Open Thread - Friday, March 15, 2019

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Caesar:
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.
Soothsayer:
Beware the ides of March.
Caesar:
What man is that?
Brutus:
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
- Julius Caesar Act 1 -

I do not have what it takes to be a corporate executive, politician, philanderer nor criminal. It must be hell being surrounded by such people.

The burden, from being a scoundrel, would weigh heavy on me.

The simple life seems so much more enjoyable.

I am sitting here with a peanut butter bagel and cup of coffee. The sun is shining. Life is good.

What's up this weekend?

I think I will head out to join the revelry.

It's a lot easier to have fun, with a clear conscience.

Have a great weekend! The thread is OPEN.

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Kids on strike today

On Friday, March 15, in nearly 1,000 cities and towns in at least 82 countries around the world, young people are planning a school strike. The reason? A lack of action on climate change. And it’s all because of one Scandinavian teenager.

Go Greta!

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NCTim's picture

@QMS I did an express edit, last night.

The day did not go according to plan. I picked up a BIG staple, like the ones used for pasture fence, in a motorcycle tire. I saw the dash alert for tire pressure and watched the tire go flat over the course of just a few miles. My day ride turned into sitting around waiting for a ride, borrowing a pickup truck and going back to retrieve my motorcycle. Today: Get it to the shop.

Kid Power!

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Anja Geitz's picture

@QMS

Children shame the adults into doing the right thing. Go Greta!

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Wally's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpI0ThZiFh0]

The truth about MSNBC slips out from one of it's regular talking heads.

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NCTim's picture

@Wally

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Raggedy Ann's picture

Been enjoying my spring break. Went to CA for a few days. Enjoyed watching it snow at home yesterday afternoon. Today, my granddaughter comes to help me clean out my pantry. We’ll head to the brewery tomorrow evening. Fruitful week.

Hope those affected are surviving the cyclone bomb!

Have a beautiful day and weekend, folks! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

NCTim's picture

@Raggedy Ann Is like continuous spring break, for vintage adults. I am looking forward to this weekend. Saint Patrick's Day!

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Thanks for another great playlist. Happy Friday

Why Bernie Sanders thinks he can win California this time

This time? never mind

Top Sanders campaign officials say he’s planning to have field offices and run commercials across the nation’s most populous state.

“We’re going to have a robust campaign in California.” said Ben Tulchin, Sanders’ San Francisco-based pollster, adding that “Bernie is extremely well-positioned” in California. “It will be a well-funded media and field campaign.”

huh
Disinformation alert! whoop whoop Yonder follows my own fine selective quoting:

A lot has changed in Sanders’ world since his 2016 presidential campaign, when he lost the California primary — and the Democratic nomination — to Hillary Clinton.

That is what happens when you stop counting, usually you lose. HOPE lesson learned.

The Vermont independent wasn’t well known then outside his home territory, so his campaign was largely focused on introducing him to voters, particularly in Latino and African American communities.

Focused on introducing, not winning. DARN IT TO HECK I already knew him since thirty years before so what was me puppet doing for his campaign masters in 2015? Giving money, phone-banking for ngp... accidentally helping assholes win. SORRY

Roughly half his support comes from Latinos and African Americans, some surveys suggest. Sanders’ favorability rating among Latino voters is 59 percent, according to a recent poll — higher than the rest of the announced field.

wah Bernie sucked up all the air already, only 41% left for the 18 other announced candidates. haha

If Sanders can corral Millennial and independent voters as he did in 2016, “we think that’s a winning coalition in California and beyond,” Tulchin said.

Wait! Did he just say corral? oops baaah! New speaking matrix, stat! lol

Combine that with the $10 million that Sanders raised in the week after he announced his 2020 campaign, and his top operatives feel they’re in a much better position than last time to compete in big states like California.

Top operatives! That's The List I need to see. (takes names) heh

Everybody’s optimistic now. It’s just like spring training predictions in baseball. Everybody’s thinking World Series.

forgot unicorns
It's not like every paragraph of that article pissed me off, not at all. giddyup trigger
California has a few major shipping ports, the Bay Area transportation network is fragile, LA is too. be careful out there go slow and SMILE.

Make future happy, go forth and STRIKE!
solidarity
peace

PS. Bernie still winning TOP Beto poll 78% and Beto dropped to 4% ker-plunk! can't even get support in his own diary over there. Kos HQ is in Oakland California, has he "lost the narrative" or what? Chuck Todd lost his number for sure.

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NCTim's picture

@eyo

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

@NCTim thanks, that made me go looking and I found a funny story on the wiki:

According to fellow Funk Brothers in the 2002 documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Gaye was desperate to have Jamerson play on "What's Going On," and went to several bars to find the bassist. When he did, he brought Jamerson to the studio, but Jamerson was too intoxicated to stay upright, so James played the classic line while lying flat on his back. He is reported to have played on some 95% of Motown recordings between 1962 and 1968. He eventually performed on nearly 30 No. 1 pop hits — surpassing the record commonly attributed to members of The Beatles. On the R&B charts, nearly 70 of his performances went to the top.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Jamerson

No way can that be James on his back, no way man. LOL again.
Good Day right on

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Lookout's picture

The sun's come out after another 1.75 inches of rain yesterday and last night. Spring has sprung here. Cherry trees in full bloom, forsythia bright yellow, daffodils everywhere.....

The equinox is next week and spring will be official as the days grow longer than the night. Glad you got your bike in the shop. Hope the repair is quick and inexpensive. Enjoy the revelry tonight. I have my little weekly session this evening. I learned a couple of new ones lately. When the wall controversy was ongoing I learned this Porter piece...fun to play and sing

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSnYdEjwPLM]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

The Aspie Corner's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYiEsEkxjPY]

The part about paying to have these peoples' kids falsely labelled LD or otherwise disabled really pissed me off, especially as someone who is actually both, with classes literally taking everything out of me just to SURVIVE them. Yet, rich SOBs can buy diagnoses to not only get them into college but get them cushy jobs as well?

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

@The Aspie Corner viticulture for the win.

Napa Valley vintner Agustin Huneeus Jr. charged in college admissions scandal

At the center of the scandal is William Rick Singer, of Newport Beach, owner of The Edge College & Career Network, also known as The Key, and CEO of the Key Worldwide Foundation, its nonprofit arm and what the prosecutors called a “purported charity.”

Wasn't the Clinton Foundation also a "non-profit" "purported charity"? no wonder

Their parents paid to cheat them into elite colleges. What happens to them now?

Nothing? Because D-PayForPlay is very much a California thing, legal bribery, despite Her shutting Her foundation trap. In my view, the Clintons should be in prison because it seems easy to prove what crooks they are, of course there should be a trial. defense entitlement

For the grownups involved, justice came down swiftly. Singer, who cooperated with investigators’ efforts to implicate his associates and clients, pleaded guilty. So did a Stanford sailing coach who participated in the scheme. He and other accused coaches also were fired or suspended.

Many of the parents slapped with federal charges are also suffering the consequences in their professional lives.

Palo Alto hedge fund Hercules Capital announced Wednesday that Manuel Henriquez, charged along with his wife, has voluntarily stepped aside as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Bill McGlashan, a Bay Area private equity investor also charged, was put on leave from the TPG Growth fund.

PU Bay Area hedge fund, personal equity investor. Sit on thy ass and collect. fuck those guys

Universities now face hard choices in how to deal with students admitted through the cheating scheme Singer called a “side door” amid national outrage from parents and students fretting over their chances of legitimately getting accepted through a top school’s “front door.”

At Georgetown University, media relations manager Matt Hill would only say Wednesday that “we’re reviewing the details of the indictment and will be taking appropriate action.”

Georgetown, where every sickening U.S. secretary of state gets training. weakest link goodbye

It wasn’t clear if any students with bogus applications detailed in the court documents ended up at Bay Area schools. While Stanford’s sailing coach John Vandemoer pled guilty to promising coveted admissions spots to two students in exchange for more than $200,000 in payments to the sailing program, the students ended up attending other schools. Stanford pledged to re-direct the money it received in the scheme to an “entity unaffiliated with Stanford,” but would not answer questions Wednesday about its plans.

Stanford, Condoleezza Rice, the Chevron tanker.
We're amerika's coming attraction, the future happens here first."
keep flushing

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enhydra lutris's picture

a lift up "greenhouse" of bug screen around one of my raised beds as a proof of concept while prepping for further "planting". The planting for this bed consists of breaking off pieces of existing Portuguese kale, dipping them into rooting hormone and sticking them in the soil.

Have other yard and garden projects too, all slow and slowly, nursing assorted joint and muscle ills, etc. Gonna be a way slow day and weekend here.

Laugh, gotta laugh. We all do. Music is good, but really need to laugh too.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Anja Geitz's picture

First sunny week here in SoCal in over a month (yes, we're spoiled) after weeks of rain, and we've been visited by millions of migrating butterflies. Was out earlier in the garden with cup of freshly made coffee watching hundreds of them flutter among the wild flowers and it is magical.

I'm in agreement with you NCTim about not wanting to live a life surrounded by people whose impetus each day is how they can gain more power and more wealth at any price. I worked down on Wall Street for many years as a graphic designer and felt like I was walking among perverse caricatures of human beings. It was soul deadening.

Much happier living with "less" in terms of material wealth in exchange for the joy of living life on my own terms where each day is a gift.

Peanut butter bagel on a sunny morning sounds lovely. Brings to mind the different breakfasts people eat in other parts of the world... Smile

[video:https://youtu.be/JGjeaHe7GkY]

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

@Anja Geitz @Anja Geitz
I would like to see a conglomerate number of participants from the 82 countries...

5184_0.jpg

In the U.S., students organized some 400 protests in all 50 states

In Australia...

By seeking to understand a global issue such as climate change, taking action and clearly articulating their perspective, the students are demonstrating the skills, values and attitudes the curriculum states should constitute the aim of education. These are also the attributes employers look for.
AP_19060441520919-ClimateChangeYouth-ClimateChange-Strike-Politics-1552586224.jpg

Greta

"These strikes are happening today—from Washington D.C. to Moscow, Tromsø to Invercargill, Beirut to Jerusalem, and Shanghai to Mumbai—because politicians have failed us,"
There’s an estimated 20,000 schoolkids including myself at the #ClimateStrike today in London.

Rough guess, since the media wants to slice and dice it down to individuals' stories. 1000 locations (registered) times 20, 000 demonstrators ~= 20 million worldwide Anybody thinking to see that news upstage crashing jets, mosque shootings or regime change crimes?

Sheesh

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Anja Geitz's picture

@QMS

And therein lies the problem. He who has the megaphone has the power.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

@Anja Geitz
If 20 million kids are striking around the world, I would listen. But, as you say, the narrative is controlled. How many killed in Yemen by US bombs, how many starving? How many suffering and murdered in Palestine? How many forced into poverty in Argentina? Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa. Kosovo, Atlanta, Nicaragua, Detroit? And we are expected to foot the bill for cleaning up the mess from the extraction industries raping of resources. End of rant.

This shite has to stop.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@QMS

I have my own way of dealing with this so I don't go crazy, but to each his own.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier