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Tuesday Open Thread

I have written three absurdly long posts on all the things wrong with season 2 of Narcos. I may ditch them altogether, or I may publish them in pieces. In any event, Narcos is confirmed for Seasons 3 and 4, and they are now on track to butcher the story of the Cali Cartel the way they did the Medellin cartel. For Narcos' acknowledgements of which characters are made up or composites, and which events didn't happen, go here. I've got a lot more to add to the list.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    Movies! TV Network right now (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by CoralGables on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 08:10:22 PM EST
    Silver Streak

    I've never cared for whites in blackface, .. (5.00 / 2) (#27)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 08:58:51 PM EST
    ... but I have to admit that the scene at the train station was pretty funny. That embarrassed / alarmed / appalled look on Richard Pryor's face upon seeing Gene Wilder emerge from the station restroom is priceless, and only those two could've pulled that bit off without it being offensive.

    Parent
    CNN and Corey Lewandowski (5.00 / 3) (#30)
    by pitachips on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 10:02:07 PM EST
     I can't believe they have that jackass as a "political commentator" and he's still on Trumps payroll I believe. I rarely watch cable news anymore and I'm starting to remember why.

    In a parody of Trump's slogan... (5.00 / 3) (#35)
    by desertswine on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 11:21:17 PM EST
    And there's "Guac the Vote," ... (5.00 / 5) (#71)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 04:21:58 PM EST
    ... the effort being mounted by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to place a taco truck at every polling site.

    Parent
    Really looking forward to my election day taco! (5.00 / 3) (#74)
    by ruffian on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 05:57:56 PM EST
    I will show up in person rather than mail in absebtee if they do that!

    Parent
    No taco for Ruffian... (none / 0) (#109)
    by fishcamp on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 10:08:20 AM EST
    Sorry to report if you are already listed as a absentee voter in Florida you cannot drop off that ballot in person, you must mail it in.  I'm assuming this is true, since it was with the primaries.  Nothing stopping you from getting a taco though.  They should also put a taco truck at every post office.  We need more taco trucks.

    Parent
    And more siestas! (5.00 / 2) (#112)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 10:57:59 AM EST
    Sounds like the title of a children's book. (none / 0) (#113)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 11:07:55 AM EST
    I guess it does. (5.00 / 2) (#120)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 01:17:53 PM EST
    "I like tacos every Thursday.
    With jalapeño salsa verde!
    And I like tacos every time
    With Cuervo and a slice of lime!
    So I want taco trucks right here.
    And I want taco trucks right there,
    'Cause tacos are our bill of fare
    When taco trucks are everywhere!"

    On second thought, I better not quite my day job. The heirs of Dr. Seuss really have nothing to fear from me.

    ;-D

    Parent

    So (5.00 / 2) (#40)
    by Nemi on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:31:11 AM EST
    on Twitter yesterday I came across multiple complaints about how Hillary Clinton really didn't answer any questions on board her new plane before she left in a coughing fit. And when I tried googling clips from the 'non-press conference' I was met with these headlines: "Hillary Clinton Coughing Fit Ends Press Gaggle on Plane". Only that's not true! She was interrupted by a coughing fit, but then came back to take questions, damn it! I'm so tired of this constant proof of how 'A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes'.

    But not only did I find a clip of the Q&A, I also realized that the guy standing next to her, with the charming facial expressions, is Nick Merrill, her Traveling Press Secretary. I remember him from this video, where I took him to be the cute Noah's cute dad. I guess not. Cute yes, Noah's Dad no. ;)

    PS
    I don't agree with the Paul Waldman piece the video is attached to. Whatever the relationship between Hillary Clinton and the press -- and from the video it seems just fine -- if there are problems I'm pretty sure it's up to both parties to sort it out. That's one more thing I'm fed up with: People, mostly men -- Joe Biden anyone? -- telling Hillary Clinton what to do and how to do it. She seems to be doing just fine all by herself, supported by her personally selected advisors, thankyouverymuch!

    Clinton (none / 0) (#46)
    by mogal on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 10:42:30 AM EST
    Nemi, thankyouverymuch.

    Parent
    Bill Clinton mocks Trump in Florida: (5.00 / 7) (#55)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 01:26:14 PM EST
    "My charity helps people. His is used to pay off your attorney general."

    SNAP!

    And he stayed on the offensive in Durham, NC:

    "I got tickled the other day when Mr. Trump called my foundation a criminal enterprise. That was pretty funny considering that the three major evaluators of foundations gave it the highest grade that they could give. And the most recent one rated it higher than the Red Cross and unlike him, we actually say who gives us money and what we spend it on and disclose our tax returns and things like that.

    "And, considering, his foundation was recently fined by the government for actually paying out of the foundation. If you put money in a family foundation, you don't pay taxes on it because you're going to give it away, right? But you can't make a political contribution. He made a political contribution to the Attorney General of Florida who at the time had her office investigating Trump University -- and mysteriously, the investigation vanished."

    The Orlando Sentinel reports on the growing call for a federal investigation of the Trump-Bondi campaign donation.

    Aloha.

    Thank you, Explainer in Chief (5.00 / 4) (#67)
    by ruffian on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 03:34:06 PM EST
    More, please.

    Parent
    Is anyone watching MSNBC? (5.00 / 1) (#75)
    by mogal on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 06:25:04 PM EST
    It is all Trump and Kelly Ann for the NBC News Commaner in Chief
    They just called out Clinton's new add and the lies.  It is terrible.  I can't believe it, where  Rachel?  Where is Lawrence.  

    Kelly Ann thanked Chris for call out all of Clinton's Lies.

    Tuned in late for the Forum (5.00 / 2) (#78)
    by ruffian on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:18:13 PM EST
    A funny thing happened on the way...

    I always forget how awful Trump really is, impossible as that sounds. He is really really stupid.

    Parent

    General Hertling (5.00 / 2) (#82)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:32:09 PM EST
    Is chewing him up on CNN like Hubba Bubba. Hertling has been chewing the hell out of him for weeks now, and deservedly so!

    Parent
    These things we learned yesterday, ... (5.00 / 3) (#125)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 02:19:38 PM EST
    ... that is, if we hadn't already known them:

    I would also note that both Powell and his successor Condoleezza Rice received classified information on their private email accounts, yet nobody in the GOP or the mainstream media is holding them similarly accountable.

    And why should they be held accountable, really, given that as per Mrs. Clinton's case, there were no laws or rules in place at the time which prohibited State Dept. personnel from using private email accounts fr department business?

    This entire email kerfuffle is a wholly manufactured political pseudo-scandal, yet another sorry-a$$ed chapter in the GOP's Clinton snipe hunt saga that's been ongoing since 1992, at least.

    And what a shame it truly was, that Matt Lauer chose to waste nearly half of his audience's time with Mrs. Clinton last night on the subject.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    i believe (none / 0) (#79)
    by linea on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:28:30 PM EST
    it's Kellyanne.

    is she personable? how tall is she? i tried googling her height but coudnt find any info. from what i read, she is serious anti-choice. is that right? i dont have cable or dish so i dont get msnbc.

    anybody know if Bleak House (TV) is good?

    Parent

    Bleak House is great - you mean the Masterpiece (none / 0) (#86)
    by ruffian on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:58:30 PM EST
    theater version with Gillian Anderson that came out a few years ago? Watch that instead of Kellyanne,

    Parent
    yes (none / 0) (#91)
    by linea on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:22:47 PM EST
    masterpiece theater. it was on the recommended list on amazon but i was worried it was boring. so thank you!! i'll watch it (smile).

    Parent
    Well, boring is in the eye of the beholder... (5.00 / 1) (#103)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:24:43 AM EST
    It is Dickens..so lots of characters and plot and dialogue....not exactly action packed!

    Parent
    thank you (none / 0) (#171)
    by linea on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:52:57 PM EST
    i like people, not action-packed (smike)

    Parent
    ... what does it matter is she's anti-choice? She's not on the ballot, and is merely a media mouthpiece for someone who is both running AND is anti-choice.

    Parent
    General Hertlng is/has been the fizz (5.00 / 1) (#80)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:29:03 PM EST
    In the schizzle...repeatedly. That is all

    Cyrptic-issimo. (5.00 / 1) (#106)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:32:22 AM EST
    Pot (none / 0) (#114)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 11:28:14 AM EST
    Meet kettle

    Parent
    Oops...Hertling (none / 0) (#81)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:29:30 PM EST
    What did your hubby think? (none / 0) (#105)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:29:09 AM EST
    I really can't imagine anyone connected with the military thinking Trump is a good choice, to say the least. But I trust his opinion on the subject!


    Parent
    Concerning new comments in the top thread (5.00 / 4) (#84)
    by CoralGables on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:44:19 PM EST
    Mine have returned to not showing as new. It was good while it lasted.

    Same for me. (5.00 / 2) (#92)
    by caseyOR on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:40:39 PM EST
    It was great.

    Parent
    email Jeralyn (none / 0) (#169)
    by ding7777 on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:40:32 PM EST
    email Jeralyn (I did) (5.00 / 1) (#168)
    by ding7777 on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:40:12 PM EST
    Holy Sheet (5.00 / 1) (#102)
    by MKS on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 08:59:44 AM EST
    Hillary just finished her press conference on the tarmac.

    She is really good at this stuff.

    She kicked Trump's arse but good.

    She fried (5.00 / 2) (#107)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:41:28 AM EST
    both Trump and Preibus.

    Parent
    She really is (5.00 / 1) (#131)
    by Nemi on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:19:13 PM EST
    Today marks the 50th anniversary ... (5.00 / 1) (#162)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 08:02:33 PM EST
    ... of the very first airing of the first episode of "Star Trek," the legendary sci-fi TV series which has since spawned five additional TV spinoffs and thirteen motion pictures, including six starring the original cast from the first TV series.

    And for that, we have Lucille Ball to thank. As the Chair and CEO of Desilu Studios (which produced "Star Trek" and several other notable TV series, including "The Untouchables" and "Mission Impossible"), and against the strong advice of her own company board of directors, she greenlighted and financed Gene Roddenberry's initial project, and then stood by the show through its first fits and false starts.

    Live long and prosper.

    Live long and prosper? (5.00 / 1) (#164)
    by CoralGables on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 08:49:46 PM EST
    She's dead

    Parent
    Of course she is. (none / 0) (#199)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 02:27:49 PM EST
    But you aren't.

    Parent
    on a purely entertainment level (none / 0) (#1)
    by CST on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 01:57:28 PM EST
    I really like Narcos.  I have no sense of what is true or not true, and I just assume 99% of it is fiction.  As such, I'm really enjoying it.

    There could be a great show that is based on the truth of it.  I get that that isn't this show.  But I'm okay with it.

    If I have one complaint it's the narrator.  He's the least interesting character on the whole show and I don't feel like his opinion really adds anything of value.

    Considering my opinion of the DEA (none / 0) (#49)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 11:43:57 AM EST
    it's hard to know who to root for.

    Parent
    In a return to the Bad Old Days... (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 02:13:56 PM EST
    Have the Lakota Sioux ever truly left ... (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 05:08:09 PM EST
    ... the bad old days behind? Ever since Yellow Hair's own ghost dance first began 140 years ago on the crest of the hills overlooking the Little Bighorn River in Montana, they've suffered repeated deprivation, depredation and degradation.

    The Lakota People's Law Project has been vigorously contesting the removal of over 2,200 native children from their homes by the South Dakota Dept. of Social Services, many of whom have since been placed with White families in apparent contravention of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.

    In February 2015, a group of drunken white men at a hockey game in Rapid City, SD threw beer over 57 Lakota children and showered them with racist epithets. Civil authorities declined to charge any of the miscreants with any violations of law.

    All too often, the efforts and struggles of our country's indigenous peoples to receive justice at the hands of non-native institutions have gone undocumented and underreported in our mainstream media, until it reaches a crisis stage as it did at Wounded Knee in 1973.

    And then, what subsequently happens is often misreported by that same heretofore neglectful media. The late author Peter Matthiessen brilliantly explored and documented this dichotomy in his 1983 nonfiction book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse: The story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's war on the American Indian Movement. (Matthiessen was a white man and a longtime CIA operative, who became entirely sympathetic with the Lakota people's struggles.)

    We need to do much better by our native peoples. Kudos to Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! for bringing this most recent abuse to light, and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Well, you made me go and google the (5.00 / 1) (#53)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 12:58:55 PM EST
    hockey game incident:
    In February 2015, a group of drunken white men at a hockey game in Rapid City, SD threw beer over 57 Lakota children and showered them with racist epithets. Civil authorities declined to charge any of the miscreants with any violations of law.

    Here is the FB page of Justin Poor Bear who was one of the chaperones of the 57 Lakota kids at the hockey game and is the person who mainly publicized the incident. His description of the incident is the top post on his page.

    One of the guys in the VIP box at the arena - Trace O'Connell - was charged with disorderly conduct, brought to trial, and acquitted.

    Before you say "of course he was acquitted" be aware that Ms. Means (one of the other chaperones) said she heard the men tell the children to "go back to the reservation," however none of the children testified that they had heard any racial comments at all.

    In fact, several of the children testified that they had been bantering and joking with the guys in the box.

    And the one beer that was spilled on some of the kids and Ms. Means was determined to be accidental during the celebration that followed a score.

    You can read the 19 page ruling by the judge here, if you wish.

    Also on Mr. Poor Bear's FB page, if you are interested, you can read his comments about his son getting his hair cut short:

    he [Mr. Poor Bear's son] cried somedays because he got tried of called a girl, got Bullied by his own people for having long hair, sure he's part white half Lakota, he tries hard to be Lakota to dance grass dance, Sundance, sweat, wants to learn Lakota, but yet calling him girl

    I bring this up merely to point out that we're all human, regardless of "race," and we all have things we say and do that we regret.


    Parent

    ... has issued a temporary restraining order in upholding to a motion by the Standing Rock Sioux, which brings to a temporary and partial halt to construction on the Dakota Access pipeline.

    Parent
    i was (none / 0) (#25)
    by linea on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 08:42:22 PM EST
    under the impression that this this did not occur on tribal lands and the indians were on private property being ersatz environmental activists (or something).

    Parent
    They consider themselves protectors.. (none / 0) (#32)
    by desertswine on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 10:27:10 PM EST
    rather than protesters and are demonstrating for a healthy future instead of for the here and now.

    NYT -

    Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe see the pipeline as a major environmental and cultural threat. They say its route traverses ancestral lands -- which are not part of the reservation -- where their forebears hunted, fished and were buried. They say historical and cultural reviews of the land where the pipeline will be buried were inadequate. They also worry about catastrophic environmental damage if the pipeline were to break near where it crosses under the Missouri River.

    More.

    Parent

    They're kinda late (none / 0) (#33)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 10:47:20 PM EST
    US NG pipeline's

    Pay no attention to the rules.

    They say its route traverses ancestral lands -- which are not part of the reservation -- where their forebears hunted, fished and were buried. They say historical and cultural reviews of the land where the pipeline will be buried were inadequate.

    They want a redo!

    Parent

    They've wanted a redo for long time (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 11:12:55 PM EST
    So no. They're not kinda late.

    Even-handed adjudication and justice have been kinda late.

    Parent

    See the map (none / 0) (#41)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:47:41 AM EST
    Also do some research and tell me who "owned" the land before them.

    Maybe they want a redo, to.

    And the NA's, as a group, are perfect examples of being careful who you let into your country.

    Parent

    Yes, I'm quite familiar (5.00 / 2) (#54)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 01:16:05 PM EST
    with your might-makes-right argument that basically argues that we took the Indians land the way the Indians took it from the coyotes and the owls..

    That line of thinking unintentionally exemplifies why it's sometimes wise to keep certain individuals, and not whole "groups" out of the country.

    Fortunately for us, one problematic group here, the backward-looking dinosaurs, are slowly dying off.

    Parent

    No, these Native Americans - NA's (none / 0) (#59)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 02:38:47 PM EST
    ...the ones we speak of here ....didn't take it away from the wildlife.

    They took it away from other NA's. There are many books on who took what. A good one with a more modern view is "Th Contested Plains," U of Kansas Press.

    The so-called Native Americans supposedly came across the Siberia-Alaska land bridge and filtered down and across the continents. Among the things they are noted for is human sacrifice, slavery and cannibalism. Their societies/cultures ranged from hunter gather tribes in the north to feudal kings and peasants groupings in the central and south. The latter had some advanced astronomy but not much Joe and Jane Six Pack got anything from.

    Everything was cool until the southern Europeans arrived. The southern Europeans were aggressive, had better weapons, including germs that the NA's had never been around before. The result was conquest, settlement and a feudal society based on what they had in southern Europe resulting in land owners with peasants huddled around the Catholic Church. But the NA's were marginally better off. Limited  slavery, no cannibalism and no human sacrifice.

    Basically, little has changed to the south. They have gone from weekly revolutions to establishment of failed socialism experiments...Venezuela doesn't have toilet paper or antibiotics and Honduras is the murder capital of the world. Their exports are bananas and people.....who have flooded into America to the tune of 11 million or so. When called out many riot and fly Mexico's flag and demand the right to vote.   They seem determined to establish what they, or their parents, fled from. Poverty, chaos, crime and dictatorship.

    Later the northern Europeans arrived to the north. They were no better to the NA's than their peers to the south. But they did have one thing the southern Europeans didn't have. Budding democracy. They had the Magna Carta. The powers of kings were finite and the people were to have a voice.
    "We the people...." Became real.

    None of this is pretty. The NA's lost. What the Europeans found were people who couldn't, or wouldn't, defend the land that they had taken from the previous owners.

    We now find ourselves on the same page that was the Aztec's. Do we want to defend and hold this land, this civilization, or do we want to surrender to the flood of people from the south and the Obama and Hillary inflected flood of Muslims from the east.

    Parent

    the biggest killer (5.00 / 1) (#62)
    by CST on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 02:48:35 PM EST
    Of Native Americans was disease, and there isn't even a close second.  A big part of the reason they were unable to stick up for themselves was that the population was decimated by European germs before most of them ever actually met a European.

    That is a scenario that has a zero percent chance of playing out the same way today.

    Parent

    Sometimes (5.00 / 1) (#98)
    by TrevorBolder on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:54:51 AM EST
    Intentionally. I do not know how often it occurred, but biological weapons were used against the NA.  Smallpox blankets

    Parent
    There estimates now as high (none / 0) (#66)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 03:30:49 PM EST
    as two-thirds of the overall NA population being decimated by disease before 1700.

    Parent
    It's been estimated that ... (none / 0) (#70)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 04:13:42 PM EST
    ... the Native Hawaiian population in the islands was reduced by 50% as a result of the measles epidemic of 1848. Contemporary accounts from American missionaries at the time tell of whole villages being wiped out on the Kona side of the Big Island. Native peoples had no immunity to European diseases, especially childhood illnesses like measles and chicken pox. The outcome was devastating.

    Parent
    Thank each of you for ,making the same point I (none / 0) (#87)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:01:52 PM EST
    made.

    The southern Europeans were aggressive, had better weapons, including germs that the NA's had never been around before.

    Isolated populations had no natural immunity.

    But we seeing some revenge with measles and TB being reintroduced by the new immigrants.

    Parent

    We aren't isolated (none / 0) (#108)
    by CST on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:43:13 AM EST
    We have these fancy things called airplanes and boats now which take people across the ocean on a regular basis and prevent us from having isolated immune systems.

    And the "germs" weren't as much a weapon per-say.  Yes, some biological warfare probably occurred but the vast majority was due to natural spreading of disease.  

    And the the biggest threat of infectious disease isn't due to immigrants it's due to anti-science nonsense among the local population where people refuse to get their kids vaccinated.  If you don't want to die of a measles epidemic - modern medicine is your friend.  That, and your border wall isn't going to keep out mosquitoes anyway, and it won't keep Americans from travelling abroad either, exposure to disease is going to keep happening, but luckily it doesn't usually wipe out entire populations anymore.

    You're like that guy who's fighting in WW2 worried about getting killed by pikemen.

    Parent

    I'll ignore yiour snark (none / 0) (#117)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 12:40:25 PM EST
    given that you seem to agree with my point that the NA's were zapped by various European introduced diseases.

    And yes, it's a small small world.

    And the anti-vaccine people are out there.

    Speak of vaccines

    "We can now look ahead and say yes, there will most likely be an Ebola vaccine on the market. The question is when? At present we believe it will take more than 1 to 2 years for this to happen. Once a product is licensed we should be prepared to move swiftly and with clear operating procedures and agreement between countries worldwide.

    Love those qualifiers.

    But we use to screen immigrants for diseases and quarantine if needed.

    And you fail to understand. Or don't want to understand.

    The border wall isn't to keep diseases out.

    It is to keep additional ULH's, and others, out until we get the 11 million already here assimilated.

    Parent

    Your ham-handed Reich-like (5.00 / 3) (#65)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 03:27:15 PM EST
    smear in attempting to conflate the cultures of roughly 400 different tribes speaking 400 different languages with the Aztecs is noted..

    For simplicities sake, shall we reduce all Europeans to those who branded slaves and  chopped off their feet, burned people at the stake, broke people on the rack and expelled the Jews from Spain? Why not? You seem to approve of that method..

    I also note that your "many books" always means the same book; one that you've referred to here many times before. One can't help but come to the conclusion that that book is the only one you've ever skimmed that ostensibly deals with the history of Indian-European relations.

    And "Joe and Jane Sixpack" got that name in part because they can't be bothered to think about "NA astronomy" or any other kind of book learnin' and astronomy..

    I'll also note that the traders and explorers like Henry Hudson, the Dutch, and the French missionaries and fur traders, who came to these shores very early, weren't your famous swarthy and treacherous "southern europeans", who are, according to you, gentically and racially incapable of intellectual and moral advancement..

    Oh the humanity! The "flood of people" from the South..I know exactly what you mean. When I look at the map of the blood-red former slave states and think of the condition of their schools and the wide-spread reactionary attitudes..

    Those southern europeans and "LHs" must've made them that way, eh?

    Parent

    Hey Jim.. (none / 0) (#73)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 04:58:56 PM EST
    here are a few pointers for your 12:30 am rejoinder: lefties like Obama, Hillary, and many folks here don't care about the flood of LHs into this country as long as they vote Democrat..

    Soon our sons and daughters will all be taking noontime siestas under palm trees with sombreros pulled over their eyes like you once saw in a tattoo parlour..

    Then, something something about life being sadly harsh, and that the NAs would've fared better if they'd all stood together instead of wanting to punish this once-proud nation for it's past "sins" the way Obama does.

    That's just to get you started.

    You might even want to add something about the Greeks, who invented democracy, not being real southern europeans even though they might appear to be from looking at a world map..

    Parent

    Reading is what you do worst. (none / 0) (#90)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:19:12 PM EST
    ....Europeans were aggressive, had better weapons, including germs that the NA's had never been around before. The result was conquest, settlement and a feudal society based on what they had in southern Europe resulting in land owners with peasants huddled around the Catholic Church. But the NA's were marginally better off. Limited  slavery, no cannibalism and no human sacrifice.

    Anyplace there showing that I approve of their actions? Why no. Their isn't.

    Later the northern Europeans arrived to the north. They were no better to the NA's than their peers to the south

    So if you want to tell us how bad the Europeans were, go ahead. They weren't nice people. Especially when compared to today's Western culture. But when compared to radical muslims and ISIS...well they just don't match up.

    The point of all of this is simple.

    If you don't defend your country's borders you're gonna lose it.

    Believe it. All of history shows it.

    Ever read the Old Testament?

    Parent

    I've read the Old Testament (5.00 / 1) (#93)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:48:00 PM EST
    just not as accurate history.

    the country and it's make-up is changing and will continue to change and evolve into something better and more elightened.

    Cranky conservative shut-ins railing against multiculturalism whose fondest wish is to go back to America circa 1962, are being put out to pasture.

    Find yourself a shady spot.

    Parent

    What history is "accurate?" (none / 0) (#115)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 12:20:56 PM EST
    And speaking of accuracy.....

    I gave a quick Leftie type summary of "history."

    The Europeans were terrible. They won only because of germ "warfare".....etc...

    Except I threw in some facts about the NA's....

    I then demonstrated the problems of the Southern European political system/culture that were transmitted to the countries they conquered and settled...and how they have resulted in failed political systems and a culture that results in strong family ties but weak and often corrupt leaders....and countries that people flee.

    For contrast I noted how the Northern Europeans' political and culture morphed into democracy...and a country in which people flee to.

    And I concluded by noting that we are now in the same position that Aztec's were..

    Which, of course, is proven by the number of people fleeing to the US.

    You make the usual point that the country is changing. Which is accurate. The country has always changed. The question is, is the change for the good or the bad??

    I argue that if the change leads to what we see, and have seen, from the Muslim world and to the south, it will be very very bad.

    You, and your compañeros, can now shower me with
    fanático, racista and other buzz words that you think define me.

    que son conocidos por los enemigos que realice ;-)

    Google makes us all smart.

    I say the current "Open Borders" and "Runway 9" is bad because of the sheer numbers and the ease of communication in the modern world.

    In the past immigrants arrived and were needed to settle our vast open farm lands and take low skilled jobs. We no longer have vast unsettled lands and not enough jobs.

    They tended to settle close to each other and had maybe one newspaper in their native language. Now modern transportation takes them everywhere and many areas have multiple foreign language radio stations, newspapers and the Internet...all of which helps tie them to the land they fled..assimilation is almost impossible.

    And that's the point. Multiculturalism is another word for "a bunch of small groups each doing their own thing." That has never worked well in Europe and it bodes bad for America.


    Parent

    Personally, I'd recommend that cool inviting (none / 0) (#118)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 12:51:16 PM EST
    spot under that old crabapple tree yonder.

    Parent
    Fascinating (none / 0) (#154)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 06:01:46 PM EST
    When you can't refute you just blather.

    Here's a Latin phrase you need to consider.

    cui bono

    Who stands to gain?

    Who stands to gain from unlimited immigration?

    Well, we've already seen it isn't the ULH's. The more unskilled laborers there are the cheaper the pay and the worse the conditions.

    And it isn't the unskilled citizen workers. With plenty of ULH's around they must work as cheap as the ULH's.

    It isn't the middle class because the depressed wages have removed all upward pressure on wages in total. And low employment growth insures a reduction in benefits. Whatever happened to company pensions??

    cui bono

    The wealthy benefits. If you had money to invest you have gotten richer.

    If you had money the very low inflation rate protects its value.

    But wait!

    Here I thought it was the evil Repubs...and it is. Just as it is the evil Demos...

    The Repubs play the fake moral card.

    The Demos play the fake race card.

    Why is it the DC'ers on both sides who oppose Trump?

    Neither of the elitist groups give a damn about you, jondee. Or me.

    Catch a clue. We've all been turned into share croppers forced to do the bidding of the owners.

    The difference is I know it. You don't.

    Trump is the wild card. He may be vulgar. He may be crass. He may not do a thing he promises.

    But he is the last chance that I see us having.

    Parent

    If someone like Trump (5.00 / 1) (#159)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 06:38:43 PM EST
    is truly "our last chance", we might as well pull the plug, fold up shop, throw in the towel, and invite the Chinese and Russians in to take over and run things.

    And you'll excuse me if I'm a little skeptical of your new-found anti-establishment, anti-elitist
    change of heart after listening to you shill unswervingly for the likes of Bush-Cheney-Romney-McCain and every right wing talk radio loon who ever had conniptions over the Fairness Doctrine..

    Now suddenly you want to people to believe you're concerned about the wealthy elites playing us for suckers -- except for the wealthy elitist playing people for suckers who you want everyone to vote for..

    Exactly who do you think you're bullshitting?

     

    Parent

    We already have (none / 0) (#170)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:41:04 PM EST
    and invite the Chinese and Russians in to take over and run things.

    And you haven't been paying attention. My positions have always been about defense and supporting the troops. Your problem is when I point out that Obama birthed ISIS by taking the troops out you think I'm defending Bush.

    Catch a clue. Bush wasn't Prez.

    Trump has all the money he needs. His kids have all the money they need. Contrast that with Hillary and Bill who have never done anything except suckle at government teat.

    Trump wants people to have a job. He wants a booming economy. He's a businessman, not a policy wonk. When people have money he makes money.

    You don't grasp that. You can't because you are all about power for power's sake. That's the Left for you. They claim to love people but what they love is control of people. From how big a drink can be to how warm they can keep their homes it is all about control and power.

    I have said this numerous times. The Left and the Far Right are on the same coin, just opposite sides.

    Yes, you have to watch those small town people... They don't got no ed u cation, have never heard of the  Enter Net and are just pawns to be pushed around by Will...

    I have long noted that the Left and the Right are just opposite sides of the same coin.



    Parent

    "Catch a clue" (5.00 / 2) (#180)
    by Yman on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 09:25:05 AM EST
    Bush was the one who created the power vacuum by invading Iraq.  The same war you supported from your LaZee-Boy.  He was also the one who negotiated AMF signed the SOFA requiring the US to leave.

    Oops.

    Parent

    He also left Obama (none / 0) (#196)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:55:12 PM EST
    to finish the Wall.

    Guess what....

    If Bush had told Obama to jump off...would you think he should?

    lol

    Parent

    ISIS was birthed in Syria (none / 0) (#175)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 10:19:42 PM EST
    where we never had troops..

    Sounds like you have some catching up to do. Perusual.

    And yes, the hissy-fit meltdown you had on your blog after Romney, the ultimate elite DC insider lost, gives the lie to your rationale for why anyone should support your latest GOP saviour of the U.S.

    Mitt was our last hope. How did we ever manage to get this far without him?

    lol

    But what really gives me a chuckle is the knowledge that you'd be doing the exact same thing if that renowned social liberal Ted Cruz had gotten the nomination..

    Always the tireless, shameless, right wing stooge.

    Parent

    Rewriting history is your forte (none / 0) (#177)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 08:53:52 AM EST
    ISIS was birthed when the Bush administration (none / 0) (#181)
    by ding7777 on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 09:42:43 AM EST
    disbanded the Iraqi army, then sent the Sunnis and Saddam's generals into Syria  

    Parent
    "Gobsmacked" (none / 0) (#182)
    by jondee on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 09:44:25 AM EST
    isn't that how you expressed your sense of utter betrayal when Mitt lost?

    Well guess what? You're gonna be gobsmacked again in November. So have a wash cloth ready.

    Parent

    Still rewriting history..eh? (none / 0) (#190)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:13:32 PM EST
    Iraq was in fair to good shape until Obama, despite the warning from his generals, pulled the troops out.

    And the country has been gobsmacked for near 8 years.

    lol

    Parent

    Well you predicted all that, didn't you? (5.00 / 1) (#193)
    by jondee on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:26:20 PM EST
    in that post with the picture of the watermelon patch on the Whitehouse lawn..

    Parent
    Did you (none / 0) (#194)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:48:19 PM EST
    At (5.00 / 1) (#195)
    by FlJoe on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:52:33 PM EST
    best your argument is it's ok to be a jerk because others were also.

    Parent
    Wow. (5.00 / 6) (#76)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 07:04:01 PM EST
    You really are just a nasty little man.

    Parent
    Typical RNA fantasy. (none / 0) (#83)
    by desertswine on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:34:55 PM EST
    If the natives had been smart (none / 0) (#50)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 11:53:59 AM EST
    they would have killed every white man that set foot on north american soil from day one.

    Parent
    The Aztec thought they could cut a deal (none / 0) (#61)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 02:46:58 PM EST
    and gave the Spaniards billions of dollars...

    Some things never change.

    Parent

    Yeah well.. (5.00 / 1) (#68)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 03:47:06 PM EST
    Edward I, being so white and (needless to say) enlightened, read the Magna Carta and kicked all the Jews out of England, so the Spanish ended up with all the good lawyers to run circles around the Aztecs.

    Parent
    Your racism is noted (none / 0) (#88)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:04:39 PM EST
    I'm sure it carries over to your hatred of Israel.

    Parent
    That was 100% sarcasm (5.00 / 3) (#94)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:57:24 PM EST
    and in response to your romantic idealization of all things northern European and your denigration of peoples from other parts of the world.

    Parent
    So you claim now (none / 0) (#116)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 12:24:51 PM EST
    I take you at what you said.


    Parent
    Look at it this way, Jim (5.00 / 2) (#119)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 01:06:23 PM EST
    as long as you people keep inbreeding, you don't have to worry about the Northern European gene pool being contaminated.

    Parent
    Really (none / 0) (#179)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 09:06:47 AM EST
    Another one from (none / 0) (#186)
    by jondee on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 11:42:02 AM EST
    the "bad things Muslims do" archive..

    You should be careful how you talk about Muslims, Jim: your favorite people, the Aryans, supposedly originated in Iran.

    Parent

    Actually it was from the English (none / 0) (#189)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:07:45 PM EST
    newspaper, "The Telegraph."

    newspaper,"The Telegraph."

    Couples who are getting married should be forced to have a DNA test first to ensure they are not cousins amid growing concern about incest within Pakistani communities, Britain's first Asian peer has claimed.

    Baroness Flather, a former Tory who now sits as a cross-bencher, said in the House of Lords that it is "absolutely appalling" that first cousin marriages in Pakistani communities are leading to "so much disability among children".

    Looks like you are suffering from a severe case of Islamic Overcompensation Syndrome - ICS.

    Either that or you actually believed that scene in "Deliverance." Said movie, BTW, was released in '72. The book came out in 1970 and was well received by the literary crowd who are always looking for negative things about America...even if they have to seek out invented ones.

    Never the less that was near 50 years ago...do try and keep up...

    lol

    Parent

    lol Deliverance was written (none / 0) (#191)
    by jondee on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:18:16 PM EST
    by James Dickey, who grew up in the deep South.

    As I recall, the general response down there to that famous scene was "we don't see the problem, boy got hisself fluffed up a little is all.."

    Parent

    Which is why I (none / 0) (#99)
    by TrevorBolder on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:57:07 AM EST
    Am more  than a little leery when ET comes to visit,

    If they haven't already.

    Parent

    Anti-feminist Phyllis Schafly has died at 92. (none / 0) (#3)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 03:28:23 PM EST
    And may she rest in peace. Love her or loathe her, the woman was a political genius who excelled at what she did, and there was no countervailing force on an exhausted left to effectively fight back:

    The Nation | September 6, 2016
    What Phyllis Schlafly Might Have Been, If It Weren't For Women Like Phyllis Schlafly - "Painful as it is to acknowledge, Phyllis Schlafly, who died yesterday at the age of 92, was one of the most important American political organizers of the second half of the 20th century. In the 1970s, at a time when the women's movement seemed to be soaring from strength to strength, she forged a reactionary grassroots women's movement that defeated the Equal Rights Amendment at practically the eleventh hour -- a blow from which the feminist movement took decades to recover."

    Even though Schafly's presence and skills proved a setback for the advancement of women's rights, we can be both proud and grateful that for the most part, we were able to hold the line and prevent a really significant rollback.

    And now, it's 2016 and not 1916. Time to get on with it.

    Well she did say there would be a (5.00 / 6) (#39)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:17:31 AM EST
    Woman President over her dead body :)

    Parent
    Another doozy.. (none / 0) (#56)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 01:29:31 PM EST
    the atom bomb was a marvelous gift from God.

    "Now I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds"

    Maybe Phyllis was a closet orthodox Hindu.

    Parent

    It's supposedly "Not" true that she (none / 0) (#77)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:07:17 PM EST
    Publicly said this. But Trump gets by by saying, "People say all sorts of things", and " I'm hearing...."

    Certainly Ms. Schlafly thought it. I'm hearing that she thought that, several times.

    Parent

    They played some of her quotes (5.00 / 1) (#51)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 12:07:28 PM EST
    on All Things Considered the day she died. Some of them were mind boggling. Based on those quotes she deserves neither my respect nor sadness in her passing.

    Parent
    ... since as the article noted, she herself got into law school precisely because federal laws such as Title IX, which she later railed against, did away with the quota system that had heretofore restricted the number of slots available to women to a mere handful. She implied that women should always defer to their husbands, yet she was the primary breadwinner of her own family, and her husband's role was limited to managing her Eagle Forum. And her inflammatory anti-LGBT statements were truly cringe-worthy, especially after it became known that her son John is gay.

    Parent
    If he hadn't already been outed.. (none / 0) (#58)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 02:09:39 PM EST
    I wonder how long he would've carried on the charade, the way say, someone like Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove has..

    Parent
    There's no homophobe ... (none / 0) (#72)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 04:30:15 PM EST
    ... like a gay homophobe. The worst example to me is former CA State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield), one of the loudest and staunchest proponents / sponsors of the hateful Proposition 8, who was subsequently outed when he got busted for DUI while leaving Sacramento's biggest gay nightclub with a rentboy in tow to keep him company that evening.

    Parent
    "..the best lack all conviction (none / 0) (#4)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 03:40:01 PM EST
    while the worst are full of passionate intensity.."

           Yeats

    Parent

    You can place me into ... (none / 0) (#11)
    by desertswine on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 04:38:54 PM EST
    your second category.

    Parent
    I only get that way (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 04:55:31 PM EST
    during the Stanley Cup.

    Another thing Yeats and I have in common.

    Parent

    The Dallas Morning News (none / 0) (#5)
    by CoralGables on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 03:49:14 PM EST
    has endorsed every GOP Presidential nominee since 1968. That ended today and can best be summed up by the last line:

    Donald Trump is not qualified to serve as president and does not deserve your vote.


    Since you did not provide a link (none / 0) (#6)
    by Peter G on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 03:53:36 PM EST
    I will be lazy and ask: Did they affirmatively endorse Clinton?

    Parent
    Hillary was not mentioned at all (none / 0) (#7)
    by CoralGables on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 04:06:55 PM EST
    Supposedly their endorsement (or lack of) will be printed tomorrow.

    Parent
    I read it will be (none / 0) (#8)
    by CST on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 04:17:25 PM EST
    Gary Johnson.

    Parent
    Oddly enough (5.00 / 3) (#10)
    by CoralGables on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 04:20:32 PM EST
    an endorsement of Johnson would probably do more to help Hillary win Texas than an endorsement of Hillary.

    Parent
    Maybe not (5.00 / 2) (#133)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:25:48 PM EST
    Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor and Libertarian Party presidential nominee, revealed a surprising lack of foreign policy knowledge on Thursday that could rock his insurgent candidacy when he could not answer a basic question about the crisis in Aleppo, Syria.

    "What is Aleppo?" Mr. Johnson said when asked on MSNBC how, as president, he would address the refugee crisis in the war-torn Syrian city



    Parent
    Also did not know who Harriet Tubman was (5.00 / 1) (#134)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:27:40 PM EST
    Wasnt Alepo (5.00 / 1) (#136)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:35:11 PM EST
    One of the Marx brothers?

    Parent
    One of the unsung siblings, I presume, ... (none / 0) (#142)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:31:53 PM EST
    ... like Oslo, Oporto and Orlando.

    Parent
    Most Libertarians are Isolationists (5.00 / 1) (#137)
    by CoralGables on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:43:37 PM EST
    His voters wouldn't give a damn about Syria.

    Parent
    Fortunately (none / 0) (#138)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:46:00 PM EST
    I believe most Hillary voters do.

    Parent
    And Hillary "leaning" (none / 0) (#139)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:48:59 PM EST
    Voters.

    I think this guy just blew the best opportunity the Libertarians have had in my lifetime right out his butt.

    Parent

    I agree (5.00 / 2) (#140)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:05:20 PM EST
    the fact that he completely blew a relatively simple answer could turn off a lot of voters. Both he and Stein apparently aspire to this mindset that they are the pure and holy candidates. Stein spray painting a bulldozer was incredibly stupid and inept and then blames it on the Native Americans.

    After all this it's beyond obvious there's only one normal candidate out of all of them.

    Parent

    His opportunity (none / 0) (#141)
    by CoralGables on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:27:19 PM EST
    was to get zero electoral votes. He may have lost that opportunity but he'll still get zero.

    Parent
    The republicans are falling (none / 0) (#145)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:36:32 PM EST
    Over themselves (see Romney this morning) to get Johnson in the debates because they know it would help save Trump to have more than two people on the stage.

    That ship just sailed.  That's a good thing.

    Parent

    He likely blew his best chance ... (none / 0) (#144)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:35:13 PM EST
    ... at attaining the 15% threshold to make it into the presidential debates.

    Parent
    Great minds.... (none / 0) (#146)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:37:12 PM EST
    As I typed that (none / 0) (#152)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:57:51 PM EST
    Dirtball and Cueball on "all due respect" are shilling as hard and fast as they can to paper over the ignorance and get Johnson in the debates because, darn it, the "people" want it.

    "People" beng defined as soulless craven tv pundits.

    Parent

    Similar to the Richmond Times (none / 0) (#31)
    by christinep on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 10:05:57 PM EST
    Fascinating approach.

    Parent
    They endorsed Hillary this AM (none / 0) (#42)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:48:47 AM EST
    Yes (5.00 / 2) (#43)
    by CST on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:54:25 AM EST
    I guess I read wrong!

    Would be awesome to win Texas.  Not holding my breath, certainly not over a newspaper endorsement, but still.

    Parent

    Endorsement (5.00 / 4) (#45)
    by jbindc on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:44:47 AM EST
    The DMN hasn't endorsed a Democrat since WWII - not even LBJ in '64!

    Resume vs. resume, judgment vs. judgment, this election is no contest.  

    In Clinton's eight years in the U.S. Senate, she displayed reach and influence in foreign affairs. Though conservatives like to paint her as nakedly partisan, on Capitol Hill she gained respect from Republicans for working across the aisle: Two-thirds of her bills had GOP co-sponsors and included common ground with some of Congress' most conservative lawmakers.

    As President Barack Obama's first secretary of state, she helped make tough calls on the Middle East and the complex struggle against radical Islamic terrorism. It's no accident that hundreds of Republican foreign policy hands back Clinton. She also has the support of dozens of top advisers from previous Republican administrations, including Henry Paulson, John Negroponte, Richard Armitage and Brent Scowcroft. Also on this list is Jim Glassman, the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas.

    SNIP

    After nearly four decades in the public spotlight, 25 of them on the national stage, Clinton is a known quantity. For all her warts, she is the candidate more likely to keep our nation safe, to protect American ideals and to work across the aisle to uphold the vital domestic institutions that rely on a competent, experienced president.

    Hillary Clinton has spent years in the trenches doing the hard work needed to prepare herself to lead our nation. In this race, at this time, she deserves your vote.

    Link

    And of course, we should remember that the Houston Chronicle endorsed her too.

    Parent

    If Texas miraculously went Blue (none / 0) (#60)
    by jondee on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 02:39:32 PM EST
    I picture an insurrection, with Cliven Bundy and the head of Operation Rescue going down there like Colonel Travis and Jim Bowie and barricading themselves with some Texas Open Carry folks inside the Alamo..

    Parent
    It's been a long time (none / 0) (#64)
    by CoralGables on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 03:20:49 PM EST
    since I visited the Alamo, but it would be quite a bit easier today than it was for Davy Crockett. If things are the same as when I visited, Bundy could walk across the street to Fuddruckers or Pizza Hut when he gets hungry.

    Parent
    Basically (none / 0) (#100)
    by TrevorBolder on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:59:25 AM EST
    That was the Bush wing of the Republican Party endorsing Madame Sec.

    Makes sense

    Parent

    ACLU sues for release of Philando Castile dashcam footage

    The American Civil Liberties Union has brought a lawsuit demanding the release of video footage from a squad car dashboard camera from the day a St. Anthony police officer shot 32-year-old Philando Castile during a traffic stop earlier this year, the aftermath of which was live-streamed to millions of online viewers.

    I would like to see that footage.


    Me too (none / 0) (#23)
    by McBain on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 08:32:43 PM EST
    Assuming it exists, they've been sitting on it for a while.

    Parent
    Gee, I wonder (none / 0) (#36)
    by Repack Rider on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 12:24:04 AM EST
    ...why they wouldn't want to show the public that the officer did nothing wrong?  Isn't that the purpose of the dash-cam?

    What IS the purpose of the dash cam if the footage can't be shown?

    Parent

    Greta van Susteren... (none / 0) (#12)
    by desertswine on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 04:53:24 PM EST
    quits Fox "news" as it continues to implode.  Her husband hints that there may be litigation in the future.

    "There's so much chaos, it's very hard to work there," Coale said. Pressed on why Van Susteren used the clause to exit, he said, "There's more than meets the eye" and there "might be litigation in the future" but did not comment further.


    Is it that hard to find blondes (none / 0) (#14)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 04:58:43 PM EST
    to narrate world events as seen through the eyes of the Heritage Foundation?

    Parent
    It's easy if you pay enough (none / 0) (#16)
    by CoralGables on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 05:29:54 PM EST
    but Greta is probably lining up a job back with Ailes at Trump News.

    Parent
    But (none / 0) (#17)
    by FlJoe on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 05:35:02 PM EST
    oh that face, sorry.

    Parent
    I don't know. (none / 0) (#18)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 05:46:35 PM EST
    Greta probably is not dependent upon Ailes. I remember her at CNN for a long time. Maybe she'll end up at MSNBC?

    Parent
    Reportedly, Greta Van Susteren was ... (none / 0) (#24)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 08:35:32 PM EST
    ... increasingly dismayed and appalled at the volume of complaints which women at Fox News registered against Ailes, in part because she's on record as defending him, which in retrospect looks to have been a rather remarkable lapse in personal judgment on her part. She's likely alienated a lot of her fellow female Fox News colleagues and staff as a result.

    So, Van Susteren is exercising a clause in her contract which allows her to leave without any real notice on her part, and her departure -- right in the middle of the campaign season -- apparently takes effect immediately. She leaves a hole in the Fox News evening lineup, which will be filled at least for now) by longtime FNC stalwart Brit Hume.

    From Trump's perspective, his campaign can't be happy with her departure, because she's been a consistent cheerleader for him on that network, whereas Hume -- well, not so much.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Actually (none / 0) (#28)
    by TrevorBolder on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 09:07:32 PM EST
    Many Fox News female on air personalities supported Ailes

    http://tinyurl.com/jv4cw54

    A lot of conjecture based on.....

    I just take her statement for what it is... and not project, if there is anything else there, it will eventually come out

    As for the timing, she stated the clause in her contract had a limited time frame, thus the quick departure


    Parent

    And here's why they defended him: (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 04:28:05 AM EST
    "A few hours after the New York report, Ailes held an emergency meeting with longtime friend Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Marc Mukasey at his home in Garrison, New York, according to a high-level Fox source. Ailes vehemently denied the allegations. The next morning, Ailes and his wife, Elizabeth, turned his ­second-floor office at Fox News into a war room. 'It's all bullsh*t! We have to get in front of this,' he said to executives.

    "'This is not about money. This is about his legacy,' said Elizabeth, according to a Fox source. As part of his counteroffensive, Ailes rallied Fox News employees to defend him in the press. Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt called Ailes a 'family man'; Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto wrote, reportedly of his own volition, an op-ed labeling Ailes's accusers 'sick.' Ailes's legal team attempted to intimidate a former Fox correspondent named Rudi Bakhtiar who spoke to New York about her harassment.

    "Ailes told executives that he was being persecuted by the liberal media and by the Murdoch sons. According to a high-level source inside the company, Ailes complained to 21st Century Fox general counsel Gerson Zweifach that James, whose wife had worked for the Clinton Foundation, was trying to get rid of him in order to help elect Hillary Clinton. At one point, Ailes threatened to fly to France, where Rupert was vacationing with his wife, Jerry Hall, in an effort to save his job. Perhaps Murdoch told him not to bother, because the trip never happened."

    If it were only one or two women complaining, I can understand the skepticism. But not when Fox News hired a third party to conduct and internal view, and more than two dozen women (at least) stepped forward to tell investigators the same sordid tale.

    Roger Ailes is no innocent victim or bystander here, and neither are the people who enabled his behavior over the years. Unbeknownst to him, Gretchen Carlson recorded him in all his grotesque glory for over a year, and he certainly didn't disappoint.

    Legally, Carlson had Ailes dead to rights and the brass at Fox News knew that, thanks to the damning internal review. Further, Megyn Kelley was ready to unload on Ailes publicly, too. That's why they settled with and apologized to Carlson.

    You are under no obligation to defend the indefensible, Trevor -- so don't.

    Parent

    I didn't (none / 0) (#101)
    by TrevorBolder on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 06:04:44 AM EST
    Your comment that Van Sustern was leaving perhaps due to blowback from other female co workers was inaccurate.

    Van Sustern and her husband tried to renegotiate her contract for a big raise and was rebuked, and then she opted out, hoping to continue to work for several weeks. Fox then sent her a hand delivered letter informing her her resignation was accepted and effective immediately.

    Parent

    ... due to blowback from her female colleagues? Rather, I said the following:

    "[Greta Van Susteren was] increasingly dismayed and appalled at the volume of complaints which women at Fox News registered against Ailes, in part because she's on record as defending him, which in retrospect looks to have been a rather remarkable lapse in personal judgment on her part. She's likely alienated a lot of her fellow female Fox News colleagues and staff as a result."

    In the end, Van Susteren was distressed to learn that a man whom she had long considered a personal friend, and who was someone she liked and trusted, was not necessarily on the up-and-up with her, and that the allegations being leveled against him were credible.

    Alienation is not "blowback," because there was no retaliation involved. It simply means that as a result of her robust defense of Ailes, Van Susteren became estranged from many of her female colleagues at Fox News, which has been confirmed by reports. As a result, she wanted out and made it happen.

    Please do not deliberately misinterpret my comments for your own ends.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    In a post today on her Facebook page, she voiced her regrets for not believing Gretchen Carlson when her lawsuit against Roger Ailes was firdt filed, and basically denounced senior executives at 21st Century Fox for their now-obvious failure to provide effective corporate overight of Ailes:

    "I regret that Roger Ailes was not supervised by those in a public corporation who had the duty to supervise him. This included his seniors, the CFO's of both Fox News Channel and 21CF (and its predecessor NewsCorp), the Board of Directors and what I assume this public corporation had, outside auditors. Checks written that were suspicious should have been spotted."


    Parent
    Duterte versus Obama (none / 0) (#19)
    by RickyJim on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 07:39:42 PM EST
    I am with Duterte.  Who is Obama to complain about extra judicial killings of drug dealers while he orders extra judicial killings of alleged terrorists, with the expected collateral damage of innocent bystanders?  I think a good case can be made that the drug dealers are more of a threat to the Philippines than ISIS terrorists are to the US.  But I think in both cases the killings are futile and won't solve the problem.

    does anybody else wonder (none / 0) (#22)
    by linea on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 08:19:28 PM EST
    why obama is criticizing the philippine islands when the muslim countries are so much more oppressive? the only reason slavery and sex-slavery arent official policy in saudi arabia is because of western condemnation. the values of the "islamic state" are exactly thier values and they would be doing exactly the same if not for modern western sensibilities. that's how i feel.

    anyway, im not sure what "wont solve the problem" means. what's the problem exactly? is it muslims being terrorists per se (not sure im using per se correctly) or is it muslims commiting terrorism in the usa, or is it a concern for any generic terrorism in general happening anywhere?

    Parent

    Extra-judicial executions of thousands (5.00 / 3) (#69)
    by oculus on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 03:50:28 PM EST
    of alleged drug dealers.

    Parent
    i dont know what that means (none / 0) (#89)
    by linea on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:18:33 PM EST
    extrajudicial.

    are we to be outraged on behalf of filipinos? maybe yes. but i thought the issue is obama taking the moral high ground. america has FISA sham courts with judges rubber-stamping warrants (but that's not extrajudicial) and it was just on the news today that obama gave billions of dollars to his huggable iranian friends who hate us and want to kill us.

    Parent

    No formal charging document, arraignment, t (5.00 / 1) (#95)
    by oculus on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 10:35:48 PM EST
    or trial.  

    Parent
    Brock Turner protesters are part of the problem (none / 0) (#26)
    by McBain on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 08:53:45 PM EST
    Why do so many people get bent out of shape over a light prison sentence but not a harsh one? It's not as if Brock Turner got away with anything.  He still has to register as a sex offender. The problem with protests like this is it sends a message to elected officials that they need to error on the side of excessive punishment.  

    i cant (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by linea on Tue Sep 06, 2016 at 09:12:53 PM EST
    respond to this without getting banned.

    Parent
    You have led a sheltered life (5.00 / 2) (#37)
    by Repack Rider on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 12:30:03 AM EST
    ...if you are unaware that people protest all the time over excessive jail sentences.

    A Florida woman who "stood her ground" BY FIRING A SHOT IN THE AIR is doing twenty years in the same state that let Zimmerman go after he killed a guy that he had followed.

    Plenty of people are upset about that.

    Parent

    The Jacksonville case was (5.00 / 1) (#176)
    by JanaM on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 12:18:50 AM EST
    in no way a stand-your-ground case. Your facts are really off. Do a little independent research into the fatcs of that case - as opposed to sites that are advocating for her - and you'll understand why she was treated harshly - though I think her sentence was too harsh.

    Parent
    Not to mention, the extended uproar (none / 0) (#44)
    by Peter G on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 09:19:59 AM EST
    over the notorious 100-1 ratio that existed in federal cocaine sentencing law from 1996 to 2010, as between crack and powder, which was eventually mitigated although not entirely eliminated. And against "mass incarceration" more generally. However, it is true that individual "lenient" sentences do seem to be more readily and more frequently exploited for cheap and ignorant outrage than individual excessive sentences.

    Parent
    The Marissa Alexander myth (none / 0) (#47)
    by RCBadger on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 10:55:35 AM EST
    That's not true.  Her case was similar to Zimmerman's in that the evidence overwhelmingly favored one side which in this case was the prosecution.

    Here'a brief summary of the case: http://mediatrackers.org/florida/2013/07/16/no-marissa-alexanders-conviction-was-not-a-reverse-trayv on-martin-case-in-florida

    The problem with her case is that she got a much harsher sentence than was warranted due to Florida's sentencing guidelines.  She won a retrial and decided to take the plea deal which she had also been offered during her first trial.

    Parent

    If I remember correctly (none / 0) (#48)
    by McBain on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 11:07:30 AM EST
    She would have received a lesser sentence (or no sentence) if she had actually intended to shoot her ex.  The law doesn't seem to like warning shots.  

    Parent
    Warning shots are now legal in Florida (5.00 / 1) (#63)
    by RCBadger on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 02:49:11 PM EST
    They weren't then.  But again, she claimed she shot at the ceiling but the evidence showed she shot at his head while his two sons were standing beside him.  She also claimed she went back to the house because the garage door wouldn't open and she was trapped.  That turned out not to be true too.

    The travesty was the sentence, not the verdict.

     

    Parent

    Or, it sends a message (none / 0) (#52)
    by Yman on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 12:31:52 PM EST
    ... that they shouldn't err on the side of excessively lenient punishments (i.e. 6 months for three counts of sexual assault).

    Big difference.

    Parent

    {{ thank you }} (none / 0) (#85)
    by linea on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 08:51:19 PM EST
    SERIOUSLY
    am i the ONLY one with ANGER management issues!!?  

    it was 3 MONTHS!!!
    WTF!!?

    is everyone here on xanax??

    pretty sure it's a crime for me to tell the OP to kill himself by slashing his throat with jaged pieces of glass from a broken whisky bottle. but he can rest in the sure and certain knowledge that the world will be a better place without him.

    [allegedly] or whatever.
    i mean SERIOUSLY... WTF!!?


    Parent

    ... then he shouldn't have dragged an inebriated and passed out young woman behind a dumpster, where he violated her with his hand while masturbating, before getting caught by two passers-by on bicycles.

    Hopefully, the people who are currently protesting Turner's presence at his parents' house in Ohio will quickly realize that they really aren't accomplishing anything useful, and they'll soon seek out a life of their very own. He's served his sentence and has registered as a sex offender, as he was required to do, so that's that. IMHO, picketing his parents' residence is a really stupid waste of time.

    But other than that, to be perfectly frank, Turner's not the victim here. Rather, he's a convicted rapist who got off remarkably easy at sentencing, considering what he did to that young woman. That's why people are pi$$ed off.

    So, if you're looking to garner sympathy for Turner's plight, it looks like you've come to the wrong place. Speaking for myself only, my own sympathies in this instance are reserved for his victim.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    He's not a convicted rapist (none / 0) (#167)
    by McBain on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:33:26 PM EST
    A rape conviction would have probably meant a longer sentence.

    So, if you're looking to garner sympathy for Turner's plight, it looks like you've come to the wrong place.

    My post was clearly about the inappropriate outrage and protests.  Talkleft is the perfect place to discuss high profile legal cases.

    Parent

    "Inappropriate" outrage??? (none / 0) (#183)
    by Yman on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 10:21:24 AM EST
    Heh.

    You think so?

    Parent

    What Yman said. (none / 0) (#188)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 01:01:04 PM EST
    While public outrage over Brock Turner's inexplicably short sentence is water under the bridge at this point, it's hardly inappropriate.

    And I stand corrected. Turner is not a "convicted rapist." Rather, being that the jury in this instance found him guilty of all three felony counts against him -- (1) assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person, (2) sexual penetration of an intoxicated person, and (3) sexual penetration of an unconscious person -- he's a convicted sexual assailant.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Showing up at Turner's parents house (none / 0) (#197)
    by McBain on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 02:06:15 PM EST
    with guns and suggesting Brock be castrated or executed is extremely inappropriate.  

    Parent
    Maybe those with guns (5.00 / 1) (#198)
    by CoralGables on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 02:11:34 PM EST
    are just standing their ground

    Parent
    I have to agree there (5.00 / 1) (#201)
    by jondee on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 02:41:30 PM EST
    there much more effective and sane ways to express dissent and organize and work for justice than morphing into a lynch mob..

    What is it about people when they get their blood up and form into groups?

    As a kid they told me that two heads were better than one, but they forgot to tell me that sometimes twenty heads are worse than one. The righteous indignation builds and builds and feeds on itself and suddenly it's Lord of the Flies time.

    Parent

    It's legal free speech. (none / 0) (#200)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 02:39:07 PM EST
    I don't like the idea of people carrying guns openly with an implicit suggestion or promise of prospective violence, but Ohio is a traditional open-carry state. So what are you going to do about it?

    Parent
    Sorry, linea, my comment was directed ... (none / 0) (#161)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 07:01:37 PM EST
    ... at McBain and not you. I just hit the wrong button.

    Parent
    From our 'Schlock Goes the Weasel' file: (none / 0) (#97)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Sep 07, 2016 at 11:59:55 PM EST
    If Rob Tannenbaum of GQ magazine is going to call Starship's "We Built This City" the worst song EVAH!, then what superlative would he use to describe anything ever done by Rick Astley?

    For a scholarly study, as of 1997, (5.00 / 3) (#110)
    by Peter G on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 10:25:51 AM EST
    you must consult Dave Barry on this subject. Utterly hilarious, needless to say.

    Parent
    Dave Barry, I might add, has personal knowledge (5.00 / 1) (#165)
    by Peter G on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:04:32 PM EST
    of the subject, since he plays in a band with other writers (including Amy Tan, Matt Groening and Stephen King) called the Rock Bottom Remainders, and in college (I happen to know, from being there at the time) played in a truly awful student band called The Federal Duck. (I have to disagree with the Amazon review of their 1968 album, to which I linked; it calls them "underrated." Impossible.)

    Parent
    And Mitch Albom (none / 0) (#166)
    by CoralGables on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:08:37 PM EST
    but they have officially disbanded.

    Parent
    Eighteen simoleons!! (none / 0) (#173)
    by desertswine on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 10:03:15 PM EST
    McArthur Park was a huge hit.. (none / 0) (#121)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 01:29:26 PM EST
    I remember hearing that on the radio back then, when I was like ten, and thinking "What the..?!"

    Someone left the cake out in the rain, and I'll never find that recipe again. Oh no..

    Jimmy Webb did write some other nice songs, though.

    Parent

    In the 'who woulda thunk it' (none / 0) (#123)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 01:48:45 PM EST
    category, Keith Richards says Bobby Goldsboro, author of the excruitiatingly maudlin song 'Honey', was the one who taught him how to play the blues guitar like Jimmy Reed.

    Parent
    Honey (none / 0) (#149)
    by RCBadger on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:50:33 PM EST
    Bobby Goldsboro had the big hit with it, but "Honey" was written by Bobby Russell.

    He did pen the immortal classics "With Pen in Hand", and "Summer (The First Time)."

    Parent

    Hey Peter (none / 0) (#202)
    by jondee on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 02:45:06 PM EST
    I've been meaning to ask you. What do you think of Gerry Spence?

    Parent
    Anyone commenting on this topic (5.00 / 1) (#132)
    by CoralGables on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:20:49 PM EST
    that doesn't have Achy Breaky Heart in their top 10 shouldn't be considered knowledgeable about garbage.

    Parent
    Ugh! Don't remind me. (none / 0) (#147)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:41:07 PM EST
    Billy Ray Cyrus is already in my doghouse for having sired Miley and inflicting her on us. Ripping him for "Achy Breaky Heart" is just piling on.

    Parent
    My daughter tells me (5.00 / 1) (#150)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:53:44 PM EST
    the tongue-sticking-out thing Miley does has to do with doing too much "Molly."

    That, and trying to come up with some angle to one-up Lady Gaga..

    Young people these days..

    Why can't they be like we were? Perfect in every way..

    Parent

    Nobody will ever one-up Lady Gaga. (5.00 / 1) (#156)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 06:05:18 PM EST
    That's because by the time they finally figure out how to do so, she's already long since moved on to something else.

    Parent
    I saw that...that song is so far from the (none / 0) (#104)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:26:48 AM EST
    top of my own worst songs list that is staggers the mind. Has he listened to Mellencamp's 'Jack and Diane'?

    Parent
    Oops (none / 0) (#111)
    by Steve13209 on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 10:32:39 AM EST
    I kinda like that song. But then I like Hall and Oates too.

    Parent
    Love Hall and Oates! (none / 0) (#129)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 03:03:51 PM EST
    and a lot of John Mellencamp. But not that one!

    Parent
    John Oates lives in Aspen, (5.00 / 2) (#148)
    by fishcamp on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:50:08 PM EST
    And is a really great guy.  He and his wife work with disadvantaged children, and do all kinds of good things around town.  He also puts on a couple of free concerts in the park every summer.  

    One time in Portland we bumped into each other at the Nike store, and we both blurted out 'what are you doing here'.  I told him I was visiting my mother, and he said he and Daryl  were performing that night.  He handed me a couple of tickets and said bring your mom. She didn't know who they were, but my sister sure did.  So sis and I went, and when we were backstage he complimented me on how young my mother looked.  Quite funny, and fortunately my sister didn't hear that.  The kids at the Nike store started paying way more attention to me after John left the store.

    Parent

    And there are my personal favorites, ... (none / 0) (#127)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 02:51:03 PM EST
    ... Paul Anka's "Having My Baby," Coven's "One Tin Soldier" and Paper Lace's "The Night Chicago Died," three songs which never failed to make me want to rip the radio right out of the dashboard of whatever car I was riding in at the time, and then throw it out the window.

    And that was the genius of John Belushi. He did what the rest of us were thinking.

    ;-D

    Parent

    Oh yes, the Night Chicago Died (none / 0) (#128)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 03:02:19 PM EST
    And they aren't even talking about Steve Bartman.

    But they do talk about 'the East side of Chicago'...something no one from Chicago has ever said.

    Parent

    Isn't the east side of Chicago (5.00 / 2) (#130)
    by caseyOR on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:00:29 PM EST
    Lake Michigan?

    Parent
    Exactly (none / 0) (#135)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 04:30:50 PM EST
    Goin' East to West you got yer lakefront, yer Loop, yer west side, yer burbs...

    Sorry, I slip into Chicagoese...

    Parent

    And where my father's family was from, ... (none / 0) (#151)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:55:05 PM EST
    ... that's yer boonies.

    Parent
    You betcha (none / 0) (#172)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 09:57:59 PM EST
    You forgot Joliet. (none / 0) (#184)
    by oculus on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 11:00:36 AM EST
    What's the Jack Black line (none / 0) (#155)
    by jondee on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 06:01:47 PM EST
    from High Fidelity?

    Old sad bastard music.

    Parent

    Exactly. (none / 0) (#158)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 06:37:35 PM EST
    My older sister used to call it "Radio Velveeta."

    Parent
    US: the best justice system in the world?. (none / 0) (#122)
    by stuartj on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 01:47:58 PM EST
    Hi I've just finished reading this in the UK Guardian: It's about the astonishing absence of criminal lawyers in parts of Louisiana, so much so that lawyers specialising in, say, insurance could end up defending someone charged with murder. The article was quite shocking. There is no budget to interview, do forensics. If you're poor your f**ked. I write, as you might guess, as a foreigner. Though in the UK don't have anything remotely like the Louisiana problem there are disturbing signs we are moving towards this. We are reducing budgets to those unable to afford access to the courts. Yes, you will get a barrister if you are charged with having committed a capital crime such as murder., but the budget assigned for putting together a defence has been shrunk. Do I think you have the best justice system in the world? No. Do I think we do? Definity not. It is perhaps no coincidence that our economic models are not dissimilar. While your country and mine continue an increasingly childish infatuation with retribution I look at Scandinavian countries, some African and Caribbean countries too and see systems bending more towards rehabilitation and shorter sentences. One day people will have a hard, long look at our systems and wonder why we parade ourselves and our rule of law as the best in the world.

    Sorry, I mentioned another country (none / 0) (#143)
    by stuartj on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:34:25 PM EST
    parochialism (none / 0) (#153)
    by stuartj on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 05:59:39 PM EST
    No worries that what I wrote about was not that interesting. More worrying is that once again as I revisit this website I am hit by just how parochialism much of the debates are. True in the UK too of course, but this in not the first time I've been struck by how inward looking you can be and that does not bode well. You are the superpower, but that is coming at an increasingly heavy price. It isn't all about the bigger guns and economic control and suchlike. It is the moral high ground you should occupy. But I don't think you do anymore. Right now, Powerful nations eventually decline for a number of reasons. Right now, countries ask just makes s the US top dog? Time are changing and while China as an example cannot questionUS justice others can. I am a UK citizen. I don't want to see the US decline in any way.Yet I read that article about lack of defence attorneys in Louinnna I wonder if you understand that this is seen by a lot of people across the world..You need to get you Judicial act together.After all .it is a reflection of a decent country - one that treats its prisoners with diginity, offering rehabilitation more ofte than it does n and perhaps , dare i say this, gets rid of the death penallty?

    Parent
    Ai final tought (none / 0) (#157)
    by stuartj on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 06:19:11 PM EST
    Sorry, I will shut up after this.. I understand Hilary and Trump are the principle focus on the ticket right now so sorry I keep banging on about your judicial process. But to me, it is so important. You are seen as a decent people, but you support the death penalty, LWOP and frankly a systemt that belongs to the third world You can't ignore us (the rest of the word, Your power is slowly ebbing away from the US andy you need to make alliances so to maintain your power you should think less about guns and suchlike, but consider standing tall as a country with a moral ethic that stands above other.s Your judicial systej is one of a number of things that completely undermines this.

    Parent
    The owner of this site (5.00 / 5) (#163)
    by Peter G on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 08:24:21 PM EST
    and a number of the regulars here, as well, are criminal defense lawyers and others who are active in challenging and trying to reform that system. Its deep-seated flaws are not news to us. (We also support abolishing the death penalty.)

    Parent
    thank you for your posts stuart (smile) (none / 0) (#174)
    by linea on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 10:16:08 PM EST
    state primary today (none / 0) (#124)
    by CST on Thu Sep 08, 2016 at 01:50:38 PM EST
    Not very exciting.  Neither senator is up for election and not a single one of the MA congresspeople have challengers in the primary.

    I wrote in someone for that one because I'm really not a fan of my congressman Stephen Lynch, but he has blown out every primary challenger so far - so this year no one bothered.

    The hot race this year is the little-known Register of Deeds (for Suffolk County aka Boston) position, which has managed to get no less than 6! challengers in the race.  Highly paid, little to no actual power or job to do, no wonder everyone wants it.

    If that's not a sad statement of affairs I don't know what is.

    Just got a mosquito bite (none / 0) (#178)
    by fishcamp on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 08:59:34 AM EST
    on my ankle while emptying the water out of my stupid boat cover.  They say the Zika's are low flying ankle biting critters.  There have not been any reported cases of Zika down here in the keys, at least not that I've heard about.  I hope I don't make the headlines as being the first.  Just heard our spray plane fly overhead on his three stripe poison passby.  We have enough problems with all the storms rolling off the African coast, and out into the Atlantic, heading our way.  What could be next?

    Submersion. (5.00 / 1) (#185)
    by oculus on Fri Sep 09, 2016 at 11:05:26 AM EST
    in Central CA.

    Short story is in May of 1996, in a very highly publicized story, a 19 y/o coed at California Polytechnic State University in San Louis Obispo went missing and has never been found.

    Kristen Smart was last seen after an off-campus party in the very early morning with a male student, Paul Flores.

    Paul took the 5th soon after, and 20 years later Kristen is still missing.

    In the past few weeks new information had been found, and the FBI started excavating an area on campus.

    Yesterday "items of interest" were found there.