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silvershadow

silvershadow's Journal
silvershadow's Journal
December 14, 2014

Ted Cruz just did a huge favor for Democrats

http://www.vox.com/2014/12/13/7388109/cromnibus-senate

The Senate unexpectedly stayed in session for several hours on Saturday before voting on a bill to fund the government through next September (the "CRomnibus&quot .

The Saturday session was forced late Friday night by Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, who are upset over the Obama administration's executive actions on immigration. They refused to allow Congress to go into recess without a vote on the constitutionality of Obama's actions.

The Senate voted down Cruz and Lee's motion on immigration — with several Republicans joining Democrats — before it passed the CRomnibus.

Because of the extra time, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was able to move closer to votes on 24 Obama administration nominees — including nominees for Surgeon General, the head of the country's chief immigration enforcement agency, and twelve federal judgeships — who Republican senators have been blocking.
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more at link. Explains why votes can start on Monday for the judicial nominees.
November 21, 2014

I really normally wouldn't post this at all, but I at least want to give this to Octafish

who may do with it whatever he wants. I am confident it is a big nothing-burger because it is from Newsmax, but I still wanted him to see.

http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/john-kennedy-assassination-confession-mafia/2014/11/20/id/608736/?Dkt_nbr=1645F-1&nmx_source=Crooks_and_Liars&nmx_medium=widget&nmx_content=527&nmx_campaign=widgetphase2

Mafia Hit Man Confesses to Killing President Kennedy

Mafia hit man James Files says in interviews first aired nationally on Newsmax TV Thursday night that he worked along with major mob figures and fired the shot that killed Kennedy from the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza in Dallas.

Friday, Nov. 22 marks the 51st anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's tragic assassination and Newsmax TV marked the occasion by airing the provocative premiere of the blockbuster documentary "I Killed JFK", featuring never-before-seen footage of Kennedy's confessed killer.

The documentary, produced by Hollywood’s Barry Katz, presents convincing forensic evidence supporting Files' contention that he, and not Lee Harvey Oswald, fired the fatal shot at America's 35th president.

"I squeezed off my round. I hit him and blew his head backward," Files said of the single shot he fired that fateful day

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.Newsmax.com/Newsfront/john-kennedy-assassination-confession-mafia/2014/11/20/id/608736/#ixzz3JgcQyhjp
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

November 20, 2014

Ok, I will grant one slight peace offering to the Bernie naysayers.

If (and it's a big if) Bernie Sanders isn't the Democratic candidate, and you actually want to keep me within the party, then right now the only name that comes to mind and hasn't been discussed and dismissed, that I know of, is Alan Grayson.

November 15, 2014

I'm thinking of poking a stick at Ted Cruz.

Wouldn't it be fun to call his office and let him know that the establishment is disrespecting him? Let him know that his junior high fantasy world is at risk. You know, just to stir him up.

November 15, 2014

Let's start the push now for single-payer.

Republicans are threatening repeal of Obamacare, and with help from SCOTUS they may get their wish. Why wait any longer? ACA is here for now, for better or worse. And it could get worse. So why are we waiting? Let's get on with:

-Single payer healthcare for all
-Higher minimum wages, and this time let us tie it to automatic increases.
-Demand accountability on issues like the Patriot Act, NSA surveillance, etc.
-Demand an audit of the Fed. I realize this is largely a right-wing, tea-bagger issue, but there is no reason we can't co-opt it.
-Demand investigations into the Great Depression of 2007-2008. (And that's how we should always refer to it. Place the blame squarely where it belongs. They have both houses, so hound them to investigate).

There are a million other things too, but I'm busy at the moment. What would you add? We need to PUSH like never before to get this ship right. We need to PUSH our party as much as we need to push the other one. Let's just get the agenda right out front. What say you? (as Billo the Clown says, LOL)

October 27, 2014

Vote Early. Vote Often. Let's get the dead people to vote.

Take the SilverShadow Challenge, 2014.

As I was thinking in the library earlier (where I do my best thinking), there is an oft-quoted phrase of Vote Early, Vote Often which I have heard over the years, always in a joking manner. If only there was a way I could do just that. Then I had a brainstorm. Early voting has already started here, as in most places. I am going to go vote later today, to get it out of the way and also avoid any crowds or any problems on election day. After that, I'm going to try to get at least one more vote per day until election day. If I get just one, that would be 7 or 8 more votes instead of just one.

How you ask? By shaking the bushes. I'm going to email, phone, and otherwise harass, cajole and/or threaten my friends into voting who might not otherwise. This is crunch time. Surely I can get just one single person each day to go ahead and vote. Heck, if I have to I will even come and drive them to the polls. If successful, I will vote 8 or 9 times instead of just one.

GOTV 2014!
Peace.

October 24, 2014

This invasive plant is swallowing the U.S. Choking ecosystems, releasing carbon from the soil...

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/invasive-plant-swallowing-us-rate-50000-baseball-fields-year.html

In the dictionary next to the definition of "invasive species", they could show a photo of kudzu. Nothing seems to stop it: Above you can see it growing over trees in Atlanta, Georgia. Since it was first introduced to the U.S. at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, it has been swallowing the country from an epicenter in the South-East at the rate of about 50,000 baseball fields per year, occupying an estimated 3,000,000 hectares today. Kudzu can grow up to 60 feet per season, or about one foot per day.

Kudzu is extremely bad for the ecosystems that it invades because it smothers other plants and trees under a blanket of leaves, hogging all the sunlight and keeping other species in its shade. It can also survive in low nitrogen areas and during droughts, allowing it to out-compete native species that don't have those superpowers. The only other plants that can compete with kudzu are other invasive species, so that doesn't really help...

The great kudzu invasion all started out with a mistake: The Soil Erosion Service and Civilian Conservation Corp intentionally planted it to control soil erosion in the state of Pennsylvania. It was then used in the South East to to provide shade to homes, and as an ornamental species.

But as you can see in the map above, the result is more like a fast-growing cancer than anything else. How can you get rid of a plant that covers around a quarter of the country?

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http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/invasive-plant-swallowing-us-rate-50000-baseball-fields-year.html
More at the link. Much, much more.
(Please resist the urge to take this places it shouldn't go, lest you get in trouble with the mods- for those who may remember. Not sure there are too many who remember those days left around here, but you have been warned)
October 2, 2014

Check out what I found eyeing the Republican clown car:

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

September 20, 2014

Ron Wyden Hits CIA Director John Brennan Over 'Culture Of Misinformation'

The CIA's inspector general has confirmed that in the course of a long-running Senate investigation into the CIA's George W. Bush-era torture program, agency employees "improperly accessed" congressional computers. Brennan apologized to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee for that in July.

But at an intelligence conference Thursday, Brennan appeared to backtrack on that apology. He rejected media "narratives" that the CIA had hacked Senate computers.

"I’m not going to take, you know, the allegations about hacking and monitoring and spying and whatever else, no," said Brennan. His resistance seems to rest on a distinction between "hacking" and "improper access."

That set off Wyden -- a longtime CIA critic -- on Twitter.

more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/19/ron-wyden-hits-cia-direct_n_5851256.html

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There are several screenshots of Ron Wyden's tweets. Wyden is like a dog on a bone.

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