An inspiring song of change, from Kesha of all people (she's changed a lot from the days she sang Tick Tock). Love how it motivates people to vote this November!

And here’s the thing: Even if it was high school, it was still wrong. As a culture, we need to stop acting like (white) teenage boys are somehow incapable of having a moral compass, and start taking responsibility for how we demonstrate to them what is right and wrong.

“But it’s high school” perpetuates a culture in which young women regularly experience traumatic violence and young men are ill-equipped to understand the consequences of their actions.

Yes, we all fuck up when we’re young. No, we do not all force ourselves sexually on other people. We need to be very clear about that behavior being categorically unacceptable. “He was just a kid” is not an excuse. He’s not a kid now. And we can all raise our kids better.

There is no reason I can think of for a young man to not understand that a girl who is screaming in fear beneath his body—to the point that he feels compelled to cover her mouth—is upset by what he is doing. Being drunk is not an excuse here.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-but-kavanaugh-was-in-high-school-defense-is-gross?ref=home

Colin Kaepernick was right about us, white America.

He was right to kneel because when he did, he fully exposed us.

He exposed us as we became viscerally disgusted, not by the reckless disregard of black lives, but by the earnest and open declaration of black grief at their premature passing.

He exposed us when we felt it was our right to tell another human being how to express their personal freedoms, during an anthem supposedly devoted to celebrating those personal freedoms.

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/09/04/colin-kaepernick-was-right-about-us/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=John%20Pavlovitz

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Worthy of a slow, thoughtful read. It builds as it goes along. Not a long piece, but the 4-paragraph limit prevents me from doing it justice.

In a July tweetstorm, the Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO labeled Vernon Unsworth, a diver who helped rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave, a "pedo guy," after Unsworth criticized a submarine rescue plan the billionaire had proposed. The tweet has since been deleted and Musk apologized for the comment.

Musk doubled down on the accusation in an email sent last week to BuzzFeed News, calling Unsworth a "child rapist" who had moved to Thailand to take a child bride.

"I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out what's actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you f**king a**hole," Musk wrote in an email that BuzzFeed published Tuesday. "He's an old, single white guy from England who's been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time."

BuzzFeed also interviewed Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, Unsworth's 40-year-old girlfriend, who said they have been dating for seven years but declined to answer questions about their relationship.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-renews-pedophilia-claims-against-diver-thai-cave-rescue/

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Musk appears to be losing his grip on reality...he is acting more and more like Trump. I hope his family/loved ones stage an intervention before he totally ruins himself.

A Post poll published Friday showed Trump’s approval rating having fallen to 36 percent, with disapproval at 60 percent. More significantly, more than half of those polled — an incredible 53 percent — said they “strongly” disapproved of Trump’s performance.

That number points to one reason Trump is so frantic right now. Such intensity of feeling against him suggests there may indeed be a “blue wave” in the November elections that gives Democrats control of the House and perhaps even threatens a few surprises in the Senate.

Trump has been able to get away with the political equivalent of murder largely because the Republican-led Congress protects him, refusing to do its constitutional duty. It won’t call him on his many lies; it won’t investigate his financial conflicts of interest; it won’t hold his Cabinet members accountable; and with the exception thus far of the Senate Intelligence Committee, it won’t even seriously investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.

House committees led by Democrats would do all of these things and more. The most immediate threat to Trump from the election is not impeachment, though we may eventually reach that point. Rather, it is the prospect of genuine oversight and serious investigation. Scrutiny is Trump’s kryptonite.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-trump-is-so-frantic-right-now/2018/09/01/26c7f816-ad52-11e8-b1da-ff7faa680710_story.html?utm_term=.c98543d1da60

Source: HuffPost

Allen, who owns the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers, donated to Protect the House, a joint fundraising committee that then divvied up the funds to several candidates and political action committees. Some $33,900 of Allen’s donation went to the National Republican Campaign Committee, $5,000 to a PAC launched by Vice President Mike Pence and nearly a dozen congressional Republicans received $2,600.

Allen, who was honored last year at an “environment and sustainability gala,” is now showing significant support for the only significant climate-science-denying party in the world.

Protect the House, which has raised more than $13.7 million this election cycle, is headed by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and has attracted several notable donors in recent months. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave the group $38,900 earlier this year, drawing ire from many who accused the billionaire of being a GOP mega-donor, despite his protestations. Other donors to the group include business magnate Sheldon Adelson and the owner of the Houston Texans, Robert McNair. Both gave $371,500.



Read more: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b8c84a9e4b0511db3da013b

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Scumbag. This won't sit well with Seahawks fans.

An Alabama man was fined $1,500 for touching a Hawaiian monk seal as well as harassing a sea turtle on Kauai, and then posting the videos on social media.
...
The Alabama man, in the video posted on Instagram with the hashtag #monkseals, walks up to a sleeping monk seal on Poipu Beach at night, and strokes it with his hand. The startled seal quickly turns toward him, and he runs away.Hawaiian monk seals are a critically endangered species. They are protected by both state and federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
...
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials, while investigating the man's Instagram account, also found a video of him aggressively pursuing a sea turtle while snorkeling at Poipu.

All species of sea turtles in U.S. waters are listed as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, according to NOAA.

https://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/alabama-man-fined-touching-endangered-hawaiian-monk-seal-57416519

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I'm always horrified by the behavior of tourists when I am in Hawaii. The way they pursue sea turtles is abhorrent. It chases them away from feeding grounds and nesting areas. Same thing with the rare monk seals. I finally saw a monk seal sleeping on the sand in Kauai this spring, even though I have been going to Kauai for years. I can't imagine disturbing such an endangered creature from its much-needed rest.

Source: CBS News


Norwegian authorities on Monday defended the actions of guards from a German cruise ship that killed a polar bear that had attacked and injured a crew member, saying they at first tried to scare it away. Police spokesman Ole Jakob Malmo said two members of the 12-man crew that set foot on the most northern island of the Svalbard archipelago ahead of tourists on Saturday first tried to ward off the bear "by shouting and making loud noises as well as firing a signal pistol, but to no effect."

A 42-year-old German man who was not identified sustained minor head injuries from the attack, Malmo said.

British comedian Ricky Gervais took to Twitter to call the tourists "morons," while another user, Jane Roberts, said that if such tourism was banned, guards "wouldn't be needed to protect gawking tourists & polar bears would be left in peace & not shot dead merely to satisfy a photo op."

"Let's get too close to a polar bear in its natural environment and then kill it if it gets too close". Morons. https://t.co/FEPt0sYOtF

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 29, 2018



Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polar-bear-killed-cruise-ship-guards-norway-outrage-authorities-respond-today-2018-07-30/

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The poor polar bear looks emaciated, with its hip bone protruding from its carcass. It no doubt was starving, which is why it attacked that idiot.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/study-medicare-bill-estimated-326-trillion-56906940

So under this worst case scenario study, if we cut out the middle man (insurance companies), it amounts to $3T/year to cover everyone for everything. That equates to $10k per person. Right now I pay $16k per year for a family of 3. But on top of that I pay thousands in copays and deductibles and even then it does not cover everything. Paying $10k per person to me means instead of paying $16k in premiums, plus thousands more in copays and deductibles, and arguing with my insurance every time I need referrals to specialists or coverage "out of network," I will now just pay $14k more for the three of us pand never stress about any of that. Sounds like a deal to me.

And this study assumed doctors and hospitals won't take less than they are getting now, which seems highly unlikely. If there are no more uninsured, hospitals won't have to jack up the rest of our costs to cover them. If we want European style single payer health insurance, we must pay European style taxes. I'm fine with that. People would still save money in the long run, and most important, we would finally end the uninsured/underinsured crisis and the horrific human death and misery caused by it.

We have to be real about what the tax increases will be and be prepared to justify them. I am convinced we can justify the increases. Sadly, must politicians aren't. When it came time to finance Vermont's single payer law with tax increases, ALL of Vermont's politicians ran for cover, and VT single payer died. Same thing will happen with national single payer unless we get real about the tax numbers and get a backbone to argue for them.