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Wednesday Open Thread

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    Many thanks to activist Charlotte Laws, ... (5.00 / 6) (#14)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 07:08:43 PM EST
    ... who's countering Orange County, CA attorney Matt McLaughlin's "Sodomite Suppression Act" with her own "Intolerant Jackass Act":

    "It was 'just a way to speak back to this intolerant individual lawyer in Orange County, Laws told [the San Francisco Chronicle] on Tuesday, a day after her counter-stroke was first reported by Slate.com. 'I felt that ridiculing him was the best way to take away his power. ... It basically gives our state a bad name.'"

    Hear, hear! Where do we sign her petition? In the meantime, CA Attorney General Kamala Harris has asked the state court for permission to officially ignore McLaughlin's hatemongering ballot initiative:

    "As Attorney General of California, it is my sworn duty to uphold the California and United States Constitutions and to protect the rights of all Californians. This proposal not only threatens public safety, it is patently unconstitutional, utterly reprehensible, and has no place in a civil society. Today, I am filing an action for declaratory relief with the Court seeking judicial authorization for relief from the duty to prepare and issue the title and summary for the 'Sodomite Suppression Act.' If the Court does not grant this relief, my office will be forced to issue a title and summary for a proposal that seeks to legalize discrimination and vigilantism."

    You go, girls!

    Guilt by Association (5.00 / 1) (#64)
    by RickyJim on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:49:18 AM EST
    and destroying evidence of a non crime.  FBI is getting really nasty.

    So....... (5.00 / 1) (#107)
    by Zorba on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:05:52 PM EST
    I clear my history and my cookies on a regular basis- usually once a week.
    Does that mean I would get into trouble if the FBI decided, for whatever reason, that I knew someone who had been arrested by them?  And even more, if I knew the person, that I had helped him or her in some way?  
    And, BTW, this is just another warning to people.  Do not talk to the cops, whether local, state, or federal, without first consulting a lawyer and having that lawyer with you.  You may be totally innocent of anything, but for the Flying Spaghetti Monster's sake, don't volunteer anything, don't talk to them without that lawyer.
    This is why the FSM invented lawyers.  R'Amen.    ;-)

    Parent
    Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (5.00 / 1) (#102)
    by sj on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:46:04 PM EST
    Corrente has a moving post about fire which happened 104 years ago yesterday.

    It's worth the read. People forget.

    Thank you, sj (5.00 / 2) (#109)
    by Zorba on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:20:52 PM EST
    A sad but important reminder of how bad things were for workers.
    And how bad they could get again.
    From the article:

    What has happened in the last century to send us back to corporate oppression and labor abuse, betraying government, the dismantling of worker rights and protections, plenty of union-bashing rhetoric and union-busting legislation from politicians, some willing to promise unions anything for election support, and then let them twist in the wind when it comes to follow through on promises?

    How awesomely frustrating and disgusting it all is. How much it parallels the plight of those shirtwaist workers who had such a hard fight to attain their rights.

    We as a nation have returned to a "haves and have nots" Gilded Age of amorality and elitism. The corporatists, the government, the media have abandoned the working class. Once again, there is massive denial of workers' rights. Public protections of the American workers are steadily being eliminated by our supposed governmental representatives. Once again the media romanticizes the rich and famous and turns its back on the majority of economically struggling Americans. It demonizes unions and their members, encouraging immature resentment for them from workers in the private sector.

    Human decency and justice seem of little value to an administration and Congress that continues to sell out to the wealthy elite. Awareness, empathy and integrity mean little to our political and industrial/corporate elites.



    Parent
    Just curious about (1.50 / 4) (#18)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:17:33 PM EST
    inclusion and all that good stuff...

    Have any of you thought that the evileeee Repubs have 2 blacks, 1 female and 2 Hispanics in their Presidential hopeful line up...

    And the Demos have 1 old white woman from Arkansas???

    ;-)  

    Gird your loins, everyone! (5.00 / 4) (#19)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:27:47 PM EST
    Jim's demonstrating his political independence again.

    Parent
    "Old"? (5.00 / 3) (#20)
    by Yman on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:41:58 PM EST
    Guess that makes you downright ancient.

    BTW - Anyone can be a "hopeful".  Getting elected by Republicans is the hard part.

    Parent

    Not that hard (2.00 / 1) (#95)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:00:21 PM EST

    The deep south has two governors and one senator that are not whites.  Each is a Republican.  Tim Scott the senator from South Carolina got more votes than Lindsey Graham in the same election.

    On the other hand the party of Jim Crow is as you would expect lilly white.

    Parent

    Are you kidding? (5.00 / 1) (#100)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:35:38 PM EST
    What planet are you coming from? Did you know that Nikki Haley while technically Aisan runs from it like the plague and Jindal changed his name because it was too ethnic? Haley never uses her real name which is Nikira.

    And Tim Scott was appointed. I serously doubt if he had tried to run for the senate like everybody else he would have made it. Herman Cain couldn't make it out of the GOP primary here in GA and neither could any other African Americans in GA.

    You really don't even know what the GOP is comprised of these days. It's the old Dixiecrat party built by Strom and being destroyed by those same people. And MA has an African American govenor who is a D.

    Parent

    Tim Scott (none / 0) (#133)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:43:56 PM EST
    was elected to his current term.

    Parent
    The party of Jim Crow.. (5.00 / 1) (#103)
    by jondee on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:47:58 PM EST
    Really, Abdul?

    That history-bastardizing characterization is both intellectually dishonest and just plain stupid.

    Apparently word never filtered down to you about how the deeply conservative Jim Crow Dixiecrats became Republicans a few decades ago.  

    Parent

    Apparently you think time stood still and it (1.50 / 2) (#169)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 10:07:16 PM EST
    is still 1968....

    Hin!!! That was 47 years ago

    Parent

    Are you forgetting (none / 0) (#188)
    by Uncle Chip on Sun Mar 29, 2015 at 11:19:21 AM EST
    KKK Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd --Democrat leader of the Senate and his Democrat buddies with similar views who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

    Majority Whip Byrd was a member of the wing of the Democratic Party that opposed desegregation and civil rights imposed by the federal government.

    Byrd joined with Democratic senators to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964, personally filibustering the bill for 14 hours ....



    Parent
    Not forgetting at all (none / 0) (#191)
    by jondee on Wed Apr 01, 2015 at 02:37:09 PM EST
    Just acknowledging the obvious: that the overwhelming majority of white supremacist segregationists in the South were right wing conservatives who went over to the Republican Party after Lyndon Johnson..

    As anyone who hasn't been living in an underground bunker for decades already knows.

     

    Parent

    You can always tell (5.00 / 2) (#193)
    by NYShooter on Wed Apr 01, 2015 at 05:37:31 PM EST
    who is intellectually curious, reads to expand his/her knowledge, and, who is content being willfully ignorant, becoming a pathetic, lazy sycophant to whatever Right Wing Demigod spews the vilest, dishonest bile. Cue: Limbaugh & FOX. The Robert Byrd saga is well known to most literate people.

    Byrd, as many in the South post WW2, experimented with racist organizations after The War. He was in his early 20's, became disillusioned after about a year, and spent the rest of his career denouncing his early actions, and the KKK.

    Of course, anybody who doesn't live their life ensconced in Limbaugh's colon would know that.


    Parent

    the obvious (2.00 / 2) (#194)
    by Uncle Chip on Wed Apr 01, 2015 at 10:33:55 PM EST
    Just acknowledging the obvious ...

    Really???

    Well obviously then KKK Grand Kleagle Democrat Senate Leader Byrd, along with his other Democrat segregationist Senate buddies, didn't get the memo.

    I guess they were all down in that underground bunker when that memo went around.

    Parent

    The implication was that today's (5.00 / 1) (#195)
    by jondee on Thu Apr 02, 2015 at 04:43:46 PM EST
    Democratic Party is like the Jim Crow dixiecrat party of four and five decades ago.

    Next you history-is-Silly-Putty folks will be claiming Lincoln was the nineteenth century precursor to the libertarian conservatives..

    Parent

    ... "the party of Jim Crow" are no more reflective of the political reality which exists today, than are your corresponding claims that the GOP remains "the party of Lincoln."

    The cold truth of the matter, Abdul, is that our country's political parties have evolved profoundly over the past 80 years. As the Democrats made the conscious decision to rid the country of Jim Crow's legacy in the 1960s and '70s, the Republicans have since come to wholeheartedly endorse the noxious concept of its resurrection.

    And that's why the GOP, which could once count upon the electoral support of at least two-thirds of the African-American community at the turn of the 20th century, now regularly struggles to attract 10% support in that same community today.

    Thus, were Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth still around today, in all likelihood he'd be a Republican, having accepted the gracious invitations of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan -- as part of its "Southern Strategy," -- to cross over and join the "new" GOP as the party, which willingly donned the morally corrupt mantle of state's rights that had long since been tossed aside by Democrats.

    Honestly, if you're going to try citing history as a means to taunt your political opponents, you and other similarly ignorant Republicans should at least first try to learn about it, rather than continually attempt to rewrite it as some sort of comforting fiction.

    Because again, truth be told, your warped notion of history is about as true to the actual record, as the 1967 film "The Valley of the Dolls" would otherwise be heralded as a definitive example of great American cinema.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Not the party of Jim Crow? (2.00 / 1) (#180)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 03:48:26 PM EST

    Bull Connor had a seat on the DNC.

    Parent
    And theconservative Dixiecrats ... (5.00 / 2) (#181)
    by Yman on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 06:45:38 PM EST
    ... are today's Republicans.

    Parent
    Funny, isn't it? (5.00 / 4) (#182)
    by NYShooter on Sat Mar 28, 2015 at 02:26:12 AM EST
    how today's Tea Party Mutants, from the "Party of Lincoln," think, every time, that they've discovered the perfect "gotcha" bumper sticker, and laugh to themselves, even after 10 million times, as if it's brand new today.

    Parent
    Agree with so much (none / 0) (#114)
    by sj on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:53:31 PM EST
    of what you just said. There's just this disturbing  fixation you have with "Valley of the Dolls" ...

    :)


    Parent

    LOL! "Dolls" is actually one of ... (none / 0) (#127)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:14:16 PM EST
    ... my guilty cinematic pleasures. It's one of those rare films, the kind which are so hilariously bad on so many levels that they've since entered the pantheon of true camp classics. ("Mommie Dearest" is another example.) Even co-star Patty Duke has embraced the notoriety of her unflinchingly over-the-top performance in "Dolls," and even made several public appearances in conjunction with the film's 2009 big screen revival for appreciative audiences.

    On the literary side, while Jacqueline Susann's pulp novel will never be mistaken for "Ethan Fromme" or "To Kill a Mockingbird," nevertheless at 30+ million copies in print the book propelled her into the male-dominated stratosphere of widely recognized megaselling author.

    So in that regard, I've always considered Ms. Susann as something of a trailblazer, who should be commended for having broken the glass ceiling for aspiring women authors in the '60s. Her obvious success compelled publishing houses to seriously consider the market potential of a then-mostly untapped pool of talented and aspiring female writers of fiction, as primary source material for future publications.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Wait! I know! That's the number (5.00 / 3) (#26)
    by Anne on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 09:25:11 PM EST
    of Republicans it takes to change a light bulb!  

    Meanwhile, that old white woman from Arkansas is probably your next president.

    "evileee?"  Is that any relation to "evil-ish?"

    Good Lord, jim...go to bed.

    Parent

    et al (none / 0) (#28)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 10:18:13 PM EST
    You can whine all you want but the numbers are the numbers.

    As the s/he (see how PC I am???) said:

    What have you done for me lately???

    ;-)

    Parent

    Who's whining? (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by nycstray on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 10:24:09 PM EST
    I do see a bit of humor. I feel sorry for you if you can't tell the difference . . . .

     ;-)

    Parent

    The "numbers are the numbers" (none / 0) (#30)
    by Yman on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 10:24:53 PM EST
    Yes they are, Jim.

    Yes, they are.

    Parent

    Ben Carson is a few years young (none / 0) (#32)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 11:00:49 PM EST
    than Hillary Clinton, 4 to be exact.  He's old enough to collect Social a Security, so he probably qualifies as a black old man.  😃

    Parent
    The actual Republican (5.00 / 1) (#91)
    by KeysDan on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:29:16 PM EST
    presidential nominee (dollar to a donor), JEB, at age 62 (b. Feb ll 1953), is also eligible for social security.  While just a "kid" he somehow is doing quite well in the fund-raising department.

    Last night, at the home of billionaire Gerald Ford and his interior designer wife, Kelli, a special guest was former President George W. Bush.  The price of admission was $100,000 a couple--a donation or, for the poors among them, a commitment to raise such.  

    All these other diverse candidates can continue to scramble in and out of the clown car for the next year or so, and wingers can continue to entertain visions of dancing clowns in their head, but they need to be prepared for the one with the money bags and rolodex file.  (see Romney, Mittens 2012; also see Romney, Mittens, 2015, kneecappings by Jeb).

    Parent

    Who's the female (none / 0) (#33)
    by nycstray on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 11:10:58 PM EST
    that they are going to assault our intelligence with? I'm drawing a blank atm . . . .

    Parent
    Maybe Michele Bachmann (none / 0) (#34)
    by MO Blue on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 11:18:16 PM EST
    Comments made in 2014:

    Rep. Michele Bachmann said Tuesday that she is considering a run for president in 2016.

    The Minnesota Republican told Real Clear Politics that she learned a great deal from her failed bid in 2012 and will "certainly" draw upon those lessons.

    "Like with anything else, practice makes perfect," she said. "And I think if a person has gone through the process -- for instance, I had gone through 15 presidential debates -- it's easy to see a person's improvement going through that."



    Parent
    She did 15 debates? (none / 0) (#36)
    by nycstray on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 11:39:38 PM EST
    I didn't realize she lasted that long, lol!~

    Parent
    Carly Fiorina (none / 0) (#35)
    by Politalkix on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 11:20:32 PM EST
    Is she crazy enough for them? (none / 0) (#37)
    by nycstray on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 11:43:12 PM EST
    Well, my lovely Carly .... (5.00 / 4) (#38)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:39:06 AM EST
    ... took a thriving corporation in Hewlett-Packard and not only created fiscal chaos, she authorized the wiretapping her own board members before leaving everything in utter disarray -- and then, she touts her business expertise on the campaign trail!

    If that's not f---in' crazy, I don't what is.

    Parent

    She ran against Barbara Boxer and lost (none / 0) (#39)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:47:14 AM EST
    more than 4 years ago, which obviously means she'd be a great candidate for the Republican nomination next year.

    Run, Carly, run!

    Parent

    Yes, she said (none / 0) (#43)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:24:51 AM EST
    "You won't have Carly to kick around anymore."

    lol

    Parent

    She should promise to do for this country (none / 0) (#46)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:31:37 AM EST
    what she did for Lucent and HP, that'll get her the Republican nomination.

    Parent
    She is Probably... (none / 0) (#45)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:28:41 AM EST
    ...the most hated woman in Houston.

    Parent
    lol (none / 0) (#192)
    by jondee on Wed Apr 01, 2015 at 03:14:45 PM EST
    it's one of the most diverse groupings of right wing reactionaries ever assembled..

    Which candidates in the group are bullish about pushing for single payer and supportive of a woman's right to choose?

    Parent

    What is Your Point ? (5.00 / 1) (#49)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:45:55 AM EST
    That there is more diversity in the republican party Presidential candidates than in the R-Senate if you Cruz and Rubio don't get minority credit twice.

    How very republican of you to notice to think it matters.

    Parent

    Not by much (5.00 / 1) (#53)
    by jbindc on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:01:26 AM EST
    There are 3 Hispanics in the Senate - you said not to count Cruz and Rubio, so that leaves Menendez for the Democrats, and who knows how long he'll be there, since he's probably going to be indicted. (Obviously, if you count Cruz and Rubio, the Republicans are ahead on this one).

    The Democrats have two black senators, the Republicans have one.  The Democrats have one Asian American, the Republicans have none.  There are no Native American senators.

    There are 16 Female Democrats and 4 Republicans.

    Not exactly a great showing for either party.


    Parent

    The lack of diversity... (5.00 / 2) (#56)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:25:09 AM EST
    in Congress that is most concerning is the lack of diversity in wealth.

    The Millionaires Club


    Parent

    Bingo! (none / 0) (#88)
    by Robot Porter on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:08:43 PM EST
    I agree with your point, (none / 0) (#90)
    by Reconstructionist on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:21:19 PM EST
      but having a net worth of $1,000,000.00 doesn't really make you "rich" these days, especially if you are older and nearing retirement. (Having a low or even negative net worth doesn't necessarily mean you are "poor," either)

     

    Parent

    I live in these times... (5.00 / 1) (#98)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:24:07 PM EST
    and I think it does...give me a million bucks in cash and assets and I will never work a day for the rest of my life (I'm 37), and die with plenty leftover.  Because one of the keys to happiness is a low monthly nut, and I've mastered the art of low nut.  It's how I live the good life on peanuts! ;)

    I get your point, a cool mill doesn't make you wealthy anymore, but it still makes you rich.  

    It's a subjective thing...my sister and her husband are probably well over a mill in net worth with their McMansion and stock and sh*t.  They don't think they're rich either, but the rest of the family calls them The Howells;)

    Parent

    I was speaking in purely financial terms (none / 0) (#99)
    by Reconstructionist on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:32:27 PM EST
     not in terms of happiness or contentment.

      While money can't buy happiness it can alleviate stress and worry, making it easier to be happy with the rest of your life.

      You live in NYC, don't you? I doubt seriously you could live without ever working again if you had a million dollars cash today.

      That would be true even absent your aversion to banks and investments. You might well live another 60 years and even if you only live another 30 that would be pretty hard unless you bought some cheap land somewhere and grow your own (food in addition to your other needs).

    Parent

    Yeah... (none / 0) (#106)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:00:59 PM EST
    a million today, I'm off to Mexico to live in a shack on a beach.

    But lets think about my ghetto burb in NY...my monthly nut for essentials (rent, food, utilities, reefer & cigarettes) is around 1600. Throw in another 800 a month for entertainment, 864 grand will last me 30 years, 136 grand to cover inflation.  I think I could swing it, I can even get the weed bill down by having the capital to buy in bulk.

    Parent

    If you were willing to move from NYC, Kdog, (none / 0) (#124)
    by Zorba on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:32:30 PM EST
    you could probably make that last much longer than 30 years.

    Parent
    "Mastering the art ... (none / 0) (#147)
    by Robot Porter on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:54:43 PM EST
    of the low nut" is a straight line I will elegantly avoid.

    Others feel free to have at it.

    Parent

    No Thanks... (none / 0) (#156)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 06:07:22 PM EST
    ...I am not greedy, but I like a certain level of comfort.

    I always make fun of my friends and their wanting to rough it, I am like why I going to pay money to live like people in the third world.

    That is just so GD American, what I tag as first world stupidity.

    Parent

    Just a reminder: (5.00 / 1) (#163)
    by Palli on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:09:03 PM EST
    The 2012 mean family income in the US was $51,017.

    The 2013 mean family income in the US was $51,759.

    The 2014 mean family income in the US was $53,046.
    The median value of the single unit family domicile is $176,700.

    Sorry, but must of the 318,857,056 Americans would say a net worth of $1,000,000.00 is rich!!!!!
     

    Parent

    Everything is relative (none / 0) (#183)
    by Reconstructionist on Sat Mar 28, 2015 at 02:30:23 PM EST
     Most people in Somalia likely would think someone making $30K,  living in a $90K house, $5000 in the bank and eating three squares a day is "rich."

      But, as I said, in this country at this time there are probably millions of people, especially older people with substantial equity in homes purchased long ago and good retirement plans who have a net worth around a million dollars who are far from "rich." In fact, there are probably a considerable number of people who never had an  annual income of much more than $50,000 who have a net worth of a million. Because they are old and accumulated, not because they are "rich."

      IF one bought a house 35 years ago for $100,000 and has retired the mortgage on the house that would now sell for $300,000. They are 30% of the way there on paper without any other assets. (much of that growth in net worth is just inflation, not real it's still just a house that cost 100K when you bought it)

    Of course, in retirement he still  needs  a place to live so if liquidating that asset would greatly increase expenses, so even if he sells the house, it's not going to have much , if any, positive impact on his financial "lifestyle."

      If that person worked for  corporations that matched employee contributions  for 40 years and contributed $2K (less than $100 a bi-weekly paycheck) and took a 2K match every year, that account if very conservatively  managed would be worth at least $600K. (and quite possibly considerably more) so he's close to a paper millionaire without anything else to his name

      But, let's say he retires at 65 with  $600,000, a house, and social security. He's not going to be living anything like a rich person. If one were to withdraw at a rate totally exhausting the fund after 30 years (which is unwise because: (a) he might live longer and (b)he might have some unpredictable event that requires a lot of money) he will only be able to withdraw around $25K a year. That plus SS will keep him out of the poorhouse (assuming the home) but I don't think many people in this country  would consider that rich.

      I think most people just don't really think about it in terms of their whole lives.

    Parent

    Your scenario only applies to (5.00 / 2) (#184)
    by MO Blue on Sat Mar 28, 2015 at 06:05:29 PM EST
    those who had enough money 35 years ago to purchase a $100,000 home. You have put together a profile of people who were in the upper middle class for the majority of their lives and not the average person.

    In 1980 (35 years ago), the median household income was $16,354 and the mortgage rate was somewhere between 11.78 - 12.85%.

    The average person could not afford a $100,000 house 35 years ago.  

    Other information:
    With the average 401(k) balance for 65 year olds estimated at $25,000 by independent experts - $100,000 if you believe the retirement planning industry - the decades many elders will spend in forced or elected "retirement" will be grim.  (Update: In response to readers' questions about the lower number, Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, estimates that 75% of Americans nearing retirement in 2010 had less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts.)

    BTW, if I or anyone in this neighborhood owned a home worth $600,000, we would definitely think we were rich.


    Parent

    Whoops (none / 0) (#185)
    by MO Blue on Sun Mar 29, 2015 at 12:32:50 AM EST
    Should have said "had $600,000 and a home worth $300,000, we would definitely think we were rich.

    Parent
    That's kind of my point. (none / 0) (#186)
    by Reconstructionist on Sun Mar 29, 2015 at 10:45:47 AM EST
      A person can obviously be well above the median without being "rich." By definition 49.9999...% of people are always above the median and the same percent are below.

      The "1%" slogan is an exaggeration but it is a shorthand for economic reality.

    Median family income in 2013 was  $51,939. Households in the lowest quintile had
    incomes of $20,900 or less in 2013.
    Households in the second quintile
    had incomes between $20,901 and
    $40,187, those in the third quintile
    had incomes between $40,188 and
    $65,501, and those in the fourth quintile
    had incomes between $65,502
    and $105,910. Households in the
    highest quintile had incomes of
    $105,911 or more. The top 5 percent
    had incomes of $196,001 or more.

      There are about 122 million households. So roughly 24 million are in each quintile.

    U.S. Census. (you can click on the link to the .pdf report here )

      Essentially, that means a family where Mom and Dad each make $53,000 has an income roughly twice the median household income and bring in more than 80% of the households in the country. That doesn't make them rich. That could describe a family where Dad is a mail carrier and Mom is a school teacher

       Even at the  at the bottom end of the top 5% where the family income is nearly double the preceding paragraph, the family is not necessarily "rich." Quite comfortable and financially secure, if the family is prudent, sure. Way better off financially than most people, definitely. But, no, not necessarily rich (sure, some people with current incomes of that level are rich because of past income or inheritance, etc.).

      A great many people in families with an income of around $200,000, are one catastrophic event (injury, illness, business failure, loss of job) from "going broke" in a relatively short period of time.

       To my way of thinking, if you do not have a pile large enough that if you were forced to stop working you could live at least as well as our mailman and school teacher for the rest of your life off the earnings from your accumulated wealth, you are not rich. That takes a lot more than a million dollars net worth in most cases where a substantial  portion of that net wealth is home equity and another very large portion is in accounts that cannot be accessed until retirement age with substantial financial/tax consequences.

     

    Parent

    The last sentence should (none / 0) (#187)
    by Reconstructionist on Sun Mar 29, 2015 at 10:53:39 AM EST
    be "without" not with.

    Parent
    In order for a home to gain such value (none / 0) (#190)
    by Militarytracy on Mon Mar 30, 2015 at 08:55:45 PM EST
    It usually must be updated these days too.  We shopped smart, we have a great mortgage payment.  It is a bit older home though, and the only way we will fit into the above scenario is through updating.  Even if we bought new though, that home is only going to attain that sort of market value on our way to the nursing home by updating, and that's not free.

    My father who was a construction contractor used to say that a kitchen has about a 20 yr lifespan if you want to be in the desirable market.

    Parent

    Yes (5.00 / 3) (#69)
    by CST on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 10:01:46 AM EST
    We do have the presumable first female president in our line-up.  Thanks for noticing.

    And the first minority president who is currently in power.

    And none of the people on your list matter because it's gonna be an old white guy who makes it to your finish line.  But no worries, they won't get further than the Republican nomination.

    Anyone can announce they are running.  Wake me up when Republicans actually vote for one of them.

    Parent

    You're only about 30 years (none / 0) (#23)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:50:58 PM EST
    behind the times. And you're probably going to end up with an old white guy as your nominee again. You've had women running before and they got nowhere. You've had blacks running before and they got nowhere. Maybe this time it will be different.

    "old woman"? What are you trying to do? Run off the remaining people that vote for the GOP? Old people?

    Parent

    And she kicks a** on the (none / 0) (#25)
    by nycstray on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 09:14:29 PM EST
    whole GOP/TP lineup  :D

    Next . . .

    Parent

    Just curious about (none / 0) (#96)
    by jondee on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:02:34 PM EST
    whether there are any evileee social liberals amongst that group you mentioned, Jim.

    No. Not a one. Not even close.

    So the answer is no: no one cares that the Repubs are thrusting upon the nation another diverse group of reactionaries all vying for the presidency.

    Parent

    Bergdahl charged with deserting (none / 0) (#1)
    by ragebot on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 02:00:15 PM EST
    NYT link

    presser at 3:30EST

    Makes some the comments (5.00 / 2) (#48)
    by jbindc on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:42:53 AM EST
    here look pretty nutty now.

    Parent
    What Are They Going to Do ? (5.00 / 1) (#50)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:52:00 AM EST
    Throw a POW in the brig ?

    Deserting your post is a war zone is pretty damn serious, but GD the guy was in enemy hands for 5 years, which included torture.

    What is really odd to me is they have known that he deserted, but still promoted him in absentia.

    Parent

    Yes, but don't be too hard (5.00 / 1) (#51)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:59:11 AM EST
    on Jim, his prediction of Americans being taken hostage wasn't too nutty, just the usual RW incoherence he channels and repeats in his comments here.

    Parent
    I wasn't thinking of jim (none / 0) (#60)
    by jbindc on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:40:44 AM EST
    So here you are (none / 0) (#68)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:57:27 AM EST
    with many of the same nuts who commented on that thread.

    Parent
    Jesus Christ... (none / 0) (#70)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 10:02:48 AM EST
    it's like Cobra Kai up in here, no mercy in this dojo.

    I say if he did in fact desert, he paid for that crime already in spades.  Let it go.

    Parent

    Speaking From Experience... (none / 0) (#74)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:26:24 AM EST
    ...in that if there is nothing you learn in basic training that is more important than leaving your post because other people are essentially put their lives in your hands.  It was a drilled in, and if you feel asleep 'guarding' you fellow bootcampers at say 3am, you were gone.  They take it damn seriously.

    What is odd odd me, is that there was no post that you guarded alone, everything was in pairs, for this very reason.

    I agree with you, give him a bad discharge and call it a day, but I highly doubt that will happen.  I would say there is almost no chance of that happening.

    And if the rumors are to be believed, that people lost their lives looking for him, he better enjoy freedom because it's the last time he's gonna have it.

    It's one thing to go AWOL, that happened all the time, people go on leave and just kind find it in them to return.  But desertion was something I never heard about, it simply didn't happen.

    Parent

    Bergdahl did not abandon his post (none / 0) (#77)
    by ragebot on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:47:27 AM EST
    According to what I have read he went off guard duty, stacked weapon and some other military issue stuff and left the FOP some time during the night, it was assumed he left while everyone but the guards were asleep.  His absence was discovered at formation the next day.

    Not claiming this is OK, just that leaving an FOP in the middle of the night is different than leaving while on guard duty.

    Parent

    My Mistake... (none / 0) (#134)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:47:39 PM EST
    ...I had read or saw on the TV he left his guard post.  And I agree, that makes a difference.

    Parent
    Looks like a bad trade (none / 0) (#136)
    by McBain on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:51:51 PM EST
    I believe in bringing back our soldiers but not one deserter for 5 bad guys.  

    Parent
    We (none / 0) (#146)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:53:39 PM EST
    are all quite aware that Republicans believe that Americans should be left behind.

    They were all praying for his release until he was released and then they started screaming. What a bunch of idiots.

    Parent

    Gotta say (none / 0) (#162)
    by ragebot on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 07:20:36 PM EST
    claim that all Republicans were praying for his release may be somewhat of a stretch.

    Not saying some folks, both Republican and Democrat, may have been praying.  But I feel safe in saying all members of almost any group don't agree completely on anything.

    Parent

    Well, (none / 0) (#165)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:40:52 PM EST
    let me be a little more specific. There were a lot of elected republicans praying for his release, talking about how Obama was leaving an American behind blah, blah, blah and then the minute Bergdahl was released did a 180 and started screaming. It's just really tiresome. All the mass hysteria, sturm and drang no matter what happens.

    Parent
    Why hasn't his defense team (none / 0) (#175)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 07:54:52 AM EST
    Been granted access to the investigation?

    Parent
    Still don't know why they have denied his (none / 0) (#176)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 08:23:29 AM EST
    Defense team access to the investigation, but after reading around it looks like they hope to get him to plead guilty to misbehavior and reach a plea bargain.  

    Fox News won't settle for that :) What could they be thinking?

    Parent

    Well (none / 0) (#2)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 02:17:50 PM EST
    today either a person who was in the patriot movement or aspires to be in the patriot movement was arrested for leaving bombs in backpacks.

    link

    So, will he be (none / 0) (#3)
    by Zorba on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 02:54:37 PM EST
    charged with attempted "terrorism"?  
    Somehow, I doubt it.

    Parent
    Silly rabbit, of course not (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by MO Blue on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 02:58:39 PM EST
    Sibley is charged with attempting to damage or destroy by means of fire or explosive property owned by the United States.


    Parent
    According (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 03:00:46 PM EST
    to the article:

    Sibley is charged with attempting to damage or destroy by means of fire or explosi

    So yes, you are correct.

    One of these days probably soon there's going to be another Timothy McVeigh type attack.

    Parent

    Still Shaking My Head... (none / 0) (#6)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 03:11:39 PM EST
    ...he placed a bomb to prove that a bomb could be placed anywhere, seriously WTF ?

    What does he think we should do, put airport scanners at every park ?

    That story is bothersome on so many levels.

    Parent

    They are sick. (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 03:14:19 PM EST
    American Patriot Party
    Statewide
    American Resistance Radio
    Martinez
    Confederate States
    Home Guard*
    Tate
    Constitution Party
    Woodstock
    Discount Book Distributors/The Patriot Depot
    Powder Springs
    Eagle Forum
    Statewide
    Freedom Fighter Radio
    Martinez
    Georgia Militia-CSRA Militia*
    Augusta
    Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
    Statewide
    John Birch Society
    Statewide
    Liberty Alliance
    Powder Springs
    The Moorish Science Temple of America 1928
    Atlanta
    O ath Keepers
    Statewide
    Republic for the united States of America
    Statewide
    Republic for the united States of America - Republic Congress
    Statewide
    Southeast Constitutional Militia*
    Statewide
    Tenth Amendment Center
    Northwest
    Statewide
    True Patriots
    Dallas
    We Are Change
    Atlanta
    We the People
    Baldwin
    Cumming
    Gainesville
    Jefferson
    Marietta
    Richmond Hill
    Woodstock

    That's a list from the SPLC of the ones active in GA. The suburbs of Atlanta are apparently full of these vermin.

    Parent

    I'd Like to Google a Couple of Those... (none / 0) (#8)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 03:22:57 PM EST
    ...but not at work and probably not at home.

    I don't even want to know what is in Texas.

    Parent

    I would imagine (none / 0) (#9)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 03:55:22 PM EST
    it is similar so no reason to google unless you want to find out what they are.

    Some of these are just down the road from me. They make me sick. The good thing is they are afraid of their own shadow. The bad thing is they are afraid of their own shadow and therefore will blow stuff up because they have nothing to lose.

    Parent

    I Googled Marietta (none / 0) (#17)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:14:00 PM EST
    and got nothing about any organizations.

    I Googled Atlanta and got 496,000 hits...

    There may be something in there....

    Parent

    Dear (none / 0) (#21)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:47:09 PM EST
    Jim Marietta will show up as Atlanta on these types of stories in the news. They will report it out as "outside of Atlanta" "near Atlanta" or just  "Atlanta".

    This guy was in Marietta, East Cobb. A pretty tony part of town if you would like to know. Sounds like he's part of the tea party movement.

    Parent

    Google (none / 0) (#22)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:48:06 PM EST
    "we are the people" and "Woodstock" and you'll get Jenny Beth Martin's tea party organization to come up.

    Parent
    Good Ole Texas (none / 0) (#10)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 04:17:37 PM EST
    Texas prison agency replenishes execution drug supply

    HOUSTON (AP) -- Texas prison officials have acquired a small supply of pentobarbital to replenish their dwindling inventory of the execution drug so lethal injections set for next month in the nation's most active death penalty state can be carried out, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Wednesday.
    ...
    Pharmaceutical companies, under pressure from death penalty opponents, have stopped selling U.S. prisons drugs for lethal injections. So Texas and other states have turned to less regulated compounding pharmacies for made-to-order drugs. States also are exploring other methods of execution.


    LINK - Warning, very ad intensive !!

    Ted Cruz Logo... (none / 0) (#11)
    by ScottW714 on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 04:24:56 PM EST
    ...some say it looks like a burning flag, I don't know about that, but it does look like the Al Jazeera and Onion logos.  LINK

    It looks (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 04:41:19 PM EST
    to me like either a flame or a tear drop. I guess that means if he gets anywhere near the WH he wants to burn down the country and we'll all be crying.

    He has shown a penchant for wanting to blow up the country though.

    Parent

    He made a three year old cry (none / 0) (#24)
    by Politalkix on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 08:59:56 PM EST
    by saying the world is on fire or something like that. Tears and Fire

    Parent
    You know, when I heard about that, (5.00 / 2) (#40)
    by Anne on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 06:09:16 AM EST
    my first thought was, "this guy clearly does not have children," that he could tell such a frightening story to a little kid.  

    So imagine my sort-of shock when I saw Cruz on stage with his wife and young daughters.  Then my thought was, "wonder what kind of bedtime stories these little girls get to hear?"  

    There's a level of evil in this man that ought to scare everyone.

    Parent

    As Sgt Friday said, just the facts, mam (none / 0) (#42)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:22:06 AM EST
    Because the Palinizing has started.

    A New Hampshire mother is setting the record straight after multiple national news outlets reported Monday that Sen. Ted Cruz terrified her 3-year-old girl with a metaphor about the world being on fire.

    "The Obama economy is a disaster, Obamacare is a train wreck and the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind -- the whole world is on fire," the Texas Republican said in Barrington, New Hampshire, in a video published Sunday.

    "The world is on fire?" asked Julie Trant, 3, who was sitting in the audience with her mother, Politico reported.

    "The world is on fire. Yes!" Mr. Cruz responded. "Your world is on fire. But you know what? Your mommy's here and everyone's here to make sure that the world you grow up in is better."

    Julie's mother, Michelle Trant, told a Boston radio station on Monday that the headlines about her daughter being frightened to death are simply not true.

    "There was no tears," she said, telling the show she told her daughter that "Ted Cruz is the one that will put this fire out. And then she then looked at him as a hero," Politico reported.

    Link

    Cruz has many issues. He has no real experience. His father was not an American citizen.He was an attorney in Texas. He's a member of a minority group.  No real national exposure. A one term Senator......Claims to have hope that he can change the country... Oh, wait. Maybe he does have a chance.....

    lol

    Parent

    I want to see his long-form birth certificate (5.00 / 2) (#44)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:28:19 AM EST
    Oh Yeah, That Clears It Up... (5.00 / 1) (#52)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:00:32 AM EST
    ...so long as the little girl wasn't crying no problem telling her the world is on fire.

    My favorite line:

    The Obama economy is a disaster,

    Compared to what, Clinton's economy ?  Maybe.
    If republicans are going to run on their economies, this will be a land slide.

    Right now there is one theme, we really, really hate Obama.  That ain't gonna win this election.

    Parent

    No, (none / 0) (#71)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 10:18:14 AM EST
    the election is going to be about how much they hate Hillary. It's going to be "vote for me I'm not Hillary" and Hillary is "Eva Braun" or something like that. The rhetoric is going to be so over the top and so crazed that it'll probably be one for the record books.

    Parent
    And some of the people saying that will be (none / 0) (#166)
    by oculus on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:53:37 PM EST
    registered Democrats.

    Parent
    No, sorry - Cruz's reported answer (5.00 / 3) (#54)
    by Anne on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:04:16 AM EST
    didn't help, and was actually worse, in my opinion.  He "comforts" her by confirming that her world is on fire?  He just couldn't bring himself to let go of his "world on fire" visual and explain to the little girl that the world isn't really on fire - that that is just an expression people sometimes use to describe some really important problems that need to be fixed.

    No, he had to tell her, yes, it is on fire, but your mommy's here?  What happens when she isn't?  And trust me when I tell you that will be something this kid thinks about.  Seriously, the man clearly doesn't spend much time talking with children, and hasn't got a clue about how their minds work.

    Bodes real well for the future.

    Parent

    et al (none / 0) (#167)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:33:05 PM EST
    The operative point is...

    Julie's mother, Michelle Trant, told a Boston radio station on Monday that the headlines about her daughter being frightened to death are simply not true.

    "There was no tears," she said, telling the show she told her daughter that "Ted Cruz is the one that will put this fire out. And then she then looked at him as a hero," Politico reported

    Politico lied.

    If you must use lies to attack Cruz, what type of people are you??

    Why not attack his stated positions?

    Parent

    So, you think a woman who clearly (none / 0) (#168)
    by Anne on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:51:50 PM EST
    thinks Ted Cruz is a savior for the new age is going to admit that he scared the crap out of her kid?  She can't do that, jim, because what kind of mother would continue to treat Cruz like a hero after scaring her kid?  

    The only lies being told are by this mother to herself; I wonder how many nights the kid has had nightmares about the world being on fire, and panicking until she finds her mother?

    You don't have a clue, which puts you in the same company with Cruz and the Mother of the Year.

    Congratulations.

    Parent

    So your response is that the woman lied (1.00 / 1) (#170)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 10:11:05 PM EST
    That says a lot about you.

    Parent
    To. Herself. (5.00 / 3) (#174)
    by Anne on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 06:38:21 AM EST
    As the comment states. Clearly.

    What is it like to be so deeply lost in denial that you can't even read and comprehend the plain words of my comment?

    What does that say about you?


    Parent

    In response to your comment (none / 0) (#189)
    by MO Blue on Sun Mar 29, 2015 at 08:29:12 PM EST
    It just seemed to me that you're saying that because the WaPo's editorial board is war-hungry, nothing that comes out of the reporting side can be trusted or believed.  Are you also saying that the ?

    No. at no time did I say or infer that the editorial side is now influencing the reporting side. Quite frankly I'm not sure where you got the impression that I said or inferred that "nothing that comes out of the reporting side can be trusted or believed" when my comments centered around the WaPo's Editorial Board, OpEd and Opinion pieces and not on the reporting side.  

    The comment I replied to was about an article from the Editorial Board and not from the reporting side.The Addams Family clearly stated the fact that the article was from the Editorial Board.  My answer to that comment referred to the history of the Editorial Board and my lack of trust in their opinion.

    Throughout all of my comments, I specifically referenced the Editorial Board, OpEds and the opinion pieces in the WaPo.  There was only one comment regarding front page pieces that were directly related to promoting the Iraq war which was a statement made by Howard Kurtz:

    According to former Washington Post writer Howard Kurtz, from August 2002 until the invasion in March, there were approximately 140 front-page pieces in the paper making the Bush administration's case for war.

    My reply to your comment specifically referred to the Editorial Board as follows:

    The discussion was about the Washington Post's Editorial Board who published  "A reward for Iran's noncompliance" and its creditability on the matters of war and military intervention in the M.E.

    Their editorial board has a history of supporting war in the M.E. Their Editorial Board, the OpEds and opinion pieces published on their opinion pages such as "War with Iran is probably our best option" which promoted war with Iran are examples of their current agenda.

    Also, the Washington Post's editorial board and opinion pages are not an example of liberal media

    My comments mentioned the WaPo Editorial Board approximately 15 times, OpEds approximately 5 times,  opinion pieces 3 or 4 times and the names of two columnists who write opinion columns were mentioned.

    Parent

    That's not what she wrote (none / 0) (#171)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 10:59:02 PM EST
    but don't let your lack of reading comprehension get in the way of pointing out the mote in her eye, Jim.

    Parent
    Speaking of reading (none / 0) (#172)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 05:21:08 AM EST
    The only lies being told are by this mother to herself; I wonder how many nights the kid has had nightmares about the world being on fire, and panicking until she finds her mother?


    Parent
    Yes, the lies she tells herself (none / 0) (#173)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 05:28:51 AM EST
    which is different than saying she is lying to others conciously.

    Thanks for making my point, Jim.

    Parent

    Oh please (none / 0) (#27)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 10:16:11 PM EST
    Such nonsense. It was a political speech.

    The mother comforted the child and all was okay.

    Maybe you and Ga can hide under the bed together.

    Parent

    Says the Guy Currectly Located under his Bed... (5.00 / 1) (#137)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:00:21 PM EST
    ...defending the guy who is staitng the workld is on fire to little kids.

    Under the bed has been reserved for Fox News viewers since inception.

    And not to point out the obvious, but I remember being  in 3rd grade and watching 'The Day After".  I could not sleep for days, no matter how many times my parents told me the world wasn't going to end in a mushroom cloud.

    But that falls right into republican beliefs, "Tell people its OK, makes it OK".  Just tell them to get jobs and employment will disappear, or that it will be a cakewalk, they will greet us as liberators and the war will pay for itself, and claim victory in a cod piece stroll on a flight deck...

    Saying it doesn't make it so.  Not to be confused with saying it so many times idiot brigade will believe its true, aka death panels and the prez is a muslim socialist.

    No one should be telling kids the world is on fire, arguing differently is the sign of a mind too far gone to grasp reality.

    Parent

    They can look for Jihadis (none / 0) (#31)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 10:55:33 PM EST
    while they're there.

    Parent
    And WMD's... (5.00 / 1) (#55)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:05:54 AM EST
    ...they can even make a jokes about it... and Jim will insist they found them.  A real Laurel and Hardy bit.

    Parent
    I'm pretty sure ... (none / 0) (#86)
    by Robot Porter on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:05:52 PM EST
    it's supposed to be a graphic representation of the "flame of liberty" from the Statue of Liberty.

    I guess you could accuse him of being French for that choice.  ;)

    The similarity between the Obama logo and the Pepsi logo was much more disturbing.

    Parent

    Agreed. It is the most patriot (none / 0) (#93)
    by KeysDan on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:58:25 PM EST
    of all possibilities in keeping with Cruz.   He now needs a similarly patriotic campaign song.  I suggest Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."

    Parent
    It also resembles the JFK U logo if you flip it (none / 0) (#111)
    by nycstray on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:32:57 PM EST
    The Lottery (none / 0) (#13)
    by Repack Rider on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 05:28:27 PM EST
    I went to the website for the California Lottery.  Everything I read about it disgusts me.  I have never bought a ticket, and I won't.  The lottery is a parasite on society.  

    I have more, lots more, but I'll wait to see if anyone wants some of this.

    The poor tax... (none / 0) (#62)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:42:15 AM EST
    It was better when the black market ran the numbers...payouts were better for the player anyway.  But that's numbers...not lotto or the worst state-run action of all, scratch-offs aka scratch-crack.

    otoh, when I used to rag on my old man for his lotto habit and say "You're a gambler Dad, you know the odds are sh*t", he'd reply "I know Son, but it's the only chance I got".  Sad...but at least partially true.

    And his Win 4 wins paid for a couple family vacations we probably never would have taken otherwise.  The best was our trip to Disney World, Dad came home from work with a bag on and a Win Four score and told my Moms "Pack the bags and the kids, plane leaves in two hours".  

     

    Parent

    See below (none / 0) (#76)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:44:33 AM EST
    all poor people are not stupid.  And all stupid are not poor.  

    Parent
    True... (none / 0) (#81)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:59:36 AM EST
    for the record I don't object to the lotto, state run or private, but the way it is marketed and advertised is most unsavory...it's targeting the poor and working class who can least afford it, imo.  Hence, I prefer "poor tax" to "stupid tax"...because of the marketing.

    Parent
    Story (none / 0) (#85)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:05:50 PM EST
    every time I go to the liquor store, which really is not THAT often-I once asked and the guy said she is there almost every day, there is an old lady who drives a Jag, not many of those around here, and she buys what looks like hundreds of dollars in various lottery scams.  
    I suspect this woman would abolish the IRS if she could.  She probably uses every available tax shelter to avoid sharing her wealth with the rest of us.   I'm all for her paying a hefty stupid tax.

    Parent
    Also (none / 0) (#89)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:14:08 PM EST
    i disagree.  Around here I think it's marketed to the stupid.  As I said, lots of poor people around here are not stupid..  May be different in the big city.

    Parent
    Meet ya in the middle... (none / 0) (#101)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:37:03 PM EST
    Desperate Soul and/or Compulsive Gambler Tax?

    Aside...As stupid as it maybe, I know of no other way to turn a dollar or two into a million or 20 overnight, even if the odds are better of being struck by lightning.  I impulse buy on occasion, and am in the lotto pool at work when the jackpots get big for no other reason than I will not be the last arsehole working here, even if the odds are astronomical!

    But when it comes to getting my gamble on...it's cards, ponies, and roulette for me.  F*ck slots and f*ck lotto.

    Parent

    Well (none / 0) (#105)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:00:31 PM EST
    when you are told your odds are better for being mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day "gambling" doesn't quite seem to me to cover it.

    Parent
    Adding (none / 0) (#112)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:33:20 PM EST
    nothing personal intended.  My brotherinlaw regularly spends money on lotto and scratch off.  I love him dearly but.....

    Parent
    Never personal... (none / 0) (#115)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:54:09 PM EST
    and no right or wrong way, I'm sure many find my spending habits appalling, and vice versa.

    Parent
    I frequently (none / 0) (#121)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:19:23 PM EST
    make fun of my broinlaw and quote odds to him about this.  And sometimes threaten to buy one when I see him do it.
    I have, among those who know me well, a bit of a reputation for being unnaturally lucky, I could tell you many stories, anyway he has said that if I ever buy my first ticket and win he would kill me and take the money.

    Parent
    As he should! j/k (none / 0) (#126)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:52:41 PM EST
    Reminds me of the time I hit half of a $2400 Trifecta when I was a kid with my dad at OTB.  There he is meticulously studying the Racing Form to make his selections, losing and losing some more, while I pick three horses out of a hat and win $1200.  I never saw a person so happy and miserable simultaneously.

    Now I study the Form and watch other people win too;)

    Parent

    As a friend says (none / 0) (#73)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:24:47 AM EST
    its a tax on stupid.  I'm ok with it in that context.

    Parent
    meh (5.00 / 2) (#79)
    by CST on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:56:47 AM EST
    everyone gets their kicks from something.  I don't see it quite like that.  It's like paying $5 for a rollercoaster ride.  You don't get anything but a thrill from going on it, but it's still fun.  And I wouldn't call everyone who likes riding rollercoasters stupid.

    Parent
    The difference (none / 0) (#83)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:01:45 PM EST
    s the roller coaster admission does not go to the schools or roads or some of the other things they do.  

    Parent
    is that (none / 0) (#84)
    by CST on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:04:01 PM EST
    supposed to make it worse?

    Parent
    No (none / 0) (#87)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:06:21 PM EST
    im all for it.

    Parent
    I'm not a gambler. (none / 0) (#130)
    by Reconstructionist on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:33:12 PM EST
      But, I don't have a problem with the states deriving income from a product or activity just because some people will have problems with it.

      Undeniably, some people develop gambling problems playing state sanctioned games. Some people also develop alcohol problems and some states still control liquor sales at the retail or wholesale level and all of them (and the Feds)tax it.

      Anti-drug prohibitionists frequently tout the benefit of legalization and taxation as opposed to the black market.

         

    Parent

    The Acid Generation: Where Are They Now? (none / 0) (#15)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 07:34:06 PM EST
    At least one of its members is apparently still dropping the window pane, while simultaneously writing a regular column for the Washington Post:

    "A grand jury studied what happened and did not indict Wilson. Eric Holder's Justice Department reached the same conclusion. Let me offer another conclusion: If Brown was not criminally shot because he was black, then possibly the cop was accused because he was white. Who was the stereotyped individual here?"

    Oy.

    Richard Cohen (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by Yman on Wed Mar 25, 2015 at 07:52:33 PM EST
    The same guy who claimed jewelry stores were right to refuse entry to young, black men and who called Trayvon Martin a "young man understandably suspected because he was black".

    It's amazing that anyone can take him seriously.

    Parent

    Saudi Arabia (none / 0) (#41)
    by jbindc on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:17:05 AM EST
    Like We Don't Have Enough TO Worry About (none / 0) (#47)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:37:45 AM EST
    The co-pilot of the crashed Germanwings plane appears to have "intentionally" brought the plane down while his captain was locked out of the cockpit and banging to be let back in, prosecutors said Thursday.

    First Officer Andreas Lubitz, 28, was alone at the controls of the Airbus A320 as it began its rapid descent, Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin told a news conference.

    LINK

    The 'experts' say this can't happen in the US in that a crew member goes into the cockpit to ensure one person is never in control.

    This is freaking me out a bit, the guy never says a word, but they know he was alive as they could hear him breathing right before impact.

    What kind of maniac doesn't say a damn thing before killing 149 people and himself ?

    I don't know. The kind who ... (5.00 / 1) (#110)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:31:39 PM EST
    ScottW314: "This is freaking me out a bit, the guy never says a word, but they know he was alive as they could hear him breathing right before impact. What kind of maniac doesn't say a damn thing before killing 149 people and himself?"

    But perhaps he had a stroke or other sudden debilitating physical malady such as a seizure, which could've rendered him unconscious and unable to respond to the frantic attempts of his fellow crewmembers to gain his attention.

    (Disclosure: 25 years ago, my cousin and I were with friends on a private twin-engine Cessna 404 traveling from Van Nuys to Las Vegas on a day trip, when the pilot had some sort of seizure while we were over the Mojave Desert. He was totally unresponsive for the better part of five minutes, which were arguably the longest minutes of my life. Such things can and do happen. We subsequently declined the offer to fly back to SoCal with them, despite assurances from the pilot that he was fine, and lied that we had decided to stay in Vegas for another day. Actually, we instead caught a commercial airliner back to Burbank later that evening.)

    While I'm not at all discounting the possibility that Germanwings 9525 may have been crashed deliberately by its co-pilot, right now we're getting information in piecemeal fashion. So let's please not immediately give way to panic by jumping to dire conclusions about what actually occurred here before all the facts are fully compiled and known to the extent that's possible, given the generally pulverized condition of the aircraft crash site.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Would a stroke make him do this? (none / 0) (#113)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:47:13 PM EST
    "manipulated the buttons of the flight monitoring system to activate the descent of the aircraft"


    Parent
    The co-pilot was silent (none / 0) (#117)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:55:23 PM EST
    The co-pilot was silent once the captain left the cockpit.

    "It was absolute silence in the cockpit," Robin said.

    "It is then that the co-pilot uses the flight monitoring system button to put the plane into descend mode," Robin said. "The action of altitude selection could not be anything but deliberate."



    Parent
    "At this stage, the co-pilot is in control, alone," the prosecutor said. "It is when he is alone that the co-pilot manipulates the flight monitoring system to activate the descent of the plane." The prosecutor said that this action could only have been "voluntary."

    The control the co-pilot activated requires several turns, Mr. Robin said, and it could not have been turned to such a low altitude accidentally.[...]

    "You can hear human breathing in the cockpit up until the moment of impact," he said, adding that the breathing did not indicate any health problem such as a heart attack.[...]

    Data from the plane's transponder also suggested that the person at the controls had manually reset the autopilot to take the plane down to 96 feet from 38,000 feet, the lowest possible setting, according to an analysis by Flightradar24, a flight tracking service.



    Parent
    Likely not. (none / 0) (#139)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:09:12 PM EST
    As I said above, I don't discount the possibility of this tragedy having been a deliberate act. But as of this writing, we've yet to be presented with any possible motive on the part of the co-pilot for crashing the aircraft on purpose. Without motive, it flies against reason that a human being would simply commit suicide on a momentary whim.

    So I'm content to wait until we learn more, both about what actually happened here and regarding the now-deceased young man who's presently at the center of current speculation, some of it grievously erroneous. (A number of people in non-TL comment threads have assumed the co-pilot was Muslim, when in fact Andreas Lubitz was German and likely of Jewish descent.) What harm is there in avoiding a premature rush to judgment?

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I don't think (none / 0) (#141)
    by sj on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:14:25 PM EST
    a declared/defined motive is a critical component of determining whether or not this was a deliberate act. But it's just all so, so sad...

    Parent
    Well... (none / 0) (#142)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:17:34 PM EST
    ...pretty hard to account for locking out the pilot, something I would imagine takes some very deliberate actions far from the seat.

    We aren't rushing to judgement, the French prosecutor stated as much this morning:


    Germanwings Co-Pilot, Andreas Lubitz, Deliberately Crashed Plane, Prosecutor Says
    PARIS -- The co-pilot of Germanwings flight 9525 deliberately crashed the aircraft, French officials said Thursday, pointing to voice recorder evidence that he had locked the captain out of the cockpit, ignored his pleas for re-entry and steered down into the French Alps as passengers were heard screaming.
    LINK

    Parent
    That's fine. (none / 0) (#145)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:52:06 PM EST
    I'm speaking for myself only. We've obviously learned much more since my initial response above.

    That said, I'm still hesitant to speculate that this is a clear-cut case of mass murder / suicide, until we have some idea as to the late Mr. Lubitz's possible motive, if any.

    If Lubitz was really hellbent to both exit this world and take 149 others with him, then why not just plunge the aircraft into a nose dive straight into the Mediterranean Sea, once the pilot left the cockpit? I mean, why place it on a gentle and controlled glide path into the middle of the Alps?

    That would be like determining to hang yourself from some harbor dockside, but first deciding to simultaneously don a flotation device so that the rope around your neck doesn't become fully taut until the tide goes out. Generally speaking, people don't consciously choose to commit suicide in slow motion.

    Absent disclosure of a possible compelling motive, all this conjecture about Lubitz taking his own life just seems premature right now.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    to comments of posters on some other blog?

    At the present time the investigators believe the act was deliberate.

    Parent

    No, I'm not saying that at all. (none / 0) (#158)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 06:33:17 PM EST
    But I would simply ask everyone to remember what happened in the wake of the magazine explosion on the battleship USS Iowa in 1989, when investigators and a babbling media erroneously concluded that it was likely due to an act of deliberate sabotage committed by a lovelorn gay sailor, when that wasn't the case at all.

    I also remember when investigators and media looking into Atlanta's 1996 Olympic Park bombing mistakenly fixated upon Richard Jewell as the likely culprit, to the point where the real criminal, Eric Rudolph, would have probably gotten away with the crime had he not subsequently committed other similar terrorist bombings as well.

    In both instances, speculation and conjecture compounded the tragedy at hand and caused additional unnecessary grief for the families of some victims. That's why I'm personally hesitant right now to conclude anything on the basis of what's been reported thus far.

    Certitude can cause people to dismiss or overlook evidence which supports other possible scenarios, and I'm not at all certain that we know enough to make a definitive determination as to cause. I'm sure we'll soon learn a lot more what happened here, and I'm willing to be patient.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    DÜSSELDORF, Germany -- Andreas Lubitz, the pilot at the controls of the Germanwings jetliner that crashed into the French Alps on Tuesday, had a mental illness but kept the diagnosis hidden from his employer, the authorities said Friday.[...]

    Prosecutors said on Friday that among the items found at Mr. Lubitz's home were several doctors' notes stating that he was too ill to work, including on the day of the crash; one of the notes had been torn up.[...]

    But there remained considerable confusion about the precise nature and severity of his psychiatric condition.



    Parent
    No, we shouldn't give way (none / 0) (#116)
    by Zorba on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:54:24 PM EST
    to panic, but given that, even if the cockpit door is locked from the inside, there is an override code that allows the cockpit door to be opened from the outside in case of emergency.
    The override code, however, does not work if the person inside the cockpit deliberately denies entry.
    So there are still a whole lot of questions.  Was this override code deliberately disabled to refuse the pilot's re-entry?
    We may never learn exactly what happened, when.

    Parent
    I haven't been able to get out of my (none / 0) (#120)
    by Anne on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:18:54 PM EST
    head that while death may have been instantaneous on impact, the utter terror those aboard that plane must have been feeling as the plane was going down must have been beyond description. If someone I loved had been on that plane...I don't know.  How do you stop thinking about that horror?

    We want to think it was an accident, or a medical emergency - but then there are the questions about how this could have been prevented.  Better than an ability to remotely unlock the cockpit would be the ability to remotely override the actual flight controls, so that what happened on this tragic flight could not happen to anyone else.  If we can remotely fly drones, we should be able to remotely fly planes, too, don't you think?

    Parent

    According to what's being reported now, ... (none / 0) (#143)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:18:08 PM EST
    ... screams from passengers weren't heard on the recording until the plane's final moments, which of course is horrific enough to contemplate. But at 3,000 feet per minute, the A-320's rate of descent was gradual enough that most of them were likely unaware that anything was amiss until some of them saw the approaching mountainsides right outside the plane windows just prior to impact.

    Parent
    I Would Imagine... (none / 0) (#144)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:21:27 PM EST
    ...the Captain banging on the cockpit door would have been more alarming than the decent, for most.

    Parent
    The A-320 aircraft is 125 feet long, nose to tail.

    Parent
    And further, airliner crews are trained ... (none / 0) (#155)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 06:03:07 PM EST
    ... professionals, and in the event of a potential emergency, they're likely to avoid personal actions that would induce panic in passengers and preclude safety efforts.

    Parent
    Alright Donald... (none / 0) (#157)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 06:17:21 PM EST
    ...no one noticed or heard the captain banging on the door to the cockpit.

    Tell us professor, what's it like to be inside a real airplane ?  Someone shouts and ever head on the plane is going to look and when they see the captain locked out...

    Parent

    Stop acting so emotional about this. (none / 0) (#159)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 06:58:00 PM EST
    You don't know for certain what's actually on those black box cockpit recordings, any more than I do. You're simply reacting to third-party hearsay in the media, and you're immediately assuming that what's being breathlessly reported on TV is the actual truth, when that may or may not be the case.

    How often do you fly? I fly commercially on jetliners at least three to four roundtrips per month, because air travel is our only means of transport between the islands and to elsewhere. 125 feet is a considerable distance on a full aircraft, and when you're sitting in the aft cabin, you don't necessarily know what's going on in the front.

    So, please stop with your as-of-now baseless assumptions, because we really don't yet know for certain what actually happened here. Investigators are still up on that mountainside looking for the microchip that will allow then to retrieve other important information from the aircraft's data recorders. We'll know more soon enough.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Speaking of Baseless Assumptions... (5.00 / 1) (#178)
    by ScottW714 on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 01:12:52 PM EST
    Abstract... (none / 0) (#151)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:59:00 PM EST
    ...but I had a dream once, that I was in a plane getting ready to hit the dirt.  I was freaking out, then out of nowhere a peace came over me like nothing I ever experienced.  I was OK with dying.  Dreams you know.

    I am rock solid sleeper, I can count dreams I remember in a year on one hand.  And I never have bad ones, not ones in which I die.  But I woke up and my gf at the time was getting ready for work and I told her about it.  Went back to sleep and never gave it a second thought until...

    Later that day she called freaking out about my dream, I was already freaked out because I had just watched tower number one collapse, and number two was burning.  Yeah, I really freaked out, WTF, I mean seriously, what are the odds... the one time I have dream about being in a plane crash, is the day the worse plane crashes in my lifetime occurred in real life.  And I had pretty much forgotten the dream until she mentioned it.

    No point other than for whatever reason a seed was planted that the point when people know its the end, maybe, just maybe they have a wave of peacefulness like I had in my dream.  That gives me hope that people aren't leaving the Earth totally terrified.  Not saying I believe it, only that it's in the realm of possibilities.

    Parent

    the kind who knows (none / 0) (#57)
    by CST on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:30:10 AM EST
    he's about to kill 149 people and himself and doesn't want anyone to stop him?

    Parent
    But No... (none / 0) (#61)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:41:52 AM EST
    ....praise god, or my life sucks, or Mr So & So is an ahole, my gf can suck it ?  Something as to why he is taking down a commercial airliner.

    Parent
    I am having a really hard time (none / 0) (#59)
    by vml68 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:38:03 AM EST
    wrapping my brain around this. It is very unnerving.
    Mechanical failures, terrorists, pilot error, etc., I can fathom. This, not so much.

    If there was mental illness involved, how did no one catch it earlier.
    I wonder if they will ever find out the reason he did this.

    Parent

    Maybe far fetched, but could he have (none / 0) (#92)
    by ruffian on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:48:53 PM EST
    been asleep, or passed out and accidentally hit the flight stick or trim button? Probably not, or they would not be using be word 'deliberate'.

    Those poor people, I can't even imagine.

    Parent

    ruffian, OT, but I thought of you (none / 0) (#118)
    by caseyOR on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:02:10 PM EST
    when I read this article about the Cubs in Grantland. Perhaps there is hope in Wrigleyville after all.

    Parent
    There is always hope in Wrigleyville! (none / 0) (#122)
    by ruffian on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:20:47 PM EST
    There is just seldom real reason for it, usually it is delusional.

    Maybe this year....

    Parent

    We need to be patient and let the professionals do their jobs, so that they can eventually sort this out and tell us what happened. And as Zorba noted earlier, the destruction of the aircraft is such that it may well be that we'll never really know for sure how this tragedy occurred.

    Parent
    Take a Deep Breath Guys (none / 0) (#161)
    by RickyJim on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 07:18:12 PM EST
    Airbus has a YouTube video to instruct A320 crew members about what to do if one of them is trying to get inside the cockpit, but those inside do not open. According to the video, the crew would tap an emergency code on the keypad outside the cockpit door, setting off a 30-second alarm inside the cockpit, until the door opens for just five seconds, allowing the person to enter.
     So why wasn't an alarm heard on the cabin recording?  The German Pilots Association doesn't buy the French Prosecutor's assertions.

    Parent
    In really weird local news (none / 0) (#58)
    by CST on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:37:13 AM EST
    I don't know why - I'd been avoiding this story, didn't seem that interesting, but it kept popping up in the papers so today I read it.  The whole thing is like something out of a bad movie.  link

    Short version - a foreclosed upon house which was having work done to get it on the market was found rigged to blow with the flick of a light switch.  An electrician discovered it while he was doing work on the house.

    Then there's this fact that they toss in: "The home made headlines in 1990 when its owner was found beaten to death there"

    I'm not sure I'd want to buy this house.

    Well It Wasn't Just Explosives... (none / 0) (#63)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:47:24 AM EST
    ...the renter filled the drains with cement.

    A real life Pacific Heights renter.

    Parent

    I can get down... (none / 0) (#65)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:50:39 AM EST
    with cement in the drains and other non-violent ways to stick it to the bank that foreclosed...but the explosives are not f8ckin' cool.

    Parent
    My first inclination on reading the article (none / 0) (#66)
    by vml68 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:51:53 AM EST
    was that the owner was behind it. Since the  property was being foreclosed on, I thought it was his big FU to the banks.

    Parent
    yea although (none / 0) (#67)
    by CST on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 09:52:45 AM EST
    there is no indication right now that it was the renter.  They have no idea who did any of it.

    Renter makes sense, but given that they didn't even bring them up as a suspect - I dunno.

    They said it was recently poured, so it could've been after they left.

    Parent

    OK... (none / 0) (#140)
    by ScottW714 on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:09:25 PM EST
    ...the story I read the other day said there was a warrant out for the renters who skipped town.  I did not read your link.

    Parent
    John Bolton's op-ed in today's NYT (none / 0) (#72)
    by oculus on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 10:52:32 AM EST
    is essential reading.  He says only Israel can take out Iran's current nuclear facilities.  Scary.  


    I am Having Trouble Understand Him (none / 0) (#75)
    by RickyJim on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:32:26 AM EST
    He isn't very clear.
    Rendering inoperable the Natanz and Fordow uranium-enrichment installations and the Arak heavy-water production facility and reactor would be priorities. So, too, would be the little-noticed but critical uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan. An attack need not destroy all of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, but by breaking key links in the nuclear-fuel cycle, it could set back its program by three to five years. The United States could do a thorough job of destruction, but Israel alone can do what's necessary. Such action should be combined with vigorous American support for Iran's opposition, aimed at regime change in Tehran.
    So exactly what does he want the US to do and Israel to do?  He seems to think that achieving regime change in Tehran will be easy and the new regime won't rebuild the nuclear infrastructure in the 3-5 year period.  That is not at all obvious.  I wonder who he wants us to take out after we finish off Iran.

    Parent
    Regime (none / 0) (#78)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:56:06 AM EST
    change means that the right wants a repeat of Iraq. Apparently they are slow learners.

    Parent
    Yup- that is all it can mean if he (5.00 / 1) (#94)
    by ruffian on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:59:28 PM EST
    is willing to go to such lengths for only a 3-5 year delay. I'm sure he thinks that will be plenty of time to install a new terror-free USA loving, Israel friendly regime. He is still an idiot.

    Parent
    slow implies (none / 0) (#80)
    by CST on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 11:57:22 AM EST
    moving in the right direction.  I'm not sure we can even give them that much.

    Parent
    The on line comments to (none / 0) (#82)
    by oculus on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 12:01:07 PM EST
    Bolton's op-ed are interesting.  Even commenters who identify themselves as Republicans do not agree with him.

    Parent
    Not all Republicans, (none / 0) (#97)
    by KeysDan on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 01:06:15 PM EST
    John Bolton is a foreign policy advisor for Republican presidential candidate, Ted Cruz.  

    Parent
    And yet another reason, (5.00 / 2) (#108)
    by Zorba on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 02:06:56 PM EST
    As if I needed more, never to vote for Ted Cruz.

    Parent
    Perfect. Talk about a match made in heaven. (5.00 / 2) (#132)
    by ruffian on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:39:47 PM EST
    They will turn off more voters than I would have ever thought possible. Is it possible to get negative poll results?

    Parent
    Yes, a marriage made in (none / 0) (#150)
    by KeysDan on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:58:57 PM EST
    heaven, with Mr. and Mrs. Grim Reaper as groom and bridesmaid.  Bolton (from the link above) advises: " only military action like Israel's 1981 attack on Saddam's Osirac reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor (designed and built by Korea) can accomplish what is required."

    Yes, bombing is the answer. That military action resolved the problem forever and brought peace to the area.  It got rid of Saddam's WMD, except that he said it didn't and Saddam could not be trusted not to have any, hence, a  reason for a few more wars.  

    Parent

    Walking Dead season 5 (none / 0) (#123)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:26:16 PM EST
    marathon on Saturday running up to the 90 minute season finale on Sunday.  I recommend any one record(if you can) or watch this if you have any interest in the series.
    True, you will miss some depth of meaning but the story is simple enough.   This was the best season ever.

    Also The Americans was great last night.  Fortunately I was able to grab a complete episode from all available broadcasts between multiple hail storms.  Ping pong size hail on a metal roof will wakeyou up!  Not far from here it was baseball size.  

    I'm looking (none / 0) (#125)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 03:36:56 PM EST
    for a new series to watch and was thinking about doing the Walking Dead but I usually like "light" stuff and it looks to be kind of heavy.

    Parent
    SITE VIOLATOR! (5.00 / 1) (#129)
    by caseyOR on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:32:14 PM EST
    Who also is a copy cat.

    Parent
    If you have Netflix, tey produced a new series (none / 0) (#131)
    by ruffian on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:38:29 PM EST
    called Bloodline. As usual, they released all the episodes at once last weekend. I have not watched it yet, but the reviews I saw were good. It is a family drama with a mystery, with Cissy Spacek, Kyle Chandler, Norbert Leo Butz...creator is Glenn Kessler who did other series I liked - maybe Damages?

    I will check it out this weekend!

    Parent

    That sounds (none / 0) (#152)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:59:33 PM EST
    like something I might like and yes, I do have Netflix.

    Parent
    Almost done watching it (none / 0) (#177)
    by nycstray on Fri Mar 27, 2015 at 12:50:00 PM EST
    tis good, imo :) Sam Shepard is in it also.

    Parent
    Not a series (none / 0) (#135)
    by sj on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 04:51:22 PM EST
    in the usual sense of the word, but I've been watching "Brain Games" on Netflix.

    Parent
    I might like (none / 0) (#153)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 06:01:17 PM EST
    that one. I loved this british series that explored mysteries like the legend of the crystal skull. I had no idea there actually was a story about the crystal skull or a legend behind it outside of Indiana Jones.

    Parent
    All right (none / 0) (#149)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:58:36 PM EST
    I attracted a spammer! Was it my lovely words or what? LOL.

    Parent
    Is this normal? (none / 0) (#138)
    by Robot Porter on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 05:06:53 PM EST

    For Immediate Release
    March 25, 2015
    Presidential Memorandum -- Delegation of Authority Pursuant to Section 1236(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015

    MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

    SUBJECT:      Delegation of Authority Pursuant to Section 1236(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby order as follows:

    I hereby delegate the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 1236(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113-291) (the "Act") to the Secretary of State.

    Any reference in this memorandum to the Act shall be deemed to be a reference to any future act that is the same or substantially the same as such provision.

    You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

    BARACK OBAMA

    Here's the sections of the act referred to:

    SEC. 1236. AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO COUNTER THE ISLAMIC STATE IN IRAQ AND THE LEVANT.

    (b) Notice Before Provision Of Assistance.--Of the funds authorized to be appropriated under this section, not more than 25 percent of such funds may be obligated or expended until not later than 15 days after--

    "(2) the President submits to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership of the House of Representatives and Senate a report, in unclassified form with a classified annex as appropriate, that contains a description of how such assistance supports a larger regional strategy."




    NCAA Tournament Stats (AKA Tweaking Donald) (none / 0) (#164)
    by CoralGables on Thu Mar 26, 2015 at 08:20:58 PM EST
    Power 6 Conferences made up 53% of the original field but now make up 92% of the final 12. Other than Gonzaga, we are in the midst of a mid-major meltdown. Looks like far fewer of the small conference schools should have been invited to the dance this year. They can't compete.