January 22, 2019

Phillips has changed his mind and will now meet with the kids

Having trouble cut and pasting on my phone. See link:


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/activist-nathan-phillips-says-now-is-not-the-time-to-meet-with-students-at-covington-catholic/ar-BBSAw7f?li=BBnb7Kz

January 22, 2019

The View's Sunny Hostin drops epic rant on Covington Catholic and their Trump-loving students

The View’s Sunny Hostin was completely appalled by the confrontation that took place between MAGA-hatted white teenagers from an exclusive all-boys private Catholic school and a Native American veteran, and dropped an epic rant on Tuesday condemning just about everyone involved.

“As a practicing Catholic, I just kept on coming back to the same point,” Hostin said. “Where were the chaperones? Where were the adults? I thought it was such a teachable moment for everyone there.”


Hostin said that the adults had let their teenagers down by letting things escalate.

“You’ve got the Black Israelites really taunting them, They should have been taught, ‘what would Jesus do?’ That’s what Catholics are taught,” she continued, as she described the chaos that ensued. “A chaperone should have said, ‘don’t engage, don’t engage, move along’. Instead, the chaperones told them to start this chant.”

Hostin slammed the school for bringing the students to a political event, suggesting it was a violation of federal tax laws, and lit into the student himself, Nick Sandmann, saying his claim that he was “silently praying” didn’t pass muster. She also blasted his family for hiring a PR firm to defend their son rather than “teaching him as an adult, ‘maybe take some responsibility.'”

“No one is there,” Hostin said sadly. “I was disgusted by the entire thing.”

Video at link: https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/the-views-sunny-hostin-drops-epic-rant-on-covington-catholic-and-their-trump-loving-students/?utm_source=push_notifications

January 22, 2019

READ IT: Mueller's mystery case filing has been posted

A legal petition in the so-called “mystery case” that has been tied to special counsel Robert Mueller and involves a corporation owned by a foreign state has been posted.

You can read the filing here. https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-948/81196/20190122085546947_00000001.pdf

The heavily redacted petition to the Supreme Court to hear the case the petitioner argues that the country where it is based is “immune from American criminal proceedings… because American courts have no subject-matter jurisdiction over criminal proceedings” against the country.

The petition says that the D.C Court of Appeals that ordered the corporation to hand over documents was the first court to ever do so.

“Country A explained that it is entitled under the FSIA to sovereign immunity from the subpoena and that American courts have no criminal jurisdiction over foreign states. The Government nevertheless demanded compliance with the subpoena,” the filing says.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/read-muellers-mystery-case-filing-posted/?utm_source=push_notifications

January 22, 2019

So Mitch can end the shutdown with a vote, should we start focusing on him instead of Trump?

Mich has the Ruby slippers to take everyone home and go around Trump. Would he ever budge without Trump's approval? Should Dems shift and just start focusing on Mitch or because this is hurting Trump worse than anyone stay focused on him?

January 22, 2019

Self Delete

Dumped the second link as it was to a right wing site but had the examples someone shows below.

January 21, 2019

Is the idea of an all boys or all girls school a good one?

What is the logic behind this? That they will be more focused on school rather than dating?

I have experience with a lot of public, private, religious and Catholic schools in the SW United States and in the SW and West the Catholic schools are almost entirely run by women. They also tend to be quite liberal (not always). I remember after 911 most of the Principals were very upset about us attacking Iraq and you don't hear really any preaching or over the top religious dogma from any of the folks at most of these schools. They are very religious but pretty low key about it. There are a fair amount of "pro-life" stickers on some of the cars but I actually think they are a minority of Catholics in the SW.

Not sure where I am going with this but it seems like the Catholic Schools mixed with boys and girls and mostly women teaching the kids are pretty progressive and down to Earth. Seems like a school that is all boys and from the look of it (Covington HS) all male faculty is going to give the kids a very narrow picture of the world around them and lead to sexism and toxic masculinity. If I had to put my kids in a private school I think I would avoid an all boys school with mostly male teachers.

Has anyone had a good experience with an all boys or all girls school? What are your pros and cons?

January 21, 2019

President Trump Posts Altered Photos to Facebook and Instagram That Make Him Look Thinner

President Donald Trump’s social media accounts are filled with vile racism, idiotic xenophobia, and inaccurate statistics. And now we can add another category to the list: fake photos.

In recent months, Trump’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts have published photos of the president that have been manipulated to make him look thinner. If it only happened once you might be able to chalk it up as an accident. But Gizmodo has discovered at least three different retouched photos on President Trump’s social media pages that have been published since October of 2018.

The image below, published on the official Donald J. Trump Facebook page on January 17 and on his Instagram account over the weekend, has been altered to make the president look more fit.

More with photos: https://gizmodo.com/president-trump-posts-altered-photos-to-facebook-and-in-1831909849

January 21, 2019

I watched the almost 2 hour video of the conflict with Catholic school kids. Here is my take

I am doing this summary for those who don't want to sit and watch the entire video.

Keep in mind, the video posted by the Black Israelites is from a distance so at the point the Native Americans start drumming and get surrounded by the kids I then rely on the up close and personal videos circulating.

So there is clearly a huge amount of tension between the 5 Black Israelite fellows and the kids with a lot of inflammatory stuff being said and done back and forth by both groups. This slowly escalates as the group of kids continues to grow until there is a crap load of them. At this point the Black Israelites are just as bad or worse than the kids making homophobic responses like "Faggots will burn in hell". The kids start doing strange chants and one kid rips his shirt off and the kids start getting all riled up. Around this time a small handful of the Native Americans cuts between the two groups and the Black Israelites suggest the elder is bringing his wisdom. He is actually originally greeted by the kids in what looks like a positive manor. They seem to be having fun and Nathan's attempt to calm the situation seems to be working. A number of the kids are clapping. The Black Israelites then say Nathan "Calmed all the demonic spirits down". At this point I have to switch to the other videos that show things close up and the moment the one Catholic kid cuts Nathan off and starts staring him down there is a shift in the demeanor of the Catholic kids. It might come a little bit before that moment. Regardless, mob mentality sets in and they surround the Natives, start mocking them and it goes from a bunch of kids having fun in the moment to Lord of the Flies type stuff.

There is NO way that kid who steps in front of Nathan is trying to defuse the situation because there wasn't really a situation until about that time. As you learn in communications, non-verbal communication is 80% of all communication. A male placing himself in front of someone within inches 100% does NOT communicate "I am trying to defuse this situation". It communicates male masculinity and claiming territory.

Nathan's body language is not aggressive ever in any of the videos. His eyes are not engaging the boy, however the boy is staring him down. Nathan looks to be peaceful and doing nothing but a spiritual chant. I believe the kids were riled up by their conflict with the Black Israelites and this contributed to the kids acting aggressive and disrespectful to the Native Americans and the mob mentality.

Bottom line is there is NO excuse for the kids disrespectful behavior. No the kids did not initiate the encounter but there was a clear shift of having fun to aggression toward the Natives. The whataboutism BS is not an excuse for the kids disrespectful behavior period!

This is my impression. If anyone saw anything different feel free to chime in.

January 21, 2019

How I almost always shut down an argument with Trumpers

Today it was shooting down the BS edited videos the right wing has put out to make the Native Americans look like they instigated things with the Catholic kids. There will almost always be some kind of pivot to "The liberal media this and that to make ass holes in red hats look bad."

I always go straight for the jugular by saying: "Did you speak up when Trump said some Nazis are fine people? Did you speak up when Trump called Mexicans criminals, rapists and drug dealers? Did you speak up when Trump hounded Obama for years about his birth certificate? Did you speak up when Trump bragged about grabbing women by the pussy? Did you speak up when Trump mocked Native Americans and made light of the slaughter at Wounded Knee? Because if you didn't your silence is helping to divide the country."

They of course ignore this and try to change the subject and I ask them again and again. They can't win in this situation because if they say they did speak up (which they never do) then they are admitting Trump is scum. By not saying they spoke up, they know this looks fucked up because who in their right mind would not think they should condemn Nazis? So it usually just takes me sticking to the point twice and then they give up and stop responding.

January 21, 2019

Has Buzzfeed gotten specific as to what they got wrong yet?

I see they are standing behind the main gist of the article so their sources must be standing behind what they told buzzfeed but they surely must have made some kind of minor mistake, right? Any indication of what they got wrong? Or perhaps Mueller doesn't like them showing the cards too soon?

What are the best guesses as to what is going on here?