr. burned Jamestown to the ground on September 19, 1676.

Few people responded to Bacon's appeal to capture Berkeley.

Bacon died suddenly on October 26th, 1676

Shortly after Bacon's death, Berkeley regained complete control and hanged the major leaders of the rebellion. The rebels did not want government restrictions and interference, high taxes, and oversight.

Herbert Jeffreys was sent to replace Berkely in 1677.


News of the revolt did not sit well with Berkeley's superiors in London. The Crown dispatched more than a thousand soldiers, a fleet of ships, and a three-member commission to put down Bacon and to investigate the causes of the disturbance. One of those commissioners, Herbert Jeffreys, carried orders to supplant Berkeley as governor, ending the second of two terms collectively totaling twenty-seven years, still a record for the governance of Virginia. The rebellion ended before the troops arrived, and the commissioners and the governor clashed. Berkeley gave way only when it began to appear likely that Jeffreys would forcibly pack him off to England. In May 1677 he sailed across the ocean for the last time to plead his case with King Charles II.

Sick, and weakened by the crossing, six weeks later Berkeley landed in London a broken man. Gone were his allies at court. The old governor's one desire was to clear himself with the king. There was no opportunity. Berkeley died at Berkeley House in London on July 9, 1677, and was buried four days later at Twickenham, Middlesex.

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Berkeley_Sir_William_1605-1677#start_entry

Where was Princess Diana of Wales, in the month of November ?

Camilla smiles her crocodile smile.

The jewels she wears, are covered with Diana's blood.

Diana is tucked away in her grave.

The grandchildren do not know their grandmother.

They only see an icon.


Princess Diana had been divorced from Prince Charles for three years. She gave an interview.


“I want to reassure all those people who have loved me and supported me throughout the last 15 years that I’d never let them down."


(If Diana had thrown the wedding bouquet in the Prince's face, denounced him, and walked away, she would be alive, today. Fuck royalty, and the sacrifice of virgins on their altar.)

Is it the disease of Trump attitude ? All loyalty flows to them, but no mutual trust and respect ?

She was a prisoner. They might as well have locked her in a tower.


Diana's words-

“Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

This week, the Left is losing articulate, well known, trusted voices. They did not keep their libido in check.

Famed men, arrogant enough to believe their value to Democrats would buy silence.

The Right is so confident in their solidarity, they violate standards of decency. They were proved correct in their overconfidence. Trump himself stepped forward to endorse Roy Moore.



President, what is your message to women? This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history.

THE PRESIDENT: Women are very special. I think it’s a very special time because a lot of things are coming out, and I think that’s good for our society, and I think it’s very, very good for women. And I’m very happy a lot of these things are coming out, and I’m very happy it’s being exposed.

Q Should Al Franken resign now?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know -- look, I don’t want to speak for Al Franken. I don’t know what happened.

Q What about John Conyers?

THE PRESIDENT: I just heard about Conyers two minutes ago.

As far as Franken is concerned, he’s going to have to speak for himself. I’d rather have him speak for himself.

Q What did you say to Vladimir Putin, sir?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/po...t-roy-moore/vhYLPYoouyBFHE1fPdgDJI/story.html



Nothing divides the Right , when the golden rings on the political merry-go-round are within grasp.


White House counselor and spin-master extraordinaire Kellyanne Conway-

Last Thursday, in an appearance on Fox & Friends, she said, “Whatever the facts end up being, the premise, of course, the principle, the incontrovertible principle, is that there is no Senate seat worth more than a child.“

But apparently, after taking the weekend to really think about it, she decided, what’s one or two or eight children if it means slashing corporate tax cuts to 20 percent?

Appearing on the same show on Monday, Conway devoted part of her segment to bashing Doug Jones, Moore’s Democratic opponent. She was then asked whether the takeaway was that Repbulicans should vote for Moore, to which she replied, “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill."


https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/kellyanne-conway-roy-moore-tax-cuts


When asked if he was “ready” to talk about Moore, Trump responded, “Yeah, I’ll be talking about him.”

“I can tell you one thing for sure: we don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat—Jones.”

Toeing the familiar anti-Democrat line, Trump went on to call Jones “terrible” on crime, border issues, and the military.

Now that Trump has made his position known, his tentative endorsement will likely serve to further embolden Moore’s vocal support base in Alabama, which has remained defiant.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/201...ster-roy-moore-over-liberal-person-doug-jones

Doug Jones counts on the fact that Roy Moore was an embarrassment to Alabama, before the women came forward to speak. Has Alabama changed that much ?


What Republicans are using to attack Doug Jones, are the tried and true methods.

Doug Jones may be a homegrown Alabama man, sincere in his religious belief, and practice. But, he is advanced in his attitude, and well educated, and is a Democrat.

The editorial board for AL.com, a major Alabama news outlet, has endorsed Doug Jones over Roy Moore.

The endorsement notes their own coverage of the disturbing allegations against Moore and says, “In the American system, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a consideration for the courtroom, not the ballot box. It is our job as voters to look closely at the candidates and make up our own minds.”

Do not let this conversation be muddled. This election has become a referendum on whether we will accept this kind of behavior from our leaders.

Alabamians have never cared about what the rest of country thinks of them. And we do not expect all the handwringing from national pundits, conservative or liberal, to make much of a difference. This election isn't about what a late-night comedian may think of Alabama or whether Sean Hannity can sell advertisements; it's not about Saturday Night Live or Mitch McConnell. It's not about Breitbart or National Democrats. It is about the moral values of the people of Alabama.

Do not make your voting decision based on who it will affect on a national stage. Vote based on who it will affect in your hometown.


Despite what you may have heard, Doug Jones is a moderate Democrat and a strong candidate for all Alabamians. As the son of a steel family, he understands the concerns facing working class families as factories close and jobs disappear. He's been an active member of Canterbury United Methodist Church in Birmingham. He has built a platform around issues that will define Alabama: job creation, small business development, child healthcare, criminal justice reform and, perhaps most needed of all, compromise.

Click to expand...

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/11/our_view_alabama_voters_must_r.html#incart_maj-story-1



In a recent interview, NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Jones, “[W]hat are the limitations that you believe should be in the law when it comes to abortion?” Jones responded that he is a “firm believer that a woman should have the freedom to choose what happens to her body,” and affirmed his support for contraception and for a woman’s right to “the abortion that they might need.” When Todd then asked if that meant he would not support a ban on abortion after 20 weeks, Jones replied that he was “not in favor of anything that would infringe on a woman’s right to choose.” He continued, oddly, by assuring voters that “I want to make sure that people understand that once a baby is born, I’m gonna be there for that child. That’s where I become a right-to-lifer.” Jones has also indicated he supports federal funding for abortion, a position that would overturn 40 years of bipartisan policy on the matter.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/s...t-roy-moore-but-theres-one-big-problem-215856

The Moore election isn't about whether the voters will accept boorish sexual harassment from those running. The presidential election did that, and Trump won. So, that question was answered last year.

Putin: Well, he denies

Roy Moore: Well, he denies

Hilary: She lies