July 20, 2017

Isn't it great how Trump draws a map for Mueller?

"Trump warns Mueller against investigating his family's finances beyond Russia probe"

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/342845-trump-warns-mueller-against-investigating-his-familys-finances-beyond


Don't look in THIS closet. There's nothing in HERE!

July 20, 2017

We Sanders supporters need to recognize that his brand is damaged now

One thing I hear a lot about Clinton is "her brand is damaged. She may be a great person, she might make a great president, but her brand is damaged and we need to move on."

Well, the same is now true about Sanders. Frankly, it was true a year ago even if we didn't want to admit it.

Sanders stumbled badly when it came to race issues. The Root ran an article today detailing it very well - https://www.theroot.com/bernie-sanders-black-women-problem-1796995081 .

Here are a couple of quotes from that article;

For all of Sanders’ talk of a “political revolution” and economic inequality, the candidate never seemed to understand that it’s all but impossible to make it out of the Democratic primary without winning over black women—especially those over 35 years old.

But, for some reason, the Democratic Party, Sanders and his supporters seem more interested in converting racist Donald Trump supporters while dismissing the electoral power of black female voters who’ve never wavered in their support of a party that consistently treats them like side pieces.

If you are still reading, recognize that second paragraph. Substitute "black female" for "left/progressive" and it is EXACTLY THE SAME ARGUMENT that the progressive left has been making about the DNC for YEARS.

We need someone who will bring us together, not drive us apart. Sanders can't do that anymore. He's done.

Sanders is a great guy. He may make a great president. But his brand is damaged and we need to move on.

Several years ago I sat on the national board of a very old, very respected far-left organization. For several years we had been struggling with our own internal progress. We had been investing (and I think, making progress) with anti-racism/anti-oppression education and training. Over the years, the Board DID transform. It became more diverse and more open. I had been there long enough at that point that I had become one of the "old white guys."

Then, in my last year on the board I watched two other old, white guys come along and do EXACTLY what Bernie was doing. They were dismissing the importance of combatting racism, sexism and other isms in an effort to go straight to the class/economic struggle. They made complete asses of themselves.

So, when I watched Bernie do the same thing, I knew it was over. I hoped not but, really, I already knew.

In 2020 we need to find someone new. Someone who will heal the divide. At this moment, Bernie is not it.

June 15, 2017

NOAA Announces new Storm Categories - for Twitter Storms

OK, No, not really but it seems someone should do this. How many more "Epic" tweet storms can he manage? At some point we run out of adjectives. We have 145 days of Trump's tweet storms so someone should be able to measure the intensity of various storms and categorize them as T1-T5.

June 13, 2017

Trump is the most unpopular president in history - check these numbers

If you haven't seen http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/ then you really should, especially bottom comparing Trump to past presidents.

He isn't just unpopular, he is in a category by himself. No, president has ever experienced such disapproval from the American public.

April 12, 2017

United's Double Billing

If you think about it, United's overbooking policies are really double-billing policies. They are charging two people for the same seat.

How? In many cases, tickets are unrefundable. Airlines overbook because they know that a certain percentage of passengers cancel their plans, skip their flights and eat the cost of the ticket. The percentage is high enough that they can overbook most flights without incident.

So, in that same percentage of cases, they get paid twice for the seat. United wants to have their cake and eat it too and when they can't, they smash you in the face with the cake.

We need to re-regulate the airlines.

April 7, 2017

Did Trump violate the War Powers Act?

A lot of people here have pointed out that the President has the power to initiate military action without a Declaration of War as long as he reports back to Congress.

That is the effect of the precedent set by the inaction of congress but, in fact, the president may not have the necessary justification to bomb Syria under the law.

The War 15 USC §1541(c) clearly states;

The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.

Congress has not declared War since 1941.

There is no statutory authorization to Bomb Syria that I am aware of. (Anybody? )

Syria has not attacked the US, its terrritories, possessions or its armed forces.

I believe this attack was a violation of the US Constitution and Federal Law. Can anyone offer me "statutory authorization" to justify it?

March 10, 2017

Anybody from TX-21?

The race is already heating up. One candidate filed and five more "running"

March 6, 2017

March for Science

Anyone here going? I'm surprised there isn't more discussion on it

January 31, 2017

How PETA wastes its funds

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/30/peta-demands-games-workshop-remove-fur-pelts-from-/

"The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals affiliate in London is asking developers at Games Workshop to ban animal furs from its Warhammer 40,000 board game."

That money could be going to actually help animals but they'd rather spend a $30M budget on crap like this.

January 21, 2017

Leaked copy of GOP Plan to replace ACA

I found a leaked copy of the upcoming GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
=====================

An Act
To Repeal the Affordable Care Act and Ensure Better Health Care for All.

Section 1. NAME. The Affordable Care Act shall now be known as the "Repeal Obamacare And Replace Act" (ROAR Act).

Section 2. Enactment. It will now be great.