yallerdawg

yallerdawg's Journal

December 10, 2017

'Morning Joe' coming to Alabama: Joe Scarborough broadcasting live on election day

Source: AL.com, by Leada Gore

MSNBC's morning political program "Morning Joe," will broadcast live from Alabama on election day.

Joe Scarborough will be joined by co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist at Char Bar No. 7 at Lane Parke in Mountain Brook on Dec. 12.

The program airs from 5 a.m.-8 a.m. CT and will include a live audience. The broadcast comes as Alabamians go to the polls to decide between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones. The special election has drawn international attention which grew after Moore, the former Alabama Chief Justice, was accused of having improper sexual contact with teenage girls in the 1970s.

Scarborough is no stranger to Alabama. The former Florida Congressman is a graduate of the University of Alabama and was later named to the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.

----------------------------------

If you go to this link, and look at 'view comments' -- you will see some of the most vicious, nasty comments I have ever seen anywhere, anytime!

Alabama is ready for this to be over.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/morning_joe_coming_to_alabama.html#incart_river_home_pop

December 9, 2017

I study liars. I've never seen one like President Trump. [Bella DePaulo]

He tells far more lies, and far more cruel ones, than ordinary people do.

Source: WaPo, by Bella DePaulo

I spent the first two decades of my career as a social scientist studying liars and their lies. I thought I had developed a sense of what to expect from them. Then along came President Trump. His lies are both more frequent and more malicious than ordinary people’s.

Nearly two-thirds of Trump’s lies (65 percent) were self-serving. Examples included: “They’re big tax cuts — the biggest cuts in the history of our country, actually” and, about the people who came to see him on a presidential visit to Vietnam last month: “They were really lined up in the streets by the tens of thousands.”

Slightly less than 10 percent of Trump’s lies were kind ones, told to advantage, flatter or protect someone else. An example was his statement on Twitter that “it is a ‘miracle’ how fast the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were able to find the demented shooter and stop him from even more killing!” In the broadest sense, it is possible to interpret every lie as ultimately self-serving, but I tried to stick to how statements appeared on the surface.

The most stunning way Trump’s lies differed from our participants’, though, was in their cruelty. An astonishing 50 percent of Trump’s lies were hurtful or disparaging. For example, he proclaimed that John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey, all career intelligence or law enforcement officials, were “political hacks.” He said that “the Sloppy Michael Moore Show on Broadway was a TOTAL BOMB and was forced to close.” Talking about green card applicants, he insisted that other “countries, they don’t put their finest in the lottery system. They put people probably in many cases that they don’t want.” And he claimed that “Ralph Northam, who is running for Governor of Virginia, is fighting for the violent MS-13 killer gangs & sanctuary cities.”

By telling so many lies, and so many that are mean-spirited, Trump is violating some of the most fundamental norms of human social interaction and human decency. Many of the rest of us, in turn, have abandoned a norm of our own — we no longer give Trump the benefit of the doubt that we usually give so readily.

Read it all at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-study-liars-ive-never-seen-one-like-president-trump/2017/12/07/4e529efe-da3f-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html

December 9, 2017

Trump responds to 'lock her up' chants, cites 'rigged system'

This morning, a Washington Examiner (VRWC) "contributor" on both CNN and MSNBC reported she had watched the "rally" and this "rigged system" issue was addressed to what has happened to Roy Moore. No one called her on this obvious lie.

Source: CNN, by Sophie Tatum

President Donald Trump responded to chants of "lock her up" by citing the "rigged system," while speaking at a rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday night.

"Look, it's being proven we have a rigged system," Trump said to the crowd of supporters. "Doesn't happen so easy. But this system, there will be a lot of changes."

*****

Before the crowd began its cries of "lock her up," Trump mocked the Democratic movement known as "the resistance."

Standing at the lectern, Trump imitated the holding of a sign and asked if the crowd had seen the ones that say "resist."

He later carried on to say that the resistance was purely a resistance against "the will of the American people," which prompted calls of "lock her up."

"They are resisting progress," Trump later said. "They're resisting change. Because the only thing they really care about is protecting what they have been able to do, which is really control the country and not to your benefit."

*****

Read it all at: http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/08/politics/donald-trump-rigged-system-florida-rally/index.html

Large pig mocking sign-holding protesters. Pointing out once again he really is "not our president."

December 9, 2017

Why faith inspires people to give

Tis the season!

Source: The Conversation, by David King

According to Giving USA, the leading annual report of philanthropy in America, religious contributions, narrowly defined as giving to houses of worship, denominations, missionary societies and religious media, made up 32 percent of all giving in America in 2016.

In Judaism, the Hebrew Scriptures refer to “tzedakah,” literally meaning justice. Tzedakah is considered a commandment and a moral obligation that all Jews should follow. The commitment to justice places a priority on their giving to help the poor. Beyond giving just time and money, rabbis even spoke of “gemilut chasadim,” literally meaning loving-kindness, or focusing on right relationship with one another as the prerogative of religious giving.

In the New Testament, Jesus not only spoke of giving a tithe but challenged followers to give far beyond it. For instance, in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions. Pursuing those values, a long monastic tradition has seen men and women taking vows of poverty to give themselves to the work of their faith. Today, while the tithe might not be practiced by a majority of Christians, most understand the practice of giving as a central part of their faith.

For Muslims, giving is one of the five pillars of Islam. “Zakat” (meaning to grow in purity) is an annual payment of 2.5 percent of one’s assets, considered by many as the minimum obligation of their religious giving. A majority of Muslims worldwide make their annual zakat payments as a central faith practice...

Of course, charitable giving is not just for the rich. For those with no money to give, the Prophet Muhammad considered even the simple act of smiling to be charity, a gift to another.

In working through the mandate of various religious traditions toward the healing of the world and individual motivations to give, people might understand that they have more in common than perhaps they realize.

"Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons license."

Read it all at: https://theconversation.com/why-faith-inspires-people-to-give-88206

December 8, 2017

Trump in Palm Beach: President's ninth visit comes with new wrinkles

Pensacola by big butt!

Source: Palm Beach Post, by George Bennett

President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to Mar-a-Lago should feature the least disruptive arrival motorcade of his presidency and a brief Saturday reprieve for weekend pilots who are grounded when the president is in town.

Trump, whose eight previous presidential visits have often snarled rush hour traffic between Palm Beach International Airport and his tropical White House, isn’t expected to arrive on Air Force One until 11 p.m. or later Friday night.

Trump is scheduled to remain at Mar-a-Lago through Sunday, but with a 5-hour side trip to Mississippi on Saturday.

Friday’s late arrival is due to Trump’s scheduled appearance at a campaign rally in Pensacola at 8 p.m. eastern time before he heads to Palm Beach.

*****

Trump’s Pensacola rally is ostensibly for the his 2020 re-election campaign, but it could have a more immediate political impact in neighboring Alabama ahead of Tuesday’s special Senate election. That’s the race in which Trump has endorsed Roy Moore, the Republican who was recently accused of initiating sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in 1979.

*****

Read more at: http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/national-govt--politics/trump-palm-beach-president-ninth-visit-comes-with-new-wrinkles/pnXJ98aWQqtcUDfPAM42BK/

11PM arrival? He'll miss the customary throngs waiting to greet him!

December 8, 2017

Roy Moore accuser alters story on yearbook signing, to hold press conference

Could it get more...interesting?

Source: AL.com, by Paul Gattis

Beverly Young Nelson, the former Gadsden waitress who presented her high school yearbook she said was signed by Roy Moore, altered the story she originally told regarding the yearbook signature.

In an interview Friday with ABC's Good Morning America, Nelson said she made some notes in the yearbook below where Moore signed it. Underneath Moore's alleged signature is a date and location that Nelson said Moore signed the yearbook - "12-22-77" and on the next line "Olde Hickory House," the restaurant where Nelson worked and she said Moore was a frequent customer.

Nelson will hold a press conference Friday afternoon in Atlanta. According to a press release from the office of her attorney, Gloria Allred, expert evidence that Moore signed the yearbook will be presented.

Moore, the Alabama Senate Republican nominee, has repeatedly denied knowing Nelson or signing her yearbook or attempted to sexually assault her as she has claimed.

Read it all at: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/roy_moore_accuser_alters_story.html#incart_river_home

December 8, 2017

Feminism and the Basic Income

Why we should all be feminists…and why all feminists should support the basic income.

Source: Medium, by The Basic Income Guy

*****

Toxic masculinity explains the following: Sexual assault and rape; sexual harassment; unwanted touching; verbal abuse aimed at a woman for her appearance; assumptions about what she may or may not like, including (but not limited to) the assumption that her politeness is conclusive evidence she wants to go to bed with you; assumptions about her intelligence and knowledge (which often plays out in the form of treating genuine intellectual disagreements, not as that, but as a sign that she is too unintelligent to see your point); etc. These are all products of a system which places women lower on the pecking-order of humanity than men, and in which women are simply there to be acted upon (liked, married, complimented, corrected, satisfied, sexualized, etc.) by men.

*****

One result of toxic masculinity is, to my mind, the implicit view that the work women do is less valuable than the work men do. This can clearly be illustrated in pay. I assume, of course, that in a capitalist system like ours pay is meant to illustrate the value which one’s work is taken to add. What you are paid depends on how valuable what you do is taken to be. I do not, however, believe that there is any relation between the value placed on one’s work by the market, and the actual (inherent) value of the same work.

*****

It might seem that we, as a society, couldn’t possibly go lower in our disregard for the work women do, right? Wrong! While pay for women in the earlier cases are lower than men’s, some of the work done by women are quite simply unpaid. To be more correct, they are simply not even viewed as work. While women have now entered the work-place in truly historic numbers, they still make up the overwhelming majority of stay-at-home parents. In the US, for example, only 16% of stay-at-home parents are dads. In the UK it is just 12%. Could the fact that we don’t, as a society, value the work women do explain why we don’t see staying home to care for kids as work, or as pay-worthy work?

*****
Paying moms (and now dads) for stay-at-home parenting is the next front where society needs to change its approach. Football provides something valuable: entertainment. Stay-at-home parenting provides something much more valuable than entertainment: good citizens, good humans. And, yes you don’t have to stay at home in order to produce good children; and staying at home to care for your kids doesn't guarantee that they will turn out great. But studies consistently show that stay-at-home parenting produces much better results than Child Care. From functional, well-adjusted adults to productive members of society, stay-at-home-moms are arguably the only thing standing between us and complete chaos or society-wide maladjustment and malfeasance.

*****

Read it all and more at: https://medium.com/basic-income/why-we-should-all-be-feminists-fbd5f3480bbf

December 8, 2017

Ijeoma Oluo: Al Franken harassed women and should resign. But it's OK to admit his loss hurts.

For many reasons, most abusers are more like Al Franken than Harvey Weinstein.

From: From NBC News Think

*****

It’s tough because Al is not the type of man we want to see as an abuser. It’s tough because Al is not someone we can just call a “bad guy” and toss away. It’s tough because when Al loses his job, we lose some of the comfort and security that having him in that role provided for us.

*****

Because we built a system that has encouraged and protected and revered people like Franken. Because our society has benefitted greatly from the contributions of men — of abusers — who also worked hard to advance progressive causes and to keep the worst of conservative agenda at bay. Because we made bad deals and bargained away the humanity of women in order to avoid the very hard work of having to fix what was broken.

Al Franken was able to rise to the rank of U.S. senator without addressing the harm he had done women because we as a society and we as a political party did not think that it was that important. Because we have never held likable men who abuse women accountable for their actions unless forced to do so. Because we have always sold out the wellbeing of individual women for the benefit of the collective — as if the collective isn’t also made up of individual women.

*****

To those who still believe the stakes are just too high right now to start banishing mostly good guys, I sympathize. But not holding abusers accountable hasn’t worked so well for us, and we’ve been trying that one for, well, basically forever. Maybe we try radically living up to our ideals instead and see what that gets us.

*****

Nothing is guaranteed but this: We are defined not by the things we do when life is easy, but by the things we do when life is tough. We cannot bargain away our values now because it might win us an election. If we did win, it would be a hollow victory, and to pretend otherwise would only corrupt ourselves more. If we sacrifice the humanity of women in order to battle a party that has never pretended to care about women, what will we have left outside of pretense?

*****

Read it all at: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/al-franken-abused-women-should-resign-it-s-ok-admit-ncna827556

December 6, 2017

Harper Lee, Roy Moore and Alabama values

Source: AL.com

By Wayne Flynt, an historian of Alabama who has written nine books about the state, the most recent being Southern Religion and Christian Diversity in the Twentieth Century and Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship with Harper Lee.

After reading a copy of my book, Alabama in the Twentieth Century, novelist Harper Lee wrote me a letter on February 18, 2005, expressing her fears about the direction her beloved state was headed based on its past: "It looks like to hell if we don't get some things changed. . . . I dread the advent of Roy Moore's administration but its coming sure as doomsday. What is wrong with us? Are you old enough to remember when people were less ignorant? I am."

*****

The choice for Alabama Methodists (such as Harper Lee) or Baptists (such as me), Pentecostals and members of independent megachurches, is to determine in this election whether white evangelicals retain the vision of the Kingdom of Heaven proclaimed by Jesus, the establishment of a just and righteous nation, or whether that evangelical tradition is now ethically, morally, intellectually, and (most tragic of all) Biblically bankrupt.

Hundreds of Alabama religious leaders have signed a letter denouncing the conduct of Roy Moore and his anti-Christian values.

My name as a Baptist minister/professor is on the list despite Harper Lee's humorous dismissal of my Baptist identity as being inappropriate to so intelligent an historian. I believe that our understanding of our people and their understanding of the Bible and personal moral character will prevail on December 12. But if not, then the churches should turn off the lights and nail up the doors, for they stand for nothing better than misogyny, religious and racial bigotry, and discrimination. And so far as the state's G.O.P. is concerned (in 1960 I was chairman of Alabama College Students for Nixon/Lodge), it might as well change its acronym to Grand Old Pedophile.

And the national party's cowardice in this Alabama uncivil war will swamp any pretensions it may have to the moral high ground of American politics.

Read it all at: http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/12/harper_lee_roy_moore_and_alaba.html#incart_most-read_

December 6, 2017

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

"Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance...in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding."

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