Derek V
Derek V's JournalSalon: Rand Paul just wrecked his ’16 campaign: Watch his awful Eric Garner answer
Joan Walsh writes:Journalists and comedians want an entertaining 2016 presidential race, and I’m sympathetic. I know people are going to prop up some folks I can’t get behind, but it’s all fair. Libertarian-minded liberals will say nice things about Sen. Rand Paul, and so might independent-minded folks like MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
And most days, I think that’s great. Rand Paul would be an interesting major candidate in the 2016 Republican primaries. I like some of what he says about criminal justice reform. I’m glad he wants to reach out to, rather than disenfranchise, African-Americans. He’s not the worst potential GOP candidate.
But Paul’s response to Chris Matthews Wednesday about the Eric Garner tragedy shows that, for all his lovely words about African-Americans and criminal justice excess, he’s a standard-issue libertarian whose top issue will always be taxes. He’ll always be an anti-tax libertarian first and foremost, before he’s a civil rights libertarian.
The Moneyed Interests, Tea Party Racists, Psychotic Cops, Anti-Knowledge Zealots
Are we just going to cede the country to these people? Or are we going to resist? Are we going to delude ourselves, thinking these bastards can be reasoned with? Or are we going to face the rapidly-manifesting reality?
My house is completely paid off. I am NOT going to allow some slimy-assed banker to illegally forclose on it. I am NOT going to allow some Bagger nitwit to dictate to my daughter the skin color of the man she can marry. I am NOT going to allow some pecil-dicked cop to compensate for his erectile dysfunction by killing my son. Hey, we're white, but that won't protect us from Gestapo tactics if things keep sliding. And I sure as fuck am NOT going to allow some Bible-thumping Luddite to force their fear and their fairy tales down my throat!
"They wanna fight, and sometimes you've got to," sang Tina Turner.
We have to defend ourselves, our families, and they progress we've made, as well as the hope of future progress.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to purchase some guns for Christmas 2014, which is looking increasingly like 1774.
I'm agnostic, but the uppermost question in my mind right now is, "How in God's Name did it come to this?"
Fox Reacts To Garner Decision: ‘Hope Nothing Happens In NYC, We’ve Got The Tree Lighting Ceremony’
No words
Here’s What Happens To Sewage On Cruise Lines
Source: Think Progress
by Jeff Spross
Posted on December 4, 2014 at 9:08 am Updated: December 4, 2014 at 11:26 am
Cruise ships released over one billion gallons of sewage into the ocean in 2014, according to a new report from Friends of the Earth.
The analysis, which worked off of federal data, did show that some of the 16 cruise lines assessed are slowly becoming more environmentally friendly. But according to the press release from environmental group Friends of the Earth (FOE), over 40 percent of the 167 ships in operation still operate using waste treatment technology that’s more than 35 years old. “Such antiquated treatment systems leave harmful levels of fecal matter, bacteria, heavy metals and other contaminants in the water,” FOE noted.
Federal law requires that cruise ships only dump treated wastewater if they are within three nautical miles of shore. But beyond that point, it’s essentially a free-for-all.
FOE also cites data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which shows “an average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew produces about 21,000 gallons of sewage a day — enough to fill 10 backyard swimming pools in a week. That adds up to more than one billion gallons a year for the industry.” FOE also acknowledges this is likely “a conservative estimate,” because newer ships can carry up to 8,000 passengers and crew members, and because their analysis does not cover all ships and fleets worldwide.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/04/3599528/cruise-lines-sewage-2014/
And that's not even counting the Kardashians!
Putin delivers major speech under fire from rights groups, insurgents
Source: Aljazeera
December 4, 2014 9:30AM ET
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Russia's enemies of seeking to carve the country up and destroy its economy to punish it for growing strong, in an annual state of the union speech that seemed to outdo even Putin’s own recent strident nationalism.
Speaking in an ornate hall packed with dignitaries, Putin trumpeted Russia’s annexation earlier this year of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in a speech that showed no sign of turning back from policies that have brought his country to a level of intense confrontation with the West unseen since the Cold War.
The same day he spoke, however, a damning indictment of Putin’s human rights record and a deadly attack on police threatened to steal the spotlight.
Making his first visit to Russia in nearly a decade, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth accused Putin of leading the country toward a “slide into autocracy.”
Read more: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/4/putin-speech-rights.html
Too bad the title isn't literally true.
Challenge: List the Top 5 Movies that EVERYONE Loved...Except YOU!
Cross-posted from the Lounge. Now, I want the hard-core view.
I've got my list ready to go. (Hell, I had to leave a couple off.)
5: A Christmas Story. Never saw it in the theater, but an ex of mine insisted that we rent and watch it. I left the room after about 50 minutes. BORING!
4: The Blair Witch Project. There is NOTHING scary in this movie! Nothing!
3: Paranormal Activity. Okay, the final 46 seconds were scary. That is, if you somehow managed to stay awake that long!
2. When Harry Met Sally. (Also my #1 Overrated Movie of All Time.) The gal I was dating at the time (not the ex mentioned above) and I both agreed that it was a routine, formulaic Boy Meets Girl Falls In Love With Girl Loses Girl But Gets Girl Back At The End snoozefest.
Warning: Allcaps Ahead:
1. The Usual Suspects. (Also my #2 Most Overrated Movie of All Time.) WHAT. THE FUCK?!? WE WERE TOLD IN THE TRALIER THAT KEYSER SOZE IS ONE OF THE GUYS AT THE HEIST. AND KEVIN SPACEY'S CHARACTER WAS THE ONLY ONE OF THEM WHO SURVIVED SAID HEIST!!! IT WAS OBVIOUS HE WAS THE REAL VILLAIN OF THE PIECE ALMOST FROM THE GET-GO! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!
"How many kids they've murdered...only God can say....."
He's talking about Latin American armies. Substitute the word "blacks" for "kids", and he's talking about the police, not in Latin America, but our America. And you might not have to substitute any words at all, as so many of the African-Americans killed by our thugs in Blue are kids!
Listen to the whole song and tell me, TRY to tell me, that you don't agree with every word he's saying. 
China Has Big Plans to Explore the Moon and Mars
Source: Space.com
December 03, 2014 05:17am ET
The Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), an assembly of experts convened by NASA to assist in planning the scientific exploration of the moon, is eyeing China's growing lunar exploration capacity.
"China has had a well developed, focused plan, and they are using incremental steps to lunar exploration," said Jeffrey Plescia, chairman of LEAG. "Each mission has achieved the primary goal — orbiters, landing, rovers — leading up to sample return and then on to humans."
The objective of the recent test of the lunar sample return capsule was to demonstrate gear that can return from the moon and land safely.
"I would guess that, given the pieces they have tested, that they have a high probability of success on the sample return," Plescia told Space.com. "My personal guess, though, is that their lunar exploration, while trying to do some science, is more focused on the geopolitical theater. They are demonstrating that they have the technical capability of doing the most sophisticated deep-space activities. They have a program, and they can keep to the schedule and accomplish mission goals on time." [See photos from China's 1st moon lander and rover]
In comparison, Plescia said, "the United States has been floundering around for decades, trying to figure out what to do."
Read more: http://www.space.com/27893-china-space-program-moon-mars.html
Hey, maybe they'll hire some of us as janitors!
House Republicans Ready Plan to Avoid a Government Shutdown
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — House Republicans made progress on Tuesday steering some of their most conservative members away from a course that could shut down the government next week, a prospect that would badly damage the party as it prepares to take control of Congress in January.
Though the outcome remained unpredictable, Speaker John A. Boehner and his deputies were already counting votes for a two-part plan that they presented in a closed-door meeting in the Capitol.
The first step would be to allow a largely symbolic vote on legislation to dismantle President Obama’s executive action last month that delayed the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants. The second would be to fund the government through the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2015, except for agencies that spend money to enforce Mr. Obama’s immigration action, like the Department of Homeland Security.
Congress would then revisit funding for those agencies early next year when Republicans are in control of both the House and the Senate and in a stronger position.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/us/house-gop-weighs-symbolic-immigration-vote-in-plan-to-avoid-shutdown.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Good luck with that, Man of Orange!
RE-READ FROM BEGINNING: Remember that "I, Claudius" scene where Livia tells him that
Caligula's going to be the next Emperor, whether he (or Romans in general) like it or not? Well, that's what I think of when people here talk about Warren or Sanders or O'Malley beating Hillary in '16.
ON EDIT: Having just finished reading the comments, it's clear that I've commited the sin of "Failure to Communicate." I would INFINITELY prefer Senator Sanders over Secretary Clinton as our 2016 nominee! I would also, if pressed, choose Sen. Warren or Gov. O'Malley over HRC, even though I worry about their level of experirnce. I AM DEFINITELY A MEMBER OF THE ABC CLUB!
But let me give you a movie refence: In 2008, the Clinton campaign was Governor Tarkin in the original Star Wars, arrogantly convinced that his Death Star was invincible. But in The Empire Strikes Back, the bad guys have obviously learned from Tarkin's destruction, which is why the Rebel forces don't do as well. This, I fear, is the film we'll see unfold in 2016. As for any comparison between Hillary and Caligula, is used that metric to illustrate that, sadly this time, Clinton really IS inevitable.
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Name: DerekGender: Male
Member since: Mon Nov 24, 2014, 03:20 AM
Number of posts: 532
