July 1, 2017

Anti-Trump Banner To Be Flown In Protest Of U.S. Women's Open Being Held In Bedminster

Source: Bernardsville-Bedminster Patch, by Alexis Terrazi (Patch Staff)

UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy organization, will fly a plane banner on Saturday over the U.S. Senior Open in Peabody, Massachusetts to urge the United States Golf Association and Ladies Professional Golf Association to sever ties with Donald Trump and move the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open from Trump’s Bedminster Golf Course.

The banner, which will be in the air from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., will read: “USGA/LPGA: Take A Mulligan. Dump Trump.”

The 2017 U.S. Women’s Open Tournament is scheduled to take place at Donald Trump’s golf resort in Bedminster from July 13 to 16.

“The USGA’s claim that holding the U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster isn’t a political decision misses the point entirely. Our objection to holding the tournament at Trump National Golf Course isn’t about who’s President — it’s about the USGA choosing to give millions in revenue, free advertising and branding, to a self-professed serial sexual predator; one with a record of racism and misogyny,” explained Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of UltraViolet. “By holding the U.S. Women’s Open — one of the most prestigious women’s tournaments — at Trump’s golf course, the USGA and LPGA are sending a message to women across the country that this kind of racist, sexist, abusive behavior is okay — and that’s just wrong.”

UltraViolet also has a petition, that more than 100,000 people have signed, calling for the USGA and LPGA to move the U.S.Women’s Open out of the Trump National Golf Course. See the Petition HERE.

https://patch.com/new-jersey/bernardsville-bedminster/anti-trump-banner-be-flown-protest-u-s-women-s-open-being-held



"Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine" at Bedminster - Jim Morrison


Yes, the infamous fake cover:

[img][/img]


Yes, the infamous fake coat of arms:

[img][/img]


Yes, Eric "golfing":

[img][/img]


Of course:

[img][/img]

LPGA player to Donald Trump: Stay away from U.S. Women's Open in Bedminster and prevent 'big debacle'

June 29, 2017

Tim Tebow passes Michael Jordan on minor-league HR list

For all you 'doubters' who ponder the sweet mysteries of life.

Source: Sporting News, by Joe Rivera

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Tebow has done it. He's hit a home run in his second game with the Port St. Lucie Mets, and he's now better than Michael Jordan.

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It's Tebow's fourth career home run, surpassing fellow baseball great and surefire, one-day Cooperstown denizen Michael Jordan, who had a career tally of three.

At this rate, the Mets could use all the help they could get — on the mound, not as much on offense.

The Metropolitans are in the middle of a historic month: They've mashed more home runs in June than any other month in franchise history. That's certainly something. Maybe Tebow wants in on the action.

In any case, all hail Tebow.

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/tim-tebow-baseball-stats-mets-port-st-lucie-home-run-michael-jordan-minor-leagues-news/k1rkvwq6xuu615wuavyb3r2hi

June 28, 2017

The Desensitization of "Survivor" Fans

(Does this help explain how a reality TV celebrity won a presidential election?)

Source: Medium, by "Survivor" fan extraordinaire Ianic Roy Richard

Picture sitting down to watch the newest season of "Survivor" and getting angry when somebody forms an alliance. They might be the most basic form of "Survivor" strategy in 2017, something that is necessary to win the game, but it wasn’t always like that. Back in the simpler days of "Survivor: Borneo," alliances were seen as almost immoral and unfair. For forming the first "Survivor" alliance to hold any water, Richard Hatch and his partners were almost universally hated and the inept Pagong tribe members were seen as the season’s heroes.

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Then, this:

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The funny thing is that this moment also desensitized the fans to pretty much anything that could happen down the road. It was the watershed moment that would eventually be seen as the idealization of “anything to win”. If the dead grandma lie was unpopular back then, it has become almost as popular in retrospect when people look back and see it as a brilliant strategic maneuver from a brilliant strategic mind. Two seasons later, Chris Daugherty would pull off a crazy come from behind win in "Survivor: Vanuatu" by lying through his teeth for the last couple of episodes and at final tribal council. Like Fairplay, he was hated for his gameplay at the time and since then, fans look back on him with reverence. Over time, the audience has adjusted their understanding of the game to what they see currently and it colors the show’s past differently as well.

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Much like the contestants themselves, the fans have evolved with the strategy of the game. The more we become versed in how to best play "Survivor," the less we react to big moments with anger or disgust. As of now, we may have reached a point where the audience is smaller but much more knowledgeable in terms of strategy and a moment like the dead grandma lie could never become the sensation that it once was. At least we’ll always have the original moment to look back on… “She died dude”.

Read it all at: https://medium.com/a-tribe-of-one/the-desensitization-of-survivor-fans-e5e7eb78c3ef

June 27, 2017

"Creature Comfort" - Arcade Fire

"Man is presumed to consist of body and soul, the "creature" being the body, as opposed to the soul, which is the divine spark. Thus "creature comforts" are those which nourish the body - food, liquor, warmth, etc - as opposed to those such as love, companionship, sympathy, and so on, which nourish the soul." - The Phrase Finder

June 27, 2017

Southern Democrats rally, too!

The Democratic "underground" is everywhere!

al.com

Mobile healthcare rally June 26 2017

June 25, 2017

"Eid Mubarak!"

For the first time in nearly two decades, Ramadan has come and gone without the White House recognizing it with an iftar or Eid celebration, as had taken place each year under the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. In recent weeks, several former White House staff members told The Post they would usually begin planning an iftar “months in advance” and didn’t anticipate the Trump White House could pull something off before the end of Ramadan.

White House officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In late May, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly said the State Department would break with recent tradition and not host a Ramadan reception, as it had done nearly annually for two decades. On Saturday, Tillerson released a brief statement sending “best wishes to all Muslims celebrating Eid al-Fitr.”

MAGA! President Trump Ends Tradition Of Celebrating Ramadan In the White House

June 22, 2017

Congress' plan to cut Medicaid threatens Alabama's rural communities

Source: al.com, by Jim Carnes, policy director for Arise Citizens' Policy Project, a statewide nonprofit coalition of 150 congregations and organizations working to improve public policies that affect low-income Alabamians.

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Medicaid is a critical lifeline for 24 percent of Alabama's rural and small-town residents, and the deep cuts to Medicaid being considered right now by Congress would have a harmful and disproportionate impact on our children, seniors and families in need. 

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About 52 percent of children living in non-metro areas of Alabama are covered by Medicaid and ALLKids (known in other states as the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP), compared to 42 percent in metro areas. Nationally, the researchers found a direct connection between increases in Medicaid and CHIP coverage and reductions in the rate of uninsured children in small towns and rural areas.

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The study also found that Medicaid covers a higher percentage of adults living in small towns and rural areas (14 percent) than in our state's metro areas (11 percent). Many adults covered by Medicaid are parents or caregivers, and when they have health care coverage, they are better able to provide children with the care they need to grow and thrive. Medicaid also helps improve financial security by protecting the entire family against medical debt and bankruptcy.

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Medicaid is a lifeline for the rural parts of our state. It ensures that the most vulnerable among us -- children, seniors, and people with disabilities -- can get the care they need. It keeps our rural hospitals running and able to serve patients who otherwise would be forced to drive long distances to get care. City dwellers sometimes forget that rural health care can be a life-saver for any traveler who has a highway emergency.  

*****

Read it all at: http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/06/congress_plan_to_cut_medicaid.html#comments

June 19, 2017

Hey, Georgia 6th! Just this once!

June 17, 2017

President Trump's mangled facts about Obamacare

Source: Washington Post, by Glenn Kessler


“Americans were told that premiums would go down by $2,500 per year. And instead, their premiums went up to levels that nobody thought even possible.”

Obama, when campaigning in 2008, did misleadingly say that his plan would reduce premiums for families by $2,500. As we have noted before, Obama’s pledge came with a very large asterisk: He was not saying premiums would fall by $2,500, but that health-care costs per family would be that much lower than anticipated. In other words, if overall costs — not just premiums — were expected to rise by $5,000 by 2012, they would only rise by $2,500. That nuance often was lost in his campaign statements, and he was quickly called out by fact checkers...

...But here’s the funny thing: Health costs for employer-provided plans have grown much slower than expected since the Affordable Care Act was implemented. Experts debate whether the ACA played a significant role, but the average family premium is now almost $3,600 lower than if premium growth had kept pace with the rate in the decade before the law was passed, according to Kaiser.




“It was just announced yesterday that 2 million people have dropped out of Obamacare — 2 million additional. They are leaving fast.”

This statistic is courtesy of another dubious report issued by HHS, though Trump hyped it up even more. The report did not say 2 million people dropped out. Instead, it said that 10.3 million had paid for their first premium in February as of March 15, compared with 12.2 million who had signed up for coverage as of Jan. 31...

...The individual market has always had a lot of flux – people drop out when they get a job that provides health insurance – so the attrition rate likely would not have been unusual if HHS had not manipulated the numbers. An HHS spokeswoman said the report eventually will be updated with the full March data but otherwise would not explain why the report was done differently than in the past.




“Insurers are fleeing the market. Last week it was announced that one of the largest insurers is pulling out of Ohio — the great state of Ohio.”

Trump decries that some insurance companies have announced they are leaving the Obamacare marketplace. But he ignores that many say they are exiting the business because of uncertainty created by the Trump administration, in particular whether it will continue to pay “cost-sharing reductions” to insurance companies. These payments help reduce co-pays and deductibles for low-income patients on the exchanges. Without those subsidies, insurance companies have to foot more of the bill...

... Trump specifically mentioned Ohio. But Anthem Insurance, saying it would leave the state’s exchange, cited the lack of certainty about the cost-sharing payments and “an increasing lack of overall predictability.” So Trump, decrying the “broken promise” represented by the departure of insurance companies, blames Obamacare for problems that his administration has fostered.


All in all: [img][/img] Imagine that!


Read it all at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/06/15/president-trumps-mangled-facts-about-obamacare/?utm_term=.4969eb692b68&wpisrc=nl_health202&wpmm=1

June 17, 2017

Australia announces three-month gun amnesty

Source: CNN, by James Griffiths

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Australia has announced a three-month gun amnesty in an attempt to stop some of the country's 260,000 illegal firearms from falling into the hands of terrorists.

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Illegal guns were used in recent terrorist activity such as a deadly shootout in Melbourne this month, and the 2014 Sydney cafe siege which left two hostages dead.

Anyone caught with an unregistered firearm outside the amnesty period could face a $280,000 (US$212,500) fine and up to 14 years in prison.

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This week's move is the first major gun amnesty in the country since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which a lone gunman killed 35 people with a military-style semiautomatic rifle.

In the wake of that tragedy, then Prime Minister John Howard banned rapid-fire rifles and shotguns and tightened gun licensing. The government eventually bought back and destroyed more than one million firearms.

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In the wake of his reforms, mass shootings in Australia dropped to zero, gun suicides declined by an average of 4.8% per year, and gun-related homicides declined by an average of 5.5% per year.

Those statistics are often pointed to by gun-control advocates in the US as proof restricting the availability of deadly weapons can reduce the number of deaths from them.

Read it all at: http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/asia/australia-gun-amnesty/index.html