This is disturbing. So Sacha Baron Cohen pretended to be a pedophile and asked a Las Vegas concierge if he could procure an underage boy to molest. Cohen also asked if the concierge could help him murder or silence another boy he claimed to have molested.
The concierge refused to help him murder anyone, but offered to help him find another victim to molest. Cohen ended up turning the footage over to the FBI rather than include it in his movie, but the FBI said it had declined to follow up on the lead.
I don't know why the FBI wouldn't investigate this further, but hopefully the reality of the situation was that the concierge was merely willing to commit a felony, but had not done so in the past. Even then, it's disturbing that the concierge was more interested in helping an apparent pedophile molest children than in contacting the authorities.
There may not be a war on Christmas but belligerent atheists being rewarded with cash is pretty shocking to me. It's just too bad a child has to be dragged through this turmoil. Seriously, a father who mimics Nazi salutes is rewarded? Not only that, these parents want ornaments in a friggin' daycare center that openly mock religion? What a couple of assholes!
Based on the article, the parents suggested those ornaments sarcastically via email. It was an "If pro-religious symbols are okay, then wouldn't you also support anti-religious symbols?" kind of a thing, the presumed answer being "no." As for the "Nazi salutes" thing, that was also a sarcastic act of mockery during a tense argument in person. The father seems to be a bit of a jerk when it comes to religion, but the tribunal wasn't rewarding him for that--in fact, it complained about his behavior.
The money was not given because the parents complained about religion. It was compensation for their daughter being barred from school.
That may be but being a dick seems to not be exclusively a trait of the religious. I'm not particularly religious myself but I don't feel the need to shield my daughter from any religious influences nor do I feel the need to force other people to bend their wills to mine. "But, but, what about the children?"; used to be the mantra non-religious folks used to make fun of the religious right. Could it be that they're now afraid that their children might, gasp, be exposed to religion? Apparently these parents have the same 'unfounded and baseless' fears that their children will be influenced by opposing views. Ironic isn't it?
Besides, while the child being barred did happen, I'm guessing it was really the parents that were barred. I also doubt that if this were a Christian or Muslim using the Nazi salute it would have been ignored as mere 'sarcasm'.
It wouldn't surprise me if the parents were afraid of exposing their daughter to outside influences. That mindset still confuses me, but I do recognize that it's not limited to religious folks.
As for the parents being barred: no, the child was barred from re-enrolling in school.
An atheist couple in Canada who complained about classroom celebrations of religious holidays was awarded $12,000 (almost $9,000 in US money) by a human rights tribunal after their daughter was barred from re-enrolling in her preschool. The outspoken parents sued Bowen Island Montessori School (BIMS) in Bowen Island, British Columbia after the school asked the family to sign a letter agreeing to the school's multicultural curriculum -- refusing to register the girl for the following school year until the letter was signed.
There may not be a war on Christmas but belligerent atheists being rewarded with cash is pretty shocking to me. It's just too bad a child has to be dragged through this turmoil. Seriously, a father who mimics Nazi salutes is rewarded? Not only that, these parents want ornaments in a friggin' daycare center that openly mock religion? What a couple of assholes!
Based on the article, the parents suggested those ornaments sarcastically via email. It was an "If pro-religious symbols are okay, then wouldn't you also support anti-religious symbols?" kind of a thing, the presumed answer being "no." As for the "Nazi salutes" thing, that was also a sarcastic act of mockery during a tense argument in person. The father seems to be a bit of a jerk when it comes to religion, but the tribunal wasn't rewarding him for that--in fact, it complained about his behavior.
The money was not given because the parents complained about religion. It was compensation for their daughter being barred from school.
My sympathies are more with the school on this one. The original dispute was clearly about the curriculum being offered and the judge accepted that the parents had gone beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior in the way they complained about the religious aspects of that. There were alternative schools available, so if the parents objected so strongly to the curriculum on offer, then it's hard to understand why they didn't just go to one of those. I don't know what the legal situation is in Canada, but in the UK parents are entitled to withdraw a child from religious education - but not demand that any religious symbolism be removed entirely from the school.
Though the original dispute was about the curriculum, the basis of the complaint was not - instead that was the requirement by the school that the parents sign a letter saying they accepted the curriculum. Given the many months of argument by this stage that seems a not unreasonable thing to request. However, the school made 2 mistakes: 1) They sent a letter only to these particular parents, not to all parents. 2) The letter was couched in too general terms. That allowed the interpretation that the school would not allow further protest about the curriculum, rather than simply clarifying that the school would listen to protests, but reserved the right not to take action in response (of course the school no doubt did want to shut down further protests because they were tired of those by that time ). That allowed for a finding that the school were guilty of discrimination.
It sounds like the school were willing to offer some compromise, but the parents wanted more. Essentially they wished to over-ride the freedom of all other parents at the school in justification of their own beliefs. We've discussed that sort of situation a number of times before and it seems wrong to me as a matter of principle - whichever side of the particular argument you're on.
Edit: I see @Balrog99 beat me to my main point on this - the legal judgment was an extremely long read at 89 pages, though I didn't read every word .
There may not be a war on Christmas but belligerent atheists being rewarded with cash is pretty shocking to me. It's just too bad a child has to be dragged through this turmoil. Seriously, a father who mimics Nazi salutes is rewarded? Not only that, these parents want ornaments in a friggin' daycare center that openly mock religion? What a couple of assholes!
Well the school mucked it up from the beginning. Their first response should have been “there is nothing religious about elf ornaments.” It is not like they were asked to put together a nativity scene and then “we want to educate the children on Canadian culture, so when they are in public area and see these items hanging from a tree, they are aware of what they are for.”
Done solved. Shuts the father up because if it went to court regarding elf ornament it would have went nowhere.
It wouldn't surprise me if the parents were afraid of exposing their daughter to outside influences. That mindset still confuses me, but I do recognize that it's not limited to religious folks.
As for the parents being barred: no, the child was barred from re-enrolling in school.
An atheist couple in Canada who complained about classroom celebrations of religious holidays was awarded $12,000 (almost $9,000 in US money) by a human rights tribunal after their daughter was barred from re-enrolling in her preschool. The outspoken parents sued Bowen Island Montessori School (BIMS) in Bowen Island, British Columbia after the school asked the family to sign a letter agreeing to the school's multicultural curriculum -- refusing to register the girl for the following school year until the letter was signed.
Semantics.
The child was barred BECAUSE of the parents not because of anything she did. Therefore it seems to me that the parents were the ones barred...
Edit: It was probably worth the $12k to get rid of them...
There may not be a war on Christmas but belligerent atheists being rewarded with cash is pretty shocking to me. It's just too bad a child has to be dragged through this turmoil. Seriously, a father who mimics Nazi salutes is rewarded? Not only that, these parents want ornaments in a friggin' daycare center that openly mock religion? What a couple of assholes!
Well the school mucked it up from the beginning. Their first response should have been “there is nothing religious about elf ornaments.” It is not like they were asked to put together a nativity scene and then “we want to educate the children on Canadian culture, so when they are in public area and see these items hanging from a tree, they are aware of what they are for.”
Done solved. Shuts the father up because if it went to court regarding elf ornament it would have went nowhere.
But he'd got himself on the Board as a parent representative and it's pretty clear that nothing was going to shut him up ...
He also was arguing strongly that the children should not be given any information about Santa Claus and anything else that was untrue - elf ornaments would certainly have come under that category!
There may not be a war on Christmas but belligerent atheists being rewarded with cash is pretty shocking to me. It's just too bad a child has to be dragged through this turmoil. Seriously, a father who mimics Nazi salutes is rewarded? Not only that, these parents want ornaments in a friggin' daycare center that openly mock religion? What a couple of assholes!
Well the school mucked it up from the beginning. Their first response should have been “there is nothing religious about elf ornaments.” It is not like they were asked to put together a nativity scene and then “we want to educate the children on Canadian culture, so when they are in public area and see these items hanging from a tree, they are aware of what they are for.”
Done solved. Shuts the father up because if it went to court regarding elf ornament it would have went nowhere.
But he'd got himself on the Board as a parent representative and it's pretty clear that nothing was going to shut him up ...
He also was arguing strongly that the children should not be given any information about Santa Claus and anything else that was untrue - elf ornaments would certainly have come under that category!
Doesn’t matter.
He can’t use religion as an excuse. He can attempt to escalate it and then get kicked out from volunteering on the board because of his distruptive behaviour and the daughter can still attend the school.
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I won’t blame you for it.”
Donald Trump, December 21st 2018:
The Democrats now own the shutdown!
Negotiating with someone like this is like trying to negotiate with a 5-year who is pissed you won't let them eat chocolate ice cream for every meal.
I said this would happen.
Far too many people were suckered and like "oh my Trump said he'd own the shutdown!".
What he says is worthless.
Nothing he says matters or has any lasting effect - it doesn't count.
He is a conman liar who changes his story to whatever he thinks makes him look good at that time. It doesn't matter to him if that contradicts something he said before.
He takes no responsibility for his actions.
He has no integrity, no morals, and no personal responsibility.
With Trump loyalty is a one way street - he'll demand your loyalty to do his bidding but he'll happily toss you aside in a nanosecond when it's convenient to him.
No wonder Jim Mattis and John Kelly had enough.
We have no attorney general, no defense secretary, no chief of staff, the stock market is tanking and a Trumper tantrum is going to shut down the government. And Trump is an unindicted coconspirator in multiple felonies related to the election he barely won while getting fewer votes.
There may not be a war on Christmas but belligerent atheists being rewarded with cash is pretty shocking to me. It's just too bad a child has to be dragged through this turmoil. Seriously, a father who mimics Nazi salutes is rewarded? Not only that, these parents want ornaments in a friggin' daycare center that openly mock religion? What a couple of assholes!
Well the school mucked it up from the beginning. Their first response should have been “there is nothing religious about elf ornaments.” It is not like they were asked to put together a nativity scene and then “we want to educate the children on Canadian culture, so when they are in public area and see these items hanging from a tree, they are aware of what they are for.”
Done solved. Shuts the father up because if it went to court regarding elf ornament it would have went nowhere.
But he'd got himself on the Board as a parent representative and it's pretty clear that nothing was going to shut him up ...
He also was arguing strongly that the children should not be given any information about Santa Claus and anything else that was untrue - elf ornaments would certainly have come under that category!
Doesn’t matter.
He can’t use religion as an excuse. He can attempt to escalate it and then get kicked out from volunteering on the board because of his distruptive behaviour and the daughter can still attend the school.
That's probably fair. If the parents are refusing to sign a letter and that's deemed unacceptable (the letter has to be signed for whatever reason), the only restrictions or penalties should apply to the parents; not the child. Kicking them off the board is more reasonable than keeping their child out of school.
It was the school who made the decision to make signing that letter a prerequisite for the child's registration. It's not like the parents were saying "change the rules or we won't send our child to your school," and then the school said "no." The school was saying "follow the rules or your child can't go to our school," and then the parents said "no."
If somebody issues you a demand and threatens a penalty if you don't cooperate, and you then refuse to cooperate with the demand, you are not the one who is supporting the penalty--they are. Threatening the penalty was their idea, and implementing the penalty was their decision. You merely failed to capitulate.
It reminds me of the first government shutdown, when the Tea Party threatened to shut down the government if their demands weren't met, and the Democrats refused to meet those demands. The Tea Party bore responsibility for the shutdown, since it was their idea. Trump is doing the same thing today: issuing a demand (funding for a border wall), threatening a penalty (another shutdown), and then attempting to blame the other side for failing to stop him from shutting down the government.
It does depend on the reasonableness of the request, however. In the case of a legal threat, like a penalty for shoplifting, people would place the blame exclusively on the shoplifter if he or she broke the law. In the case of an illegal threat, like a mugging, people would place the blame exclusively on the mugger if the victim refused to cooperate.
It wasn't being paranoid, it wasn't a conspiracy theory. Trump actually did make the Syria decision because Erdogan told him to do so over a phone call. There were multiple people in the room when it happened:
This is completely ridiculous. This is not how these decisions should be made. How many dozens of times have I said Trump will side with authoritarians like Erdogan, sympathize with them, and eventually just flat-out do their bidding in the last two years?? He is weak, stupid, incompetent, and can be molded like a ball of clay at any given moment by appealing to his vanity and ego.
Trump's incompetence is being laid bare for all Americans to see, just in time for the holidays
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820534/-Trump-s-incompetence-is-being-laid-bare-for-all-Americans-to-see-just-in-time-for-Christmas?detail=emaildkre The last four months or so have been instructive, watching as the Dow Jones has slowly, inexorably erased all of the gains made since the Obama administration, gains that were caused almost entirely by the “sugar high” of the truly massive and wholly unnecessary corporate tax cut passed by the Republican Party and Donald Trump, without a single elected Democrat’s support. It’s been particularly instructive watching CNBC, whose corporate stooges led with the loudest whoops for that supposedly booming market through 2017, as all of these paper gains—affecting tens of millions of individual retirement portfolios—have now suddenly evaporated into thin air. All of them, at the time, seemed genuinely okay with the fact that a proven incompetent con man, who built his entire life ripping people off, was at the helm of the U.S. economy. What could possibly go wrong? No one ever brought up the fact that this corrupt grifter—whose personal history was dominated by a series of shady bankruptcies and angry lawsuits by aggrieved victims of his many scams—had never given anyone the slightest indication that he was competent or mentally stable enough to keep the unbelievably complex forces controlling the destiny of this irrevocably globalized 21st century economy under some semblance of control or direction. Not one of these so-called masters of economic analysis ventured to wonder how such a person could possibly be trusted to appoint people who knew what they were doing, much less operate with a view towards serving anyone’s interests but his own, which is all he has ever done. None of those cheerleaders wanted to acknowledge those big, big elephants in the room. Instead, everybody was happy to ride the gravy train, even when it became apparent that nearly all the corporations benefiting most from those huge tax breaks chose to indulge in stock buybacks, rather than raising wages or even creating new jobs. Now that gravy train is crashing, just in time for Christmas. When you have the markets gyrating haplessly like wounded geese for weeks, then months, at a time, that’s a clue that something is seriously wrong here. When the President can’t make up his mind whether to shut the federal government down over a quixotic, idiotic obsession like a “border wall" that he thinks will magically cure the nation’s immigration problems, sending the markets into tailspin after tailspin, there is something seriously wrong here. When the biggest question moving the markets on a daily basis is which of his cronies will be the next to be indicted, or what some nonsensical “tweet" says or doesn’t say, there is something seriously wrong here.
Healthcare Insanity Example
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/18/1819855/-Healthcare-Insanity-Example?detail=emaildkre I just sent an $8,000.00 check to keep my COBRA health insurance through August. That was a painful check to write but hell, it keeps me covered. I have contact dermatitis, an embarrassing and itchy combination and the over the counter stuff is not cutting it. I went to my physician and she prescribed Xolegel, which she noted is very effective. I went and picked up the 45 gram tube. Look at what this prescription cost my insurance company: $921.00. What is the active ingredient in the prescription? Ketoconazole 2% Look at the picture below Nizoral shampoo. $11.16 from Amazon. What’s that active ingredient? Oh, yeah: Ketoconazole 1% I’ve been in manufacturing pet products for 15 years. I know the cost of the inactive ingredients in both. You have less than $1.00 in inactive ingredients in each and probably $0.45 in packaging. Maybe $0.01 on labor for each. You gonna tell me that that extra 1% of Ketoconazole costs over $900.00? I had no idea what was in this medicine or its cost when I went to Walgreen’s to pick it up. That is crazy. Had I known, I would not have filled the prescription - I’d just use the shampoo! For profit motivation in healthcare is stupid.
Court orders Trump to stop denying asylum in violation of U.S. and international immigration law
House Republicans rally for one last lost cause, Trump's Christmas shutdown
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820623/-House-Republicans-rally-for-one-last-lost-cause-Trump-s-Christmas-shutdown?detail=emaildkre Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan managed to rally his defeated troops for one last, stupid attack on the nation, passing a continuing resolution which includes Individual 1’s $5 billion for his Steel Slats that aren’t a wall and disaster funding for all the past two years except for help to Puerto Rico. That money brought along enough Republicans to suck it up one last time. It passed 217-185. But that’s it. It is not going to pass the Senate. There are not going to be Democratic votes to get the 60 it needs to pass tomorrow, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear in a press conference this afternoon, saying that “the bill that’s on the floor of the House, everyone knows can’t pass the Senate.”
Dreamer-led Times Square billboard emblazoned with migrant stories, including deaths under custody
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820498/-Dreamer-led-Times-Square-billboard-emblazoned-with-migrant-stories-including-deaths-under-custody?detail=emaildkre The names of Roxsana Hernández, Claudia Patricia Gómez González, and Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin are emblazoned across a Times Square billboard in New York City as a reminder that hate must be defunded. All three lost their lives under the watch of unleashed federal immigration agencies just this year alone. Roxsana, a 33-year-old transgender asylum seeker originally from Honduras, died in May while under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Claudia, a 20-year-old indigenous woman from Guatemala, was shot and killed by a still-unnamed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer that same month. This month, Jakelin died while under CBP custody. She was only 7 years old. But rather than conducting oversight and investigating these tragic deaths, Donald Trump wants billions in taxpayer dollars to fund his stupid and racist border wall that most Americans don’t actually care for. If he can’t get a wall, Plan B is a $1 billion piggy bank to fund his deportation agenda as he sees fit, which will no doubt lead to more Roxsanas, more Claudias, and more Jakelins. Enough, enough, enough.
The final "straw"?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820686/-The-final-straw?detail=emaildkre When it comes to the events of the last 10 days, to borrow a phrase from Rachel Maddow, “Stick a pin in this.” And no, I don’t mean everything that has happened in the last 10 days, you’d need a cork board the size of Oklahoma. But over the last little while, there has been a series of events, coming from one particular source, that when taken separately, seem to be only mildly interesting anomalies, but when combined together, may well suggest a sea change. It seems to me that Donald J Trump, Pestquire, appears to be on the way to losing his grip on the GPO Senate. No, they’re by no means ready to impeach him yet, but the signs are starting to appear that GOP Senators are more open to acts of defiance against Trump. Personally, I think that at least some of this is due to the results of the midterms. Beto’s stronger than expected showing in Texas against “Calgary” Teddy Cruz showed weakness. He lost seats he campaigned like hell for in West Virginia, Montana, and Arizona, incoming Florida senator Rick Scott kept His Lowness at a double arms length distance, and Mitt Romney winning in Utah is going to leave him one short in the “congenital flunky” department, with the departure of Orrin Hatch. 22 GOP Senators up for reelection in 2020 have come, or are starting to come to terms with the fact that Trump’s coattails are not as long as they had hoped. In the last 10 days, the GOP dominated senate has handed Trump one stinging rebuke after another, and done so in public. Here are just a few examples; Not only did the US Senate rebuke Trump for his inherent chumminess with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by passing a resolution condemning the kingdom, they took the extra step of declaring that they found the Crown Prince directly responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This sent a strong message that as far as the Senate is concerned, Saudi Arabia is on probation, whether Trump likes it or not. Outgoing GOP Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, all by his little lonesome, managed to put the kibosh on at least 23 judicial nominees that Trump and McConnell had planned on ramming through before the holiday break. I am not a senate scholar, so I’ll leave it up to someone more experienced to enlighten me in the comments, but considering that when McConnell gavels the Senate into recess, when they adjourn, they will not come back in session until the new class is sworn in, I’m not sure whether these judicial nominees will have to go through their judicial committee nominations again or not. Following Trump’s moronic, and seemingly gratuitous decision to yank all 2,00 of our remaining troops out of Syria, like they had reached the end of an invisible political bungee cord, , several GOP senators, including some who will return to Washington in January, slammed Trump for the ill advised move. My favorite was Lindsey Graham, stating in the well of the Senate that Trump’s contention that we had defeated ISIS was “fake news.” Trump could not have been more clear in his nationally televised hissy fit with “Chuck and Nancy,” if he didn’t get the $5 billion in funding for the wall he wanted, he would “proudly” take the mantle of shutting down the government. What was the Senate’s measured response to his non negotiable demand? To pass a clean continuing resolution, funding the government through February 8th of next year. On a lousy voice vote no less. Even stalwart Trump supporters like Tom Cotton and Mitch McConnell voted for the resolution. Then McConnell sent the mess to the House to clean up for once, and adjourned the Senate. Paul Ryan, craven poltroon that he is, voted to hang the $5 billion to the CR and sent it back to the Senate. Once the Senate kills it tomorrow, Trump will proudly have his shutdown, which Nancy Pelosi will fix on January 3rd, by passing a clean CR for McConnell to pass as well.
What if we just stopped burning coal?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820481/-What-if-we-just-stopped-burning-coal?detail=emaildkre The latest IPCC report says we have to get down tozero CO2 emissions by 2030. We do not have time for “phasing things out”. Ok then, what is a good first step? Lets just stop burning coal. Tomorrow. It turns out that there are two kinds of coal: thermal coal is the kind that is burned and metallurgical coal (also called met coal) that is used for making steel. Met coal, mostly mined in West Virginia, does not itself contribute to global warming, through the means of heating it in the steel manufacturing process might. This article is just about eliminating the burning of thermal coal to generate electrical energy. The percentage of electric power coming from coal plants in the US has been dropping every year since 1987 as they are gradually phased out, but this is not happening fast enough. A coal plant might have a useful lifetime of 40 years! This chart shows the trend. (My source for most of the statistics here is the web site of the US Energy Information Administration. ) Coal is the elephant in the room, being the dirtiest of our electric power sources. Lets see how we could kick the legs out from under the coal industry to move things along faster.
GOP Strategist: 'This Is Unmitigated, Unfettered, Blind Lashing Out By The POTUS'
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820612/-GOP-Strategist-This-Is-Unmitigated-Unfettered-Blind-Lashing-Out-By-The-POTUS?detail=emaildkre The resignation/termination of James Mattis has been coming for a while, but the timing of it, in the final hours of the week before Christmas, in the middle of rabid contention over government shutdown versus funding of the mythic Mexican wall, is indicative of Trump being more out of control than he’s ever been. Trump is “grasping for the political identity that got him here to begin with,” according to MSNBC pundit Howard Fineman, who points out that Trump’s isolationism is “politically disastrous at this point,” but Trump is remembering when it was “the good thing to do,” and acting accordingly. Chuck Todd was conducting a panel on MSNBC when news broke of Mattis’ resignation today, and he quipped, “With Mattis gone, Lindsey Graham is going to go out of his mind.” Graham apparently had one too few tete a tetes with Trump at the golf course, because they are diametrically opposed when it comes to dealing with ISIS. Graham’s comments here were recorded before Mattis wrote his resignation letter. In the letter, Mattis makes it clear that Trump is pursuing the wrong policies and Graham says in essence the same thing. Lindsey Graham: “You will not win this war by giving up. This is akin to surrendering. We can be successful only if we partner with others. This undercuts that effort. We’ve got two choices to fight this war. In their back yard or our back yard. ISIS and Afghanistan is looking towards the United States in their target sights. Mr. President, you have a chance to change course and you have a lot of bipartisan support to do so. Take advantage of it.” But changing course is WEAK!
Former Member of Obama's NSC Says Mattis Has Inserted Himself in the Nuke Chain of Command. (Update)
Democratic congressman to Trump's DHS secretary: 'I went to the border. This is a disgrace!'
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820556/-Democratic-Congressman-to-Trump-s-DHS-secretary-I-went-to-the-border-This-is-a-disgrace?detail=emaildkre Donald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, found herself facing the House Judiciary Committee Thursday. She was scheduled to announce the soon-to-be-litigated Trump policy of forcing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico for an indeterminate amount of time while waiting for a court hearing on their entry into the United States. The appearance before the committee was contentious, possibly because in the past, Nielsen has been something of a liar. Rhode Island Democratic Rep. David Cicilline asked Sec. Nielsen how many immigrants had died while detained by the DHS. She said she didn’t have the number. This led to bewilderment on the part of Cicilline, since Nielsen is literally the head of the whole operation. In a short back-and-forth, in which Nielsen pretended that not having an idea of how many people HAVE DIED while under her jurisdiction is totally normal, Cicilline became justifiably frustrated. Cicilline: We are talking about people who have died in your custody. You don’t have the number? Nielsen: I will get back to you with the number. It’s important to note here that Nielsen smirked, signaling that she thinks Cicilline is being overly dramatic. It’s important to note because, if and when she gets back to him with the number, that number is almost guaranteed to be higher than it was when Cicilline first asked. She doesn't KNOW? And she didn't EXPECT to be ASKED? REALLY?
As Trump's Christmas shutdown looms, he takes to Twitter to rant about the invention of the wheel
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820740/-As-Trump-s-Christmas-shutdown-looms-he-takes-to-Twitter-to-rant-about-the-invention-of-the-wheel?detail=emaildkre Of course Donald Trump will never get Mexico to pay for his racist wall as he often said it would, but following Thursday night’s cowardly capitulation by House Republicans, it increasingly appears that he will get the government shutdown that he promised if U.S. taxpayers weren’t forced to foot the bill. And as hundreds of thousands of federal employees face the prospect of losing their paychecks just days before Christmas, the Orange Buffoon took to Twitter to blame anyone and everyone but himself. In tweet after tweet after tweet, he blamed Democrats, he begged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to change the rules, heck, he even dissed Ronald Reagan, and, of course, patted himself on the back while peddling crap: Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump The Democrats are trying to belittle the concept of a Wall, calling it old fashioned. The fact is there is nothing else’s that will work, and that has been true for thousands of years. It’s like the wheel, there is nothing better. I know tech better than anyone, & technology..... Shockingly, there was no mention of sliced bread, and no mention that just a week ago Trump proudly declared that: I will shut down the government. I am proud to shut down the government. I will take the mantle.
Edmonton judge dismisses Omar Khadr’s request to ease bail conditions
https://globalnews.ca/news/4784607/omar-khadr-bail-conditions-request-december-20/?utm_source=notification/ An Edmonton judge has dismissed a request by former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr for relaxed bail conditions and a Canadian passport. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice June Ross made her decision Friday morning. She said nothing has really chance since the last time he asked for a change and that the restrictions Khadr faces are reasonable. Khadr, 32, wanted to be able to travel to Toronto without the approval of his bail supervisor to visit his family more easily, and to make court appearances related to a civil lawsuit filed by the family of an American soldier killed in the Afghanistan firefight in which Khadr was captured.
It wasn't being paranoid, it wasn't a conspiracy theory. Trump actually did make the Syria decision because Erdogan told him to do so over a phone call. There were multiple people in the room when it happened:
This is completely ridiculous. This is not how these decisions should be made. How many dozens of times have I said Trump will side with authoritarians like Erdogan, sympathize with them, and eventually just flat-out do their bidding in the last two years?? He is weak, stupid, incompetent, and can be molded like a ball of clay at any given moment by appealing to his vanity and ego.
That's it because he has no positions. He changes his mind based on whoever the last person who talked to him. Then he'll lie about it with whatever his latest position is. It's disgusting.
This is now a pepetual result of Republican governance. Doesn't matter if they only control Congress, or every lever of power in Washington. Year after year after year, budget fight after budget fight, we end up here. It's long-since past the point of absurdity. This is the 2nd time they have shut it down on themselves.
Maryland School District Sued for Years of Abuse Against Transgender Teacher
https://www.intomore.com/impact/maryland-school-district-sued-for-years-of-abuse-against-transgender-teacher No, this is not good at all. Given how many good teachers leave the profession, making one leave is insanity. A Maryland school district abused one of its transgender teachers until she checked into a psychiatric program and ultimately resigned, according to a federal lawsuit filed by her attorneys and Lambda Legal. Jennifer Eller is suing Prince George’s County Public Schools for allowing students to call her pedophile, refusing to update her email address to reflect her name for three years, and deadnaming her in the school’s directory. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, describes seven years of alleged misgendering from students, teachers, administrators, and parents in the district across three different schools where Eller worked from 2008 to 2011, when she resigned. “I woke up each day afraid to go to work because I didn’t know where the next attack would come from, but I already knew full well that the school administrators would do nothing to support me,” Eller said in a statement released by Lambda Legal. “My pleas for help, for sensitivity training on LGBTQ issues for students and staff, fell on deaf ears. Finally, the harassment and the humiliation became unbearable and I had no other alternative than to resign.” "Deadnaming" is using someone's old name rather than the name that reflects who they are now.
The man behind a GoFundMe campaign that has raised $11 million to build Trump's wall also ran a conspiracy-theory page that got kicked off Facebook
Detained migrant boy who reported sexual abuse saw his case closed 72 minutes after it was opened
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820794/-Detained-migrant-boy-who-reported-sexual-abuse-saw-his-case-closed-72-minutes-after-it-was-opened?detail=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2IgWKXAW-8G1JAR_asGK5dq5cTlxYERcIccET6cvM8fzyPg9kIFX_hGOQ Some migrant youth who have bravely reported that they’ve been sexually and physically assaulted inside children’s detention facilities—sometimes by other detained kids themselves—have seen investigations into their cases essentially “open and shut,” a ProPublica investigation finds, with police “closing the cases, often within days, or even hours.” In one instance, a 13-year-old asylum seeker detained at Catholic Charities’ Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children’s Village in Florida told staff that two older teens had dragged him into an empty room, where they attempted to strip off all his clothes. “As Alex struggled to move, he said he could feel the teen’s penis grinding against his butt.” Alex got away and said nothing for days, but they kept harassing him. So he went to a counselor for help. “But Alex’s report did not trigger a child sexual assault investigation, including a specialized interview designed to help children talk about what happened, as child abuse experts recommend,” ProPublica reports, even though a counselor confirmed there was surveillance footage of him getting dragged into the next room. “Instead, the shelter waited nearly a month to call the police. When it finally did, a police report shows, the shelter’s lead mental health counselor told the officers ‘the incident was settled, and no sexual crime occurred between the boys like first was thought among the staff.’” Police, ProPublica continues, “closed Alex’s case 72 minutes after responding to the call.” I am so angry, I am literally vibrating.
Mars Express beams back images of ice-filled Korolev crater
There is a reason Democrats will never get blamed for these shutdowns. Many people can do all sorts of mental gymnastics to blame both sides in many instances, but what most people CAN'T wrap their head around is the idea that Democrats would want to shut down government, because they aren't only the party that believes in government, their belief in it is also the main CRITIQUE of them from the other side. Making the argument Democrats don't want the checks to go out flies in the face of everything Republicans themselves accuse them of every other day of the year. It doesn't pass any smell test even on the surface level.
Moreover, this situation now puts the paychecks of hundreds of thousands of federal employees in limbo on the evening of December 21st. THIS is the war on Christmas. And why?? Because Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and FOX News told him to throw a temper tantrum. The Republicans spent the last month of the election pounding the border issue and got eviscerated at the polls. How anyone thinks shutting down the government over the same issue a mere 6 weeks later is beyond understanding.
Again, it was reported just a couple weeks ago that the Administration had WAIVED the requirement for fingerprints and background checks in these facilities (this is standard in MOST jobs). The fact is, we will never know. Kirsten Nielsen couldn't even provide an answer to how many people have DIED in DHS custody recently.
Much of this dentention center abuse pre-dates even Trump, but they have made the problem INFINITELY worse by flooding them with children ON PURPOSE. The family sepraration was the stated goal and policy as a deterrent. This was always going to happen. Vulnerable children are always the first ones to get sexually assaulted. These centers are a goddamn buffet for pedophiles and sexual predators:
I can't think of a single, solitary reason anyone would think this is an acceptable policy, unless you just plain DON'T CARE if sexual predators apply for a job at this facility.
Goodness only knows. Some by fellow refugees, more by workers at the camps.
And now, there's this...
Idaho Priest Who Wanted To ‘Rape And Kill Children’ Sentenced To 25 Years For Child Porn
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2018/12/idaho-priest-who-wanted-to-rape-and-kill-children-sentenced-to-25-years-for-child-porn/?fbclid=IwAR26N6DV7AwmI95AOu9h7f_L9AFrjK77hW5kmJIay-8zsmC-UhAEKPMSuqY Moral depravity: An Idaho priest who expressed a desire “to rape and kill children” has been sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole. The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, a longtime priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole and will be required to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to felony crimes involving the possession and distribution of child pornography. The Associated Press reports: The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher (FOH-shay), 73, pleaded guilty to five felonies earlier this year. During his sentencing hearing in Idaho’s 4th District Court on Thursday, Judge Jason Scott said Faucher fantasized about raping and killing young children, favored child pornography that depicted extreme violence and claimed in online chats to have mixed his own bodily fluids into the communion wine at his church. According to that report, Father Faucher “possessed more than 2,500 images of what investigators called the most disturbing child pornography they had ever seen.” Previously Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Kassandra Slaven said that images found on Faucher’s computer at the home provided to him by the Catholic church involved multiple young children, including infants and toddlers. Images included children being subjected to sexual acts and torture. This priest sounds like a Nazi
USA ranked 27th in the world in education and healthcare—down from 6th in 1990
Comments
“I am proud to shut down the government for border security ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I won’t blame you for it.”
Donald Trump, December 21st 2018:
The Democrats now own the shutdown!
Negotiating with someone like this is like trying to negotiate with a 5-year who is pissed you won't let them eat chocolate ice cream for every meal.
Sacha is quite the investigative journalist.
The concierge refused to help him murder anyone, but offered to help him find another victim to molest. Cohen ended up turning the footage over to the FBI rather than include it in his movie, but the FBI said it had declined to follow up on the lead.
I don't know why the FBI wouldn't investigate this further, but hopefully the reality of the situation was that the concierge was merely willing to commit a felony, but had not done so in the past. Even then, it's disturbing that the concierge was more interested in helping an apparent pedophile molest children than in contacting the authorities.
Besides, while the child being barred did happen, I'm guessing it was really the parents that were barred. I also doubt that if this were a Christian or Muslim using the Nazi salute it would have been ignored as mere 'sarcasm'.
As for the parents being barred: no, the child was barred from re-enrolling in school.
The outspoken parents sued Bowen Island Montessori School (BIMS) in Bowen Island, British Columbia after the school asked the family to sign a letter agreeing to the school's multicultural curriculum -- refusing to register the girl for the following school year until the letter was signed.
Though the original dispute was about the curriculum, the basis of the complaint was not - instead that was the requirement by the school that the parents sign a letter saying they accepted the curriculum. Given the many months of argument by this stage that seems a not unreasonable thing to request. However, the school made 2 mistakes:
1) They sent a letter only to these particular parents, not to all parents.
2) The letter was couched in too general terms. That allowed the interpretation that the school would not allow further protest about the curriculum, rather than simply clarifying that the school would listen to protests, but reserved the right not to take action in response (of course the school no doubt did want to shut down further protests because they were tired of those by that time
That allowed for a finding that the school were guilty of discrimination.
It sounds like the school were willing to offer some compromise, but the parents wanted more. Essentially they wished to over-ride the freedom of all other parents at the school in justification of their own beliefs. We've discussed that sort of situation a number of times before and it seems wrong to me as a matter of principle - whichever side of the particular argument you're on.
Edit: I see @Balrog99 beat me to my main point on this - the legal judgment was an extremely long read at 89 pages, though I didn't read every word
Done solved. Shuts the father up because if it went to court regarding elf ornament it would have went nowhere.
The child was barred BECAUSE of the parents not because of anything she did. Therefore it seems to me that the parents were the ones barred...
Edit: It was probably worth the $12k to get rid of them...
He also was arguing strongly that the children should not be given any information about Santa Claus and anything else that was untrue - elf ornaments would certainly have come under that category!
He can’t use religion as an excuse. He can attempt to escalate it and then get kicked out from volunteering on the board because of his distruptive behaviour and the daughter can still attend the school.
Far too many people were suckered and like "oh my Trump said he'd own the shutdown!".
What he says is worthless.
Nothing he says matters or has any lasting effect - it doesn't count.
He is a conman liar who changes his story to whatever he thinks makes him look good at that time. It doesn't matter to him if that contradicts something he said before.
He takes no responsibility for his actions.
He has no integrity, no morals, and no personal responsibility.
With Trump loyalty is a one way street - he'll demand your loyalty to do his bidding but he'll happily toss you aside in a nanosecond when it's convenient to him.
No wonder Jim Mattis and John Kelly had enough.
We have no attorney general, no defense secretary, no chief of staff, the stock market is tanking and a Trumper tantrum is going to shut down the government. And Trump is an unindicted coconspirator in multiple felonies related to the election he barely won while getting fewer votes.
It was the school who made the decision to make signing that letter a prerequisite for the child's registration. It's not like the parents were saying "change the rules or we won't send our child to your school," and then the school said "no." The school was saying "follow the rules or your child can't go to our school," and then the parents said "no."
If somebody issues you a demand and threatens a penalty if you don't cooperate, and you then refuse to cooperate with the demand, you are not the one who is supporting the penalty--they are. Threatening the penalty was their idea, and implementing the penalty was their decision. You merely failed to capitulate.
It reminds me of the first government shutdown, when the Tea Party threatened to shut down the government if their demands weren't met, and the Democrats refused to meet those demands. The Tea Party bore responsibility for the shutdown, since it was their idea. Trump is doing the same thing today: issuing a demand (funding for a border wall), threatening a penalty (another shutdown), and then attempting to blame the other side for failing to stop him from shutting down the government.
https://apnews.com/ec2ed217357048ff998225a31534df12
This is completely ridiculous. This is not how these decisions should be made. How many dozens of times have I said Trump will side with authoritarians like Erdogan, sympathize with them, and eventually just flat-out do their bidding in the last two years?? He is weak, stupid, incompetent, and can be molded like a ball of clay at any given moment by appealing to his vanity and ego.
Toronto man who used intoxication defence found guilty of sexual assault
https://globalnews.ca/news/4785012/toronto-man-intoxication-defence-sexual-assault/?utm_source=notification/A Toronto man who used the defence that he was so intoxicated he was unaware of his actions has been found guilty of sexual assault.
Cameron McCaw acknowledged in a court document that he had sex with the girlfriend of his former roommate after consuming alcohol, marijuana and a “date-rape drug” in July 2015.
Trump's incompetence is being laid bare for all Americans to see, just in time for the holidays
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820534/-Trump-s-incompetence-is-being-laid-bare-for-all-Americans-to-see-just-in-time-for-Christmas?detail=emaildkreThe last four months or so have been instructive, watching as the Dow Jones has slowly, inexorably erased all of the gains made since the Obama administration, gains that were caused almost entirely by the “sugar high” of the truly massive and wholly unnecessary corporate tax cut passed by the Republican Party and Donald Trump, without a single elected Democrat’s support.
It’s been particularly instructive watching CNBC, whose corporate stooges led with the loudest whoops for that supposedly booming market through 2017, as all of these paper gains—affecting tens of millions of individual retirement portfolios—have now suddenly evaporated into thin air. All of them, at the time, seemed genuinely okay with the fact that a proven incompetent con man, who built his entire life ripping people off, was at the helm of the U.S. economy. What could possibly go wrong?
No one ever brought up the fact that this corrupt grifter—whose personal history was dominated by a series of shady bankruptcies and angry lawsuits by aggrieved victims of his many scams—had never given anyone the slightest indication that he was competent or mentally stable enough to keep the unbelievably complex forces controlling the destiny of this irrevocably globalized 21st century economy under some semblance of control or direction.
Not one of these so-called masters of economic analysis ventured to wonder how such a person could possibly be trusted to appoint people who knew what they were doing, much less operate with a view towards serving anyone’s interests but his own, which is all he has ever done.
None of those cheerleaders wanted to acknowledge those big, big elephants in the room. Instead, everybody was happy to ride the gravy train, even when it became apparent that nearly all the corporations benefiting most from those huge tax breaks chose to indulge in stock buybacks, rather than raising wages or even creating new jobs.
Now that gravy train is crashing, just in time for Christmas.
When you have the markets gyrating haplessly like wounded geese for weeks, then months, at a time, that’s a clue that something is seriously wrong here. When the President can’t make up his mind whether to shut the federal government down over a quixotic, idiotic obsession like a “border wall" that he thinks will magically cure the nation’s immigration problems, sending the markets into tailspin after tailspin, there is something seriously wrong here. When the biggest question moving the markets on a daily basis is which of his cronies will be the next to be indicted, or what some nonsensical “tweet" says or doesn’t say, there is something seriously wrong here.
Healthcare Insanity Example
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/18/1819855/-Healthcare-Insanity-Example?detail=emaildkreI just sent an $8,000.00 check to keep my COBRA health insurance through August. That was a painful check to write but hell, it keeps me covered.
I have contact dermatitis, an embarrassing and itchy combination and the over the counter stuff is not cutting it. I went to my physician and she prescribed Xolegel, which she noted is very effective. I went and picked up the 45 gram tube.
Look at what this prescription cost my insurance company: $921.00. What is the active ingredient in the prescription?
Ketoconazole 2%
Look at the picture below
Nizoral shampoo. $11.16 from Amazon. What’s that active ingredient? Oh, yeah:
Ketoconazole 1%
I’ve been in manufacturing pet products for 15 years. I know the cost of the inactive ingredients in both. You have less than $1.00 in inactive ingredients in each and probably $0.45 in packaging. Maybe $0.01 on labor for each.
You gonna tell me that that extra 1% of Ketoconazole costs over $900.00?
I had no idea what was in this medicine or its cost when I went to Walgreen’s to pick it up. That is crazy. Had I known, I would not have filled the prescription - I’d just use the shampoo!
For profit motivation in healthcare is stupid.
Court orders Trump to stop denying asylum in violation of U.S. and international immigration law
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820205/-Court-orders-Trump-to-stop-denying-asylum-in-violation-of-U-S-and-international-immigration-law?detail=emaildkreHe'll continue doing what he wants, just like he always has!
House Republicans rally for one last lost cause, Trump's Christmas shutdown
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820623/-House-Republicans-rally-for-one-last-lost-cause-Trump-s-Christmas-shutdown?detail=emaildkreOutgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan managed to rally his defeated troops for one last, stupid attack on the nation, passing a continuing resolution which includes Individual 1’s $5 billion for his Steel Slats that aren’t a wall and disaster funding for all the past two years except for help to Puerto Rico. That money brought along enough Republicans to suck it up one last time. It passed 217-185.
But that’s it. It is not going to pass the Senate. There are not going to be Democratic votes to get the 60 it needs to pass tomorrow, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear in a press conference this afternoon, saying that “the bill that’s on the floor of the House, everyone knows can’t pass the Senate.”
Dreamer-led Times Square billboard emblazoned with migrant stories, including deaths under custody
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820498/-Dreamer-led-Times-Square-billboard-emblazoned-with-migrant-stories-including-deaths-under-custody?detail=emaildkreThe names of Roxsana Hernández, Claudia Patricia Gómez González, and Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin are emblazoned across a Times Square billboard in New York City as a reminder that hate must be defunded. All three lost their lives under the watch of unleashed federal immigration agencies just this year alone.
Roxsana, a 33-year-old transgender asylum seeker originally from Honduras, died in May while under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Claudia, a 20-year-old indigenous woman from Guatemala, was shot and killed by a still-unnamed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer that same month. This month, Jakelin died while under CBP custody. She was only 7 years old.
But rather than conducting oversight and investigating these tragic deaths, Donald Trump wants billions in taxpayer dollars to fund his stupid and racist border wall that most Americans don’t actually care for. If he can’t get a wall, Plan B is a $1 billion piggy bank to fund his deportation agenda as he sees fit, which will no doubt lead to more Roxsanas, more Claudias, and more Jakelins. Enough, enough, enough.
The final "straw"?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820686/-The-final-straw?detail=emaildkreWhen it comes to the events of the last 10 days, to borrow a phrase from Rachel Maddow, “Stick a pin in this.” And no, I don’t mean everything that has happened in the last 10 days, you’d need a cork board the size of Oklahoma. But over the last little while, there has been a series of events, coming from one particular source, that when taken separately, seem to be only mildly interesting anomalies, but when combined together, may well suggest a sea change.
It seems to me that Donald J Trump, Pestquire, appears to be on the way to losing his grip on the GPO Senate. No, they’re by no means ready to impeach him yet, but the signs are starting to appear that GOP Senators are more open to acts of defiance against Trump. Personally, I think that at least some of this is due to the results of the midterms. Beto’s stronger than expected showing in Texas against “Calgary” Teddy Cruz showed weakness. He lost seats he campaigned like hell for in West Virginia, Montana, and Arizona, incoming Florida senator Rick Scott kept His Lowness at a double arms length distance, and Mitt Romney winning in Utah is going to leave him one short in the “congenital flunky” department, with the departure of Orrin Hatch. 22 GOP Senators up for reelection in 2020 have come, or are starting to come to terms with the fact that Trump’s coattails are not as long as they had hoped.
In the last 10 days, the GOP dominated senate has handed Trump one stinging rebuke after another, and done so in public. Here are just a few examples;
Not only did the US Senate rebuke Trump for his inherent chumminess with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by passing a resolution condemning the kingdom, they took the extra step of declaring that they found the Crown Prince directly responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This sent a strong message that as far as the Senate is concerned, Saudi Arabia is on probation, whether Trump likes it or not.
Outgoing GOP Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, all by his little lonesome, managed to put the kibosh on at least 23 judicial nominees that Trump and McConnell had planned on ramming through before the holiday break. I am not a senate scholar, so I’ll leave it up to someone more experienced to enlighten me in the comments, but considering that when McConnell gavels the Senate into recess, when they adjourn, they will not come back in session until the new class is sworn in, I’m not sure whether these judicial nominees will have to go through their judicial committee nominations again or not.
Following Trump’s moronic, and seemingly gratuitous decision to yank all 2,00 of our remaining troops out of Syria, like they had reached the end of an invisible political bungee cord, , several GOP senators, including some who will return to Washington in January, slammed Trump for the ill advised move. My favorite was Lindsey Graham, stating in the well of the Senate that Trump’s contention that we had defeated ISIS was “fake news.”
Trump could not have been more clear in his nationally televised hissy fit with “Chuck and Nancy,” if he didn’t get the $5 billion in funding for the wall he wanted, he would “proudly” take the mantle of shutting down the government. What was the Senate’s measured response to his non negotiable demand? To pass a clean continuing resolution, funding the government through February 8th of next year. On a lousy voice vote no less. Even stalwart Trump supporters like Tom Cotton and Mitch McConnell voted for the resolution. Then McConnell sent the mess to the House to clean up for once, and adjourned the Senate. Paul Ryan, craven poltroon that he is, voted to hang the $5 billion to the CR and sent it back to the Senate. Once the Senate kills it tomorrow, Trump will proudly have his shutdown, which Nancy Pelosi will fix on January 3rd, by passing a clean CR for McConnell to pass as well.
What if we just stopped burning coal?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820481/-What-if-we-just-stopped-burning-coal?detail=emaildkreThe latest IPCC report says we have to get down tozero CO2 emissions by 2030. We do not have time for “phasing things out”. Ok then, what is a good first step? Lets just stop burning coal. Tomorrow.
It turns out that there are two kinds of coal: thermal coal is the kind that is burned and metallurgical coal (also called met coal) that is used for making steel. Met coal, mostly mined in West Virginia, does not itself contribute to global warming, through the means of heating it in the steel manufacturing process might. This article is just about eliminating the burning of thermal coal to generate electrical energy.
The percentage of electric power coming from coal plants in the US has been dropping every year since 1987 as they are gradually phased out, but this is not happening fast enough. A coal plant might have a useful lifetime of 40 years! This chart shows the trend. (My source for most of the statistics here is the web site of the US Energy Information Administration. )
Coal is the elephant in the room, being the dirtiest of our electric power sources. Lets see how we could kick the legs out from under the coal industry to move things along faster.
GOP Strategist: 'This Is Unmitigated, Unfettered, Blind Lashing Out By The POTUS'
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820612/-GOP-Strategist-This-Is-Unmitigated-Unfettered-Blind-Lashing-Out-By-The-POTUS?detail=emaildkreThe resignation/termination of James Mattis has been coming for a while, but the timing of it, in the final hours of the week before Christmas, in the middle of rabid contention over government shutdown versus funding of the mythic Mexican wall, is indicative of Trump being more out of control than he’s ever been.
Trump is “grasping for the political identity that got him here to begin with,” according to MSNBC pundit Howard Fineman, who points out that Trump’s isolationism is “politically disastrous at this point,” but Trump is remembering when it was “the good thing to do,” and acting accordingly.
Chuck Todd was conducting a panel on MSNBC when news broke of Mattis’ resignation today, and he quipped, “With Mattis gone, Lindsey Graham is going to go out of his mind.” Graham apparently had one too few tete a tetes with Trump at the golf course, because they are diametrically opposed when it comes to dealing with ISIS. Graham’s comments here were recorded before Mattis wrote his resignation letter. In the letter, Mattis makes it clear that Trump is pursuing the wrong policies and Graham says in essence the same thing.
Lindsey Graham: “You will not win this war by giving up. This is akin to surrendering. We can be successful only if we partner with others. This undercuts that effort. We’ve got two choices to fight this war. In their back yard or our back yard. ISIS and Afghanistan is looking towards the United States in their target sights. Mr. President, you have a chance to change course and you have a lot of bipartisan support to do so. Take advantage of it.”
But changing course is WEAK!
Former Member of Obama's NSC Says Mattis Has Inserted Himself in the Nuke Chain of Command. (Update)
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820616/-Former-Member-of-Obama-s-NSC-Says-Mattis-Has-Inserted-Himself-in-the-Nuke-Chain-of-Command?detail=emaildkreWell, this is scary as fuck.
?? Jon B. “Globalist” Wolfsthal
✔
@JBWolfsthal
This should scare everyone. Mattis has inserted himself into the nuclear weapons chain of command and reassured Senators for @GOP and @DNC that he could manage @realDonaldTrump dangerous nuclear impulses. This greatly increases risks of nuclear use.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my Administration as Secretary of Defense for the past two years. During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting....
Democratic congressman to Trump's DHS secretary: 'I went to the border. This is a disgrace!'
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/20/1820556/-Democratic-Congressman-to-Trump-s-DHS-secretary-I-went-to-the-border-This-is-a-disgrace?detail=emaildkreDonald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, found herself facing the House Judiciary Committee Thursday. She was scheduled to announce the soon-to-be-litigated Trump policy of forcing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico for an indeterminate amount of time while waiting for a court hearing on their entry into the United States. The appearance before the committee was contentious, possibly because in the past, Nielsen has been something of a liar.
Rhode Island Democratic Rep. David Cicilline asked Sec. Nielsen how many immigrants had died while detained by the DHS. She said she didn’t have the number. This led to bewilderment on the part of Cicilline, since Nielsen is literally the head of the whole operation. In a short back-and-forth, in which Nielsen pretended that not having an idea of how many people HAVE DIED while under her jurisdiction is totally normal, Cicilline became justifiably frustrated.
Cicilline: We are talking about people who have died in your custody. You don’t have the number?
Nielsen: I will get back to you with the number.
It’s important to note here that Nielsen smirked, signaling that she thinks Cicilline is being overly dramatic. It’s important to note because, if and when she gets back to him with the number, that number is almost guaranteed to be higher than it was when Cicilline first asked.
She doesn't KNOW? And she didn't EXPECT to be ASKED? REALLY?
As Trump's Christmas shutdown looms, he takes to Twitter to rant about the invention of the wheel
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820740/-As-Trump-s-Christmas-shutdown-looms-he-takes-to-Twitter-to-rant-about-the-invention-of-the-wheel?detail=emaildkreOf course Donald Trump will never get Mexico to pay for his racist wall as he often said it would, but following Thursday night’s cowardly capitulation by House Republicans, it increasingly appears that he will get the government shutdown that he promised if U.S. taxpayers weren’t forced to foot the bill. And as hundreds of thousands of federal employees face the prospect of losing their paychecks just days before Christmas, the Orange Buffoon took to Twitter to blame anyone and everyone but himself.
In tweet after tweet after tweet, he blamed Democrats, he begged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to change the rules, heck, he even dissed Ronald Reagan, and, of course, patted himself on the back while peddling crap:
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
The Democrats are trying to belittle the concept of a Wall, calling it old fashioned. The fact is there is nothing else’s that will work, and that has been true for thousands of years. It’s like the wheel, there is nothing better. I know tech better than anyone, & technology.....
Shockingly, there was no mention of sliced bread, and no mention that just a week ago Trump proudly declared that:
I will shut down the government. I am proud to shut down the government. I will take the mantle.
Edmonton judge dismisses Omar Khadr’s request to ease bail conditions
https://globalnews.ca/news/4784607/omar-khadr-bail-conditions-request-december-20/?utm_source=notification/An Edmonton judge has dismissed a request by former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr for relaxed bail conditions and a Canadian passport.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice June Ross made her decision Friday morning. She said nothing has really chance since the last time he asked for a change and that the restrictions Khadr faces are reasonable.
Khadr, 32, wanted to be able to travel to Toronto without the approval of his bail supervisor to visit his family more easily, and to make court appearances related to a civil lawsuit filed by the family of an American soldier killed in the Afghanistan firefight in which Khadr was captured.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Undergoes Surgery For Lung Cancer
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/21/679065534/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-undergoes-surgery-for-lung-cancer?live=1&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2051&fbclid=IwAR2yqdxEduUQjO1ZsWCHKBwKP2pupLlSNrQLO61bCpNZr13UuvI1zm5ba4oHow Putin's oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns?fbclid=IwAR0jaCcZGpjEDd97QcP2PeUFQGkUG5t45RcaIHHj6_JizhSfGli6g9Za33QNot JUST Trump, it seems.
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/13cf816e-8e40-41c8-bb76-d453a3261d8b
So the Supreme Court doesn’t seem to be completely lost thanks to John Roberts.
And RBG just had lung cancer nodules removed. She could be gone soon.
This is now a pepetual result of Republican governance. Doesn't matter if they only control Congress, or every lever of power in Washington. Year after year after year, budget fight after budget fight, we end up here. It's long-since past the point of absurdity. This is the 2nd time they have shut it down on themselves.
Wall Street suffers worst week in a decade as economic worries mount
https://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-suffers-worst-week-211832776.html?.tsrc=notification-brknewsWalls Street only really worries the rich- nobody else can afford to invest.
Maryland School District Sued for Years of Abuse Against Transgender Teacher
https://www.intomore.com/impact/maryland-school-district-sued-for-years-of-abuse-against-transgender-teacherNo, this is not good at all. Given how many good teachers leave the profession, making one leave is insanity.
A Maryland school district abused one of its transgender teachers until she checked into a psychiatric program and ultimately resigned, according to a federal lawsuit filed by her attorneys and Lambda Legal.
Jennifer Eller is suing Prince George’s County Public Schools for allowing students to call her pedophile, refusing to update her email address to reflect her name for three years, and deadnaming her in the school’s directory.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, describes seven years of alleged misgendering from students, teachers, administrators, and parents in the district across three different schools where Eller worked from 2008 to 2011, when she resigned.
“I woke up each day afraid to go to work because I didn’t know where the next attack would come from, but I already knew full well that the school administrators would do nothing to support me,” Eller said in a statement released by Lambda Legal. “My pleas for help, for sensitivity training on LGBTQ issues for students and staff, fell on deaf ears. Finally, the harassment and the humiliation became unbearable and I had no other alternative than to resign.”
"Deadnaming" is using someone's old name rather than the name that reflects who they are now.
The man behind a GoFundMe campaign that has raised $11 million to build Trump's wall also ran a conspiracy-theory page that got kicked off Facebook
https://amp.businessinsider.com/brian-kolfage-behind-trump-wall-gofundme-ran-facebook-conspiracy-page-2018-12?fbclid=IwAR148O4nVpqVLmLj8SKpgg3L1ob81U-L_Eb7oJh58WPToTenUGgE2w7hBJUSomeone created a GoFundMe campaign to 'buy ladders' to counter the fundraiser created to pay for Trump's border wall
https://www.businessinsider.com/theres-a-gofundme-to-buy-ladders-to-get-over-trumps-border-wall-2018-12?fbclid=IwAR2HXTT4JplBpFuDXyGul4byjwArAPz8XD9YDW3-IOtY9fZPboFDtGQZy0s"If you build it, they will come."
Supreme Court blocks Trump's controversial asylum ban
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-supreme-court-trump-asylum-ban-20181221-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0mYIqjKq9yh6wtVp8EV5X1xUGuaFVIVVPJMbQIzB-MgQ8jmsuxmz80mT8Detained migrant boy who reported sexual abuse saw his case closed 72 minutes after it was opened
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/21/1820794/-Detained-migrant-boy-who-reported-sexual-abuse-saw-his-case-closed-72-minutes-after-it-was-opened?detail=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2IgWKXAW-8G1JAR_asGK5dq5cTlxYERcIccET6cvM8fzyPg9kIFX_hGOQSome migrant youth who have bravely reported that they’ve been sexually and physically assaulted inside children’s detention facilities—sometimes by other detained kids themselves—have seen investigations into their cases essentially “open and shut,” a ProPublica investigation finds, with police “closing the cases, often within days, or even hours.”
In one instance, a 13-year-old asylum seeker detained at Catholic Charities’ Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children’s Village in Florida told staff that two older teens had dragged him into an empty room, where they attempted to strip off all his clothes. “As Alex struggled to move, he said he could feel the teen’s penis grinding against his butt.” Alex got away and said nothing for days, but they kept harassing him. So he went to a counselor for help.
“But Alex’s report did not trigger a child sexual assault investigation, including a specialized interview designed to help children talk about what happened, as child abuse experts recommend,” ProPublica reports, even though a counselor confirmed there was surveillance footage of him getting dragged into the next room.
“Instead, the shelter waited nearly a month to call the police. When it finally did, a police report shows, the shelter’s lead mental health counselor told the officers ‘the incident was settled, and no sexual crime occurred between the boys like first was thought among the staff.’” Police, ProPublica continues, “closed Alex’s case 72 minutes after responding to the call.”
I am so angry, I am literally vibrating.
Mars Express beams back images of ice-filled Korolev crater
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/dec/21/mars-express-beams-back-images-of-ice-filled-korolev-crater?CMP=fb_gu&fbclid=IwAR3-v7Cg_CxXDT7yO5ct6O3O6_c0CYOr8VxvRHoVe1wd3c3-iWXXToH9rCMSomething to take the bad feeling out of my mouth-partly.
Moreover, this situation now puts the paychecks of hundreds of thousands of federal employees in limbo on the evening of December 21st. THIS is the war on Christmas. And why?? Because Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and FOX News told him to throw a temper tantrum. The Republicans spent the last month of the election pounding the border issue and got eviscerated at the polls. How anyone thinks shutting down the government over the same issue a mere 6 weeks later is beyond understanding.
How many children have been raped because of this Trump administration policy?
Much of this dentention center abuse pre-dates even Trump, but they have made the problem INFINITELY worse by flooding them with children ON PURPOSE. The family sepraration was the stated goal and policy as a deterrent. This was always going to happen. Vulnerable children are always the first ones to get sexually assaulted. These centers are a goddamn buffet for pedophiles and sexual predators:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-admin-waived-strict-background-checks-staff-migrant-child-detention-n940711
I can't think of a single, solitary reason anyone would think this is an acceptable policy, unless you just plain DON'T CARE if sexual predators apply for a job at this facility.
And now, there's this...
Idaho Priest Who Wanted To ‘Rape And Kill Children’ Sentenced To 25 Years For Child Porn
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2018/12/idaho-priest-who-wanted-to-rape-and-kill-children-sentenced-to-25-years-for-child-porn/?fbclid=IwAR26N6DV7AwmI95AOu9h7f_L9AFrjK77hW5kmJIay-8zsmC-UhAEKPMSuqYMoral depravity: An Idaho priest who expressed a desire “to rape and kill children” has been sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole.
The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher, a longtime priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole and will be required to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty to felony crimes involving the possession and distribution of child pornography.
The Associated Press reports:
The Rev. W. Thomas Faucher (FOH-shay), 73, pleaded guilty to five felonies earlier this year. During his sentencing hearing in Idaho’s 4th District Court on Thursday, Judge Jason Scott said Faucher fantasized about raping and killing young children, favored child pornography that depicted extreme violence and claimed in online chats to have mixed his own bodily fluids into the communion wine at his church.
According to that report, Father Faucher “possessed more than 2,500 images of what investigators called the most disturbing child pornography they had ever seen.”
Previously Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Kassandra Slaven said that images found on Faucher’s computer at the home provided to him by the Catholic church involved multiple young children, including infants and toddlers.
Images included children being subjected to sexual acts and torture.
This priest sounds like a Nazi
USA ranked 27th in the world in education and healthcare—down from 6th in 1990
https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/american-education-and-healthcare?fbclid=IwAR2xeyw3USgzkI67ODagjB_l3UuOsXDt4xzlAK2fVV-C2cVvNa30cui8bnwLovely.
Senate adjourns, partial shutdown ensured
https://news.yahoo.com/u-government-heads-shutdown-lawmakers-fail-deal-004537162--business.html?.tsrc=notification-brknewsFrance in riots. UK is imploding with Brexit. USA shut down.