Sen. Graham: You don't even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role, because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor in integrity to the office.

It was January 23, 1999. A younger Sen. Graham was on the Senate floor imploring his fellow senators to impeach then President Bill Clinton, for Clinton’s lying about his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky. He explained that even though Kenneth Starr’s pornographic novel—ostensibly about real estate holdings in Arkansas, but almost entirely about Clinton’s sexual promiscuity—didn’t convict Clinton of any wrongdoing, it was clear that wrongdoings had taken place...in Lindsey’s mind.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1111582732663091200

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/29/1846213/-Watch-raving-hypocrite-Sen-Lindsey-Graham-make-the-case-for-impeaching-Donald-Trump?detail=emaildkre

A few years before Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer infamously killed the beloved Cecil the lion, another pathetic American trophy hunter did something as despicable: he shot a lion in Zimbabwe that was sleeping in the sun.

Although this happened in 2011, a disturbing video of the killing recently went viral after Protect All Wildlife, an animal advocate in the United Kingdom, posted it on Twitter March 18. In the graphic video, you can see Guy Gorney of Illinois using a rifle to shoot the sleeping lion once. As the lion woke up in agony, Gorney shot him two more times before a guide told him to stop…and then congratulated him.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1107708673747501056

https://www.care2.com/causes/this-american-trophy-hunter-shot-a-sleeping-lion.html

I could only watch this once. It made me nauseous. I would throw this guy in a pack of lions and watch what happens.

New baby goatie! This is Kami (Kamala). Her mom is Lizzy (Elizabeth), and her aunts are Mazie and Claire. They are Pygmy/Nigerian crosses that I got last Nov, and pretty small themselves. Apparently Lizzy had been dallying.

I hadn't posted about her yet, because she was born the same night my mare died at 33 yrs old. I had her half my life. It was devastating. Life and death.

Having baby Kami has helped. She's incredibly tiny--about the size of a Chihuahua, maybe 3-4 pounds, and loves cuddles and pettings.

Written for Bush, but seems just as applicable today.

A little Blues Brothers....

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In a 1995 essay, Barr expressed the extremist Christian view that “American government should not be secular;” secularism is an abomination in Barr’s theocratic mind despite the law of the land is unmistakably secular. Furthermore, Barr contends America’s government is supposed to be imposing “a transcendent moral order with objective standards of right and wrong that flows from God’s eternal law;” eternal law best dictated by the Vatican and taught in public schools at taxpayer’s expense.

It is true that as attorney general William Barr will defend Trump’s criminality and corruption; it is one of the only reasons Trump nominated him. However, the real danger to the nation is Barr’s belief that the government’s primary function should be defending and enforcing his god’s moral edicts while ardently opposing any legislative branch effort to make secular laws according to the secular Constitution.

As noted by Michael Stone a couple of weeks ago, in addition to the racism and misogyny one expects from a radical conservative Christian, “Barr is also a bigot when it comes to non-religious people and others who respect the separation of church and state.”

Barr epitomizes the typical extremist religious fanatic by blaming everything from crime to divorce to sexually transmitted diseases on what he alleges is “the federal government’s non-stop attacks on traditional religious values.” In fact, he joins no small number of Republican evangelical extremists who demand that taxpayers fund religious instruction, specifically Catholic religious instruction, in public schools. Barr, as a matter of fact, has called for the United States government to subsidize Catholic education and categorically called for federal legislation to promote Vatican edicts to “restrain sexual immorality;” an explicit reference to his religion’s ban on homosexuality, extramarital sex, and “artificial” birth control.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/25/1837456/-Trump-s-attorney-general-wants-god-s-moral-order-enforced-by-government?detail=emaildkre

This is a damn scary article. Anyone who thought this guy might work out ok is in for a shock.

As you may have known, now-passed former President George HW Bush had a service dog named Sully HW Bush.

Sully started working with George HW Bush during the summer of 2018, shortly after the former president’s 94th birthday. Sully was trained by America’s VetDogs, and was said to be a perfect match for HW Bush because he was an “old soul.” The two stayed together until the former president died at the end of November 2018.

Sully had always been a popular dog, but what really put him on the map was this viral picture of him lying in front of his former human’s casket:


But while his new job will certainly incorporate all those skills, it’s a little more specific.

Last Wednesday, Sully took his oath of office to become a member of the dog program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, taking the following pledge:

“Do you affirm or pant as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy that you will support, comfort and cheer warriors and their families, active duty and retired? That you embrace our staff and bear unconditional love and solace, especially on busy days? That you take this obligation freely, without any promise of treats or tummy rubs and that you will faithfully discharge the duties to provide joy, love and nurturing for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and sailors and their families?”

Sully gave a paw-shake as an enthusiastic, affirmative response!

https://www.care2.com/causes/sully-the-service-dog-just-got-a-new-job-and-its-super-heartwarming.html

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/28/1838476/-Texas-WWII-vet-asks-the-world-for-100-cards-for-his-100th-birthday-and-the-world-did-not-disappoint?detail=emaildksp

A soon-to-be centenarian in the Lone Star State has been overwhelmed by the response to his social media plea for some recognition for his big birthday on Saturday. Joe Cuba, currently 99, had one big ask for his 100th birthday on Mar. 2: He wanted a birthday card for every year of life he’d lived so far.

Stephanie Veitenheimer, a sales manager at Brookdale Senior Living, appears to be the originator of the request, posting it to her personal social media accounts on Feb. 19 and receiving thousands of shares. Cuba’s birthday wish appears to have first been picked up by media on the evening of Feb. 20, when it was featured on local NBC affiliate KFDX3. The ask was then further supported by the Wichita Falls residential care facility on its branded social media the following morning.

What happened next might not seem surprising to those with extensive social media exposure or experience, but it certainly surprised the man now affectionately known as “GI Joe.”

He went viral. Like, REALLY viral. As of Wednesday, Brookdale’s executive director, Jarvis Polvado, reports that Cuba, born in Texas to Czech immigrants in 1919, has received over 16,000 cards and gifts.



I know a number of DU'ers sent cards. Lots more pics at link.

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“I wasn’t supposed to be here for this picture. It was taken on the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings – all the heads of state had gathered there and were coming out of an impromptu luncheon. The official photographers from each country had been kicked out – we were all supposed to leave the building. But I have a knack of making myself small and sticking around.

The shot shows the kind of interaction President Obama had with President Putin during his tenure. It was 2014, a particularly tense time between the two countries. You can see in the facial expressions and gestures that this was a very serious conversation. There are interpreters stood behind them, but I get the impression from Putin’s face that he understood exactly what was being said in English.

I was within earshot. I can’t recount specifically what they said, but I knew the subject matter. Can I say what it was? It was about … some of Russia’s actions in the world. Let’s leave it at that.

This conversation went on for a while: they weren’t thinking about me. To them, I was just one of many people in the room, coming and going in different directions. I started out shooting horizontally and tighter, and then switched to vertical, backing up to show their entire bodies. Compositionally, that seemed to show the body language better.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/28/1838353/-Pete-Souza-s-Best-Photograph-Obama-Shows-How-You-Talk-to-a-Dictator?detail=emaildkre

Compare and contrast:

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