May 31, 2020

Fascist convergence

https://twitter.com/AnthonySabatini/status/1266946982716858374

May 29, 2020

Ready for a serious dose of technological creepiness?

Man builds 'Scarlett Johansson' robot from scratch to 'fulfil childhood dream' - and it's scarily lifelike
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-builds-scarlet-johansson-robot-7667715

You might not feel anything in particular about the social issues in a general way, but watch the video at the link.

Straightforward documentary style sympathetic to the inventor, but I predict it will utterly creep you out.

May 29, 2020

Minneapolis -- The man who called the police blames the police

Video at link:

https://news.yahoo.com/said-call-police-police-store-012933860.html

May 28, 2020

Mayor Jacob Frey Calls On National Guard Following Violence In South Minneapolis

Mayor Jacob Frey Calls On National Guard Following Violence In South Minneapolis
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/05/28/mayor-jacob-frey-calls-on-national-guard-following-violence-in-south-minneapolis/

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Amid a night of chaos in south Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey has called in the National Guard to help control the crowds protesting the death of George Floyd.

The Minnesota State Patrol, St. Paul Police, and Metro Transit police officers were also called in overnight to support Minneapolis Police as buildings went up in flames along Lake Street near the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct.

From miles away, the chaos and destruction in south Minneapolis was evident all night. By the early morning hours, the shouts of protesters had mostly given way to the buzzing of alarms at stores. Virtually every business within two blocks of the police station was damaged and/or looted.

...

May 27, 2020

Louisiana cop fired for saying 'unfortunate' more black people didn't die of coronavirus

Louisiana cop fired for saying 'unfortunate' more black people didn't die of coronavirus
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/louisiana-cop-fired-saying-unfortunate-more-black-people-didn-t-n1215451

A Louisiana police officer was fired over a Facebook comment that said it was "unfortunate" more black people did not die of the coronavirus.

The chief of police in Kaplan, about 87 miles southwest of Baton Rouge, said Officer Steven Aucoin commented under a local news station's live feed of the governor's coronavirus news conference on May 15. Aucoin was fired later that day.

CBS affiliate KLFY in Lafayette, Louisiana, reported that Aucoin's post was made on its Facebook page in response to another commenter who wrote,"virus that was created to kill all the BLACKS is death."

"Well it didn't work," Aucoin wrote, "how unfortunate," according to screenshots shown by KLFY.

The police department said in a statement on its Facebook page that it was made aware of Aucoin's comments. Chief Joshua Hardy "looked into it," and the officer was terminated.

"Chief Hardy and the Kaplan Police Department would like to apologize for this matter," the statement said.

...

At least it ended right.

May 27, 2020

Looks like she's no longer a fan ...

Ann Coulter Turns on ‘Disloyal Actual Retard’ Trump in Twitter Rant
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ann-coulter-turns-disloyal-actual-172315065.html

Ann Coulter went on an early Sunday morning Twitter tear, calling President Donald Trump “the most disloyal actual retard that has ever set foot in the Oval Office.”

The far-right media pundit and former Trump defender was triggered by the president’s Friday tweet in which he called for Alabama voters to “not trust Jeff Sessions” and instead put their support behind Sessions’ Republican Senate seat challenger, football coach Tommy Tuberville.

...

May 17, 2020

Group buys Alabama abortion clinic to keep it from closing (AP)

Group buys Alabama abortion clinic to keep it from closing
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Group-buys-Alabama-abortion-clinic-to-keep-it-15274773.php

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Conservative lawmakers in Alabama last year tried to enact the nation's most stringent abortion ban, but the attempt to outlaw the procedure may have had one ironic twist.

An Alabama-based abortion rights group used a flood of donations that poured in from across the country after the ban to purchase the state’s busiest abortion clinic to ensure it stays open.

Yellowhammer Fund — a group founded to help low-income women access abortion — announced the purchase of West Alabama Women’s Center on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Alabama ban.

“I said this a year ago. What they didn’t anticipate they would do is help us increase abortion access in Alabama,” said Amanda Reyes, executive director of Yellowhammer Fund.

Reyes said the flood of donations helped the group purchase the clinic from the owner who was looking to retire.

...

May 9, 2020

Donald Trump says he is better than Lincoln (screamingly funny impressionist)

May 5, 2020

How Michelle Obama changed the dress code for White House butlers ... (makes me love her even more)

How Michelle Obama changed the dress code for White House butlers because she didn't want Malia and Sasha growing up thinking 'African American men serve them in tuxedos'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8286407/Michelle-Obama-changed-White-House-dress-code-butlers.html

* Michelle Obama changed the White House dress codes for butlers and also insisted her daughters clean their own rooms and not let maids do it

* The former First Lady said the tuxedos sent the wrong message to Malia and Sasha, who were 10 and seven years old when they moved into the White House

* Obama, 54, said: 'The truth was that some of those men were uncles... Girls would have play dates and that just doesn't even look right to me'

* Obama said that she also 'begged' the maids to let the girls clean their own rooms because they wouldn't live in the White House forever

* She told the housekeepers: 'I'm not raising a girl who doesn't know how to make their own bed!'

...

From a usually unfriendly source, but I think they are being pretty fair this time.

I wonder did Trump change it back?

May 5, 2020

Under Lockdown, Parents Are Discovering Their Children Are LGBT And Dumping Them On The Street

Under Lockdown, Parents Are Discovering Their Children Are LGBT And Dumping Them On The Street
https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/coronavirus-lockdown-lgbt-domestic-abuse-teens?ref=bfnsplash#

LGBT parents are suffering homophobic and transphobic abuse from their own children during the lockdown, a charity has revealed — while young LGBT people are being thrown out onto the street by parents who discover their child’s sexuality or gender identity.

While homelessness caused by anti-LGBT rejection is not new, the context within this pandemic is, and so too is abuse from children directed at their own LGBT parents.

Teenagers who have never said such things before are now “lashing out” with hateful and abusive comments, Rachel Ellis from the LGBT Foundation told BuzzFeed News. “They’re trapped in the house, cooped up, and haven’t got anyone to let their frustrations out on except their parents,” she said.

Some parents, who have already experienced significant prejudice outside the home, are now blaming themselves for what is happening within it — unable to comprehend why. Despite years of casework, Ellis had never encountered this phenomenon before the lockdown. But, she said, “it’s something I’m seeing more and more in the past month”.

And that is just the start.

...

Somehow I think we're not headed back to "normal" later.