October 25, 2019

Thank you Mr. Soros

This story was at the top of the Democratic Primaries section on the front page when I first viewed this site this morning. I realize that there are other stories that have media and DU attention. There are times when I wonder if some members post to move a story favoring Senator Warren off the front page.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/25/george-soros-elizabeth-warren-is-the-most-qualified-for-president.html

Billionaire George Soros says Elizabeth Warren ‘is the most qualified to be president’
PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGOUPDATED 36 MIN AGO
Tucker Higgins
@IN/TUCKER-HIGGINS-5B162295/
@TUCKERHIGGINS

Billionaire philanthropist and liberal activist George Soros says Elizabeth Warren is the top Democrat in the field vying to take on President Donald Trump in 2020.

“She has emerged as the clear-cut person to beat,” he told The New York Times in an interview published Friday. “I don’t take a public stance, but I do believe that she is the most qualified to be president.”

Soros, a former currency trader and the target of numerous right-wing conspiracy theories, does not consider his position to be an endorsement. He said he will not endorse any candidate.

“I don’t express my views generally because I have to live with whoever the electorate chooses,” said the 89-year-old Hungarian-American, who in 1979 established the Open Society Foundations to help countries transition to democracy.

October 21, 2019

No, We Won't Just 'Get Over It'

We will continue to push for impeachment. We will step up efforts to expose his high crimes and misdemeanors. We will mock his pretenses and obvious lies.

Can you tell? I have zero respect for the man who is unfit to serve. This freak show has extended beyond its shelf life and the stench from the rot needs more than a strong sanitizer.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/no-we-wont-just-get-over-it/ar-AAJ5RcL

The New York Times
October 21, 2019
Charles M. Blow
No, We Won’t Just ‘Get Over It’
…snip
But, last week the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, lifted the veil on that lie, confirming during a televised briefing that there was indeed a quid pro quo. As The New York Times reported, “Mr. Mulvaney told journalists … that the aid was withheld in part until Ukraine investigated an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for hacking Democratic Party emails in 2016 — a theory that would show that Mr. Trump was elected without Russian help.”

Since making this shocking statement, Mulvaney has been struggling to clean it up, to tell the world that he didn’t say what he clearly said.

And, in the moment of making the statement, Mulvaney proudly proclaimed: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.”

No, Trump world, we are not just going to get over it, not now or ever.
…snip
Trump’s strategy is simple: Be brazen. Conduct your corruption in plain sight. And, it follows a simple logic: If it were wrong, I would be ashamed of it and attempt to conceal it. The fact that I haven’t attempted to shroud it is proof of its virtue.

That is what’s maddening about the Trump presidency: how much harm has been done as America looked on, with full awareness of the damage, and Trump has yet to be held accountable for any of it.
But that time is drawing to an end.

Wrong is wrong, whether you parade it or put it away. In fact, it is the flaunting of wrongdoing that should carry more of a penalty, not less of one. We can’t allow our numbness to make this normal. It isn’t.
….snip complete article available at link provided

October 18, 2019

NOAA attempts to educate the con about cones

As we recall, there was a kruffle during the last hurricane/topical storm. The dufus drew his own "cone" that had no basis in science, just another display by someone not qualified for political office.

Anyhow, Congratulations to NOAA for making your point using humour. Did a scientist write this?
Congratulations on the Service to America Award.

I was smiling after catching the screen shot below:

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Last update Fri, 18 Oct 2019 15:06:56 UTC
blue line for news table
NHC issuing advisories for the Atlantic on Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen
NHC issuing advisories for the Eastern Pacific on TS Octave
Key Messages regarding Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen
Local information on Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen: New Orleans/Baton Rouge, Mobile/Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tampa Bay
NOAA storm surge scientist awarded Service to America medal
Video: What You Should...and Should Not...Do with the NHC Forecast Cone ( download available here )

Updates for spelling or typing errors>>>

October 18, 2019

NOAA attempts to educate the con about cones

As we recall, there was a kruffle during the last hurricane/topical storm. The dufus drew his own "cone" that had no basis in science, just another display by someone not qualified for political office.

Congratulations to NOAA for making your point using humour.

Congratulations to the Service to America winner, a scientist, Jamie R. Rhome

I was smiling after catching the screen shot below:

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Last update Fri, 18 Oct 2019 15:06:56 UTC
blue line for news table
NHC issuing advisories for the Atlantic on Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen
NHC issuing advisories for the Eastern Pacific on TS Octave
Key Messages regarding Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen
Local information on Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen: New Orleans/Baton Rouge, Mobile/Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tampa Bay
NOAA storm surge scientist awarded Service to America medal
Video: What You Should...and Should Not...Do with the NHC Forecast Cone ( download available here )

October 16, 2019

Elizabeth Warren was attacked from all sides in debate -

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/16/elizabeth-warren-attacked-democratic-debate

The Guardian
10/16/19
Elizabeth Warren was attacked from all sides in debate – and she barely batted an eye
Moira Donegan

Warren weathered attacks from opponents with patience, grace and an agility in her rhetoric that rivals that of a gymnast on a balance beam.
...snip
But the attention was almost all focused on one candidate, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who has emerged as the frontrunner after a slow and steady rise in her support, and who has crystallized her position in recent months as the party’s intellectual and ideological center of gravity. Questions were framed around her policy positions, her past statements, her agenda; other candidates staked their claim to positions almost exclusively in relation to where Warren stands.
..snip
Warren’s new dominance reflects not only her slow but dramatic rise in the polls, where she is now besting the longtime establishment favorite, Joe Biden, but also a renewed Democratic political landscape in the wake of the opening of an impeachment inquiry against Trump in the House of Representatives. At the debate, the impeachment proceedings provided a brief opportunity for unity among the ideologically divided candidates, with a softball opening question about the inquiry providing all of them an opportunity to voice their distaste for Trump. But the unity ended there. From that point on, half of the stage dedicated themselves to the project of attempting to discredit Warren.

She was attacked by Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg over how she plans to pay for Medicare for All. She was attacked by Andrew Yang over her plan to break up big tech and enforce a strict antitrust agenda. She was attacked by Kamala Harris, who alleged that Warren was hypocritical for, of all things, not calling on Twitter to suspend Donald Trump’s account. She was attacked by Joe Biden for supposedly being “vague” on Medicare for All. She would have been attacked by Tulsi Gabbard for her lack of military experience, except Gabbard was cut off by a moderator.

For the most part, Warren weathered these attacks with patience, grace, and an agility in her rhetoric that rivals that of a gymnast on a balance beam. She refused to take the bait repeatedly offered to her by moderators and other candidates, who attempted to goad her into saying that she would raise taxes to cover Medicare for All. This denied her opponents a video clip that they could use to discredit her; instead, she hammered home the larger point that total costs would go down under her plan. She refused to get mired in the petty point of whether Twitter should suspend Trump’s account; instead, she focused on how big tech companies have too much influence over our politics to go unregulated. She wouldn’t concede Andrew Yang’s dubious assertion that unregulated tech giants encourage innovation; instead, she focused on the ways that monopolies in all sectors of the economy – she cited agriculture and pharmaceuticals – need to be broken up to protect consumers.

It was a frontrunner’s strategy, a deflection technique meant to avoid inconvenient commitments and stymie the attack strategies of her rivals. Warren made moral cases instead of economic ones, refusing to get bogged down in the kinds of specifics that can only be communicated poorly and haphazardly to voters within the confines of the contentious debate format. To make her case in a general election, she will have to become more willing to communicate the details of her multitudinous plans on a mass scale, more ready to get down to brass tacks on television and on the debate stage. But Tuesday’s debate was her first as the object of rivals’ ire – before tonight, her opponents had more or less held their fire against her. The discipline and poise she showed in this new role bodes well for her performance in a general election against the erratic and taunting Trump. He will bait her and goad her, and she will be able to calmly and convincingly remain on message.
....more at link also posted other snippets in Democratic Primaries

October 13, 2019

Mormons to the Rescue

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/mormons-to-the-rescue/ar-AAICO6z

The New York Times
10/12/19

Mormons to the Rescue?
Timothy Egan

In order to understand the Republican Party today, you have to understand religion. Donald Trump may be the most unreligious president ever — an undisciplined force of corrosive evil. And yet he tweets comparisons to himself as the Messiah and bullies his way around the world with the blind support of white evangelical Christians.

But the one religious faith that is the most heavily Republican is also somewhat disgusted with Trump. Barely half the members of the American-grown Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints approve of his presidency.

And therein lies the best chance, though it’s very much a long shot, to remove Trump from office. Wait! Mormons — forged from a polygamous theocracy in the Rocky Mountain West, tainted by decades of institutional racism and still very much opposed to marriage equality — to the rescue of the Republic? Maybe.

October 13, 2019

Harry Reid-"do not underestimate Trump"

I have a deep respect for former Senator Harry Reid. If he says beware the dragon is no dummy and will require a robust offense and coordinated effort to defeat, I believe him.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/reid-warns-democrats-not-to-underestimate-trump/ar-AAIIpy0?li=BBnb7Kz

The Hill
10/13/19

Reid warns Democrats not to underestimate Trump

Kyle Balluck 1 hr ago

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is warning Democrats not to underestimate President Trump in 2020.

"I used to think that Donald Trump was not too smart. I certainly don't believe that anymore," Reid told CNN's David Axelrod during an interview on "The Axe Files" aired late Saturday.

"I don't think he's intellectually a powerhouse, but he is basically a very, very smart man," he added. "No matter what the subject, any argument he involves himself in, it's on his terms. You're always arguing against him. He never, never willing to debate an issue on terms that aren't his."

When asked what advice he would give to a candidate running against Trump, Reid responded: "Well, what I say initially and I say it right here in your show, anyone that thinks Trump's going to be beaten easily should have another think coming."…..snip

October 13, 2019

"Gunpowder Plot"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/queens-speech-in-parliament-black-rod-hostage-taking-and-a-gold-stick/ar-AAIHAe2

CNN
10/13/19

Queen's Speech in Parliament: Black Rod, hostage-taking and a gold stick

By Sarah Dean and James Frater

Monday's ceremony will begin when the Yeomen of the Guard -- effectively royal bodyguards -- dressed in red Tudor uniforms, search the cellars with lamps to prevent a modern "Gunpowder Plot."
Quick history lesson: in the Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes and four other conspirators tried (and failed) to blow up Parliament. The gang intended to detonate explosives on the day of the State Opening, killing King James I and the aristocracy of the House of Lords. The plotters were later executed.

The searching of the cellars is just one of many archaic traditions that live on. The Yeomen of the Guard -- not to be confused with Beefeaters who guard the Tower of London -- will later form a Guard of Honor for the Queen.

MP taken hostage
It's all fun and games these days, but in a reminder of the historical violence between the Commons and the Crown, an MP will be held "hostage" in Buckingham Palace while the Queen is in Westminster.
This tradition, stemming from the time of King Charles I, is intended to ensure the monarch's safe return….snip more including slides at link

October 3, 2019

A warning for sycophants

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/if-trump-goes-down-hes-taking-everyone-with-him/ar-AAI84Ow

New York Times
If Trump Goes Down, He’s Taking Everyone With Him
October 2, 2019
Frank Bruni
…snip
But Clinton never publicly accused his detractors of treason or floated the idea that one of them be arrested on those grounds, as Donald Trump just did with Adam Schiff.
Clinton and his defenders raised the specter of a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” to use Hillary Clinton’s infamous phrase, thus asserting that he was being persecuted for his politics, not punished for his misdeeds.

But they didn’t insist, as Trump and his defenders routinely do, that a vital part of the federal government was an evil cabal intent on undermining our democratic processes, which is Trump’s self-serving characterization of the intelligence community. Their central strategy wasn’t to ignite a full-blown crisis of confidence in the institutions of government. They weren’t serving dire notice, as Trump essentially is, that if the president goes down, he’s taking everyone and everything else with him.
…snip

October 3, 2019

Attempts to privatize migrant child detention continues.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-admin-shifting-to-privatize-migrant-child-detention/ar-AAIcPPW

Associated Press
Trump admin shifting to privatize migrant child detention
October 3, 2019
By GARANCE BURKE AND MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press 5 hrs ago
…snip
Sheltering migrant children has become a growing business for the Florida-based government contractor, as the number of minors in government custody has swollen to record levels over the past two years. More than 50 babies, toddlers and teens were closely watched on this day inside the clean, well-lit shelter surrounded by chain link fences.

The children, many in matching black pants and gray sweatshirts, are officially under the custody of the federal government. But a joint investigation by The Associated Press and FRONTLINE has found that the Trump administration has started shifting some of the caretaking of migrant children toward the private sector and contractors instead of the largely religious-based nonprofit grantees that have long cared for the kids.
…snip