Monday 27 February 2017
What It’s Like to Have Your Parents Deported
A sad story, to be sure, that pulls at the heartstrings, but one that was predictable, expected and just. When people refuse to obey the law simply because they find it inconvenient to do so, not only do they mock the society that supports them, they present a scofflaw example that encourages others to break other laws. We don't normally think of parents sending kids to school as undermining society, but that is what this family did. They set out to prove that, in America, one does not need to obey the law; people can do whatever they like. If they get caught, others should feel sorry for them and try to help them avoid any penalty. That is not what I would call good citizenship. But then. this family do not want to be good citizens - they want to become citizens by, as we used to say, hook or by crook. That is, by cheating.
Grandmother Irene Clennell Deported With £12 In Her Pocket After 27 YearsWait. If she has broken the law for many years, shouldn't she be allowed to continue to break the law? After all, she is a grandmother, and grandmothers shouldn't have to obey the law, should they? Still, it is a pity that she couldn't use her credit card at the Edinburgh airport to draw some more cash but was forced to wait till she got to Singapore to top up. (I assume that is why she had so little cash, not because her family and Buzzfeed News refused to give her any.)
The Uses of Outrage
"But remember, he lost the popular vote, and would have lost the Electoral College if a significant number of college-educated voters hadn’t been misled by the media and the F.B.I...."
Yes, remember: It is always someone else''s fault
Sunday 26 February 2017
Sadiq Khan Comments On Nationalism Prompt Nicola Sturgeon To Retaliate
Definitely Deplorable. Doesn't Kahn know that it is racist for a non-Scot to criticize a Scot?
Doesn't he know that Scots, especially those in the Selfish National Party, are above criticism?
Doesn't he know that Scots, especially those in the Selfish National Party, are above criticism?
‘Where Are Jeremy Corbyn’s Cheerleaders?’
Where are they? Down at the pub, licking their wounds and trying to console each other.
Trump Voters, Your Savior Is Betraying You"...the biggest losers from Trump policies will be you Trump voters, especially those of you from the working and middle class. You were hoping you’d elected a savior, and instead Donald Trump is doing to you what he did to just about everyone who ever trusted him: He’s betraying you."
Where are they? Down at the pub, licking their wounds and trying to console each other.
Trump Voters, Your Savior Is Betraying You"...the biggest losers from Trump policies will be you Trump voters, especially those of you from the working and middle class. You were hoping you’d elected a savior, and instead Donald Trump is doing to you what he did to just about everyone who ever trusted him: He’s betraying you."
Saturday 25 February 2017
Michigan State to Ban White Boards From Dorms
I have heard that some people have used their voices to utter "bullying messages and racial epithets."
Shouldn't we ban speaking in the dorms?
Donald Trump Rejects Intelligence Report on Travel Ban
Trump Suggests His Supporters Rally for Him
Oh Joy! It could be like Nuremberg all over again!
Shouldn't we ban speaking in the dorms?
Donald Trump Rejects Intelligence Report on Travel Ban
Of course he rejects it - it does not fit with his current world view, nor with his current propaganda campaign and, therefore, it must be flawed.
Only reports and briefings matching Mr Trump's expectations in form and content are acceptable.
Our President cannot be wrong but any, even all, of his advisers can be.
Only reports and briefings matching Mr Trump's expectations in form and content are acceptable.
Our President cannot be wrong but any, even all, of his advisers can be.
Oh Joy! It could be like Nuremberg all over again!
Friday 24 February 2017
Weapon of mass destruction identified as the chemical used to kill Kim Jong-nam.
Weapon of mass destruction? What a stupid headline and inane idea.
Weapon of mass destruction? What a stupid headline and inane idea.
Is this what passes for journalism at the Indie these days?
Blind Man Tasered By Greater Manchester Police Officers Who ‘Mistook Cane For Gun’
How dare they make a mistake? Lynch 'em!
Donald Trump: The First Amendment Gives Me The Right To Criticize ‘Fake News’
Of course it does! Sadly, Donald does not think it gives the media the right to criticise him.
As he has said" Any negative polls are fake news"
'Viagra Hotel' opens in Blackpool prompting local outrage
Outrageous! Elderly and infirm people have no right to have sex
Facebook down: App kicks users out of their accounts and doesn't let them back in
Horror! How will folks send fake news around?
Blind Man Tasered By Greater Manchester Police Officers Who ‘Mistook Cane For Gun’
How dare they make a mistake? Lynch 'em!
Donald Trump: The First Amendment Gives Me The Right To Criticize ‘Fake News’
Of course it does! Sadly, Donald does not think it gives the media the right to criticise him.
As he has said" Any negative polls are fake news"
'Viagra Hotel' opens in Blackpool prompting local outrage
Outrageous! Elderly and infirm people have no right to have sex
Facebook down: App kicks users out of their accounts and doesn't let them back in
Horror! How will folks send fake news around?
Thursday 23 February 2017
In the search for honest and objective news, here are my favorite factcheck sites:
I like FactCheck best (http://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/)
Not just because they are independent and have been dedicated to honest and objective journalism for many years, but because lay out their process, their funding and their people for all to see. (If a site does not tell you any of these things, expect it to carry fake news.)
Fact Checking Sites
Politifact– PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the
accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American
politics. PolitiFact is run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times,
an independent newspaper in Florida. Politifact is simply the best source
for political fact checking. Won the Pulitzer Prize.
Fact Check– FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public
Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They are a nonpartisan,
nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of
deception and confusion in U.S. politics. They monitor the factual accuracy of
what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates,
speeches, interviews and news releases. Fact Check is similar to
Politifact in their coverage and they provide excellent details. The only
drawback is they lack the simplicity of Politifact.
Open Secrets– Open Secrets is a nonpartisan,
independent and nonprofit, run by the Center for Responsive Politics, which is
the nation’s premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its
effect on elections and public policy. Open Secrets are by far the best
source for discovering how much and where candidates get their money.
They also track lobbying groups and whom they are funding.
The Sunlight Foundation– The Sunlight Foundation is a
national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that uses the tools of civic
tech, open data, policy analysis and journalism to make our government and
politics more accountable and transparent to all. Sunlight primarily
focuses on money’s role in politics.
Poynter Institute– The Poynter Institute is not a true
fact checking service. They are however a leader in distinguished
journalism and produce nothing but credible and evidence based content.
If Poynter reports it, you can count on it being true.
Donald Trump's administration close to scrapping transgender student rights permanentlyThe transgender folks are not asking for much: all they want is to be discriminated in favour of - treated differently than everyone else. There are so few of them, what does it matter? It is sooo 20th century to argue about principle.
Tuesday 21 February 2017
Spicer: 'I wish the Anne Frank Center had praised Donald Trump for fighting anti-Semitism'
Doesn't the Anne Frank Centre know that anyone who doesn't praise Mr Trump could be an enemy of the people
Monday 20 February 2017
The media seem to be scrambling to blame "fake news" on everyone except themselves. Not surprising, as they have been peddling fake news to us for decades.and are still hoping we don;t notice.
The current flavor to blame is networks: if you use a technical platform to spread fake news, it is the platform's fault. That is, it is now the responsibility of the platform to read everything you send to anyone and censor out, or at least identify and label, those bits "we" don't like. (Note: the post office and USPs get a pass here for some reason.)
Typically, this report doesn't tell us much about what Zuckerberg actually said, merely uses opportunity to make some barely choate criticisms of the enterprise that competes with PBS and other more traditional media for audience
Trump clarifies 'Sweden' remark, says he was referring to Fox News report
That can happen. If one relies on sites like Fox News , with their high proportion of fake news, one can get duped from time to time
Democrats aim to reclaim the working class vote
"Democrats aim to reclaim the working class vote"
If they do, they had better learn from Donnie: sell the sizzle, not the steak.
If they do, they had better learn from Donnie: sell the sizzle, not the steak.
Democrats use delay to turn confirmation runway into parking lot
Oh no! You mean they are acting like Republicans? How is that fair?
I thought only Republicans were allowed to act like Republicans.
Mexican woman in Texas sentenced to 8 years in prison for voter fraud
Finally! One confirmed case!. I'm told there may be as many of 2 or 3 more as investigations piss away money across the entire country.
Saturday 11 February 2017
Undocumented Immigrants Arrested Nationwide, Stoking Fears Of ‘Deportation Force’
Oh no! Does this mean that people, especially people "with criminal records," will actually have to obey the law?
How is that fair?
What has this country come to when the laws of the United States have to be obeyed in the United States?
50,000-strong petition condemning closure of child refugee programme
How many of the 50,000 have said they will take a refugee child into their home to raise?
Talk is cheap, actions are gold.
Oh no! Does this mean that people, especially people "with criminal records," will actually have to obey the law?
How is that fair?
What has this country come to when the laws of the United States have to be obeyed in the United States?
50,000-strong petition condemning closure of child refugee programme
How many of the 50,000 have said they will take a refugee child into their home to raise?
Talk is cheap, actions are gold.
Clive Lewis Dismisses Speculation He Will Challenge Jeremy Corbyn For Leadership
Fake News ‘Killing People’s Minds’, Apple Boss Tim Cook Warns
He is not a complete idiot, then. No one wants to be handed the captaincy of a sinking ship
What do we make of this story appearing on Huffington Post which, along with Breitbart, seems to be one of the more egregious offenders when it come to publishing fake news?
Thursday 9 February 2017
Airline CEOs To Discuss Aging Infrastructure, Foreign Competition With Trump
All the Airline CEOs want is a food profit. They see the best way to get this is protectionism (so they can charge the American consumer more) and a government corporate welfare handout (so the taxpayer funds improvements to the facilities they use). Not much to ask from a fellow billionaire, is it?
Conservative MPs Slam Government For Limiting Number Of Child Refugees
Conservative MPs Slam Government For Limiting Number Of Child Refugees
Outrageous. The number should have be UNLIMITED. We are a country of over 60 million people, so we could easily take 6 million refugee children without strain of any kind
Paul Ryan on working with Trump, Russia sanctions and GOP goals
After watching this, I am not as pessimistic as I was. Ryan and his crew may actually get something done, while using the ridiculous Trump and Bannon as a smoke screen. I may not like all that they do, but it is possible that they may get up off their keisters and actually do some work for a change. We just have to hope that Donnie and Steve don't start a war or bring terrorist attacks down on our heads in the meantime.
Trump signs executive order giving police greater authority
Paul Ryan on working with Trump, Russia sanctions and GOP goals
After watching this, I am not as pessimistic as I was. Ryan and his crew may actually get something done, while using the ridiculous Trump and Bannon as a smoke screen. I may not like all that they do, but it is possible that they may get up off their keisters and actually do some work for a change. We just have to hope that Donnie and Steve don't start a war or bring terrorist attacks down on our heads in the meantime.
Trump signs executive order giving police greater authority
Good to see your statistics show that killings by police are falling in all races: Black, White, Hispanic and Other. What are the statistics for killing by civilians (non-police) (mine are old and out of date)
Race of Killer - 2011 data
Black 4,729 ( 140 per million)
White 5,486 ( 21 per million)
Unk 4,077 ( 13 per million)
Other 256 (0.05 per million)
Race of Killer - 2011 data
Black 4,729 ( 140 per million)
White 5,486 ( 21 per million)
Unk 4,077 ( 13 per million)
Other 256 (0.05 per million)
What are the statistics for killing by civilians (non-police) (mine below are old and out of date)
Race of Killer (2011)
Black 4,729 (140 per million)
White 5,486 ( 21 per million)
Unknown 4,077 ( 13 per million)
Other 25 (0.05 per million)
Thursday 2 February 2017
Trump Accuses Australia Of Trying To Send U.S. The ‘Next Boston Bombers’
Poor Donnie, as a real-estate man, all he knows is competitors: he has never had an ally in his life outside of his family
Trump To McConnell: ‘Go Nuclear’ To Confirm Supreme Court Pick
Draft Of Trump ‘Religious Freedom’ Executive Order Major Win For Conservative Christians
Trump To McConnell: ‘Go Nuclear’ To Confirm Supreme Court Pick
So the only question is: will Gorsuch be a Real Supreme Court Justice (with 60 votes), or a cheap, knock-off copy with 51. Still, nice to see the executive branch telling the legislative branch what to do and how to do it.
Finally, Muslim and Mormon businesses (including cops, doctors and nurses) can refuse service to anyone who drinks alcohol, Jewish folk can refuse to help nayone who ahs ever eaten pork, and all business can turn away any who has ever committed adultery! Golf and other Clubs can bar anyone not of a given religion again!
Will the same restrictions and penalties apply too the post office? If not, why not?
Of course, to comply with this new order, facebook and twitter (and presumably the post office) will have to READ every post that you or anyone else sends. This is why the government is behind this move: once social media have to do it to comply with a law, the government can require them to give it access to every post.
Brexit Is A Mess, But It Didn’t Have To Be
Brexit Is A Mess, But It Didn’t Have To Be
Actually, it DID have to be that way.
It had to be that way because those who want to leave the EU disagree with each other on HOW and HOW FAR they want to leave it. It is not quite as bad a "for every 10 Brexiteers there are 11 opinions about what they want from Brexit" but there are at least three mutually exclusive ones. Add in a large minority who still do not want to leave at all and another large minority who still don't give a toss and it is patently obvious that it could never be anything BUT a mess.
It had to be that way because those who want to leave the EU disagree with each other on HOW and HOW FAR they want to leave it. It is not quite as bad a "for every 10 Brexiteers there are 11 opinions about what they want from Brexit" but there are at least three mutually exclusive ones. Add in a large minority who still do not want to leave at all and another large minority who still don't give a toss and it is patently obvious that it could never be anything BUT a mess.
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