Open Thread Monday 06-29-15


Good morning good people



Press play and sing along, "The sun comes up, I think about you... the coffee cup..."

and a second cup of coffee to get us going...

Monday morning humor:

If you are an escaped convict on the run, don’t head for a community named Constable.

"easy, it's all so simple, relax, let go, let fly..."

a little truth for us all from the queen...

Monday morning poetry by JAK ~

"The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times. The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a character protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning."

And one for Bernie, his theme song sung by the world..

Doesn't get better than this; I've gone fishing this morning, "Be Happy."

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

hearing all the tunes, but just now listened to the Les Miserables production dedicated to Bernie. It was awesome!

Oh, hope you catch a lot of fish today! Wink


Mollie

"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

smiley7's picture

I agree, the Les Mis is tremendous and Losing My Mind has emotional meaning to me. Hoped you would read today. How bout those violin classes? Big Smile

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

right now--instead, as I told JtC (at EB) yesterday, I've been frantically attempting to get a tree professional to come to our rescue for over 48 hours, now. We've had a Pine Tree uproot, and fall directly onto a Bradford Pear--yikes!

Sorta a long story about the Bradford, but long story short, it's not particularly stable in the first place (brittle), and sits on our property directly by a neighbors fence and shed. But, we can't--or don't want to--cut it down, because it is a memorial tree planted in memory of our dear 'Yogi.' And buried along side him are our English Cocker Spaniel, and our Alaskan Sourdough Parakeet. Thank goodness we now have access to a pet crematory, so protecting pets' graves sites won't continue to be an issue, aside from this particular site and tree.

Finally, late this afternoon, got someone to remove the pine, or at least, get it off the Bradford Pear. They'll have to finish hauling the tree, and pruning the Bradford next week (they start a 4-day vacation in a day or two). But we've really been sweating bullets, since rain is supposed to come in tomorrow or Wednesday (which we desperately need), adding more weight/pressure on the Bradford.

(I know you Guys really needed to hear the mundane details of that saga, LOL! Sorry. My nerves are almost shot, now.)

But, hey, your OT was all the more a 'pickup,' which I truly needed.

Wink

Mollie


Visit Us At Caucus99Percent.Com

"Every time I lose a dog, he takes a piece of my heart. Every new dog gifts me with a piece of his. Someday, my heart will be total dog, and maybe then I will be just as generous, loving, and forgiving."--Author Unknown

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

smiley7's picture

there is the mayor's house, a needed stop along the way, where hikers are encouraged by a recording of Nessun Dorma, can't put my clicking finger on my favrite rendition just now, but this should do.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

and English lyrics of Nessun Dorma, for readers who might be curious.

Nessun Dorma Lyrics and Text Translation
Calaf's Aria from Puccini's Turandot

Molte Grazie!


Mollie

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

smiley7's picture

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Thank you Smiley for taking my OTs over. If I had to have one for today, it would of been MIA.

Yesterday, I spent $300 and 7 hours of my time with a software tech figuring out what the hell happened to photobucket. I thought my account had been hacked, but it turned out to be my ISP. Apparently that one url and only that one url was screwed up and only on my connection. Without all of the trial, elimination, and my iPhone, the cable company would have blown me off. As it was, they tried. I demanded a supervisor (sr. tech) who listened, confirmed it was their problem, and promised to have it fixed by 5 pm today. Quite frankly if I had taken my call, I wouldn't have believed me either.

The good news is that I now have one year of anytime and unlimited software support with guaranteed fixes for all three of my computers . I don't know how competitively priced it was, but hey, it is what it is. The company is a MS partner, and the techs were only a little hard to understand. They were persistent (7 hours) and handed me up and up until we could figure out my problem. I had all three computers on a desk before me as they ran virus and malware checks, dumped junk files, changed over my virus checker for me, and checked my browser, extensions, etc. The tech was willing to keep on going and changing anything else I wanted changed, but I was beyond burnt out. As much as I hate being responsible for technology, I think my purchase will be well worth it in the end.

I'm off to work in a few and wishing you all a good day. It finally quit raining, and the sun is out. I am looking forward to a better day.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

gulfgal98's picture

I cannot believe all you had to go through to get this fixed. But I am glad that now you are back on line with all of your sites. I hope today will be a good one for you, dk. Smile

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

I thought it might have been a DNS problem with your ISP all along, the last I asked you yesterday was, if since all 3 computers were running Chrome that maybe it was a problem with Chrome, if you had eliminated Chrome as the culprit the only thing left that it could have really been was a prob with your ISP. I have to tell you this though, as someone who knows a little bit about how this stuff works, that this part-- "I thought my account had been hacked, but it turned out to be my ISP. Apparently that one url and only that one url was screwed up and only on my connection."--sounds very, very suspicious to me. Bottom line is, if the screw up was their fault, you should not have been charged to fix it, hmmmm.

Anyway, glad you got it fixed and you're happy.

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They said they would send a tech, and if he coudn't find the problem then they would charge me for his visit. I had no doubt he wouldn't find squat. A tech at the ISP found it working with me on the phone.

What I paid for was phone support for my software from a totally different company. I had misgivings, but I would never have found the problem or deleted my junk files on my own. I would also never been able to convince the cable company it was them and not me without help. If I did waste my money, I figure it wasn't my first time and wouldn't be my last.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

they say specifically was the problem?

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They contacted engineering. They went into my modem and then tried to get to photobucket and couldn't. He said something else, but I didn't get it. I was just glad they admitted it was them.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

They fixed photobucket and blew away DailyKos. Boy am I going to go after a discount on my month bill once this is done.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

it was out for a while, it's back now but very slow. Probably Hillary doing a DDoS attack because of all the Bernie Sanders diaries. Biggrin

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At least it isn't me.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

shaharazade's picture

yesterday. I only opened two diaries both Team Bernie and could not refresh or rec either the diaries or comments. I got all paranoid and then tried opening some other subject diary and it was apparently the whole site. Today it's worse. I know ct left so maybe they are breaking in a new tech guy. I'm kid of glad as I don't have to get all riled up with the nonsense they call content.

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shaharazade's picture

I'm really awful with any techie problem I tend to freak out and make the problem worse. Rebooting is my main fix. My husband can usually fix whatever it is with a few moves however he does it so fast I can never repeat his 'workarounds' as he calls them. I have windows 7 and the filing system is a nightmare. Could be worse I could have windows 8. We have a few blocks away some really good inexpensive geeks. You have to take your computer in but they don't take too long and fix everything. Glad you got your photo bucket fixed and having good support for a year is perfect.

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smiley7's picture

happy to help out for a little while. Sorry for your troubles. i'm up to my ears in car troubles. enjoy that beautiful water out your front door.

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I'm really like this, and you do a really good job.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

smiley7's picture

JtC's creation is so refreshing; good to be here.

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Breaking news...and sort of in keeping with Obama's push for TPP. Profits come first. If you can't breath, who gives a fuck.

Supreme Court overturns EPA air pollution rule

The Supreme Court overturned the Obama administration’s landmark air quality rule on Monday, ruling the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not properly consider the costs of the regulation.

In a 5-4 ruling, the justices ruled that the EPA should have taken into account the costs to utilities and others in the power sector before even deciding whether to set limits for the toxic air pollutants it regulated in 2011.

The case, Michigan v. EPA, centers on the EPA’s first-ever limits on mercury, arsenic and acid gases emitted by coal-fired power plants, known as mercury and air toxics (MATS). Opponents, including the National Federation of Independent Business, have placed it among the costliest regulations ever issued.
EPA estimated its rule, which took effect for some plants in April, would cost $9.6 billion, produce between $37 billion and $90 billion in benefits and prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths annually.

But the agency concluded that its regulatory impact analysis should have “no bearing on” the determination of whether regulations are appropriate, as set forth in the Clean Air Act.

[More http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/246423-supreme-court-overtu...

So if Obama gets to bask in the glow of the two favorable SCOTUS decisions, does he now get the responsibility for this planet killer? I don't think Obama is responsible either way, but it is a precursor to the TPP and TPIA and the rest of the trade alphabet soup lurking in the darkened sewers of global corporations.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

gulfgal98's picture

pisses me off to no end. Obama had nothing to do with the Supreme Court's decision on gay marriage. Obama was opposed to gay marriage, but he got the credit which is even more crazy since he only "evolved" after Joe Biden forced him to do so.

This decision today seems to link money equals free speech. If profits are affected, then free speech is affected? This is a really f**ked up. In effect, we cannot longer protect ourselves from the environmental impacts of private corporations because regulating them will affect their profits? Where in the Constitution is there a clause that protects profits of corporations?

Somebody, am I missing something here?

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

I posted this on dailykos. I just had to ask if this decision was Obama's fault since he got all the glory for the only two good decisions out of this SCOTUS. The group over there is an emotional lot. It interferes with brain function. If you want an entertaining read, go through the comments in the Armando diary - the conversation between him and Twix. ( I know, bad aren't I)

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

shaharazade's picture

greatness pretty strange at this late date. The administration and the Third Way Dems along with the masters of war seem to be going into hyper fascist mode and the worse it gets the more of this greatest pres. ever is being pumped out. Maybe it's a case of the centrist Obots sticking their fingers in their ears and making loud noise so they don't have to look at or read about what is happening. Denial. His singing of Amazing Grace has sent them into overdrive and has been added to the surreal list of accomplishments. I notice it's all over the net not just at dkos. The same thing happened with Bush2 at the end of his reign. Lot's of deadender's who couldn't face the ugly reality of what they had supported. I'm really tired of the heating up culture war as it deflects and distracts people from dealing or looking at the big by-partisan elephant/donkey in the room. I'm glad of the supreme's holding up SSM but can't get that exited about the ACA unaffordable insurance subsidy act. In this nearest hippie's imo.

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MarilynW's picture

The group has lost a few numbers, but the ones who remain have concentrated zeal and adoration. There's no reasoning with them. Our Obot friend's adoration has not diminished since she attended his inauguration. No one ever tries to remind her of all his important failings it would be useless. But she must notice our group's silence when she praises him.

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To thine own self be true.

catch that elusive "Big One" smiley! Remember, pictures or it didn't happen!

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smiley7's picture

but the company was good; we laughed a lot; especially picking on the young mid-eighty dude. Smile

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MarilynW's picture

Right now: 9:35 am PST
Screen Shot 2015-06-29 at 9.35.54 AM.png

The red ones have been blocked, the others are unblock-able I guess.

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To thine own self be true.

gulfgal98's picture

It looks interesting so I am curious, even though I probably will not care unless someone starts stalking me. Wink

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

smiley7's picture

at first, the neocons mostly, but yes, i'm technically challenged, like GG, how do you do that?

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shaharazade's picture

and it's going to be in the upper mid 90's until at least July13. Found this interesting scary article about the east's cold and the west's heat temperature divide. The color divided maps are intense. Good morning and keep warm or cool depending on where you live 99'ers.

http://climatenexus.org/learn/planetary-systems/warm-west-cool-east-us-t...

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smiley7's picture

a heat-wave in the high Appalachians; not good...but a cool down yesterday and today, thankfully. I don't do heat well anymore, can't breathe.

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gulfgal98's picture

here in Brevard. The slightly cooler temps this morning were very much appreciated.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

smiley7's picture

very pleased with the work of our mutual friend in a'ville. He's fathered a good group.

Been a while since I've been down your way. Beautiful country and the music festival is superb. Coming this way, let me know.

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gulfgal98's picture

at the only meet up I was able to attend, but you came late and we did not talk. I hope to see you sometime in the future.

The Mountain Music Festival is a labor of love here by Woody Platt and the Steep Canyon Rangers in honor of his late mother. If you ever come down this way, let me know in advance. Smile

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Markets forced to face reality

The governor of Puerto Rico has decided that the island cannot pay back more than $70 billion in debt, setting up an unprecedented financial crisis that could rock the municipal bond market and lead to higher borrowing costs for governments across the United States.

Puerto Rico’s move could roil financial markets already dealing with the turmoil of the renewed debt crisis in Greece. It also raises questions about the once-staid municipal bond market, which states and cities count on to pay upfront costs for public improvements such as roads, parks and hospitals.

It looks like I unfortunately called this one right. It's been sneaking under the radar until now.

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smiley7's picture

complicated problems going on in the world and your sharing is much appreciated.

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mimi's picture

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smiley7's picture

glad you enjoyed the musical story. Hope you are well. Are you taking trips soon?

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mimi's picture

now.

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smiley7's picture

apologies for not tending today's open thread, thanks to all for reading and listening.

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gulfgal98's picture

This was a wonderful Open Thread! I hope you had a good day on the lake. Smile

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

smiley7's picture

i caught all of the fish, 6; told my two buds that a little lie goes a long way. Happy you enjoyed the musical, fun to put together, for me , as well. Big Smile

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as punishment you pull latrine duty, toilet scrubbing detail. Nah, just kidding, great job old friend.

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smiley7's picture

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link

Stocks slid 3.3 percent Monday even after an aggressive three-pronged easing effort over the weekend. People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan cut the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to a record low of 4.85 percent, slashed the deposit rate to 2 percent and reduced required reserve ratios for some lenders. As stocks plunged anyway, China's securities regulators tried to cheer traders by announcing they would consider suspending initial public offerings in order to increase demand for existing shares. The sell orders still accelerated. Next, government officials assured the record numbers of individual investors entering the market that the risks from margin trading are controllable. Selling ensued regardless.
...
At the very least, it would kill Japan's nascent recovery, push Australia into its first recession in a quarter century, send shockwaves through South Korea, Indonesia and India, and devastate commodity-exporting nations everywhere. Officials in Beijing get this, of course. ...
But sharply lower borrowing costs might just encourage more irresponsible lending at a time when local government debt already exceeds Germany's $3.7 trillion worth of annual output. Conventional stimulus measures have lost traction amid factory overcapacity and a fast-increasing number of ghost cities. The solution, of course, would be for President Xi Jinping to accelerate structural reforms to wean China off excessive investment and exports. It's only by reining in state-owned enterprises that China can create a vibrant private sector driven by small-to-midsize services companies that generate high-paying jobs.

Instead, Xi's team has spent the last 10 months ginning up stocks with government sorcery.

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link

Turkey has sent shock waves through the Middle East by preparing plans to send troops into Syria for the first time, turning the civil war into an international conflict on Europe’s borders.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has authorised a change in the rules of engagement agreed by the Turkish parliament to allow the army to strike at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), as well as the Assad regime, according to local newspapers.
The aim is to establish a buffer zone for refugees and against Isil, but Mr Erdogan has also suggested that the main target of the intervention, if it goes ahead, will be to prevent the emergence of a Kurdish state on Turkey’s doorstep.

The Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, has established dominance in a border strip across the north of the country in recent months.
“We will never allow the establishment of a state in Syria’s north and our south,” Mr Erdogan said at the weekend. “We will continue our fight in this regard no matter what it costs.”

other link

The Jordanian military is actively implementing plans to create a humanitarian buffer zone in the south of the country, Sam Jones, Roula Khalaf and Erika Solomon report for the Financial Times.
Jordan's military envisions an operation that would set up a humanitarian corridor in the southern Syrian provinces of Deraa and Suwayda.

This is the inevitable outcome. Syria will continue to exist, but in name only. It'll be carve up in zones of influence by its neighbors. Once the troops start invading it won't stop until its over.

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