February 5, 2019

Trump's foreign policy pronouncements go beyond self-parody: 'We have very fast airplanes'

https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/trumps-foreign-policy-pronouncements-go-beyond-self-parody-we-have-very-fast-airplanes/

Donald Trump came up with a lot of memorable lines during the 2016 campaign, from “build the wall” to “drain the swamp.” One of his most common, from the moment the general election campaign began, was a complaint that his rival Hillary Clinton didn’t have the “strength and stamina” to be president. He made it clear over and over again that he believed the job of president was too much for her, and she wouldn’t be able to handle the rigors of the job.

As it turns out, this was another case of Trump projecting his own weaknesses onto someone else. A White House source leaked some confidential official presidential schedules to Axios and they show that the man with the most important job in the world is barely working:

The schedules, which cover nearly every working day since the midterms, show that Trump has spent around 60% of his scheduled time over the past 3 months in unstructured “Executive Time.”

“Executive Time” (also known as free time) was created by former White House chief of staff John Kelly when it became clear that Trump just couldn’t handle a normal presidential schedule. Apparently, it takes up most of his day. (One Twitter wag pointed out that the schedule looks like a day in the life of one of his cats.)

Nobody is quite sure what the president does with all that time, but the last few days have shown once again that he isn’t spending any of it boning up on national security and foreign policy. His understanding of world affairs is actually getting shallower and more confused than it was when he was elected.

February 4, 2019

East Virginia medical school got rid of yearbook in 2013 because of the racist photos

so students were still posting racist photos in 2013!! what kind of crap school is that!

https://nypost.com/2019/02/04/virginia-governors-med-school-dropped-yearbook-over-racist-photos/

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The head of the medical school whose yearbook sparked controversy after racist photos surfaced on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s page in 1984 got rid of the annual after he found pictures of students in Confederate garb, according to a report on Monday.

Shortly after Provost Richard Homan hired Mekbib Gemeda as vice president of diversity at Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2013, Homan showed him a yearbook containing photos of three white students wearing Confederate uniforms posing in front of a Confederate battle flag, the Washington Post reported.

Homan told Gemeda, who had been an assistant dean for diversity affairs at New York University’s School of Medicine, that the students in the photo had to receive counseling and sensitivity training.

“We need to make sure they understand as physicians that this is offensive to me as well as to future patients and grossly offensive to minority students and African- Americans,” Homan said he told Gemeda. “They’re going to be taking care of everybody. You can’t be wearing incendiary symbols if you’re going to be a young physician and a healer.”

He also put an end to future editions of the yearbook.

But he didn’t go back and review earlier yearbooks to see if they contained similar images.

February 4, 2019

"what gene makes hand color much lighter than face color?"

https://twitter.com/Rschooley/status/1092465413114351616

February 4, 2019

One deadly mass shooting after another in a violent January -- & attacks barely registered nationally

One deadly mass shooting after another in a violent January — and attacks barely registered nationally

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-mass-shootings-deadliest-january-20190201-story.html


A 21-year-old gunman walked into a Florida bank, ordered all five women inside to lie on the ground, and then executed them.

But the devastating attack — a tragedy that might have once spawned days of news coverage and a waterfall of “thoughts and prayers” posts on social media — barely registered on a national level. In the wake of the Jan. 23 shooting, major cable news outlets including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC devoted a combined 20 minutes of coverage to the tragic incident.

The next day in Pennsylvania, an assailant shot and killed his ex-girlfriend after gunning down a pair of strangers who attempted to intervene. Meanwhile, in Georgia, a shooter killed four people and injured another. Two days later a 21-year-old admitted to fatally shooting his parents in their Louisiana home before he gunned down his girlfriend, her 17-year-old brother and their father.

The bloodshed contributed to the month being the deadliest January for mass shootings since the Gun Violence Archives first started tracking gun-related violence in 2013. A total of 27 mass shootings – defined as an attack where four or more people are shot or killed – were recorded, leading to 44 fatalities, according to the nonprofit’s records. The victim count is about double the fatalities registered in January 2018’s mass shootings — 23.

February 4, 2019

Trump tries to distract from the "60% exec time story" with twitter blasts about immigration

(CNN)President Donald Trump is carving new divides on immigration ahead of his State of the Union address that likely offer a more reliable guide to the year ahead than the ritual calls for national unity he is expected to issue on Tuesday night.

"With Caravans marching through Mexico and toward our Country, Republicans must be prepared to do whatever is necessary for STRONG Border Security," Trump wrote in a tweet on Sunday evening.

"Dems do nothing. If there is no Wall, there is no Security. Human Trafficking, Drugs and Criminals of all dimensions - KEEP OUT!"

The Twitter blast shattered the White House spin that Trump is intent on healing old wounds, reaching across divides and using showpiece annual address before a vast television audience to project optimism.

The timing of Trump's tweet may be no coincidence -- it emerged shortly after Axios published weeks of leaked West Wing schedules painting an unflattering picture of a President who spends hours a day in unstructured "executive time."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/politics/trump-state-of-the-union-unity/index.html

February 4, 2019

does your dog come this quickly when called?

https://twitter.com/angie_karan/status/1091969061641043970

February 4, 2019

GoFundMe raises 216k for Bahamian locals who were screwed over by fyre festival

https://www.gofundme.com/exuma-point-fyre-fest-debt

Netflix documentary highlighted a woman in Bahamas that used her 50k savings to pay locals the wages they didn't get when the fyre festival went belly up.

In one day, GoFundMe raised 216k

Lots of everyday people got screwed by bill mcfarland

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.thisisinsider.com/gofundme-campaign-for-fyre-festival-caterer-raises-thousands-2019-1

On Friday, Netflix dropped a documentary about the Fyre Festival failure that contained some wild revelations. Many people were shocked at festival cofounder Billy McFarland's lack of organizational skills as well as how workers on the island in the Bahamas were treated.

One islander in particular, Maryann Rolle, runs the Exuma Point Bar & Grill, where many festivalgoers first appeared. It initially looked good for business because people were partying and drinking at her establishment. But she revealed in the documentary that she was never paid for her services.

As a result, Rolle had to use $50,000 from her own life savings to pay the staff members who helped at the event.

"I had 10 persons working directly with me, just preparing food all day and all night, 24 hours," Rolle said in the documentary. "I had to literally pay all those people. I am here as a Bahamian, and they stand in my face every day."

February 2, 2019

The White House says Trump's winter-defying tan is due to "good genes"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-says-trumps-due-is-just-good-genes/?via=twitter_page


resident Trump's persistently mysterious, winter-defying tan is the result of “good genes,” according to the White House’s official line on his complexion. A top administration official also told the New York Times that Trump applies a dab of powder prior to television appearances. The official said, however, that this power was translucent and not a bronzer. Former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman had claimed in a book on her time in the Trump administration that he used a tanning bed (no such evidence exists).

February 2, 2019

The lowest priced house in Oakland California $235,000

Former squatter house without running water in Oakland priced at $235,000
By Amy Graff, SFGATE Updated 3:38 pm PST, Thursday, January 31, 2019








It's currently the lowest-priced home in Oakland, and might offer a patient, ambitious buyer who wants to squeeze into the Bay Area real estate market an opportunity.

The tiny, ramshackle house with 364-square-feet at 7010 Herbert Guice Way near the Oakland Coliseum is priced at $235,000 — which requires a $47,000 down payment if you put down 20 percent.

The roof leaks and the exterior paint is peeling, but the interior is clean and tidy, if unassuming.


https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/7010-Herbert-Guice-Way-East-Oakland-real-estate-13573432.php#photo-16856929

February 2, 2019

For college-educated musicians, student debt is more than a burden -- it's a career life sentence

https://www.businessinsider.com/student-debt-college-educated-musicians-careers-2019-1


Musicians who take out student loans to pay for a college education often struggle to find a financially feasible way to follow their passion.

In addition to student debt, the high costs associated with being a musician prohibit many from pursuing a full-time career in music.

One artist we spoke to, Nashville musician Rayland Baxter, told us about the challenges of making $600 monthly loan payments while pursuing a career in music.

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Additionally, the sheer costs musicians must spend to simply perform and to get their music heard can be prohibitive for some. From instruments to studio time to merchandise to tours, musicians have to sink a fair chunk of funds into their craft, unlike many other jobs.

Guitars, for instance, can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. Studio time can be anywhere from $40 an hour to hundreds per hour. If musicians choose to go a more DIY route, they still need to pay for recording equipment and software. When it comes to touring, musicians have to consider buying or renting a van and paying for expenses throughout the tour, including gas, food, and hotels or AirBnBs.

Compare that to a traditional nine-to-five job where your expenses are mainly limited to gas to and from the office. More conventional careers also tend to have other important perks, such as health insurance and a retirement plan.