December 11, 2016

Jury results

Hello, I've been on three juries the last few days, but have never received the results in my inbox. Your help would be appreciated.

October 12, 2015

The Right’s Nauseating Columbus Day Hate

When the fuck are we going to dump this so called "holiday?" Even as a little kid, I always chose to play the Indian. I was born with some kind of Democratic gene that has hurt me at times and has made me proud to be on the "right" side. This article from Salon kinds of sums up my feelings about this day.

<snip>
The right’s nauseating Columbus Day hate: Fox News, Trump, Limbaugh embolden white supremacist Twitter

As Scott Eric Kaufman of Salon noted on Monday morning, some folks on Twitter are honoring the Columbus Day holiday with the nauseating hashtag #ColumbusWasAHero. While some liberals are using the hashtag to push back against the adulation of Christopher Columbus, correctly noting that the man was a moral monster, most of the tweets are from right wingers defending the existence of the holiday and Columbus’s legacy generally.

Or perhaps the term “right wingers” is too mild, as the racism exploding all over that hashtag is so grotesque that most conservatives would probably blanch at it, sneering that Native Americans were a bunch of untamed savages prior to Columbus’s landing and claiming that white people invented everything worth caring about. It’s so hateful and wrong-headed that it hardly seems worth arguing against, as there’s undeniable, empirical evidence–say, the Mayan temples–that Native Americans did not conform to the “uncivilized” stereotypes being flaunted on this hashtag.

Nor is it true, as one tweeter suggests, that liberals believe Native Americans were “cuddly brown teddy bears.” Obviously, there were many, diverse Native civilizations over thousands of years and some were more violent than others, just like every other corner of the world. One need not believe that people are perfect in order to believe they don’t deserve to be stampeded over, colonized, and wiped out by genocides.

But this hashtag isn’t newsworthy because it’s so full of misinformation. What is frightening is how truly flagrant all of this is. Right out there in public, people are saying things like Columbus “represents the adventurous spirit of the white race” and that he’s a hero for “making North America an extension of White / Western Civilization.” There’s nothing coded going on here, just a bunch of people openly and shamelessly asserting that white people are morally and intellectually superior to everyone else.

It’s yet another sign of the growing boldness of white supremacists online. As Keegan Hankes reported at the Southern Poverty Law Center back in March, white supremacists used to hide out at their own dedicated websites, such as Stormfront or the Vanguard News Network, but now those sites are losing membership. It’s not, however, because white supremacists are waking up en masse and giving up bigotry. It’s because they’ve moved to more mainstream venues, like Reddit, where openly racist subreddits became some of the most popular on the board. While Reddit has banned some of the most egregious offenders, but others continue to exist, if often behind a “quarantine,” which only means you need a verified email to read or post on them.

<snip>

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/12/the_rights_nauseating_columbus_day_hate_fox_news_trump_limbaugh_embolden_white_supremacist_twitter/

August 24, 2015

This is awesome. I almost

wish the Trumpster would get the nomination so Bernie could kick his ass. Someone needs to do it and soon.

http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/08/in-bernie-vs-the-donald-bernie-wins-every-time/

August 19, 2015

Does anyone else think

that Yosemite looks awful? I know it was developed because of mobile, but I just can't stand the look of it. I 'upgraded' my MacBook Air and couldn't believe how ugly it is. So I kept Mavericks on my iMac, which is my most used Apple device.

I know I'll have to bite the bullet before too long, but I'm not looking forward to it. Anyone else feel this way?

August 15, 2015

I'm totally for Bernie however

I think there are too many pinned threads. Can some of them possibly be combined. Like maybe videos and avatars/timeline pics? Or whatever it's called. Just a thought. One has to scroll down quite a bit too see the most recent threads.

April 25, 2015

I had never heard of these dolls.

The Obamas understandably put the end to the manufacturing of them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TY-Girlz-2009-Original-Marvelous-Malia-Sweet-Sasha-Obama-Girls-Dolls-/181723942931?

April 20, 2015

Don't forget that Neil deGrasse Tyson’s new show StarTalk starts tonight.

I'm really looking forward to this. 11pm ET, 8pm PT on the Nat Geo Channel. He is so amazingly good at explaining the cosmos.

April 17, 2015

Martin O’Malley

Criticizes Hillary Over Same-Sex Marriage Flip-Flop, Is Totally Probably Running

Now that Hillary Clinton has declared her candidacy for president, the Democrats are realizing that she is a colossus, with no one striding to oppose her. The only person likely to oppose her is Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, and he ain’t talking –but he will criticize Hillary over her flip-flops.

“It’s a colossal undertaking, and there are many different components of [a presidential race]”, O’Malley said at a Harvard University event, according to The Guardian. “Organization, policy, personnel –- its a lot to put together…I’ve never run a bad race, and I don’t intend to start now –– if I were to do this.”

Read more:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/martin-omalley-criticizes-hillary-over-same-sex-marriage-flip-flop/

April 14, 2015

Where Are Hillary Clinton's Democratic Rivals? Seriously! What Will We do?

I'd like to know this two - what, is she going to debate herself? This is ludicrous and truly pisses me off! Hey, how about one of the Cruz twins (as in Julian and Joaquin - not THAT Cruz) Thank ma nature he doesn't have a twin! He's more than enough. We don't need more than one asshat! Although there are plenty more mentioned in the opinion piece.
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The Missing Democrats

As the campaign to succeed President Obama shifts into high gear, Republican voters seem assured of a contested race for their party's nomination that will feature generational, geographical, occupational and ideological contrasts. On Monday, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida announced his candidacy for the 2016 nomination, joining declared or almost-declared candidates Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas.

All these candidates profess to be conservatives, but differences abound on issues from immigration to school reform to the U.S. role in the world. (Paul, though he denies being an isolationist and supports military action against Islamic State, says that “my predisposition is to less intervention.”) There will be at least nine debates before the party's convention next summer in Cleveland, offering ample opportunity for a clash on the issues and greater clarity about what the candidates believe and how they would translate their convictions into policy.

There also will be posturing and evasions, of course. But debates refine candidates' positions in a way that inquisitions by the press cannot.

That brings us to the Democratic presidential field. In order to have a debate you have to have more than one candidate, and to have a debate that will command public attention you need a real contest.
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Read more: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-presidentialcampaign-20150414-story.html

December 22, 2014

This guy is so far off base

I don't even know where to start. Kraftwerk? SRV? I even emailed him.

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Congratulations to the new herd of musicians just named as inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Minus the context, all have proved themselves notable enough to be part of a trending topic for a few days per year, as well as serving as pawns in a game over definitions, taste and intentions. Successful enough at the job to land within the hallowed halls of a Cleveland institution that honors a music designed to question institutions, the acts' families should be proud. They did it.

But -- spoilsport alert -- as a whole, the whole thing is wrong. Here are seven reasons why.

1. Chic still didn’t get in, but Green Day did. The former helped build a sound that still resonates on the charts and has influenced generations. The latter ripped off better bands that influenced generations, commodified pop punk and wrote a Broadway musical.

2. Kraftwerk was shunned again, but the Paul Butterfield Blues Band is in. Anyone under 50: Quick, name a Butterfield song. Didn't think so. Influential, perhaps, but hardly more important than Kraftwerk, Chic or, say, the Germs or Black Flag.

3. Ringo Starr gets in on a technicality. At his best, Ringo was a B-grade rock drummer. As a singer, he was no Keith Moon. *My note - does anyone remember Keith Moon singing?!?

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-rock-roll-hall-fame-inductees-20141216-column.html