Demovictory9
Demovictory9's Journalwhen you don't know what you're doing but you're happy to be involved
https://twitter.com/humorandanimals/status/1164941444756451330Let's 'gut check' all of Trump's vulgar, unpresidential statements
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-beastly-is-trump-the-post-gut-checker-investigates/2019/08/23/72b70ab2-c5b3-11e9-b5e4-54aa56d5b7ce_story.htmlLet’s ‘gut check’ all of Trump’s vulgar, unpresidential statements
It was an exemplary week for presidential misbehavior.
President Trump had an international tantrum over Denmark’s refusal to sell him Greenland.
He invoked the anti-Semitic trope that American Jews have a dual loyalty to Israel.
He proclaimed himself the Messiah.
Along the way, he used shooting victims for self-promotion, said he wanted a medal for military valor, and more.
In this divided land, there is broad agreement on one thing: Our president is unpresidential.
A Post/ABC News poll released last month found that two-thirds of Americans find Trump “unpresidential” and only 28 percent say his actions are “fitting and proper.” Trump himself has acknowledged that some of his behavior is “not at all ‘Presidential’.”
It’s hard to say for sure whether Trump was more undignified this week compared with most others. This is, after all, a man who boasted publicly about his genitals, uses words such as “bull----,” “p---y,” “goddamn” and “little Schitt” in public, misspells tweets, talks of women bleeding, proclaims himself a “stable genius” with a “very large brain,” “fell in love” with North Korea’s dictator, paid hush money to a porn actress, shoved a prime minister, wore an ill-fitting vest to visit Queen Elizabeth and praised the “shape” of France’s first lady.
He also let Kanye West loose in the Oval Office, prayed for higher ratings for “The Apprentice” at a prayer breakfast , spoke of “raking” forests, hugged an American flag, dragged toilet paper from his shoe, suggested the Clintons murdered Jeffrey Epstein, described neo-Nazis as “very fine people,” and, when told by a rape victim that the Islamic State killed her family, replied: “Where are they now?”
But maybe there is a way to calibrate vulgarity. Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler and his team have documented more than 12,000 false or misleading statements by Trump using the Pinocchio system: from one Pinocchio for “shading” facts to four for “whoppers.” Rare, unexpectedly true statements earn a Geppetto.
Instead of a fact check, I propose a “gut check” of how unpresidential Trump is. Instead of Geppetto and Pinocchio, this uses Beauty and the Beast. Where Kessler’s work is objective and researched, this will be arbitrary and slapdash — like Trump’s policies.
British Transport Police are looking for this guy
https://twitter.com/talkRADIO/status/1163868863643209729stand your ground guy, michael drejka, found guilty of manslaughter
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/23/753929898/florida-man-found-guilty-of-manslaughter-despite-stand-your-ground-defenseFlorida Man Found Guilty Of Manslaughter Despite 'Stand Your Ground' Defense
August 23, 201911:53 PM ET
BARBARA CAMPBELL
In surveillance video Markeis McGlockton (far left) is shot by Michael Drejka during an altercation in a convenience store parking lot in Clearwater, Fla., in July 2018.
Pinellas County, Fla., Sheriff's Office via AP
A jury has convicted Michael Drejka, a white Florida man, who fatally shot an unarmed black man, Markeis McGlockton, in July 2018.
Drejka's defense used the state's "stand your ground" law, saying he feared for his safety when the two men got in an argument over the use of a handicapped-accessible space in a convenience store parking lot in Clearwater.
Prosecutors said the incident began when Drejka confronted McGlockton's girlfriend as she sat in the car, which was parked in a handicapped space. They said McGlockton was in the store and when he returned with the couple's 5-year-old son, the dispute escalated and McGlockton shoved Drejka to the ground.
Michael Drejka was convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Markeis McGlockton in a parking space dispute. A jury convicted Drejka despite his "stand your ground" defense.
Pinellas County, Fla., Sheriff's Office via AP
Surveillance video of the scene shows Drejka, who has a concealed-carry permit, draw his weapon and fire one fatal shot at McGlockton.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri didn't initially arrest Drejka because he believed the "stand your ground" law applied.
The law, as described by The Associated Press, is a lengthy one that "generally says a shooting is justified if a reasonable person under those circumstances would believe they are in danger of death or great bodily harm. But it also says the shooter could not have instigated the altercation."
Someone has been killing the wild burros of California's Mojave Desert, $10,000 reward
$10,000 Reward Offered for Arrest of Wild Burro Killers
Someone has been killing the wild burros of California's Mojave Desert, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is offering up to $10,000 to anyone who can help catch the culprit.
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management shows two feral burros in the Mojave Desert within the BLM's Needles, Calif., Field Office. Someone has been killing the wild burros of California's Mojave Desert, and the BLM is offering up to $10,000 to anyone who can help catch the culprit. Over the past three months, 42 dead burros with gunshot wounds have been found along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 15, the main highway linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas. (U.S. Bureau of Land Management via AP)
Over the past three months, 42 burro carcasses containing gunshot wounds have been found scattered along a 60-mile (95-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 15, the main highway linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
The animals, like wild horses, are protected under federal law. Anyone found guilty of harassing, branding or killing one faces a fine of up to $2,000 and a year in jail.
More than that, burros are an enduring symbol of the American Southwest. With their pointy ears and distinctive "Hee-Haw" voices, they evoke a time when their sure-footedness in rocky terrain and ability to carry heavy loads long distances without complaint made them perfect pack animals for prospectors and others.
"Wild horses and burros are an iconic part of the American West and part of our national heritage," William Perry Pendley, BLM's deputy director for policy and programs, said in a statement Friday. "We will pursue every lead until we've arrested and prosecuted those responsible for these cruel, savage deaths, and we welcome the public's help to bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice."
The same traits that allowed burros to thrive as pack animals have been ideal for their survival in the modern Mojave Desert, where their diet consists of various plant vegetation and they are able to go for long stretches without water.
As people have encroached on that territory over the years one of their biggest threats has been being hit by cars.
That was until the shootings began in May.
The reward offer is in addition to others of $2,500, $5,000 and $1,000 offered, respectively, by the American Wild Horse Campaign, Return to Freedom and The Cloud Foundation
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-08-23/feds-offer-10-000-reward-for-arrest-of-wild-burro-killers
DOW as down -500, now down -600 20 minutes to close
usually there is some recovery just before the bell. trending down further instead
Survey: Most Americans Already Raiding Their Retirement Accounts
Survey: Most Americans Already Raiding Their Retirement Accounts
Preparing for retirement is an undeniably important part of “adulting,” as younger generations call it. Sure, it isn’t exactly glamorous, but enrolling in a 401k or opening up an IRA is sure to pay off down the road when retirement is creeping up. That is, of course, if that money isn’t spent beforehand. A surprising new online survey of more than 1,000 Americans has found that 52% have already started spending their retirement accounts.
The survey was funded by MagnifyMoney, and proportioned to equally represent American millennials, baby boomers, and generation Xers.
Of that 52% who already started spending, 23% say they tapped their retirement fund to pay off outstanding debt, 17% said they needed extra money for a down payment on a new home, 11% needed to pay for college tuition, 9% had medical bills to pay, and another 3% listed “other reasons.”
https://www.studyfinds.org/survey-most-americans-already-raiding-their-retirement-accounts/
As far as age groups, millennials (54%) have dipped into their savings the most, followed by generation X (50%), and baby boomers (43%). Millennials were also the most likely to say that taking money from a retirement account early can be justified under the right circumstances.
The survey also revealed a few more bad financial habits Americans seem to be engaging in more and more. A total of 35% of respondents said they aren’t saving for retirement, at all. And even among those who are saving, 37% said they only started around the age of 30, and 12% said they started saving at 40 years old.
'It's devastating'. End of GM in Ohio town as Trump fails to bring back midwest jobs
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/23/general-motors-factory-ohio-lordstownClosing of Chevrolet plant is latest blow in a slow, painful decline in Lordstown – an area that has suffered more than most from the outsourcing of jobs overseas
For years, the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, employed 8,000 workers in the Mahoning valley.
In a rust belt region that has become synonymous with industrial decline, following the closure of its once mighty steel mills in the 1970s, the presence of the Chevrolet factory in Lordstown, and its well-paid manufacturing jobs, was particularly important.
'A kick in the stomach': massive GM layoffs leave workers distraught – and angry
Then, late last year, GM abruptly shut the plant. The company had already scaled back workers at the Lordstown plant, and this closure saw 1,500 workers, the last of the once huge workforce, out of their jobs.
“I think it’s devastating,” said Mark Sweetwood, the managing editor of the Vindicator newspaper, which serves the Mahoning valley.
The news was just the latest blow in a slow, painful decline in this area. The rust belt was a boom area at the start of the last century, but has suffered more than most from the outsourcing of jobs overseas. Stories of places like Lordstown abound in the midwest, and the angst and anger here is something Donald Trump was able to tap into in 2016 and that helped propel him into the White House.
The closing of the Lordstown factory came after GM said it would cut 14,700 jobs across four plants in the midwest and Canada. That announcement, in November 2018, was in stark contrast to Trump’s election pledge to bring back auto jobs to the region.
Today the plant, which looms behind a “Welcome to Lordstown” sign at the entry to the village, stands as a testament to the hollowness of that promise. In mid-August it was possible to drive into the complex, where huge parking lots – once full of new cars, but now completely empty, with brown weeds growing from cracks in the concrete – stretch as far as the eye can see.
“I think it was the last holdout of our industrial age.”
Unbelievably Large Shelter Cat looking for a home, crashed website
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Unbelievably Large Shelter Cat ‘Big Boi Mr. B’ Has The Internet Swooning
“He’s a chonk of a chonk. He redefines the term,” wrote Morris Animal Refuge about the lovable BeeJay, who is looking for a home.
headshot
By Hilary Hanson
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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/big-cat-morris-animal-refuge_n_5d5f2c35e4b0dfcbd48af129
Since the photos went out on social media, BeeJay’s popularity has been so intense that the vast numbers of people seeking more information crashed the shelter’s website, which Solomon noted was still down as of Thursday night.
Luckily for anyone interested in adopting him, more information about BeeJay ― and the rest of the shelter’s animals ― is still accessible via Petfinder.
And if BeeJay’s numerous fans and admirers online are any indication, he’ll have no trouble finding a home.
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