November 30, 2015

Everyone in this lounge needs to go meditate and do some yoga...

I'm 100% serious -- Back away from the keyboard/put down the smartphone or tablet and do it now....

November 24, 2015

"Best Congresional Press Release Evar"(?)

https://twitter.com/ktumulty/status/668904103032979460

November 24, 2015

Russia in Denial About Turk Shoot-Down

Putin couldn’t believe the Turks would keep their word by attacking a plane violating their airspace.

MOSCOW — On Tuesday morning after Turkish fighter jets downed a Russian Su-24 warplane, and even after Ankara confirmed the incident officially, Moscow at first could not or would not believe it was true.

Only late in the afternoon did President Vladimir Putin speak about "serious consequences" for the relations between Russia and Turkey. "We always treated Turkey not only as a neighbor but as a friendly state. I don't know who needed this, but not us, for sure," Putin said.

“This incident stands out against the usual fight against terrorism,” Putin said. “Our troops are fighting heroically against terrorists, risking their lives. But the loss we suffered today came from a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists.”

Putin was angry that instead of immediately getting in touch with Russia, Turkey appealed to its NATO partners, "as if it were Russia who shot down its own plane. Do they want to put NATO at the service of ISIS?" Putin wondered.

The remarks came after a long day of confused responses.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/24/russia-in-denial-about-turk-shoot-down.html?source=socialflow&via=twitter_page&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter

November 24, 2015

How to Survive Black Thanksgiving as a Non-Black Guest

How to Survive Black Thanksgiving: A Users Manual for Non-Black Guests/In-Laws and Black Folks that Don’t Have No Home Training, I.E. Culture

(HUMOR AND SATIRE TRIGGER WARNING)

1. DO NOT arrive empty handed to Black Thanksgiving. Store bought isn’t great, but if you aren’t sure how Black holiday food works, it’s better than getting the church lady look when you bring candied parsnips over. See rule 2.)

image

2. The answer is ALWAYS sweet potatoes. Neauxp, no pumpkin, parsnips, rutabagas, butternut squash, nah-unh…sweet potatoes aka “yams.” (Not really yams)

3. As with our close cousin “Southern White Thanksgiving,” we don’t call cornbread “stuffing,” stuffing….we call it “dressing.” Calling it “stuffing,” is a dead giveaway you don’t know the quality of what you brought over. Throw that boxed stuff away.

4. Bruce Almighty (wink wink) didn’t create “yams,” De Lawd did, so buy the ones that don’t come in a can when you follow rule 2.

5. Macaroni and cheese with breadcrumbs and bechamel sauce? Really? And it’s not even “urunge?” Neauxp…. not Black Thanksgiving approved.

6. Potato salad year round is a thing. Don’t ask who made it, just know their hands are clean. Potato salad is yellow, has paprika and eggs so don’t be confused.

7. Expect an elder to ask a young child to dance, perform, recite a poem or read from the Bible against their will for the entertainment of other elders.

8. Grace will last a while when Daddy/Grandaddy so and so or Big Mama, Nana, Grammy or M’Dear says it, so make sure you don’t starve yourself prior to arrival.

9. Black people hate it when you’re not a cheerful eater, so load up your plate. Strategy: if you’re used to white food just try to load up on stuff you’ll actually eat and tuck in the obligatory candied yams and collard greens where necessary. Save room for dessert. Candied yams or sweet potato casserole with marshmallows is NOT dessert.

10. Like any ethnic household expect people to talk about food while eating food.
You will likely be eating roast turkey, barbecued turkey, deep fried turkey, glazed country ham, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes mashed and covered with marshmallows, corn, cornbread, yeast/potato rolls, black eyed peas, rice, gravy, potato salad, cranberry sauce from the can, sweet potato pie, cornbread dressing, “fried apples” (think Boston Market apples), chitterlings, apple crisp, chess pie, fill-in-the-blank cobbler, ice cream, caramel cake, deviled eggs, “green salad,” and something almost Afrocentric..

11. DO NOT be that “other” that goes “Well it’s not just Black people that eat/do….” What the hell is that supposed to really mean??? a. You don’t think we have a unique culture unless we do “magical, innate, instinctual things y’all “can’t” do? b. You don’t seem to grasp that each culture puts it’s own spin on common themes. c. You’re showing that you believe in the “Black Box” (newsflash..we can be just as universal and influential as anyone else) d. You are desperate to have the newest college student in the family demonstrate their newfound skills in oppression deflection learned in Introduction to African American Studies. In any case, saying nonsense will get you “the look that Mr. Johnson gave Ray.” (Ask your host for the story once the Moscato gets flowing.)

12. Speaking of college…expect the student to have a newfound prejudice against pork, meat in general or cooked food, all of which will cause palpitations for the cook and rolled eyes. We are used to this, but know the “special plate,” is for the newfound #Hotep/poor righteous teacher, Natural sister/brother, or boho in the room…not for you. It may seem achingly familiar and inviting, but unless you want a “the look that Mr. Johnson gave Ray” (ask the host once the Moscato gets flowing) along with lectures on how the white man takes everything, leave the special plate alone.

http://afroculinaria.com/2015/11/22/how-to-survive-black-thanksgiving-as-a-non-black-guest/

November 24, 2015

Phuc Dat Bich: Australian with 'misleading' name thanks supporters

Mr Bich, who is of Vietnamese origin, shot to fame last week over his complaint that his account had been shut down because Facebook considered his name fake or misleading.

The post dated back to January, but received hundreds of thousands of likes late last week.

Mr Bich said he hoped he had "played a part in brightening your days".

His name when properly pronounced in Vietnamese, which is a tonal language, sounds like "Phoo Da Bi".

Mr Phuc originally posted his complaint on 28 January, accompanied with his passport photo, saying: "I find it highly irritating the fact that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34897404?post_id=100000433606031_1068351483189295#_=_

November 23, 2015

LOLOLOLOL... Even Huckabee's dog doesn't like him

look at the expression on that poor nose's face -- Didn't know it was possible for a dog to have a thousand-yard stare:

:large

November 23, 2015

Soviet Spy Ronald W. Pelton to be Released from Prison

Tomorrow Ronald W. Pelton, a National Security Agency communications specialist who was convicted in 1986 of spying for the Soviet Union, will be released from prison.

Like Jonathan J. Pollard, who was convicted of spying for Israel and released last week, Pelton was apprehended in 1985, which became known as the Year of the Spy because so many espionage arrests and prosecutions took place during or around that time.

A search of the Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator indicates that Pelton’s release, which has not been widely noted, is set for Tuesday, November 24. It further identifies Pelton as a 74 year old white male (Register Number 22914-037).

The Pelton case had several distinctive features.

Unlike most spies of the time, he did not steal U.S. government documents and turn them over to a foreign government. Instead, he was able to sell the Soviets information based on his “excellent memory and […] encyclopedic knowledge of intelligence activities.” Among the U.S. intelligence projects he compromised was IVY BELLS, an effort to secretly tap Soviet undersea communications cables.

The Pelton case was also a test of the government’s ability to successfully carry out an espionage prosecution involving highly classified information. “The trial included an extraordinary amount of public testimony by an agency known for its reticence,” the New York Times reported at the time, referring to the NSA.

In 1986, Pelton was sentenced to three life terms plus 10 years in prison (and a $100 fine), with sentences to run concurrently (not consecutively, as has been mistakenly reported). In theory he could have been eligible for early release after ten years, but he has served nearly 30 years in prison instead.

http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2015/11/pelton-release/

November 23, 2015

Iran says Washington Post reporter Rezaian sentenced to prison Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuter

Source: Thomson-Reuters

An Iranian court has sentenced Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian to a prison term, the state news agency said on Sunday quoting a judiciary spokesman, a case that is a sensitive issue in contentious U.S.-Iranian relations.

The length of the prison term was not specified. "Serving a jail term is in Jason Rezaian's sentence but I cannot give details," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei told a weekly news conference in Tehran, according to IRNA.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters he was aware of the IRNA report but could not independently confirm it. It was not clear why Iran has not given details of the ruling against the 39-year-old Rezaian, who Iranian prosecutors accused of espionage.

The foreign editor of the Washington Post, Douglas Jehl, said the newspaper was aware of the reports but had no additional information.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/23/us-iran-usa-trial-idUSKBN0TB0GG20151123#tkVilUaYlWWsuRbB.97

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I was expecting the usual suspects to be in an outrage over this, but Greenwald was unavailable for comment, and Snowden seems to have vanished off the face of the Earth -- Hasn't tweeted since 12 November...

November 23, 2015

In California, Stingy Water Users Are Fined in Drought, While the Rich Soak

APPLE VALLEY, Calif. — Outside her two-story tract home in this working-class town, Debbie Alberts, a part-time food service worker, has torn out most of the lawn. She has given up daily showers and cut her family’s water use nearly in half, to just 178 gallons per person each day.

A little more than 100 miles west, a resident of the fashionable Los Angeles hills has been labeled “the Wet Prince of Bel Air” after drinking up more than 30,000 gallons of water each day — the equivalent of 400 toilet flushes each hour with two showers running constantly, with enough water left over to keep the lawn perfectly green.

Only one of them has been fined for excessive water use: Ms. Alberts.

Luis Uribe, an owner of a landscaping company, spreading decomposed granite on a yard in Culver City. J.S. Gilbert at his home in South San Francisco, where he installed a low-flow toilet after a friend repeatedly told him that he needed to replace his old one because it used too much water.

Four years into the worst drought in California’s recorded history, the contrast between the strict enforcement on Californians struggling to conserve and the unchecked profligacy in places like Bel Air has unleashed anger and indignation — among both the recipients of the fines, who feel helpless to avoid them, and other Californians who see the biggest water hogs getting off scot-free.

The top 10 residential water users in Los Angeles collectively used more than 80 million gallons of water in the year that ended April 1. The “Wet Prince” topped the list at 11.8 million gallons during that time — enough for about 90 typical California families — at an estimated cost of $90,000, as first reported by the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/us/stingy-water-users-in-fined-in-drought-while-the-rich-soak.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

November 23, 2015

LOL.... Greenwald is now a Ben Carson fan

Yes, let's ignore the 99% of his other idiotic stances because he's "right" on this issue because ideology has to trump everything...

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/668762765566324736

Your hero, ladies and gentlemen...

EDIT: Folks keep wondering how long I'll harbor this grudge against Greenwald, and the answer is: Until one of us is dead.