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Cooley Hurd

Cooley Hurd's Journal
Cooley Hurd's Journal
July 14, 2016

Man hits tree and crashes car while playing 'Pokemon Go'

http://www.foxla.com/news/share-this/173813464-story



Auburn, N.Y. (FOX 11) - A 28-year-old man was distracted while playing the GPS based game 'Pokemon Go' on his phone. He drove his car off the road and crashed into a tree, police said.

Luckily the man wasn't seriously injured, but the front end of his car was totaled.

The Auburn, N.Y. Police Department released the following statement:

'With the sudden popularity of the recently released mobile phone application/game called “Pokemon Go” the Auburn Police Department would like to remind the public using common sense when playing the game should be paramount above everything else.'

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The More You Know************
July 5, 2016

World War II Hero Dr. Roscoe C. Brown Dies at 94 (Tuskegee Airman)



http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Dr-Roscoe-C-Brown-Jr-Tuskegee-Airmen-World-War-II-Pilot-Hero-Dies-385475491.html

Dr. Roscoe C. Brown Jr., the New York City veteran who flew with the legendary Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, has died at the age of 94.

Brown flew 68 combat missions for the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots in U.S. history. A nine-time New York City Marathon runner and lifelong Jets and Mets fan, he told NBC 4 New York in May: "Fighter pilots are like athletes. And I was a pretty good pilot."

Brown, who held a Ph.D. in education, also served 17 years as president of Bronx Community College. There, he led outreach to the city's economic and educational institutions through business partnerships and developed new programs in health, technology and human services, according to a statement from CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken.

Brown later joined the CUNY Graduate Center as professor and director of the Center for Urban Education Policy. He also hosted "African American Legends," a public affairs show on CUNY TV.

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Cross gently, Dr Brown.
July 4, 2016

It's the 40th anniversary of the Bicentennial!

Those 50ish and older will certainly remember these:









...and the last one
July 2, 2016

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned Holocaust survivor, dies at 87

Source: Haaretz

Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, prolific author and outspoken activist Elie Wiesel died Saturday at the age of 87. Wiesel was perhaps best known for his major role in promoting Holocaust education, and for perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust in the post-World War II era with his memoir “Night,” based on his experience as a teenager in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in the Romanian town of Sighet, to Sarah and Shlomo Wiesel. His maternal grandfather, Dodye Feig, was a member of the Vishnitz Hasidic sect; his strong influence over Wiesel was seen later in some of his writings. Wiesel received a traditional religious education while growing up in Sighet; many years later, in 2002, he returned to his hometown to dedicate the Elie Weisel Memorial House at the site of his childhood home.

The Wiesel family’s lives were seriously disrupted in 1940, when Hungary annexed Sighet and all the Jews in town were forced to move into one of two ghettoes. In May 1944, the Nazis, with Hungary’s agreement, deported the Jewish community of Sighet to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The teenage Wiesel was sent with his father Shlomo to the Buna Werke labor camp, a sub-camp of Auschwitz III-Monowitz, where they were forced to work for eight months before being transferred to a series of other concentration camps near the war’s end.


Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.575072





A great man with a profound sense of justice and peace. Cross gently, Great Soul.
June 30, 2016

PPP actually polled this per Rachel Maddow: Who do you want for President?

A) Hillary Clinton
B) Donald Trump
C) Giant Meteor Hitting the Earth





C'mon - it's funny!!! And YES, I'm voting for Secretary Clinton!
June 29, 2016

Quinnipiac gets it wrong again: Poll: Clinton and Trump run neck-and-neck

Despite EVERY poll showing Clinton crushing Trump, Quinnipiac has them "neck-and-neck"?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/29/politics/quinnipiac-poll-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html

Washington (CNN)A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Trump by just two points, 42% to 40%, a much closer race than other recent surveys have shown.

With third-party candidates included, Clinton leads 39% to 37%, with Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson at 8% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 4%.

This Quinnipiac poll is quite different from other recent surveys on the presidential race, showing a much tighter contest than others. Its field period overlaps with those of the Washington Post/ABC News and NBC News /Wall Street Journal polls released Sunday, both of which found Clinton significantly ahead of Trump.

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They STILL suck at polling...
June 29, 2016

Elvis guitarist Scotty Moore dies aged 84

Source: BBC

Pioneering rock guitarist Scotty Moore, who was a member of Elvis Presley's original band, has died aged 84.
He died in Nashville on Tuesday after several months of poor health.

He is credited with helping Elvis shape his music that came to be called rock 'n' roll, and inspired generations of guitarists.
Moore was the last survivor of Elvis's original band which included Presley, bassist Bill Black and producer Sam Phillips.

As part of The Blue Moon Boys Moore backed Presley on many of his legendary songs including Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes and Jailhouse Rock.

Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones was one of those inspired by Moore. He once said: "When I heard Heartbreak Hotel, I knew what I wanted to do in life.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36660103



Cross gently, Scotty...
June 27, 2016

Brexit's broken promises: Health care, immigration and the economy

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/27/news/economy/brexit-broken-promises/index.html

So much for all those promises. Leading politicians in the campaign to pull the U.K. out of the European Union are back-pedaling fast on a number of pledges, particularly over extra money for health care.

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Campaign promise #1: We'll give EU cash to the National Health Service: The official Vote Leave campaign claimed that membership in the EU cost the U.K. £350 million a week, "enough to build a brand new, fully staffed ... hospital every week."

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About half of the money Britain hands over to the EU is returned to the country via subsidies for farmers, grants for research and funding for infrastructure. And that money is already committed.

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Campaign promise #2: We'll take control of the UK's borders: During the campaign, Brexiteers attacked the U.K. government for missing its target to cut net migration to tens of thousands (it was 333,000 last year), saying that only by leaving the EU could Britain control immigration.

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Leave campaigner and lawmaker Nigel Evans told BBC radio that there had been "some misunderstanding" over the Leave campaign's position on reducing immigration.

When asked if the number of people coming into the country would fall significantly, Evans said that a new Australian-style points system for EU migrants meant the U.K. would be able to control immigration -- but he didn't say it would fall.

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More at http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/27/news/economy/brexit-broken-promises/index.html
June 25, 2016

The Business Plot and the hero who exposed it

Many might see this man in DUer's avatars, but may not know who he is.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

Smedley Darlington Butler[1] (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940) was a United States Marine Corps major general, the highest rank authorized at that time, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. Butler is well known for having later become an outspoken critic of U.S. wars and their consequences, as well as exposing the Business Plot, an alleged plan to overthrow the U.S. government.

By the end of his career, Butler had received 16 medals, five for heroism. He is one of 19 men to receive the Medal of Honor twice, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.

In 1933, he became involved in a controversy known as the Business Plot, when he told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists were planning a military coup to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to other Fascist regimes at that time. The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot and the media ridiculed the allegations. A final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed some of Butler's testimony.

In 1935, Butler wrote a book entitled War Is a Racket, where he described and criticized the workings of the United States in its foreign actions and wars, such as those he was a part of, including the American corporations and other imperialist motivations behind them. After retiring from service, he became a popular activist, speaking at meetings organized by veterans, pacifists, and church groups in the 1930s.

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...and about the Business Plot itself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

Butler and the veterans

Bonus Army



On July 17, 1932, thousands of World War I veterans converged on Washington, D.C., set up tent camps, and demanded immediate payment of bonuses due to them according to the World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 (the original act made the bonuses initially due no earlier than 1925 and no later than 1945). Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant, led this "Bonus Army". The Bonus Army was encouraged by an appearance from retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler; as a popular military figure of the time, Butler had some influence over the veterans. A few days after Butler's arrival, President Herbert Hoover ordered the marchers removed, and U.S. Army cavalry troops under the command of General Douglas MacArthur destroyed their camps.

Butler, although a self-described Republican, responded by supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 US presidential election.[7]

By 1933 Butler started denouncing capitalism and bankers, going so far as to say as a Marine general he had been "a racketeer for capitalism."[8]

Reaction to Roosevelt[edit]
Roosevelt's election was upsetting for many conservative businessmen of the time, as his "campaign promise that the government would provide jobs for all the unemployed had the perverse effect of creating a new wave of unemployment by businessmen frightened by fears of socialism and reckless government spending."[9]

Some historians have said concerns over the gold standard were also involved; Jules Archer, in The Plot to Seize the White House, wrote that with the end of the gold standard, "conservative financiers were horrified. They viewed a currency not solidly backed by gold as inflationary, undermining both private and business fortunes and leading to national bankruptcy. Roosevelt was damned as a socialist or Communist out to destroy private enterprise by sapping the gold backing of wealth in order to subsidize the poor."[10]

McCormack–Dickstein Committee
The Committee began examining evidence on November 20, 1934. On November 24, the committee released a statement detailing the testimony it had heard about the plot and its preliminary findings. On February 15, 1935, the committee submitted its final report to the House of Representatives.[11]

During the McCormack–Dickstein Committee hearings, Butler testified that Gerald C. MacGuire[12] attempted to recruit him to lead a coup, promising him an army of 500,000 men for a march on Washington, D.C., and financial backing.[13] Butler testified that the pretext for the coup would be that the president's health was failing.[14]

Despite Butler's support for Roosevelt in the election[7] and his reputation as a strong critic of capitalism,[15] Butler said the plotters felt his good reputation and popularity were vital in attracting support amongst the general public and saw him as easier to manipulate than others.

Though Butler had never spoken to them, Butler implicated several prominent businessmen and veteran leaders as backers of the plot including heads of Chase Bank, GM, Goodyear, Standard Oil, the DuPont family and Senator Prescott Bush. The committee chose not to publish these allegations because they were hearsay.[16][17]

Given a successful coup, Butler said that the plan was for him to have held near-absolute power in the newly created position of "Secretary of General Affairs", while Roosevelt would have assumed a figurehead role.

Those implicated in the plot by Butler all denied any involvement. MacGuire was the only figure identified by Butler who testified before the committee. Others Butler accused were not called to appear to testify because the "committee has had no evidence before it that would in the slightest degree warrant calling before it such men ... The committee will not take cognizance of names brought into testimony which constitute mere hearsay."[16]

In response, Butler said that the committee had deliberately edited out of its published findings the leading business people whom he had named in connection with the plot.[18] He said on February 17, 1935, on Radio WCAU, "Like most committees it has slaughtered the little and allowed the big to escape. The big shots weren't even called to testify. They were all mentioned in the testimony. Why was all mention of these names suppressed from the testimony?"[18]

On the final day of the committee,[19] January 29, 1935, John L. Spivak published the first of two articles in the communist magazine New Masses, revealing portions of the Congressional committee testimony that had been redacted as hearsay. Spivak argued that the plot was part of a "conspiracy of Jewish financiers working with fascist groups", referring specifically to Felix Warburg, the McCormack–Dickstein Committee, and certain members of the American Jewish Committee in collusion with J. P. Morgan. Hans Schmidt concludes that while Spivak made a cogent argument for taking the suppressed testimony seriously, he embellished his article with his "overblown" claims regarding Jewish financiers, which Schmidt dismisses as guilt by association not supported by the evidence of the Butler-MacGuire conversations themselves.

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