September 19, 2015

Into the Unknown: Commanders Kelly and Kornienko Begin Seventh Month of Space Travel | NASA

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/releases/2015/halftime-in-space-space-station-crew-and-ground-controllers-mark-mid-point-of-one-year.html

"Almost everything we know about living in space ends at six months. Now that I am at the midpoint of my mission, heading into the second half of one year in space aboard the International Space Station, I am looking forward to exploring the science of this uncharted territory and stepping into the unknown.

My Russian colleague Mikhail Kornienko and I are living in space for one year to push the edge of our scientific understanding. To add in another dynamic, researchers are conducting “twin studies” to compare the subtle effects and changes in spaceflight as compared to Earth by studying my twin brother and I, two individuals who have almost identical genetics, but are in different environments for one year. We hope that the knowledge gained on this mission will benefit the Earth and that the data collected will help send humans to new destinations, supporting the next generation of space explorers."

September 17, 2015

#IStandWithAhmed: Story of Muslim-American teenager arrested for bringing clock to school goes viral

"Islamophobia ran amok on Monday with the arrest and interrogation of 14 year old aspiring inventor, Ahmed Mohamed. Mohamed brought a homemade clock to school to impress his teacher at MacArthur High in Irving, Texas, but instead of encouraging words his teacher and principal called in the police. Mohamed was then interrogated without his parents present, handcuffed and hauled down to the local juvenile detention. Ahmed Mohamed is Muslim.

His teacher thought his clock was a bomb. After Mohamed’s arrest went viral, and by Tuesday night it spiraled into a tidal wave of support. His arrest made national news this morning and the rest is history. We’re watching it unfold today:

Ahmed Mohamed
Ahmed Mohamed – ‏@IStandWithAhmed

Thank you for your support! I really didn't think people would care about a muslim boy. #Thankyouforstandingwithme #IStandWithAhmed

7:13 AM - 16 Sep 2015
13.3K RETWEETS15.9K FAVORITES

- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/istandwithahmed-teenager-bringing#sthash.yO2YJyqN.dpuf
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Watch out, it's a brown guy with a clock! @IStandWithAhmed
10:28 AM - 16 Sep 2015
3,658 Retweets 4,295 favourites

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Now top trending hashtag on twitter, Ahmed Mohamed’s story has gone international:

How #IStandWithAhmed took Twitter by storm

CHICAGO: A Muslim teen was led out of a Texas school in handcuffs after a teacher mistook his homemade digital clock for a bomb, prompting accusations of Islamophobia and an online backlash on Wednesday.

A photo of Ahmed Mohamed, 14, standing in handcuffs while wearing a t-shirt with the US space agency NASA's logo was retweeted thousands of times in a matter of hours and "#IStandWithAhmed" was the top trending hashtag on Twitter.

Among those voicing support for the boy was Hillary Clinton, who tweeted: "Assumptions and fear don't keep us safe-they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building."

Mohamed told The Dallas Morning News that he was just trying to impress his teachers when he brought the clock to MacArthur High school on Monday.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/How-IStandWithAhmed-took-Twitter-by-storm/articleshow/48991588.cms?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=timesofindia

September 12, 2015

WATCH: Fox Uses The SAME EXACT Propaganda To Attack Iran They Used Against Iraq In 2007:

"In 2007, the war in Iraq was still raging. With no exit strategy in sight and the hope of another Republican administration in 2009, the GOP launched the next phase of its war mongering, led by its chief propaganda machine: Fox News.

Fox ran with the same rhetoric and lies it used to help convince Americans that we needed to destroy Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein. Weapons of mass destruction were a certainty. Al Qaeda was building an army. The same exact garbage they sold us to put $2 trillion on the country’s credit card so Halliburton and the Carlyle Group could profit from no-bid contracts was playing out again before our eyes.

Meanwhile, Iran was ACTUALLY building a stockpile of centrifuges under Bush’s nose, causing yet another foreign policy disaster for President Obama to deal with."

http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/watch-fox-uses-the-same-exact-propaganda-to-attack-iran-they-used-against-iraq-video/

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And now as we love and breath and listen Fox is doing the exact same thing again with the exact same garbage again spewed relentlessly and endlessly through its vast array of free speech megaphones.

September 11, 2015

"Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here!": Refugees Welcomed by Huge Crowds in Germany

September 4, 2015

U.S. adds 173,000 jobs in August as unemployment falls to seven-year low | Marketwatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The pace of hiring in the United States slowed in August, but the dropoff probably wasn’t weak enough to force the Federal Reserve to reconsider plans to raise interest rates this year as the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in seven years.

The U.S. added 173,000 jobs last month, marking the smallest increase since March and the second smallest gain of the year,the government reported Friday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected a seasonally adjusted 213,000 increase in nonfarm jobs.

Offsetting slower job creation last month, the pace of hiring in July and June was stronger than initially reported, according to a survey of business establishments. The Labor Department said 245,000 new jobs were created in July instead of 215,000. June’s gain was revised up to 245,000 from 231,000.


Wages also picked up, perhaps a sign that falling unemployment and scattered labor shortages are pressuring more companies to increase pay."







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What is not to like.....and time to celebrate....a word completely being buried in the perpetual cloud of ridiculous doom and gloom the media spews every hour....wasn't America founded and built on exactly the opposite sentiment?

August 31, 2015

President Trump will get to control thousands of nuclear weapons. This is why that is so unthinkable:

August 31, 2015

Bill Maher Smacks Media For Uncritical Coverage of Trump's Racism | CrooksAndLiars

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/08/bill-maher-smacks-media-uncritical

"Bill Maher took on the uncritical media and their coverage of Donald Trump's unbridled hate speech toward immigrants in this country, after shaming Republicans for not standing up against it.

Dana Rohrabacher (R-Stupid), defended Trump's xenophobia by claiming he's defending middle class Americans who are adversely affected by illegal immigration. That is utter bullshit. Middle class people benefit from immigrants who aren't afraid to do the jobs they don't want to do.

Wendy Davis jumped in and called it what it is: Race-baiting. She went on to say "It's a page right out of the George Wallace playbook."

Michael Weiss nailed it when he said Trump is "a European-style demagogic politician in the American context." That's exactly right, and I'd go one step farther and agree with this article calling Trump a "proto-fascist.""

.........

"With that said, Maher takes on the whole thing, taking on the media monster that surrounds Trump, mocking them for claiming they have to cover him because he's at the top of the polls.

Maher supposes, "Maybe he's at the top of the polls because you cover him endlessly.""
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August 29, 2015

Why does Trump still remain atop the polls? You can still blame the media.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/08/28/why-does-trump-remain-atop-the-polls-you-can-still-blame-the-media/

By John Sides, Washington Post (update to Sides previous post and graph of (July 20):

................

"Cranky Reader: Sides, you are an idiot.

Me: Cranky Reader! Welcome back. It’s been a long time since you’ve been in touch.

CR: Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a long time since you’ve been dead wrong about a presidential election.

Me: What did I do now?

CR: Remember how a few weeks ago you said to “blame the media” for Trump’s surge? And how there is this cycle of “discovery, scrutiny, and decline” for primary candidates? You know, in your stupid book? Well, Trump’s been scrutinized a million times since then. And his poll numbers are just as strong! Where’s the decline?

"Me: What I mean by discovery, scrutiny and decline is that, during the presidential primary, people’s opinions respond to changes in the information they’re getting. The initial surge of news coverage drives up poll numbers. Some combination of scrutiny and the discovery of the “next” candidate brings about the decline."

August 29 media coverage graph:

&w=1484


__________________________

(Side's article from July 20 on the media created Trump "surge&quot

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/07/20/why-is-trump-surging-blame-the-media/

"Donald Trump’s surge to the front of the GOP presidential polls has occasioned not a little media attention and endless speculation as to why. You can disregard most of that speculation. The answer is simple: Trump is surging in the polls because the news media has consistently focused on him since he announced his candidacy on June 16.

Below is a graph that I made with UCLA political scientist Lynn Vavreck using social analytic tools provided by Crimson Hexagon. These tools are devised to gather and reveal the volume and tone of media coverage on major news sites. Vavreck and I are analyzing the news coverage of presidential candidates as part of our joint work on the 2016 election.

The graph shows you how much coverage Trump got in the week before he announced his candidacy, and in the 30 days after. For comparison, there is a line for the other Republican candidates who have announced their candidacy in the past 2 months: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Scott Walker.":


&w=1484


______________________________

My take based on Sides's media coverage analysis:

Trump's "rise" is not about his "charisma".

Not about his "populism".

Not about "a non-politician".

Not any of that, and not even that Trump looks like he would give away blowjobs on command for free.

It is all about the massive media coverage and slant. The advertising may be free, but it is still advertising and what is scary is how powerful that free or any advertising can be.

What will happen to the shape of public opinion in 2016, and who will the masses be forced to watch, listen to and love, hate or fear as desired when this kind of advertising is unleashed x 10, now paid for with billions and billions of dollars of targeted misinformation by undisclosed interests on an hourly basis?

Among other things Trump is also an elaborate media created dress rehearsal for the main act, a free teaser if you will, to sell potential mega-rich media ad purchasers of the power of persuasion.

What happened just now to Univisions's chief and real journalist Ramos is an example of what happens today in America to real journalists. Then we can all be sure that the fake journalists of the corporate mass media will be united in calling the cowardly lion sending in his brown shirts to physically assault the real journalist the brave one?!

Is their any doubt about the power of the media to persuade by sheer force of repetition of half-truths?

Remember the Iraq war? If you have forgotten, remember Ebola, perhaps?

August 28, 2015

Fraud Exposed: Planned Parenthood Submits Report To Congress: Videos Show 'At Least' 42 Splices

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/08/planned-parenthood-submits-report-congress

Key data from the summary:

Collectively, the five videotapes of Planned Parenthood staff have at least 42 splices where content is cut and edited together to make it appear to be a seamless conversation.

In some cases, these splices completely change the meaning of statements. On one video, a Planned Parenthood staff member’s remarks about lab protocols were edited to make it sound like she was talking about changing abortion procedures. Phrases on the tape were isolated and removed, stringing together unrelated sentences to change the meaning.

Anti-abortion activists used the doctored “quote” to support false claims that she was talking about changing how an abortion would be done, and the “quote” was published by mainstream media as if it were real.

On one tape, a Planned Parenthood staff member in Colorado says 13 separate times that any arrangements related to fetal tissue donation need to be reviewed by attorneys and follow all laws – and all 13 are edited out of the video.

On another tape, a Planned Parenthood staff member in Texas says nine separate times that there is no “profit” related to fetal tissue donation – and all nine are edited out of the video.

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Criminal fraud being used for criminal partisan political purposes, wholly manifactured in an editing lab by known anti-abortionists with a criminal past and entirely funded by dark money GOP political operatives, just like ACORN,......that is the plain truth.

If there are not criminal prosecutions for this massive deceit...there is no Justice in America, that is being drowned out by this not even well done pure propaganda.

I repeat. Let it be clear.

It is all vicious and vile propaganda, pure manipulation of the reputation of good folks and a good health organization for women, particularly minority and poor women....the pure evil in people's hearts to manufacture such a smear, the audacity of the evil being used to spread the fraud as real and the sheer stupidity and gullibility of the mass media, is......beyond belief.

If one thinks it is not all exactly as I stated - as supported by the forensic analysis and a little thing called "evidence" - then I say good day to you sir/Madame, you are part of the problem.

August 25, 2015

The ultimate expression of white privilege is the closed loop electoral system.

The first two states to vote in the so-called "primaries" to weed out the pretenders from the contenders in a two party political stranglehold are Iowa and New Hampshire.

The demographics of these two States are as follows (2010 census):

Iowa

White
2,748,640 93.9
Black or African American
61,853 2.1
American Indian and Alaska Native
8,989 0.3
Asian
36,635 1.3
Asian Indian
5,641 0.2
Chinese
6,161 0.2
Filipino
2,272 0.1
Japanese
1,474 0.1
Korean
5,063 0.2
Vietnamese
7,129 0.2
Other Asian 1
8,895 0.3


New Hampshire

White: 1,236,050 (93.9%); Black: 15,035 (1.1%); American Indian: 3,150 (0.2%); Asian: 28,407 (2.2%); Other race: 12,062 (0.9%); Two or more races: 21,382 (1.6%); Hispanic/Latino: 36,704 (2.8%).

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In fact then, about 4 million white Euro-Americans and about 200,000 African-Americans and others are the keepers of the gate to the White House. For the TWO parties.

That is ludicrously non-Democraric beyond reason. What if the first two voting States were not the 40th and 45th whitest in America...representing exactly 2% of the American population but were instead in Mississippi and Alabama or Maryland, etc? Even Florida or Alabama or Texas...you know, where tens of millions of Americans who get little to no say in the whole primary electoral process live....one neighbourhood in one of the major cities of any of these States has more African Americans than Iowa and New Hampshire combined.

Who would the politicians and mass media have to pander to then and how much different would the politics have to be? Would a shift from political and media pandering to a relative handful of Fox crazed evangelicals in all-white bread little slices of America make a difference to American elections and debate? Damn right it would!

Which is why it must never be discussed....what are you even thinking, messing with tradition, Fred Sanders? This is America!

Of course it was all a just a strange historical accident and happy for whites coincidence that is so awesomely "traditional" it can not possibly be changed, ya see!

The ultimate expression of white privilege is the privilege of Euro-Americans exploiting their ""tradition" by speaking for months and years in the endless campaign cycle of the wants and needs and hysterical evangelical fears of these 3.8 million white folks, and white folk only.

The system is rigged, my friends, Iowa and New Hampshire as the first primary States are as effective as whips and balls and chains to suppress and marginalize the issues that effect African-Americans and minorities....and I repeat it is no accident.

I understand the GOP will never change their primary system or rules, but what is up with the Democratic Party? The funny thing is the entire primary system is not law, it is just a bunch of political Party rules....could be changed by a simple Party resolution!

The math don't lie. The system is rigged. The first order of the rigged system is to rig it against minorities...and that was no accident of history, my friends, that was and is the modern version of systemic political slavery.

Actual lynchings may not be all that fashionable today, but electoral lynching is pandemic.